Johnny Ace- The Blues Groove Bass Master!
I NEVER go out for music “cold,” to see a group I’ve never heard of, but it was my birthday and no one we know was playing that night…
My wife thought it was a better idea than just sitting home, so she drug me off to Biscuits & Blues in San Francisco to hook up with an old army buddy & his wife and see the Cathy Lemons Johnny Ace Blues Band. I was totally blown away- I could hardly think of anything else for 2 days!
We’ve been to Biscuits & Blues plenty of times to see the Reverend Billy C. Wirtz, so OK, that’s familiar. It was raining, and a week before Xmas, so the traffic was killer. But Johnny made it all worthwhile & I told him so. Cathy’s a great blues singer, and I don’t mean to discount her part in any way, but hey, I play bass so I got locked in on Johnny. Absolutely the best blues bass player I can remember ever seeing!! He’s the band leader, has great stage moves & presence, & every tune has a hell of a groove!
I went to http://www.lemonace.com the next day and found a long list of people Johnny has and does play with, and discovered we have some mutual friends/acquaintances in Tony Coleman (ex-B.B. King drummer) and Sonny Rhodes, both of who recorded at Kingsnake Records in Florida, where I first met them.
So here’s the “oddest” of the degrees of separation- and my apologies to those who don’t love this kind of stuff the way I do: Bob Greenlee, the founder of Kingsnake (who died nearly 2 years ago) was also the man who “invented” (my late friend) Root Boy Slim. In “House Band In Hell,” from Root Boy’s 4th release (1986’s “Don’t Let This Happen To You), he’s singing about the lineup in Hell- they’ve got Jimi Hendrix on lead guitar, Brian Jones on rhythm, Keith Moon & John Bonham on drums… Continuing, Root says, “Johnny Ace, you don’t know Johnny Ace, he’s pledging his love in Hell, he does 40 shows a day and he don’t get Sunday off.”
As Root said, you probably don’t know Johnny Ace. He was an R&B singer with a string of hits who died playing Russian Roulette on Xmas Eve, 1954, a week after I was born. His biggest hit, “Pledging My Love,” was released almost coterminously with his sudden death. The “new” Johnny Ace (Acerno) starts his web bio saying he’s not to be confused with the late great Johnny Ace, adding his pals gave him the nickname, he never wanted to use the name out of respect for the original Johnny Ace, but “somehow the name just stuck.”
If you’re in the SF Bay area, GO SEE HIM with the Cathy Lemons Johnny Ace Blues Band! Call me up, I’ll come if I can.
January 10th, 2006 at 10:21 am
On degrees of separation…and relation
I got familiar with “old” Johnny Ace records in the late 60s. I’d heard Bobby Bland tunes on the Duke label and figured I’d better find out who else they had on-board. JA had a real nice R’B voice, but didn’t grab and shake the house as Mr. Bland did.
About a decade later—Fall ‘77—I was at a radio studio for a late-night live set by Root Boy Slim. I’m not sure he way fully formed, but he grabbed the house and blew it up!
I’ll have to check out your “new” guy in the city; thanks for the tip.
January 10th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
Well, these degrees of separation just keep going around! The “old army buddy” I went to see Johnny with is named Bing! And Bing and I went on a tour with Slim in 1991.
Tell me more detail about the Root Boy Slim encounter. I am the Director of the Root Boy Slim Memorial Fan Club & I’d like to add your story to the catalog!
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