Jimmy Witherspoon

One of the standout blues vocalists to emerge after World War II, Jimmy Witherspoon also possessed the flexibility to move with ease into jazz settings. Born on August 8, 1920 in Gurdon, Arizona, he performed in a church choir during his youth. His initial sessions, cut alongside Jay McShann for Philo and Mercury between 1945 and 1946, led to his own earliest sides, which employed McShann’s ensemble and yielded a number-one R&B success in 1949 with “Ain’t Nobody’s Business, Pts. 1 & 2” on Supreme Records. Concert renditions of “No Rollin’ Blues” and “Big Fine Girl” supplied two additional chart entries for ’Spoon in 1950.

The middle years of the decade proved sparse, as his robust shouting style briefly fell from favor; attempts at singles on Federal, Chess, Atco, Vee Jay, and additional imprints met with scant results. The 1959 release Jimmy Witherspoon at the Monterey Jazz Festival (HiFi Jazz) restored his visibility. Collaborations with Ben Webster and Groove Holmes were committed to tape, while a 1961 European trek alongside Buck Clayton marked the first of many overseas visits across subsequent decades. Evening Blues (Prestige) stands as his strongest 1960s effort, spotlighting T-Bone Walker on guitar and Clifford Scott on saxophone.

With the arrival of the 1970s, Witherspoon elected a brief respite from touring, relocated to Los Angeles, accepted a disc-jockey position, and kept issuing recordings. In 1971 he joined forces with former Animals singer Eric Burdon on the album Guilty. Ready to resume road work by 1973, he formed a group that featured a youthful Robben Ford on lead guitar; the well-received concerts helped steer his direction toward a pronounced rock-and-soul approach. A 1974 trip to London produced Love Is a Five Letter Word under British blues specialist Mike Vernon, whose earlier credits included notable LPs by John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac, and Ten Years After. Throat cancer was diagnosed in the early 1980s. Although Witherspoon stayed busy and remained a favored live draw, the illness’s impact on his voice became unmistakable. He died on September 18, 1997 at age 77.