I met Wolf in Los Angeles around 1971. i introduced myself and shook his hand. He had a hand like a baseball players catchers mitt,,,HUGE,, and a vise grip. We had a good talk. He was a very nice man. Once in a lifetime experience.
I read a story from a Sailor who watched him play said when Wolf stood up he kept standing up up up and up he was so big of human being. He’s was man. Holds the record of longest standing ovation…. Chicago two weeks before he passed away. His mom disowned him for playing the blues, and didn’t even visit him while he was in the hospital dying. Long live the legend of the Wolf.
Back in 1969 I was sweet sixteen. My elder sister called me and told her to meet her in the city at 6pm. She took me to see howlin wolf live in a nightclub in Birmingham England. I was beside myself with excitement.I had been playing his music since I was 14. At the club howlin stepped of the podium and sang smokestack lightning to me once two feet away.I thought I would die, itwas so fantastic.god bless you Chester and my sister.
You all in England, and Europe kept the Blues going while it was dying here in the States. I played with R.L. Burnside for years mostly as his harp player bit of guitar, and with other Bluesman in the 80s and 90s still the best gigs were in Europe... R.L. did some Wolf sonpppllllĺlĺĺlllgs who I truly loved you are very lucky....I did sit just a few feet away from Muddy Waters, and his band a couple nights in a row at a lubin Eugene, Oregon back in 79 maybe, then after Muddy's passing R.L., and I split sets a weekend with Muddys old band the Legindary Bluesl Band...being a touring musician is hard work....but there was Howling in your neighborhood how cool was thar? Well, I guess we both have some pretty fine memories.
Thank Science for the Internet! Without it I doubt I'd ever get to see such great classic blues videos like this one with the one and only Howlin' Wolf! And they just don't make musicians like that any more! 😉😊😁
This is part of a movie by the late Len Sauer that was released in 1972. He showed it only a few times and then was sued by Wolf's widow, Lillie Burnett, because he didn't clear the song rights. He couldn't show it again, and he was bitter about it. I got a copy of this in 1995 through the blues geek grapevine, and even tried to get a copy of it from Sauer, who lived in Chicago but was, alas, an aging paranoiac who refused to show it for me. A few years later, I told one of Martin Scorsese's producers about this film and they bought a few minutes of it from Sauer for Scorsese's blues movie series that came out in 2003. I'm glad they used it. When Sauer died, his nephew ended up with the whole film. As far as I know, this is only part of it. Some would-be documentarians shot another film of Wolf over three consecutive nights in a club in Chicago in 1968. The guy who bankrolled it, an amateur with no production experience, ran out of money and couldn't pay to get it out of the film lab. It was Wolf in his late prime. The cameraman on it, Leon Gast, was aghast. It was his first film and he loved the Wolf. He told me it was the biggest disappointment of his film career. He won an Academy Award for "When We Were Kings," a film about the Muhammed Ali / George Forman fight in Zaire. He had one 10-minute reel of the Wolf documentary when I called him in the early 2000s: alas, without sound. I wonder what happened to it.
Hey, Im making a short film for my youtube channel about a band here in the UK that backed and did a full tour with Wolf in 1969. im looking to get some footage of Wolf to use in my film, have you any suggestions. Id love to use some of this film in it. Is there anything in the public domain that you might know of. Cheers.
Wolf was a REAL interesting person. He provided his musicians with health care insurance. He often to a paternal interest in them, made sure they stayed out of trouble. He was functionally illiterate into his 40s, but then got a GED and studied business and finance. Never took advances from record companies.
Some years back, I read an article somewhere on line written by a college/university math professor who had know Wolf in his later years. He said that Wolf was, and I quote: "A mathematical genius". Even allowing for some kind-hearted hyperbole, it says a lot.
I love his personality and he was down to earth and very smart. These type of black men are a dying breed and they truly don’t make them like this anymore indeed.
Wolf seems like a straight shooter. Tell it how it is and my dad grew up listening to this kinda blues so I’d imagine he was listening to it with his dad. It doesn’t even surprise me hearing Wolf talk about the same things that happened back then that’s still going on now.
