Hubert Sumlin

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Hubert Sumlin
Sumlin performing at the 2003 Long Beach Blues Festival
Sumlin performing at the 2003 Long Beach Blues Festival
Background information
Birth nameHubert Charles Sumlin
Born(1931-11-16)November 16, 1931
Greenwood, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedDecember 4, 2011(2011-12-04) (aged 80)
Wayne, New Jersey
GenresChicago blues, electric blues[1]
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Guitar, vocals
Years active1953–2011
Websitewww.hubertsumlinblues.com

Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer,[1] best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin' Wolf's band.[2] He was ranked number 43 in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[3]

Biography[edit]

Sumlin was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, and raised in Hughes, Arkansas.[4] He got his first guitar when he was eight years old.[5] As a boy, he met Howlin' Wolf by sneaking into a performance.

Wolf relocated from Memphis to Chicago in 1953, but his longtime guitarist Willie Johnson chose not to join him. In Chicago, Wolf hired the guitarist Jody Williams, but in 1954 he invited Sumlin to move to Chicago to play second guitar in his band. Williams left the band in 1955, leaving Sumlin as the primary guitarist, a position he held almost continuously (except for a brief spell playing with Muddy Waters around 1956) for the remainder of Wolf's career. According to Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf sent him to a classical guitar instructor at the Chicago Conservatory of Music to learn keyboards and scales.[6] Sumlin played on the album Howlin' Wolf (called the "rocking chair album", with reference to its cover illustration), which was named the third greatest guitar album of all time by Mojo magazine in 2004.[7][8]

Sumlin performing in France, December 17, 1975, five days before recording My Guitar and Me

Upon Wolf's death in 1976, Sumlin continued playing with several other members of Wolf's band, as the Wolf Gang, until about 1980. He also recorded under his own name, beginning with a session from a tour of Europe with Wolf in 1964. His last solo album was About Them Shoes, released in 2004 by Tone-Cool Records. He underwent lung removal surgery the same year, but he continued performing until just before his death. His final recording, just days before his death, was tracks for an album by Stephen Dale Petit, Cracking The Code (333 Records).

Hubert Sumlin playing guitar at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, 1970, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Hubert Sumlin at the 1970 Ann Arbor Blues Festival

Sumlin was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 2008.[9] He was nominated for four Grammy Awards: in 1999 for the album Tribute to Howlin' Wolf, with Henry Gray, Calvin Jones, Sam Lay, and Colin Linden; in 2000 for Legends, with Pinetop Perkins; in 2006, for his solo project About Them Shoes (which features performances by Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Levon Helm, David Johansen and James Cotton) and in 2010 for his contribution to Kenny Wayne Shepherd's Live! in Chicago. He won multiple Blues Music Awards. He was a judge for the fifth annual Independent Music Awards, given to support the careers of independent artists.[10]

Sumlin lived in Totowa, New Jersey for 10 years before his death.[11] He died of heart failure on December 4, 2011, at the age of 80, in a hospital in Wayne, New Jersey.[12] Mick Jagger and Keith Richards paid Sumlin's funeral expenses.[13]

Partial discography[edit]

Albums[14]
Year Title Label Number Notes
1964 American Folk Blues Amiga 850 043 Germany
1969 Hubert's "American" Blues! Scout Sc-4
1974 Kings of Chicago Blues, Vol. 2 Disques Vogue LDM 30175 France, recorded 1971
1976 Groove Black & Blue 33.511 France, recorded 1975
1980 Gamblin' Woman L + R 42.008 Germany, recorded 1980
1987 Hubert Sumlin's Blues Party Black Top BT-1036 US
1989 Heart & Soul Blind Pig BP-3389 US
1990 Healing Feeling Black Top BT-1053 US
1991 Blues Guitar Boss JSP 239 UK, recorded 1990 in London
1994 Made in Argentina 1993 Blues Special 9501 Argentina, recorded 1993 in Buenos Aires with Emilion Villanueva and the Kansas City Boys
1994 I'm the Back Door Man Blues Special 9506 Argentina, recorded 1993 in Buenos Aires
1994 My Guitar and Me Evidence Music ECD-26045 Paris, recorded on Dec 22, 1975 at Barclay Studio
1996 Blues Classics Bellaphon 82007 Germany, recorded 1964 in East Berlin
1998 I Know You APO 2004 US
1998 Wake Up Call Blues Planet 1116 US
1999 Pinetop Perkins & Hubert Sumlin: Legends Telarc 83446 US
2003 Do the Don't Intuition 34252 Germany; Elliott Sharp's Terraplane, with Hubert Sumlin
2005 About Them Shoes Tone-Cool/Artemis Records 51609 US, also Rykodisc RCD 17307 in the UK
2010 Midnight Memphis Sun NorthernBlues Music NMB0058 JW-Jones release with special guests Hubert Sumlin and Charlie Musselwhite
2012 Sky Road Songs Yellowbird 7724-2 Germany; Elliott Sharp's Terraplane, with special guest Hubert Sumlin (recorded in 2011)
Videos
Year Title Label Number Notes
2005 The Blues Guitar of Hubert Sumlin Homespun Tapes SUMGT21 US, VHS & DVD

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music. Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 181. ISBN 1-904041-96-5.
  2. ^ Kitts, Jeff; Tolinski, Brad (2002). Guitar World Presents the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Hal Leonard. p. 37.
  3. ^ "43: Hubert Sumlin". The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Rolling Stone. 18 December 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  4. ^ Komara, Edward, ed. (2005). Sumlin, Hubert. Psychology Press. p. 938. ISBN 9780415926997. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. ^ Gross, Jason. "Hubert Sumlin". Furious.com. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
  6. ^ Segrest, James; Mark Hoffman (2004). Moanin' at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. pp. 111–112. ISBN 1-56025-683-4.
  7. ^ Barnes, Anthony (21 July 2003). "Hendrix heads list of 100 guitar greats with 'Are You Experienced'". The Independent. London. Retrieved 20 February 2010.[dead link]
  8. ^ "Hubert Sumlin". The Daily Telegraph. London. December 6, 2011.
  9. ^ Hill, Dorothy L. "Blues Music Awards 2008". Retrieved January 21, 2010.
  10. ^ "Independent Music Awards". Independent Music Awards. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  11. ^ Shapiro, T. Rees. Washington Post News Service. "Totowa's Hubert Sumlin, influential blues guitarist, dies at 80", The Record (Bergen County), December 7, 2011. Accessed January 28, 2015. "Born in Greenwood, Miss., Mr. Sumlin lived in Milwaukee for most of his life before moving to Totowa 10 years ago."
  12. ^ White, Jim. "Blues guitar great Hubert Sumlin dies". Communityvoices.sites.post-gazette.com. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
  13. ^ "Rolling Stones' Jagger, Richards Pay for Hubert Sumlin's Funeral". Billboard. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  14. ^ Hoppula, Pete. "Hubert Sumlin: Albums". WangDangDula.com. Retrieved January 21, 2010.

External links[edit]

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