01. Introducing The Grinder Man and The Honeydripper
02. Mr. Sykes Blues
03. Roosevelt Sykes meets Memphis Slim in Memphis, Tennessee
04. Eagle Rock
05. Down on Beale Street, "The Midway"
06. Miss Ida B.
07. Talking about Miss Ida B.
08. Going Down Slow
09. Going to Chicago, bootlegging and other things
10. M & S Boogie
11. Talking about the "44 Blues"
12. 44 Blues
13. Improvising new Blues
14. Soft and Mellow
15. Introducing the Churning Man
16. The Churning Man
[2:32] 17. The life of Piano players in the South in the late 1930's
18. 47th Street Boogie
19. Chicago, the life in the Club, Walter Davis
20. M&O Blues
21. The KMA, hoboing and freight trains
22. Roosevelt Daddy's B
23. Lost My Boogie

Memphis Slim - vocals, piano
Roosevelt Sykes - vocals, piano

Recorded 1970, Paris, France.

Roosevelt Sykes was a major blues pianist-vocalist since the late 1920s, inspiring Memphis Slim who emerged a decade later. In 1970, they gathered in a recording studio in Paris and the results are both historic and delightful. Sykes and Slim reminisce about the old days, talk about the origin of some of their songs, and joke a bit. Utilizing two pianos, they play together (taking "M & S Boogie" as an instrumental) and alternate vocals. "Lost My Boogie" is added to the original program as a bonus track. The vocals are full of personality and wit but it is the brilliant piano playing that often takes honors. This collaboration even exceeds one's high expectations. A gem. ---Scott Yanow, Rovi

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1. Sugar Cup
2. The Last Laugh
3. The Train Is Coming (No More Baby Talk)
4. Third Degree Blues
5. Training Camp Blues
6. True Thing
7. Whole Lot Of Children
8. Yellow Yam Blues
9. You Can't Fix It Back
10. You Understand

Next time someone voices the goofball opinion that blues is simply too depressing to embrace, sit 'em down and expose 'em to a heady dose of Roosevelt Sykes. If he doesn't change their minds, nothing will. There was absolutely nothing downbeat about this roly-poly, effervescent pianist (nicknamed "Honeydripper" for his youthful prowess around the girls), whose lengthy career spanned the pre-war and postwar eras with no interruption whatsoever. Sykes' romping boogies and hilariously risqué lyrics (his double-entendre gems included "Dirty Mother for You," "Ice Cream Freezer," and "Peeping Tom") characterize his monumental contributions to the blues idiom. He was a pioneering piano pounder responsible for the seminal pieces "44 Blues," "Driving Wheel," and "Night Time Is the Right Time."

Sykes began playing while growing up in Helena. At age 15, he hit the road, developing his rowdy barrelhouse style around the blues-fertile St. Louis area. Sykes began recording in 1929 for OKeh and was signed to four different labels the next year under four different names (he was variously billed as Dobby Bragg, Willie Kelly, and Easy Papa Johnson)! Sykes joined Decca Records in 1935, where his popularity blossomed. After relocating to Chicago, Sykes inked a pact with Bluebird in 1943 and recorded prolifically for the RCA subsidiary with his combo, the Honeydrippers, scoring a pair of R&B hits in 1945 (covers of Cecil Gant's "I Wonder" and Joe Liggins' "The Honeydripper"). The following year, he scored one more national chart item for the parent Victor logo, the lowdown blues "Sunny Road." He also often toured and recorded with singer St. Louis Jimmy Oden, the originator of the classic "Going Down Slow."

In 1951, Sykes joined Chicago's United Records, cutting more fine sides over the next couple of years. A pair of Dave Bartholomew-produced 1955 dates for Imperial in New Orleans included a rollicking version of "Sweet Home Chicago" that presaged all the covers that would surface later on. A slew of albums for Bluesville, Folkways, Crown, and Delmark kept Sykes on the shelves during the '60s (a time when European tours began to take up quite a bit of the pianist's itinerary). He settled in New Orleans during the late '60s, where he remained a local treasure until his death.

Precious few pianists could boast the thundering boogie prowess of Roosevelt Sykes, and even fewer could chase away the blues with his blues as the rotund cigar-chomping 88s ace did. ---itunes.apple.com

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1. Miss Ida B. 		
2. Mislead Mother 		
3. Yes Lawd 		
4. I Hate To Be Alone 		
5. Jailbait 		
6. Lonely Day 		
7. Satellite Baby 		
8. Pocketful Of Money 		
9. She Ain't For Nobody

Musicians:
Robert Banks - Organ
Belton Evans - Drums
Leonard Gaskin - Bass
King Curtis - Sax (Tenor)
Roosevelt Sykes - Composer, Piano, Vocals

Roosevelt Sykes expertly fit his classic, down-home piano riffs and style into a fabric that also contained elements of soul, funk, and R&B. The nine-cut date, recently reissued by Original Blues Classics, included such laments as "I Hate to Be Alone," "Lonely Day," and "She Ain't for Nobody," as well as the poignant "Yes Lawd," and less weighty "Satellite Baby" and "Jailbait." Besides Sykes' alternately bemused, ironic, and inviting vocals, there's superb tenor sax support from King Curtis, Robert Banks' tasty organ, and steady, nimble bass and drum assistance by Leonard Gaskin and drummer Belton Evans. ---Ron Wynn, Rovi

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01 – Fine And Brown [00:02:59]
02 – Lucky Blues [00:02:45]
03 – Raining In My Heart [00:03:05]
04 – Heavy Heart [00:02:41]
05 – 400 Blues [00:03:08]
06 – Too Hot To Handle (Hot Boogie) [00:02:51]
07 – Tell Me True [00:03:13]
08 – Ruthie Lee [00:02:35]
09 – Something Like That [00:03:03]
10 – Security Blues [00:02:50]
11 – Boogie Sykes [00:02:34]
12 – Listen To My Song (She’s The One For Me) [00:02:25]
13 – Toy Piano Blues [00:03:04]
14 – Been Through The Mill [00:02:53]
15 – Walkin’ This Boogie [00:02:29]
16 – Come Back Baby [00:02:39]
17 – 44 Blues [00:03:11]
18 – 400 Blues-alt. [00:02:59]
19 – Fine And Brown [00:02:56]
20 – Listen To My Song (She’s The One For Me)-alt. [00:02:39]

Personnel: 
Roosevelt Sykes (vocals, piano, celesta);
John Porter (guitar); 
Remo Biondi (violin); 
Oett "Sax" Mallard (alto saxophone); 
Robert "Sax" Crowder , J.T. Brown (tenor saxophone); 
Armand Jump Jackson, Fred Below (drums).

Raining in My Heart album by Roosevelt Sykes was released Apr 16, 1995 on the Delmark label. This fine collection of Sykes's early-'50s sides for Chicago's United Records was reissued on Delmark in 2000. Raining in My Heart music CDs It contains some of the pianist's finest work with his jumping combo, the Honeydrippers (with unusual augmentation from violinist Remo Biondi on one 1952 date). "Toy Piano Blues" finds Sykes switching over to celeste, but "Too Hot to Handle," "Walking the Boogie," and "Fine and Brown" are in the customary Sykes mode Raining in My Heart songs. --- Bill Dahl, Rovi

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