ROBERT " BIG MOJO " ELEM

             

randomandrare 

For information about this artist, please visit the website:

http://www.answers.com/topic/robert-m...

In addition, Robert "Mojo" Elem passed away on February 5, 1997

Composed by J.B. Lenoir

Robert "Big Mojo" Elem:Vocals & Bass

Wayne Bennett & Willie James Lyons:Guitars

Fred Below:Drums

Recorded at the Golden Slipper, Chicago, IL. October 12, 1977

Orignally issued on the 1978 album "Big Mojo Elem:Mojo Boogie" (Storyville 8041) (LP) (Denmark)

This recording taken from the 1997 CD of the same title

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harryduck1

Data de publicació: 29 de març 2015

With Mojo Blues Band.

Vocal, bass: Robert "Big Mojo" Elem  (http://www.answers.com/topic/robert-m...)

Slide guitar, background vocals: Erik Trauner

Rhythmus guitar: Markus Toyfl

Harmonica, background vocals: Christian Dozzler

Piano: Dani Gugolz

Drums: Timothy Taylor (son from Eddie Taylor)

Recorded: 1990 in Austria.

Album: Super Blues News (1992)

Dani Gugolz (Bassist of the MBB) wrote this text about Big Mojo (in 1992):

"My first encounter with bassist and singer Robert "Big Mojo" Elem was during his stay in Zurich with the "Chicago Blues Festival" in the winter of 1979. I was therefore well aware of his solid work on bass and his big voice. 

In private, Big Mojo seems rather introverted, yet on stage, he is like another person and puts the audience immediately under his spell. 

Another link to the past: J.B. Lenoir wrote the title "Mojo Boogie", from which our band gets ist Name. Big Mojo Elem is the only living  blues artist who, due to the high range of his voice, can carry on the musical herritage of J.B. Lenoir."

German Translation:

Meine erste Begegnung mit Robert "Big Mojo" Elem war im Winter 1979 im Rahmen der "Chicago Blues Festival"-Tournee, mit der er in Zürich gastierte. Es war mir also bekannt, was für ein solider Begleiter er ist und über welch gewaltiges Stimmorgan er verfügt. 

Big Mojo wirkt im privaten Kreis eher introvertiert, auf der Bühne jedoch ist er wie verwandelt und zieht das Publikum sofort in seinen Bann.

Auch hier eine starke Verbindung: J.B Lenoir komponierte den Titel "Mojo Boogie", von dem sich unser Bandname ableitet. Big Mojo Elem ist der einzige lebende Blueskünstler, der aufgrund seiner hohen Stimmlage das musikalische Erbe J.B. Lenoirs angetreten hat.

My favorite version of this song!!

I don`t own any rights to this song or to these pictures.

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He was noted as a "born entertainer whose joking and acting on stage appeal to club audiences". Elem's energetic on-stage persona underpinned his lengthy performing career.

Elem was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, United States. He studied both Robert Nighthawk and Ike Turner playing live, which inspired his own early rhythm guitar playing. By 1948, Elem had relocated to Chicago, Illinois, where he spent the rest of his life. Shortly after arriving, Elem picked up employment backing Arthur "Big Boy" Spires and then Lester Davenport. To avoid being in a large batch of jobbing rhythm guitarists all seeking work, Elem moved over to playing the electric bass guitar. In 1956, this instrument was something of a rarity in Chicago, and Elem formed a band with the harmonica player Earl Payton, and a young Freddie King on lead guitar. The same year, King recorded his debut single for El-Bee Records. The A-side was "Country Boy", a duet with Margaret Whitfield. The B-side, "That's What You Think", was a King vocal.[6] Both tracks featured the guitar of Robert Lockwood Jr., and the bass playing of Elem. That relative success saw King installed as the bandleader, but Elem stayed mostly with King for the next eight years. During the 1950s and 1960s, Elem regularly appeared in Chicago's burgeoning club environment, mainly on the West Side. He variously backed Magic Sam, Junior Wells, Shakey Jake Harris, Jimmy Dawkins, and Luther Allison, in addition to having a brief spell in Otis Rush's backing band.

Elem had a relatively high-pitched voice, and his bass playing eschewed standard walking bass patterns, rather utilising a single-note based groove. However, as a dedicated family man, Elem was reluctant to swap his day job for the vagaries of full-time musician status.

In 1978, Elem recorded his debut album, Mojo Boogie, which was released on Storyville Records.The collection had a mixture of blues standards, with some original numbers co-written by Elem and his record producer George Paulus.Elem was backed on the recording by the guitarists Willie James Lyons and Wayne Bennett, with Fred Below on the drumsThe album was subsequently reissued in 1994 on Paulus's own St. George Records. Throughout this period Elem continued to perform locally, becoming well known for his own rendition of J. B. Lenoir's track, "The Mojo".

Elem died in February 1997 in Chicago, aged 69.