Released : 2008
01 - Introduction
02 - Baby Please Don't Go
03 - It Hurts Me Too
04 - Chips Flyin' Everywhere
05 - Caledonia - Saturday Night Fish Fry
06 - Bad Avenue
07 - Boogie All Night Long
08 - All I Want
09 - You Don't Know
10 - It's Alright
11 - Bring It On Home
BiographyBorn in Arkansas in 1937, Dizz (the nickname was bestowed on him by Hound Dog Taylor & the HouseRockers, appropriating it from drummer Ted Harvey, who used the name when he was "playing jazz in the alley") started playing guitar at age 19 after a four-year hitch in the Air Force. Entirely self-taught, he played a standard right-handed model flipped upside down, without reversing the strings. His sound was raw and distorted and his style owed more to the older bluesmen than to the hipper West Side players like Otis Rush and Buddy Guy working in the B.B. King mode. By the time he came to Chicago, he had honed his craft well enough to become a member of Junior Wells's band in 1964, recording and touring Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia with him until the late '60s. At various times during the '60s and early '70s, he'd also moonlight as a guitarist with Chicago stalwarts J.B. Lenoir and Hound Dog Taylor, while sitting in everywhere and playing with seemingly everyone. While being well-known around town as a "head cutter," Lefty Dizz was always welcome on anyone's bandstand. His personality, while seemingly carefree and humorous, masked a deep, highly intelligent individual who had also earned a degree in economics from Southern Illlinois University.
He kept soldiering on in the blues trenches through the '90s when he was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. While chemotherapy helped, Lefty went back to work far too soon and far too hard to stay on top of his game for much longer. The unflappable Dizz, who could seemingly make the best out of any given situation without complaint and had friends in the blues community by the truckload, finally passed away on September 7, 1993. And with his passing, the blues lost perhaps its most flamboyant showman.
On these live recordings, Dizz is backed by his regular band of the time, Shock Treatment, featuring long-time members Jimmie Smith on guitar and Nick Charles on bass, with Carl Snyder on keyboard and Charles Caldwell on drums.
The first seven tracks were recorded at Chicago's Granada Theater, and include a smoking four-piece horn section featuring saxophonist Detroit Gary Wiggins. While the material here is mostly made up of covers, the performance kicks into high gear right from the start with a smoking introduction that takes us straight into a barn-storming, "Baby Please Don't Go", followed by a smoking take of the Elmore James classic, "It Hurts Me Too", that truly highlights Dizz's unique style, while Carl Snyder's keyboards simply shine, adding just the right touches throughout. Dizz, influenced by Elmore James, and having served as the last guitarist in Hound Dog Taylor's Houserockers, was inspired by Taylor to get that "raw" electric slide sound using only his bare fingers. Dizz played a well-worn, right- hand Fender Stratocaster turned upside down without being restrung, resulting in a bending technique that pulled and dragged the treble strings down from the top. This, coupled with his wild vibrato, created a unique sound that simulates the slide guitar of James and Taylor so much so that most folks assume that Dizz used a slide. This sound was further enhanced by his use of a beat- up Fender Twin Reverb amplifier with each and every volume and tone knob cranked all the way up to 10. Dizz never used a slide or any effects devices; he didn't need them. He developed a unique style that conjured up the spirit of the old bluesmen, as well as the spirit of Jimi Hendrix in tonal similarities, with a supercharged sonic attack that became his trademark. Other highlights from this show include Lefty's take on two Louis Jordan classics, where he fuses together "Caledonia/Saturday Night Fish Fry", and makes them his own. The entire band, including the horn section, scream their way through this one - a true showpiece - running just over six minutes, that ends way too soon. Dizz follows this up with his lowdown "Bad Avenue" and the rambling "Boogie All Night Long", that wraps up a truly great show. The last four tracks on the disc are taken from a show at Chicago's Sports Corner in June of '82. The wild-ass energy of the previous tracks doesn't stop for a second as Dizz tears into a ten-minute..
"All I Want", that's quickly becoming my favorite track on the CD, followed by the slow-burning "You Don't Know", the rollicking "It's Alright", along with the set closing "Bring It On Home", that wraps up one of the finest live performances that I have heard in a long time. Lefty Dizz wasn't recorded often, and he was never properly presented on his too-few studio sets. Ain't It Nice To Be Loved on JSP, Shake For Me on Black & Blue, and the long unavailable Somebody Stole My Christmas on Isabel all suffered from shoddy production and inadequate backup. Lefty was at his best live, and with Lefty Dizz and Shock Treatment: Live in Chicago, longtime fans finally have a recording that solidifies his stature as one of Chicago's most explosive and flamboyant performers.
original CD from sussex
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