||||Bold Soul Brother

Jesse Anderson

I’ve mentioned before how work has a habit of getting in the way, but I am determined to use these late nights in hotels to share some of my favourite tunes. Tonight’s offering is from Jesse Anderson; I bought this for the flip (his instrumental cover of the Curtis Mayfield (and Baby Huey) song “Mighty Mighty”). This version is, I believe, a very catchy up-tempo sound with some great guitar, flute and a wicked drum break.

However, when I pulled this record at the weekend I realised that although I grabbed a few copies of this (some spares to trade with if anyone is interested), I’d never really paid the A-side much attention. I’m pleased to say, having played it through a couple of times, that I love it!

“I Got A Problem” is a funky vocal, where we share Jesse’s pain at balancing his lover(s) with his wife… “my wife is number 1, my woman is number 2, but my woman will do things for me that my wife wouldn’t do…”

Manship lists this side as Northern, I can’t ever recall hearing it spun, but I remember less and less these days

Manship books this at £20, that’s quite a bit more than I paid per copy and more than we usually see it change hands for.

A recent post on YouTube suggested that Jesse is still very much alive: “Jesse Anderson is alive and well, living in Wichita, KS. He has recently released Funk N Blues, an album compilation of his songs from the 70′s. He’s working again with Gene Barge on some new material and possible record deal. ” and indeed, having dug a little deeper I see the CD is available on Amazon and thankfully includes these very tracks.

Jesse Anderson left home (Muskogee, Oklahoma) at the age of 19, in 1960, and travelled to Chicago with a band of like minded musicians to make vinyl for Federal Records. After releasing several records the group disbanded and Jesse returned to Chicago and work with a number of artists (Earl Hooker, Pinetop Perkins, Otis Rush, Jimmy Johnson and Syl Johnson) and became a recording artist under the production of Gene Barge, writing several hits together and recording for Chess Records, Thomas Records and Outta Sight Records.

Jesse co-wrote Somebody Loan Me a Dime which was recorded by Boz Scaggs and The Blues Brothers. Buddy Guy covered “I Got A Problem”, and Tyrone Davis did Let Me Back In. Jesse is an accomplished funky saxophonist and was frontman on several recordings and also plays guitar (often filling in for Earl Hooker). When rap music came into the scene, it affected many blues artists in the 70′s as radio stations wanted to get with the new sound, deserting the blues; at this time Jesse took a sabbatical.

I truly hope that this compilation brings Jesse some well deserved recognition (and money!). In the meantime, enjoy…