He should have deserved even more recognition during his lifetime. All the wealth and success and more, as he was a real king of music. His art is immortal
One of the most amazing humans to ever walk the planet! He sang and wrote from the heart and life experiences...true blues...his mother disowned him , never wanting to see him again. She was very religious and told him that he was playing the devils music... now that is the blues....and very sad
First time I have seen Howlin' Wolf speak and sing. Darn, he has always been my boyfriend in my dreams. What a legend!!!! Mmmm🔥I was a Lil creaspy cream girl with pigtails from Alabama. Lol Nobody better than Nobody. I always knew that.🎼🎵🎶🔥
@@andreascano8533if you have the option, turn on CC, (closed captions). It doesn't show everything you hear people saying and what it does show isn't exactly a %100 accurate transcript of what it picks up. I'm talking about the English language setting on my devices. Hope this is helpful. And the blues ain't nothing but a good man feeling bad....
imagine him in the age of cellphones where you could have hours of footage like this. he looks great here. a few years later goin down slow was sadder i guess.
There are those who've learned the songs perfectly, every riff; some can even imitate that gravelly tone, sort-of, but this blues is Wolf's, & Wolf's alone.
I'm glad to see this put up. This clip appears to be colorized (?)... Wolf's nose is red in scenes and his overall skin tones seem a bit light. Perhaps it's something got 'off' in the print, however. I was Wolf's close friend, harp student and chosen photographer. Most of the iconic images of him as of 1968 you'll see are ones we collaborated in creating, both in San Francisco and when I went to visit him in Chicago. Wolf was progressive, in touch with the soul of humanity, expressive and charismatic, on stage and off. Wolf was an inspirational wounded healer who serves well as a profound role model in overcoming horrific childhood abuse, hardships and so many vile aspects of the Jim Crow south. ~ sgs (howlingwolfphotos)
I'd say it's not colourized but I'm mainly basing that on how the bass guitar looks. I've seen a lot of colourized stuff that happened to have sunburst finished fender instruments in them and they always look off and not like the finish would look normally. if it's colourized then at least judging by the look of the bass guitars finish, it's one of the best colorization jobs I've seen and if you ask me it looks too good and accurate to have been done after the fact. i don't know much about colorization though and maybe i just haven't seen many good jobs of it
Look up his Chess Box compilation and he looks the same. It's a miracle Wolf was born the way he was, sounded the way he did, and shared his gift to first America and then every corner of the world.
This man wrote the gospel of heavy blues music it's a priviledge to play it and spread it. Bar none. The god damn Wolf. Chester Burnett. Rest in Power.
As if "conditions" ever stopped a black mans being voted in as president , - right ? Stop imagining yourself part of the civil rights struggle. It's an insult to anyone who ever actually fought and paid the price , just for you to sit here and snivel online , like a bitch.
Da,acest om a fost un geniu al muzicii de blues,bluesman veritabil cu carisma și farmec aparte,timbrul vocii sale este uluitor de incantator pentru cei bantuiti de tristete melancolie cu stare fluida si futurista ,alti bluesman au avut mai multă publicitate ,omul acestă da clase la multi muzicieni de pe planetă are stil de convingere fără îndoială este la superlativ cu miscarile si vocea de aur !!❤❤🎉🎉 si
To think you could just walk into a bar and see Howling Wolf playing with a band, the music is superb and just grabs you and makes you feel good The interview is so interesting and gives you an insight about the conict between blues artists we weren't aware of. And the added bonus of the footage being in colour
The Wolf was one of the first blues men I listened to back in 1975 when I was 14. Always loved his stuff and his guitarist on most of his tunes , Hubert Sumlin was great. All those guys from Chess Studios (Chicago) from Muddy to Buddy Guy and everyone in between always under the masterful eye of the great Willie Dixon (who pretty much ran the place for Phil and Leonard Chess. He also wrote so many tunes.
@ about 9 mins in Wolf is having a very honest conversation about "white boys" lifting each other up and he says "my people are jealous hearted people" etc etc just talking , then the minute he says jews, and about to say his observations, this white nerd at the table grabs his arm and stops him and says " now wait a minute, I'm half jew" I'm assuming this out of place nerd is a record exec
This "out of place nerd" is the legendary Ralph Bass, who discovered James Brown and produced some of the best records by Etta James, Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Sam Cooke, Hank Ballard, Brownie McGhee, Johnny Otis, Lena Horne, Roosevelt Sykes, the Platters, and the Dominoes, among others.
