Jimmy Witherspoon


James Witherspoon was an American jump blues and jazz singer.

Early life, family and education

Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. His father was a railroad worker who sang in local choirs, and his mother was a piano player. Witherspoon's grandson Ahkello Witherspoon is a cornerback for the Los Angeles Rams.
Witherspoon served in the Merchant Marines until 1944.

Career

Witherspoon first attracted attention singing in Calcutta, India, with Teddy Weatherford's band, which made regular radio broadcasts over the US Armed Forces Radio Service during World War II. Having made his first records with Jay McShann's band in 1945, he first recorded under his own name in 1947, and two years later, still with the McShann band, he had his first hit, "Ain't Nobody's Business", a song that came to be regarded as his signature tune. In 1950 he had hits with two more songs closely identified with him—"No Rollin' Blues" and "Big Fine Girl"—and another hit with "Failing by Degrees" and "New Orleans Woman", recorded with the Gene Gilbeaux Orchestra for Modern Records. They were recorded at a live performance on May 10, 1949, at a "Just Jazz" concert in Pasadena, California, sponsored by Gene Norman. Another classic Witherspoon composition is "Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough".
Witherspoon performed at four of the Cavalcade of Jazz concerts held in Los Angeles at Wrigley Field, which were produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. His first performance was at the fourth Cavalcade of Jazz on September 12, 1948, with Dizzy Gillespie as the featured artist, along with Frankie Lane, Little Miss Cornshucks, The Sweethearts of Rhythm, Joe Liggins's Honeydrippers, Joe Turner, The Blenders, and The Sensations. The program description stated that Witherspoon was "one of the most sought-after blues singers in the business. He has a strong, clear voice and diction that you would hear in the classics. Although he has been quite successful singing the blues, Witherspoon can sing ballads with a surprising sweetness." He played at the fifth Cavalcade of Jazz concert on July 10, 1949, along with Lionel Hampton, The Hamptones, Buddy Banks and his Orchestra, Big Jay McNeely, and Smiley Turner. Witherspoon returned for the seventh Cavalcade of Jazz concert on July 8, 1951, and performed alongside Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton and his Revue, Percy Mayfield, Joe Liggins's Honeydrippers, and Roy Brown. His last appearance at the Cavalcade of Jazz was at its eighth edition on June 1, 1952. Also featured that day were Anna Mae Winburn and Her Sweethearts, Jerry Wallace, Toni Harper, Roy Brown and His Mighty Men, Louis Jordan and his Orchestra, and Josephine Baker.
Witherspoon's style of blues—as a "blues shouter"—was no longer fashionable in the mid-1950s, but he returned to popularity with his 1959 album Jimmy Witherspoon at the Monterey Jazz Festival, featuring Roy Eldridge, Woody Herman, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, and Mel Lewis. Witherspoon later recorded with Gerry Mulligan, Leroy Vinnegar, Richard "Groove" Holmes, and T-Bone Walker.

Tours and successes

In 1961 he toured Europe with Buck Clayton and returned to the UK on many occasions, featuring on a mid-1960s live UK recording, Spoon Sings and Swings, with tenor sax player Dick Morrissey's quartet. In 1970, Witherspoon appeared on Brother Jack McDuff's London Blue Note recording To Seek a New Home, together with British jazz musicians, including Dick Morrissey, and Terry Smith. In the 1970s, Witherspoon also recorded the album Guilty! with Eric Burdon and featuring Ike White & the San Quentin Prison Band. He then toured with a band of his own featuring Robben Ford and Russ Ferrante. A recording from this period, Spoonful, featured Witherspoon accompanied by Robben Ford, Joe Sample, Cornell Dupree, Thad Jones, and Bernard Purdie. He continued performing and recording into the 1990s.
Other performers with whom Witherspoon recorded include Jimmy Rowles, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Vernon Alley, Mel Lewis, Teddy Edwards, Gerald Wiggins, John Clayton, Paul Humphrey, Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Jimmy Smith, Long John Baldry, Junior Mance, Ellington bassist Jimmy Woode, Kenny Clarke, Gerry Mulligan, Jim Mullen, Count Basie, Van Morrison, Dutch Swing College Band, and Gene Gilbeaux.

