I believe the year was 1988 (unless my mind is deceiving me), and once again I was at the world’s largest free blues festival, The Chicago Blues Festival, an annual celebration of the blues held in the city’s magnificent Grant Park.  Year after year, the festival had provided me so many opportunities to witness the blues of titans of the genre, and 1988 was certainly again not to disappoint.  With blues and related genre artists including Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Son Seals, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, Etta James, Albert King, Fontella Bass, Bobby Parker, Bobby “Blue Bland”, and B.B. King, among many others on the bill, the 1988 festival was sure to be an incredible event.

But there was one particular series of performances to take place on the festival’s Front Porch Stage that I was particularly excited about.  Appearing were to be a parade of blues piano giants, including west coast master, Charles Brown, and a trio of Texas piano greats who rarely traveled outside the state; the author of 1929’s “Blue Bloomer Blues”, Whistlin’ Alex Moore, barrelhouse artist, Grey Ghost, and the multi-faceted, Dr. Hepcat.  My itinerary for a decent portion of the day was set, as I would claim a portion of the grass up-close to the Front Porch Stage so I could observe and bask in the music of these blues piano aces.  I had found blues heaven! 

Wait!  The preamble to this blues artist profile sounds suspiciously akin to one that appeared just a few weeks back on Whistlin’ Alex Moore.  Why?  Because they are the same, more or less, at least the first couple of paragraphs.  In reflection upon that day in 1988 at the Chicago Blues Festival when I saw this awe-inspiring parade of blues piano geniuses, I now feel an intense imperative to also write about Charles Brown!

How do I begin to showcase an amazing talent such as Charles Brown, a blues singer and pianist who between 1949-1952 had seven top ten hits that climbed the U.S. Billboard R&B chart, while forever placing into the lexicon of the blues, songs that have strongly stood the test of time like “Driftin’ Blues” and “Merry Christmas Baby”?  How do I even try to convey the genius of the man who virtually invented the relaxed, easy-going, and sophisticated nightclub variety of performance that greatly influenced 1940s and 1950s west coast blues?  Brown influenced such famed blues performers as Floyd Dixon, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Sam Cooke, Cecil Gant, Ivory Joe Hunter, Percy Mayfield, Johnny Ace, and Ray Charles; how does one do justice to that legacy?  A blues stylist who recorded for some of the most famous record labels of all-time, including Aladdin, King, Verve, and Ace, along with Bullseye Blues, Blueside Records, and 32 Jazz, Brown’s story deserves a front-to-back retrospective. 

Brown was born in West Texas, Texas in 1922, and while young, he discovered his appreciation for music, a fondness that allowed him to obtain classical piano music training starting at the age of 10.  After having heard the sophisticated music of jazz pianist Art Tatum, Brown was hooked on jazz and blues.  Having moved to Galveston, Texas, he graduated from the city’s high school in 1939, leading to him then eventually earning a degree in chemistry in 1942 from Prairie View AM College.  As would be expected, Brown put his education to use, and he became a chemistry teacher at George Washington Carver High School in Baytown, Texas, a city located in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area.  However, Brown did not continue a teaching career path, and subsequently found work in Arkansas in Pine Bluff as a mustard gas employee, and in Richmond, California as a shipyard electrician apprentice.  These three career moves happened in short order, because in 1943, Brown settled in Los Angeles, California.  

Like many urban areas, African Americans settled in the Los Angeles area during World War II and immediately thereafter, seeking better jobs and pay than that found in the oppressive south.  One thing that Brown found in the Los Angeles area was that the nightclubs were integrated, and as a result, the rougher edges of downhome blues gave way to a style of performing that emphasized a smoother, metropolitan approach.  Nat King Cole was a giant of the Los Angeles nightclub scene at the time, and when he departed the area due to his newfound national popularity and resulting need to tour, Brown found an opportunity to utilize his piano skills.  The nightclub sound that highlighted brushing drum work, a soft, subtle bass line, and a melodic upper-register right hand piano approach, all coupled with silky vocals, was very appealing to Brown, and upon Cole’s exit from Los Angeles, he joined forces with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers.  This was to be the turning point toward and upward musical career trajectory for Brown. 

