Charles Brown
The Early Years
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Texas-born Charles Brown is a college-educated bluesman who, while looking for work as a chemist in Los Angeles, hooked up with bassist Eddie Williams and guitarist Johnny Moore, the brother of the Cole Trio’s Oscar (both of whom were also native Texans). In 1942 they formed Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers, which they clearly modeled after the Nat “King” Cole Trio from their instrumentation to Brown’s rough but elegant croon (Brown frequently cited as his main influence singer Pha Terrell of Andy Kirk’s big band, but Cole undeniably shines through). In 1945, after a few foundered singles, Brown’s sublime “Drifting Blues,” a striking evocation of the numbing effect of heartbreak and loneliness–“Well I’m drifting and drifting / Like a ship out on the sea”–impressed Ed and Leo Mesner of Philo (later Aladdin) Records, who’d come to see the group’s regular gig at a club called Talk of the Town. The tune’s gently lilting melody, its finesse, and Brown’s restrained ache refashioned blues, lifting it from the domain of down-and-out raunch to one of elegance. As writer Nick Tosches bluntly put it in his Unsung Heroes’ of Rock ‘n’ Roll, “Never again would the blues be associated with a bunch of tore-down shines too drunk to piss standing up.”
Brown never stopped performing, but his popularity waned. He became a victim of the rock ‘n’ roll music he unwittingly helped create. Recording offers ceased in the mid-70s, forcing Brown to take manual labor jobs. In the mid-80s, however, Brown returned better than ever with One More for the Road (Blue Side, reissued by Alligator). Singer and guitarist Bonnie Raitt, a big Brown fan, later took him on tour–he’ll open for her at the Arie Crown this summer–and he began a fruitful association with Bullseye Blues Records. His latest album was recorded for Verve. Brown’s striking return revealed terrific piano playing and a tensile voice undiminished by age.