I was born in 1971. He died when I was 4. Don't think I first knew about him until I was in my 20s. Grateful Dead cover of Smokestack Lightning is what introduced me to his music...
My all time favorite blues man Chester Burnett. Followed by Muddy, Albert King, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Mr. John Lee Hooker. They all playin' now at that big club in the sky.
Without him and all of the bluesman and woman music would not have enjoyed the life it has had. Thank God for all of them. Without the music I would have long ago become to sad to live. These are the real heroes of music.
@@MDLinzee Looks like a Kay K775 Jazz II to me, great tone from Hubert! He's probably most famous for playing an early Les Paul goldtop, but he played everything! Seen him with weird Italian guitars, Gibson Firebirds, you name it, always sounds the same.
Hubert has always killed me since I was the first time I heard him. Something totally different and almost surreal or ethereal about how he played. And the Wolf? Simply the greatest electric Blues ever recorded IMHO
The Baddest of the Bad. Incredible bandleader. This is a great video to give a snapshot of the Wolf/Sumlin dynamic and the outstanding artistry of Hubert Sumlin. What a post. Big thanks from NC.
howlin wolf is pretty cool . . . at each interview cut, the number of beer bottles on tables increases, and those blues songs you can hear it today, the meaning and understanding is the same as when they came out . . . interesting what he said about BB King . . .
Damn... I've snapped up what little Howlin WOlf I've been able to track down over the years... that Cambridge '66 tape is still my favourite, but I'd never heard of this awesome video before and I used to trade with a few serious blues collectors. Awesome footage, I think I like the parts with Wolf holding court over drinks even more than the fine music performances. Thanks for uploading this.
Man thank god for RU-vid is all I can say. To be able to see all of these lost rare one of a kind performances from my favorites that would’ve just been lost & never experienced & thoroughly enjoyed again is an absolute pleasure and I am so thankful. Howlin Wolf is one of my favorites and always makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up when I listen yo his music. Especially a live performance like this. So awesome, kick ass thank you for posting!
OH I FORGOT; I GOT SOMETHING THAT SHOULD MAKE YOU GUYS JEALOUS . I LIVE IN CHICAGO AND EACH YEAR MRS. WOLF WOULD THOW A HUGE BIRTHDAY PARTY ON HIS BIRTHDAY AT HER HOME IN HAZEL CREST IL. AND GUESS WHO ATTENDED SEVERAL CELIBRATIONS ? YEP YOU GOT IT ; OLD JIMMIE BOY HERE. YOU GUYS PROBABIY THINK THAT I AM SOME FAMIOUS GUY THAT WAS ON THE VIP INVITE LIST. NOPE ! IN TRUE WOLF STYLE THE PARTY WAS OPEN TO ALL
Ralph Bass was a legendary talent scout and producer who recorded many of the great blues and rhythm and blues artists. He worked for several labels including King, Savoy and Chess. He recorded T-Bone Walker’s Stormy Monday and James Brown’s Please, Please, Please and dozens more classics. He was among the first to recognize a growing appreciation of these genres with white audiences.
the saying is that wolf went down to mississippi to visit his mother,he trying to give her a $500 bill and she took it and stumped it into the ground because she did not like the type of music he was singing,they stated that he cried all the way back to his home in chicago
He's cool. He knew what's right from wrong. His stature and voice was towering above anybody else. He spoke the truth and knew ultimate truths. A true genius and philosopher! When I was just thirteen, I related to him because his own mother thought he as a devil worshiper. He loved his mother immensely and all he wanted was her love in return!
12:43 let's break it down. Wolf, Muddy, B.B. King ,John Lee Hooker, and Buddy Guy made examples for people like Eric Clapton, Dwayne Allman, Jeff Beck, Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill, and Jeff Healey to present the blues to more of North America and the World. Spreading that feeling, brother.. spreading that feeling.. is what happened. Now we all digging it.
Some of those brothers were the real deal and u can tell he was the real deal .....I had older cousins were just like him , I'm 43 so I saw some of those kind of men in there last years and they were still sturn and stubborn but greaten no less .....I love Howling Wolf's music even when I didn't like my mom's music I loved the blues and she loves the blues greats and Wolf was at the top of the list RIP
