One of my favorite musician biographies is [tag]Boogie Man[/tag] by [tag]Charles Shaar Murray[/tag]. The titular character is, and could only be, former Vallejo resident John Lee Hooker. Murray?s book is sequenced like a really cool mix CD: while not always presented chronologically, its narrative presents Hooker?s journey from living in Mississippi, moving to Detroit, recording ?Boogie Chillun? in 1948 and becoming a known figure in the blues world in the following years, subsequently gaining international fame and iconic stature with the rediscovery of his music by bands of the 1960s British Invasion up to his 1971 classic ?Hooker ?n? Heat? collaboration with Canned Heat, a slide into pop culture-based obscurity that reached its nadir by the mid-1980s, and his return to popularity following a series of recordings produced by and performed with Vallejo slide guitarist Roy Rogers.
The biography also features a discography-as-appendix compiling what Murray considers to be Hooker?s must-have recordings. One of them is a film soundtrack described in the book as ?an absolute gem, which is cast-iron guaranteed to outlast the film.? The name of the film is The Hot Spot.
I saw [tag]The Hot Spot[/tag] on one of the cable movie channels during an up-way-too-late evening (morning?) during the early 1990s. At first I was not sure what I was watching ? I had been channelsurfing and found something with Don Johnson that appeared to be a crime story, but with a setting that looked more like Texas than Miami. Virginia Madsen was also in it, which was reason enough to hold off on changing the channel. And then there was the music: I heard an all-too-familiar E-G-A guitar boogie riff playing with the standard bass and drums rhythm section and a slide guitar, but there was something different in the lineup ? a trumpet. Not just any trumpet, either ? a muted one that sounded like Miles Davis playing blues. I watched the rest of the movie and continued to hear the same voice singing and chanting ?Well, well, well,? ?That ain?t right, that ain?t right,? and ?Ummmm-hmmmmmmm? during various parts. The end credits rolled and I read what I already knew on my TV screen: ?Music by John Lee Hooker.? Boom boom.
A trip to Tower Records a few days later resulted in my purchase of the film?s soundtrack on CD. The band assembled for this project was a music lover?s dream team (see the accompanying interview with Roy Rogers). All of them able to lead any project, each of them adjusting their styles to fit with Hooker?s sound. The interplay and juxtaposition of sonic colors, whether the slide guitar?s slicing cry answering the trumpet?s high-pitched whisper (and my ears had not been playing tricks on me, it was Miles Davis) or the piano?s single-note runs sounding oddly reminiscent of Brian Eno?s ?Music For Airports? and about as far removed from the blues as possible, all worked perfectly within this context.
As with all film soundtrack recordings, the music was designed to accompany on-screen images. The big surprise regarding The Hot Spot is just how well each one works as a piece of music without needing any visual imagery as assistance. It is unbelievable, really ? Miles Davis is slyly telling some amazing musical tales and John Lee Hooker, as he always did, gave him and every player in the band plenty of room and time to have their say, and the music resulted in something that could only be John Lee Hooker music. Another surprise is this recording being one of the very few instances where Hooker?s music was not only used as part of a film soundtrack, but actually commissioned to be used for one. That ain?t right, that ain?t right.
John Lee Hooker died in his sleep on June 21, 2001. He was the creator of an instantly identifiable musical sound, a giant in both the blues world and in 20th Century music, well-known all over the world, and he lived in Vallejo. He is missed.
To purchase The Hot Spot or Boogie Man, visit www.amazon.com. For additional information regarding the life of John Lee Hooker, visit www.rosebudus.com/hooker.
Roy Rogers and the Delta Rhythm Kings will be performing at The Palms in Winters, CA on August 26, 2006. For additional information, visit www.roy-rogers.com.
[tags]CD review[/tags]
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