BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
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Richard Duran aka Lynwood Slim passed away on the morning of August 4th, 2014. He was just a couple of weeks shy of his 61st birthday. He was a marvelous, yet somewhat underrated, harmonica player and flautist. He was a highly sought after and accomplished producer. He was also one of the greatest blues singers of his generation. He had soul, he had swing and he had swagger. Slim was the embodiment of West Coast cool.
Slim could sing anything and nail it. He knocked everything out of the park including material from Duke Ellington to Rosco Gordon, Clifton Chenier to Lowman Pauling and Bo Diddly to Wynonie Harris. He made everything work in a big way. He told me once that the voice is the ultimate musical instrument. That makes Slim the ultimate musician. He had a great instrument and more importantly he knew how to use it. Slim sang with rhythm and with a relaxed, self assured confidence. He understood how to sing behind the beat. He also sang with the most elusive of commodities, style.
The man from Lynwood, California, traveled the world bringing his blues to appreciative audiences thirsty for this great American music.
Slim was as responsible as anyone in opening up the talent laden European blues market to American audiences. Starting in the early 90’ and culminating in his 1999 release of the album World Wide Wood, Slim shared his “discoveries” with his large American following.
Some years later he went to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to produce an album with the Igor Prado Band. He was scheduled to sing one song on the album. When he got there, he asked Igor which song he wanted him to record. Igor told him, “All of them.” Of course, Slim obliged and the album Brazilian Kicks, which was released on Delta Groove Music in 2010, is spectacular. It turned out to be the last studio album of his career.
Slim was not only magnanimous in the studio, he was also munificent on the bandstand. When we discussed blues music, he always reminded me that it is about song before solo. Even if it was his name on the marquee, Slim never thought of himself as the star of the show. He considered himself part of the band. He generously shared the spotlight and that is only one of the reasons he always recorded and performed live with the best musicians in the business. Like all great players he had a sense of humility about his own abilities. Slim wasn’t about show business, he was all business.
In the summer of 2010, Slim had succumbed to a variety of health maladies that nearly took his life. He had been very near death and as he told me was “ready to check out.” In the fall of 2011, he seemed to practically will himself back to life. By the spring of 2012, he made a handful of guest appearances including two guest slots in Orange County, California, with the Swedish based band of international musicians, Trickbag. On June 24th of that year he made his triumphant return to the stage at the Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa, California. At that show, I wasn’t the only one in the house who had tears streaming down my face. The voice was back.
As usual, Slim was joined by an all-star band of first call musicians which included his dear friend Kid Ramos along with saxophone man Ron Dziubla, both of whom were with Slim at the hospital this past weekend during his final hours.
Musicians give us so much in their lifetime. They also live forever in that they give us the gift of music which survives us all. Slim’s endowment to us is enormous as he has such a rich recording legacy. His album's Soul Feet, Made in America, Back to Back (with Junior Watson), Too Small to Dance (with The Big Rhythm Combo), Last Call and the aforementioned World Wide Wood and Brazilian Kicks are exceptional. He sang and played harp on each of the five “solo” albums by Kid Ramos. He made fine contributions to albums by American guitarists Alex Schultz, Nick Moss, Dave Specter and, of course, his friend Junior Watson on his simply outstanding release Long Overdue. It was on this album that Slim sang and played harp on what would become one of his signature tunes, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson’s Lonesome Train. He produced and performed on albums by Nico Duportal’s Rosebud Blue Sauce (France), The Red Wagons and Alberto Colombo (Italy), The Mighty Blue Kings (Chicago) and Knockout Greg and Blue Weather (Sweden). He also sang a live track which was recorded by his friend John Reilly at the Tiki Bar in the Spring of 2012 with the band Trickbag. That song, the old Jimmie Rogers classic, That’s Alright may be the last recording to be released in Slim’s lifetime.
He had a remarkable consistency in his choice of songs and in the execution of that material. He put the right musicians in the right place and made one great album after another. I can’t think of a bad song on any recording in which he participated. There must be a clunker out there, but none come to mind.
His legacy also lives in the worldwide influence he had on younger musicians, whose music and careers he helped to nurture. Anytime you hear a young player from Scandinavia to South America playing blues music the right way, you might take a moment to think of Lynwood Slim. In some way, directly or indirectly, Slim had a hand in the making of that music and getting that song into your soul.
The last time we spoke earlier this past summer, before the stroke that sent him to the hospital for the last time, he told me his next album would be a follow up to World Wide Wood. It is series of recordings in which Slim worked with the next generation of blues men from all over the world. He told me it would be called appropriately enough, Hard to Kill.
These past two years seemed like an improbable, yet wonderful dream, that now seems like it may have never happened. When I would get those occasional mid-afternoon phone calls over the past couple of years from Slim, I would just close the word document in which I was working and move to a more comfortable chair, because I knew the conversation wouldn’t end anytime soon. I never said, “I’m busy can I call you back?” and he never did either if I placed the call.
After his recovery in 2011, he didn’t take anything for granted and seemed to value every moment. Like so many of you who were also fortunate enough to share this gift, we would talk about old movies, old books, old records, old jazz cats, old blues musicians and old girlfriends who weren’t so old. I loved his honesty. He was a straight shooter who didn’t pull any punches. If he liked you, he let you know it. If he didn’t, I suspect you would know that as well.
I loved his sense of humor and the fact that he would laugh out loud at his own humorous asides, stories and observations. He would at mine, if I happened to have any. One of my musical heroes seemed to always make me feel special and important. I am neither, however Slim was both of these things.
Tonight, I feel like I’m riding on that Lonesome Train. At least I know that I am not traveling alone.
- David Mac
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BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
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