Howlin' for Hubert

able to get together and jam is when somebody dies, because everybody's

always out there doing their own thing. We should do it more often."

As the only living member of Howlin' Wolf's original Chicago-based band,

Jody Williams knows exactly what he's talking about.

"I was in Paris when I got the call about Hubert passing. It was a Sunday

morning. I flew back to the States the next day."

Ironically, Howlin' For Hubert, the memorial concert celebrating the musical

legacy of Hubert Sumlin at the Apollo Theater in mid-February, was

originally planned to a be a celebration of his 80th birthday (Sumlin turned

80 on Nov. 16).

"We started putting this together over a year ago," said Steve Jordan,

musical director and co-producer of the show, as well as drummer for the

house band. "It took a while to put this together because we had to find a

date that worked with everyone's schedule. Hubert knew who had confirmed and

was very excited. He had no plans of performing. I remember him saying, 'I

just want to sit back, watch and eat cake.'"

The list of confirmed acts is a veritable Who's Who of blues and rock: Keith

Richards, Eric Clapton, Todd Park Mohr, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, James Cotton,

Shemekia Copeland, Buddy Guy, David Johansen, Keb' Mo', Robert Randolph,

Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, among others.

"These were all his friends. He knew everyone involved," Jordan said.

Hugh Southard, Sumlin's agent for the last 14 years of his life, credits

Jordan for putting it all together.

"He organized it all, and everyone was excited to be a part of it," he said.

"Hubie really wanted Clapton to be there. This is the only confirmed

appearance for Eric Clapton this year, and he's flying out to do it on his

own dime. That meant a lot to Hubie. He was telling Toni Ann (Sumlin's

manager), 'I told you my boy would come through for me.'"

The Hubert Sumlin story began in Greenwood, where Sumlin was born in 1931,

and continued in Hughes, Ark., where he was raised. His mother scraped up

the money to buy his first guitar when he was 8 years old; a chance meeting

with James Cotton in the early '50s would change Sumlin's life forever.

"I was playing a show in Arkansas. And my guitar player didn't show up,"

Cotton said. "The club owner told me he knew someone who played guitar and

introduced me to Hubert. Hubert already knew all of my songs from listening

to my radio show, so he filled in."

Cotton, who was only 15 and didn't have a driver's license, was so impressed

that he drove to Sumlin's house a few weeks later and offered him a job

playing full-time.

"I knocked on the door and asked Hubert's mother if he could come and play

with me. Now, she was a sanctified lady and looked at the blues as devil's

music. She said he could go, but only if I brought him back every Wednesday

so she could look at him and make sure he was OK. That was 61 years ago.

Never did find out why she chose Wednesday."

Hubert played in Cotton's band for three years before making the move that

would make him a part of music history.

"We opened for (Howlin') Wolf at the Casablanca in Arkansas," Cotton said.

"Wolf knew Hubert could play, 'cause he'd heard him on my radio show. But

the radio show was just 15 minutes; this was an hour-and-a-half. Hubert was

nervous because Wolf had the bigger band. I told him, 'We really got to play

tonight.'"

Sumlin, no doubt, made an impression on Wolf, who asked Sumlin to join his

band in 1954.

"Hubert was shy and didn't want to go, but we were poor. I told him he had

to go, because Wolf could pay him more than I could," he said.

When Sumlin arrived in Chicago, he shared guitar duties with Jody Williams.

"We lived together in an apartment on the corner of 46th and Greenwood,"

Williams said. "One evening, we stopped at a liquor store so I could get

some cigarettes. I got my cigarettes, and Hubert wanted a half-pint of

something. The bartender came from behind the counter, grabbed Hubert by the

arm and threw him out. Funny thing is, I was 19 at the time, and Hubert was

three years older than me. He always looked younger than he was, though,

even near the end."

After Williams left the band in 1955, Sumlin was Wolf's primary guitarist

and an integral part of the creation of the legendary Howlin' Wolf sound.

Between 1954 and 1976, Sumlin played on a number of songs that would become

blues standards, including "Wang Dang Doodle," "Shake for Me," "Goin' Down

Slow" and "Killing Floor," which according to Todd Park Mohr (Big Head Todd

and the Monsters), is the definitive Sumlin riff.

"That's the one. It had a profound impact on my playing," Mohr said.

"Listening to Hubert really helped me develop what I do with the fingers on

my right hand a lot more."

Hubert began his solo career in 1980, touring regularly but only releasing a

handful of albums. According to Williams, Sumlin had a harder time fronting

his own band than some of his contemporaries because he wasn't used to

singing. While his quiet and somewhat whispered vocals are the antithesis of

Howlin' Wolf, his guitar playing remained strong and confident throughout.

Robert Randolph met and played with Hubert for the first time on the

Experience Hendrix tour in 2007.

"I really appreciated his soulful playing, which is something a lot of

people forget," he said. "Some people get caught up in learning this lick or

that, but he wasn't concerned on playing fast or fancy like some of us

younger players. He just played from the soul, and the crowd loved it."

Sumlin was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2002 and underwent lung removal

surgery in 2004. Despite this, he continued to record and perform. He

released "About Them Shoes" in 2004 and recorded an album with Jordan in

2006 that has yet to be released. In addition to making his rounds at blues

festivals, he spent a portion of 2011 on tour with Big Head Todd & the

Monsters as part of its Big Head Blues Club/Robert Johnson Centennial Tour.

"The last time I saw him was on the last day of the tour," Mohr said. "We

were planning on making a record together. I was already getting

arrangements together for it."

"He played with me at Yoshi's in Oakland last year," Cotton said. "It was

for my birthday. Fourth of July weekend. He was real sick, and he was

self-conscious about going out there on the bandstand with his oxygen tank.

I told him people wouldn't care. He went out there and played with his heart

and soul. Two sets."

Randolph remembers similar moments on the bus with Sumlin after shows on the

Experience Hendrix tour. "He would run and jump around and play and sing,

and then afterward, he would be sitting there with his oxygen tank on. One

time, he looks at me and says, 'Robert, one day you gonna be old like me.

Just enjoy yourself and keep on playing.' And he did. He played until he

left the earth. Not many people can do what they love to do most until they

die."

Sumlin died Dec. 4, in a hospital in Wayne, N.J., of heart failure, mere

months before his birthday celebration was to take place. As a testament to

his influence, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards paid Sumlin's funeral costs.

Regarding their donation, manager Southard said, "We had money coming in

from the Blues Foundation and from MusiCares, but once Mick and Keith got

involved, we sent all of the money back. That's how much Hubie meant to

people. He was one of my favorite people on the planet."

The last time Cotton saw him was in Helena, Ark. "We were both playing the

King Biscuit Festival. We had breakfast together the next morning. He was my

best friend. We were brothers. I put a harp in his casket before they buried

him."

Mohr performed a song he wrote about Sumlin's life at his funeral called

"Hubert Sumlin Memorial Tribute." The song can be found on YouTube.

Howlin' For Hubert took place on Feb. 24, as a tribute to the life and

legacy of Hubert Sumlin. Money raised from the show will go to the Jazz

Foundation of America. The JFA provides financial assistance to elderly jazz

and blues musicians, with a particular focus on medical, housing and legal

matters. Despite his contributions and influence, Sumlin was broke when he

died. The JFA will use the money raised to create a fund in Hubert's honor.

Pull out quote:

"I knocked on the door and asked Hubert's mother if he could come and play

with me. Now, she was a sanctified lady and looked at the blues as devil's

music. She said he could go, but only if I brought him back every Wednesday

so she could look at him and make sure he was OK. That was 61 years ago.

Never did find out why she chose Wednesday."