Vandaag is het 45 jaar geleden dat de Amerikaanse blueszanger en -gitarist Louisiana Red (foto Till Niermann op Wikipedia) in Hannover een live-elpee heeft opgenomen.
Voor de man zelf (eigenlijk Iverson Minter, 1932-2012) zou dit erg belangrijk blijken (hij zou namelijk tot zijn dood in Hannover blijven pleisteren), maar ikzelf gebruik het eerder omdat hij kort daarvoor (maar over precieze data beschik ik niet) een tournee had gemaakt door de DDR.
Born in Bessemer, Alabama, Minter lost his parents early in life; his mother died of pneumonia shortly after his birth, and his father was lynched by the Ku Klux Klan in 1937. He was brought up by a series of relatives in various towns and cities.
Red recorded for Chess in 1949, before joining the Army. He was trained as a parachutist and was sent to Korea in 1951.
After leaving the Army, he played with John Lee Hooker in Detroit for two years in the late 1950s. He recorded for Checker Records in 1952, billed as Rocky Fuller.
His first album, Lowdown Back Porch Blues, was recorded in New York with Tommy Tucker and released in 1963. His second album, Seventh Son, was released later the same year.
Nadat hij zich in Duitsland had gevestigd, he continued to tour, including regular returns to the United States. Opvallend: in 1994, Louisiana Red fused the blues with the urban Greek music of the bouzouki player Stelios Vamvakaris, on the album Blues Meets Rembetika.
Ronny De Schepper
dagelijks iets degelijks 