Robert Lockwood Jr. - R.I.P.

[stereojack]

http://www.middletownjournal.com/n/c..._Lockwood.html

Robert Lockwood Jr., a pioneering Mississippi Delta blues guitarist and singer who forged a career in Cleveland, has died, a hospital spokesman said. He was 91.

Lockwood died of respiratory failure at University Hospitals Case Medical Center at 5 p.m. Tuesday, said spokesman George Stamatis. He had been a patient since suffering a stroke on Nov. 3.

Lockwood was born in Turkey Scratch, Ark. At 11, he started guitar lessons with legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, who briefly moved in with Lockwood's mother.

"He never showed me nothing two times," Lockwood said in a 2005 interview with The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer newspaper. "After I got the foundation of the way he played, everything was easy."

Lockwood worked on street corners and in bars and became a musical mentor to B.B. King, who listened to Lockwood in the 1940s on the "King Biscuit Time" radio show broadcast from Helena, Ark.

Lockwood moved to Chicago in the 1950s and was a session player on records by Little Walter, Sunnyland Slim, Roosevelt Sykes and other blues musicians. He branched out from the delta-style blues to jump blues, jazz and funk. In 1960, he moved to Cleveland and played in blues clubs for decades.

As a solo performer, Lockwood earned Grammy nominations for two albums: 1998's "I Got to Find Me a Woman" and 2000's "Delta Crossroads."

[Chris D]

Last of his kind.

[Dr Dave]

You know, that may be true. Was he the last living link to Robert Johnson?

[Lore]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

You know, that may be true. Was he the last living link to Robert Johnson?

David "Honeyboy" Edwards is still with us, and he played with Johnson.

[Gary Sisco]

Well, no one can say he didn't have a long life but blues guys with living connections to the old guys will soon all be gone.

A good thing we have the records, though I always wonder about what never got recorded from that era.

Another blues slinger done gone.

[John L]

Robert Jr. was a class act, and his classy guitar graced so many classic records. He could make it high class and low down at the same time.

RIP

[Captain Hate]

He hated to be called Robert Jr Lockwood; never asked him why but he made it clear not to do it. Saw him dozens of times because he was always playing around town. The funniest episode was when he showed up at a Gatemouth Brown concert; Gate and his pedal steel player were having a cutting session and Robert declared the steel player the winner. Gate was none too happy with that, only part of which was for show imo. The next (and last) time I saw Brown the pedal steel player was gone; I asked where he was and Gate rasped "I got rid of him; he was no damn good". Which was funnier than it was accurate.

[kedoane]

I guess that I have to do a tribute to him next week. I just have gotten around to doing Ruth Brown today.

I'm very sadden by this loss.

[Pete C]

Though he went back to pure acoustic delta blues, he had one of the "jazziest" electric guitar styles in the blues, and is a good deal of the reason why the Sonny Boy Williamson Chess sides have such a sense of swing.

[John L]

Originally Posted by Pete C

Though he went back to pure acoustic delta blues, he had one of the "jazziest" electric guitar styles in the blues, and is a good deal of the reason why the Sonny Boy Williamson Chess sides have such a sense of swing.

Damn straight. Robert Jr. makes outstanding contributions to those sides.

[John L]

Originally Posted by Pete C

Though he went back to pure acoustic delta blues, he had one of the "jazziest" electric guitar styles in the blues, and is a good deal of the reason why the Sonny Boy Williamson Chess sides have such a sense of swing.

Damn straight. Robert Jr. makes outstanding contributions to those sides.

[Rob Damen]

In tribute, blues band plays on
Thursday, November 23, 2006
John Soeder
Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic
The show must go on, so on it went Wednesday night at Fat Fish Blue in memory of Robert Lockwood Jr.

"I hope I can hold up," said Gene Schwartz, bass player in Lockwood's band. "I get too melancholy."

On the stage, a black cloth was draped over the chair where Grammy Award-nominated bluesman Lockwood used to preside. In his place sat a candle, a bouquet of flowers and a glass of Hennessy cognac, Lockwood's favorite drink. His gleaming 12-string electric guitar was propped to the side.

For years, Lockwood had a weekly engagement at the downtown Cleveland restaurant.

"He never missed a Wednesday night here, unless he was on the road," said Fat Fish Blue managing partner Steve Zamborsky. "People would come from all over to see him. He was one of the last living blues legends."

Lockwood played his final gig there Nov. 1. Two days later, the singer-guitarist had a stroke and was admitted to University Hospitals Case Medical Center, where he died of respiratory failure Tuesday. He was 91.

His airtight band kept his musical spirit alive at Fat Fish Blue.

Lockwood would not have had it any other way, sax player Maurice Reedus said as he adjusted his reed before the concert.

Drummer Jimmy "Gator" Hoare welcomed a crowd of 100 fans. "Thank you very much for coming . . . to honor Robert Lockwood, our boss, our dad," Hoare said.

Lockwood "was the blues version of the Cleveland Orchestra," said Cleveland Councilman Jay Westbrook, a Lockwood devotee since the 1970s. "This place and other clubs were his Severance Hall."

Lockwood's band, rounded out with Charles Carnes on guitar and Robert "Red Top" Young on keyboards, warmed up with the gospel-flavored "The Preacher," then cut loose with one of Lockwood's favorite tunes, "Things Ain't What They Used to Be."

They were joined later by other local musicians who came to pay their respects, including trumpeter Benny Mostella, sax player Rob Williams and singer-guitarist Travis Haddix, who used to play not only the blues with Lockwood, but checkers also.

"I couldn't beat him," Haddix said, laughing.

Lockwood, a native of Turkey Scratch, Ark., took guitar lessons from legendary blues pioneer Robert Johnson.

Lockwood "had a very lyrical guitar style," said Robert Santelli, author of "The Big Book of Blues" and a former Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum executive.

"He learned what he could from Johnson, and then created his own style," Santelli said in a phone interview. "He always played the right notes."

After making a name for himself on the "King Biscuit Time" radio show, Lockwood became a sought-after session musician for Chess Records in Chicago. In 1960, he moved to Cleveland, where he won a loyal following. He toured throughout the United States, Europe and Japan, too.

Branching out beyond Mississippi Delta-style blues, Lockwood came to embrace everything from jump blues to jazz to funk.

At Fat Fish Blue, his tight-knit family of sidemen kept the mood upbeat as they tore through a swinging "Let the Good Times Roll," as if to swing their beloved patriarch home.

Lockwood is survived by his wife, Mary, and nine children.

House of Wills Funeral Home is handling arrangements. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, at the Old Stone Church, 91 Public Square, Cleveland. A service will be held there at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, followed by burial at Riverside Cemetery in Cleveland.

[Gentle Giant]

Wow. I was in Cleveland from Wednesday until yesterday and though I didn't read much of the paper (I hate the Plain Dealer), I'm still surprised I didn't hear anything about this.

Lot of great musicians from Cleveland, sadly now one fewer.

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

Mr. Lockwood was a very tasteful and gifted musician. RIP, sir.

[steve(thelil)]

Whether he was responsible or not for the misnomer (I've read it both ways), he used to be called "Robert Jr. Lockwood" to point out his connection with Robert Johnson, who was often called his stepfather. I read an interview he gave in the last few years in which he emphasized that his name was "Robert Lockwood, Jr".

In any event, he did so much for so long and his personal musical roots were the roots of the Blues. Aside from his own musical accomplishments, to think that he knew them ALL - Robert Johnson, Muddy, Wolf, Sunnyland, BB and succeeding generations of blues people - boggles the mind. An awesome life.