In 1945, the group, having signed with Exclusive Records, recorded and released “Driftin’ Blues”, a major hit that dominated the charts for the better part of six months; it was a smash hit.  Out front on the song, Brown’s oh-so-smooth vocals and honied piano work held great appeal to the record buying public.  Over the course of the ensuing three-year period through 1948, now on the Aladdin label, Brown and the group scored three more huge sensations with the releases of “New Orleans Blues”, the immensely popular and timeless “Merry Christmas Baby”, and “More Than You Know”.  The Southern California blues scene was alive with the velvety tones of the group and Brown, and the famed Central Avenue music landscape in Los Angeles was alive and highly-inspired by this new form of sweet blues.

The late 1940s saw a shift in musical tastes, with a demand for more blues, one that originated with Caucasian teenagers in the southern U.S., one that made its way both north and west, and was one that was favorable to Brown.  The softer singing and more laidback musical feel was being espoused not only by Brown, but by the great blues guitarist and singer T-Bone Walker, and celebrated blues pianist and vocalist Amos Milburn.  And, much like the music of Louis Jordan, Roy Brown, and Wynonie Harris, they were beginning to incorporate saxophones into their bands, while also utilizing musical charts as part of their performances. 

In 1948, Brown made the decision to leave The Three Blazers, and he established a group with bassist Eddie Williams, and guitarist Charles Norris.  Brown signed a new contract with Aladdin Records, found virtually instantaneous success in 1949 with two fine tunes, “Get Yourself Another Fool” and “Trouble Blues”.  In fact, “Trouble Blues” stayed atop the charts for a total of 15 weeks during the Summer of 1949, the prime time for music listening.  Brown’s group continued to record steadily, pumping-out three additional singles before 1951’s smash hit “Black Night” hit the charts at #1 for an impressive 14-week stint. 

Also in 1951, Brown’s final hit for quite some time, “Hard Times”, was released, though his high-riding success was about to be interrupted.  Brown’s smooth musical approach, the very thing that launched his triumphs, was falling out of favor as the brasher sounds of rock-n-roll became preferred.  Brown began to somewhat disappear from national prominence, though blues artists such as John Lee Hooker, Lowell Fulson, and others covered his music.  The insistent splash of rock-n-roll was just too much to sustain Brown’s musical trajectory, though his core audience remained faithful. 

It would be another nine years before Brown would again find chart success, this time with “Please Come Home For Christmas”, a tune he cut for Cincinnati’s King Records label.  To this day, “Please Come Home For Christmas” is an annual holiday favorite, and by 1968 the record had sold over one million copies, earning it gold record status.  Brown also recorded a couple of full-length albums for Mainstream Records in 1960. 

Brown continued to perform, and due to a regular series of shows at New York City’s Tramps nightclub where he had Billy Butler (of Honky Tonk” renown) on guitar, he was offered the opportunity to record an album for Blueside Records, an endeavor that was finished in a short three-day period.  Though Blueside Records folded, Alligator Records reissued the album entitled “One More For The Road” in 1989. 

Moving back just one year, in 1988, Brown received vast media coverage, more than he had in many years, for an appearance on PBS’s special, That Rhythm…That Blues, along with “The Queen Of R&B” Ruth Brown.  The show was aired on a national basis in the U.S.  Brown’s story was told via footage from a nightclub show, from old photographs, and a duet with Brown.  It was a positive jolt for his career.            

Brown continued to spend much of his time touring and recording.  His long, storied career got another lift in the early part of the 1990s when guitarist Danny Caron undertook his management, and Brown began to record and tour more.  It was also during this period that native Los Angeleno and accomplished singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt began to champion Brown, having him star as the opening act on one of her tours.  This introduced Brown to an entirely new generation of music fans. 

Brown received Grammy nominations in 1991 for Best Traditional Blues Album for “All My Life”, in 1992 for “Someone To Love”, and in 1995 for “Charles Brown’s Cool Christmas Blues”. 

In 1996, Brown was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame.  In 1997, Brown received the lofty National Heritage Fellowship which is annual bestowed by the National Endowment For The Arts.  1999 saw Brown inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.   

And here is an astounding fact: Brown was nominated a staggering 17 times for a coveted Blues Music Award, in various classifications, and was a winner on three occasions. 

Brown passed in 1999 in Oakland, California. 

The photo below is one I was fortunate to snap just as Brown was surveying the crowd at the 1988 Chicago Blues Festival.  He caught me focusing my camera, and it seemed as if he gave me a few seconds to ensure I got the photo I wanted.  Brown’s performance that day was classy, and his brand of blues played very well to a crowd that was normally more used to a rougher blues style.  All these years later, Brown’s set that June day still makes me feel delighted that I was able to see and hear a true legend up close.  I will never forget the experience.