Sunnyland Slim

Albert Luandrew (September 5, 1906 – March 17, 1995),[1] known as Sunnyland Slim, was an American blues pianist who was born in the Mississippi Delta and moved to Chicago, helping to make that city a center of postwar blues.[2] The Chicago broadcaster and writer Studs Terkel said Sunnyland Slim was "a living piece of our folk history, gallantly and eloquently carrying on in the old tradition."[3]

Sunnyland Slim
Birth nameAlbert Luandrew
Born(1906-09-05)September 5, 1906
Quitman County, near Vance, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedMarch 17, 1995(1995-03-17) (aged 88)
Chicago, Illinois
GenresBlues
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
InstrumentsPiano
Years active1920s–1990s
Labels
Associated actsMuddy Waters

Biography

Sunnyland Slim was born on a farm in Quitman County, near Vance, Mississippi.[1][3] He moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1925, where he performed with many of the popular blues musicians of the day. His stage name came from the song "Sunnyland Train", about a railroad line between Memphis and St. Louis, Missouri.[3] In 1942 he moved to Chicago, in the great migration of southern workers to the industrial north.[4]

At that time the electric blues was taking shape in Chicago, and through the years Sunnyland Slim played with such musicians as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf,[5] Robert Lockwood Jr., and Little Walter.[3] His piano style is characterised by heavy basses or vamping chords with the left hand and tremolos with the right. His voice was loud, and he sang in a declamatory style.[6]

Sunnyland Slim's first recording was as a singer with Jump Jackson's band for Specialty Records in September 1946. His first recordings as a leader were for Hy-Tone Records and Aristocrat Records in late 1947.[7] He continued performing until his death, in 1995.

He released one record for RCA Victor, "Illinois Central" backed with "Sweet Lucy Blues" (Victor 20-2733), under the name Dr. Clayton's Buddy.

In the late 1960s, Slim became friends with members of the band Canned Heat and played piano on the track "Turpentine Moan" on their album Boogie with Canned Heat. In turn, members of the band—lead guitarist Henry Vestine, slide guitarist Alan Wilson and bassist Larry Taylor—contributed to Sunnyland Slim's Liberty Records album Slim's Got His Thing Goin' On (1969), which also featured Mick Taylor.

He was a recipient of a 1988 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.[8]

He died in March 1995 in Chicago, after complications from renal failure, at the age of 88.[9]

Discography
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

NB. Sunnyland Slim recorded on many different record labels over his lengthy career. Some of these titles were issued, and re-issued, at various dates and on other labels.

YearTitleCollaboration (and notes)Record label
1947House Rent PartyDelmark
1960Chicago Blues SessionSelect-O-Hits
1961Slim's ShoutBluesville
1969Midnight JumpBlue Horizon
1969Slim's Got His Thing Goin' OnWorld Pacific
1970Pearl Harbour BluesRCA Records
1971Depression BluesFestival Records
1972Sad and LonesomeJewel
1973Plays Ragtime BluesBluesWay Records
1974She Got That JiveAirway Records
1975Sunnyland Slim & Little Brother MontgomeryLittle Brother Montgomery77 Records
1979Patience Like JobAirway Records
1981Old FriendsDavid "Honeyboy" Edwards, Kansas City Red,
Big Walter Horton, Floyd Jones		Earwig Records
1986Chicago Jump(Sunnyland Slim Blues Band)Evidence Music
1989Be Careful How You VoteEarwig Records
1991Live in EuropeAirway Records
1994Blues Anytime!Hubert Sumlin and Willie DixonEvidence Music
1994Decoration DayEvidence Music
1994Live at the D.C. Blues Society(recorded in 1987)Mapleshade Records
1995Sunnyland Train(recorded in 1983)Evidence Music
1997Bad and LonesomeJewel Records
1998She Got a Thing Goin' On(recorded 1971 – 1983)Earwig Records / Blind Pig Records
1999Smile on My Face(recorded 1977)Delmark Records
2006Blues Legends LiveJohn Dee HolemanMapleshade Records
2010ABC of the Blues Vol. 42Johnny ShinesDocuments
2012Legendary Bop Rhythm & Blues ClassicsEssential Media Group
2012The Devil Is a Busy ManEssential Media Group

[10]

With Howlin' Wolf

References
  1. Campbell, Robert L.; Pruter, Robert; White, George R.; Kelly, Tom (July 31, 2009). "The Aristocrat Label". Red Saunders Research Foundation. Retrieved June 5, 2014. "Blues pianist and singer Sunnyland Slim was born Albert Luandrew in Vance, Mississippi, September 5, 1906 (most sources say 1907, but the Social Security Death Index and 1920 census data give the date as 1906)."
  2. "Sunnyland Slim". Britannica Online Encyclopedia, www.britannica.com. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
  3. Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. p. 171. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
  4. Robert Palmer. Deep Blues. Penguin Books. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-14-006223-6.
  5. "Howlin' Wolf – Shake It for Me". YouTube. September 15, 2006. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  6. Oliver, Paul (1984). Blues Off the Record: Thirty Years of Blues Commentary. New York: Da Capo. pp. 201–203. ISBN 0-306-80321-6.
  7. Pruter, Robert; Campbell, Robert L.; Kelly, Tom (June 21, 2009). "The Hy-Tone Label". Red Saunders Research Foundation. Archived from the original on November 23, 2009. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
  8. "NEA National Heritage Fellowships 1988". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  9. Doc Rock. "The Dead Rock Stars Club 1994–1995". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  10. "Sunnyland Slim – Album Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
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