Acting

In the 1995 film Georgia, Witherspoon portrayed Trucker, a traveling, gun-collecting blues singer who has a relationship with the troubled character Sadie, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh.
He played Nate Williams in The Black Godfather and Percy in To Sleep with Anger.

Personal life and death

Witherspoon died of throat cancer on September 18, 1997, in Los Angeles, California.

Discography

Albums

  • 1947-48: The Chronological Jimmy Witherspoon 1947-1948
  • 1948-49: The Chronological Jimmy Witherspoon 1948-1949
  • 1950-51: The Chronological Jimmy Witherspoon 1950-1951
  • 1952-53: Miss Miss Mistreater: The Very Best of Jimmy Witherspoon
  • 1954-59: Spoon So Easy
  • Wilbur De Paris Plays & Jimmy Witherspoon Sings New Orleans Blues
  • Goin' to Kansas City Blues with Jay McShann
  • Singin' the Blues
  • At the Monterey Jazz Festival
  • Feelin' the Spirit
  • At the Renaissance with Gerry Mulligan, Ben Webster
  • Jimmy Witherspoon
  • Sings the Blues
  • With Buck Clayton
  • Spoon
  • Hey, Mrs. Jones
  • Roots with Ben Webster
  • Baby, Baby, Baby
  • Evenin' Blues
  • Blues Around the Clock
  • Blue Spoon
  • Some of My Best Friends Are the Blues
  • Spoon in London
  • Blues for Easy Livers
  • Blues for Spoon and Groove with Richard "Groove" Holmes
  • Jimmy Witherspoon in Person reissue of With Buck Clayton
  • Spoon Sings and Swings with Dick Morrissey
  • A Spoonful of Blues reissue of Jimmy Witherspoon
  • A Blue Point of View
  • The Blues is Now with Jack McDuff
  • A Spoonful of Soul
  • Live with Ben Webster
  • The Blues Singer
  • Hunh!
  • Handbags and Gladrags
  • Guilty with Eric Burdon
  • The Spoon Concerts reissues of At the Monterey Jazz Festival and At the Renaissance
  • Previously Unreleased Recordings with Ben Webster
  • Love is a Five Letter Word
  • Spoonful
  • Live Jimmy Witherspoon & Robben Ford
  • Live at the Watts Jazz Festival, Volume 1 with Willie Bobo, Gene Ammons
  • Live in Paris with Buck Clayton
  • Sings the Blues
  • Spoon's Life
  • Olympia Concert reissue of Jimmy Witherspoon in Person
  • Big Blues
  • Sings the Blues with Panama Francis and the Savoy Sultans
  • Spoonful O' Blues compilation
  • Patcha, Patcha, All Night Long with Big Joe Turner
  • Midnight Lady Called the Blues
  • Never Knew This Kind of Hurt Before: The Bluesway Sessions compilation
  • Rockin' L.A.
  • Live
  • Jay's Blues compilation
  • Blowin' in from Kansas City compilation
  • Call My Baby compilation
  • Live at the Notodden Blues Festival with Robben Ford
  • The Blues, the Whole Blues and Nothing But the Blues
  • Ain't Nobody's Business compilation
  • Live at the Mint with Robben Ford
  • Cold Blooded Boogie compilation
  • Spoon's Blues
  • Jimmy Witherspoon with the Junior Mance Trio previously unreleased live recording from 1969
  • Tougher Than Tough reissue of At the Renaissance
  • Jazz Me Blues: The Best of Jimmy Witherspoon compilation
  • Jimmy Witherspoon with the Duke Robillard Band
  • Spoon Meets Pao with Eugene Pao recorded 1990
  • Urban Blues Singing Legend compilation
  • Live at the 1972 Monterey Jazz Festival with Robben Ford
  • Ain't Nobody's Business compilation
  • Jump Blues Live 1972 with Robben Ford

    Chart singles

Filmography/DVDs

  • 2000: Jazz Casual: Jimmy Witherspoon & Ben Webster, from a 1962 Jazz Casual appearance reissued in: Jazz Casual: Jimmy Witherspoon/Jimmy Rushing
  • 2003: 20th Century Jazz Masters: Mel Tormé/Jimmy Witherspoon/Carmen McRae/Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan
  • 2009: Jimmy Witherspoon: Goin' Down Blues with Marshal Royal and John Collins