Music Quiz

Test your knowledge of the Blues with this quick quiz. The ten questions cover different types of Blues, traditional and modern.  What do you know about Chess Records, Professor Longhair and Chuck Berry?

Click on the Great – You Got It.. sign to reveal the answer. Even the wrong answers might give you an interesting story!

Which ‘King of the Blues’ came from Texas?

1. Albert King.No. Albert King was born Albert Nelson in Indianola MS, the same town as BB King, and released some of his early records on the King/Federal label.
2. BB King.No. BB is the only one of the Blues Kings whose real name was King, and the young Riley B King moved from The Delta to Memphis where he was known as the Beale Street ‘Blues Boy’.
3. Earl King.No. New Orleans born Earl Silas Johnson composed songs in the mid-50s with legendary producer Dave Bartholomew under the name ‘Pearl King’. Later when Earl had some hit records of his own, they were credited to Earl King.
4. Freddie King.Correct. Known as ‘The Texas Cannonball’, Freddie was born Freddie Christian in Gilmer Texas, but when he relocated to Chicago and began recording for the King/Federal label, he adopted his mother’s maiden name to become Freddie King.
5. Little Jimmy King.No. Memphis born Manny Gales was a protegée of Albert King who changed his name to that of his ‘adopted Grandad’, also including a nod to his guitar hero Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy King‘s spectacular performance owed a lot to both his namesakes.

Bumble Bee Slim’s real name was?

1. Eddie Jones.No. With his flashy suits and matching shoes, 300ft. guitar lead, pompadour hair-do and enthralling stage presence, Eddie became a legend as ‘Guitar Slim‘.
2. Amos Easton.Correct. Amos played guitar in travelling shows before he settled in Chicago, where he met Big Bill Broonzy, Tampa Red and Memphis Minnie. Bumble Bee Slim had many hit records for Lester Melrose‘s labels in the 30s, and perhaps took his name from ‘Bumble Bee’, one of Minnie’s best known discs.
3. Morris Holt.No. Morris performed for decades on the Chicago club scene leading his band The Teardrops under the nom-de-Blues of Magic Slim, a name given to him when he played bass in his friend Magic Sam‘s band.
4. Edward P Harris.No. Ed performed all over the South as Carolina Slim, but never recorded under that name. His records were credited to Country Paul, Georgia Pine and Lazy Slim Jim.
5. Alden Bunn.No, but Alden once performed at four recording sessions in the same day in New York, all under different names! He had many hits as leader of The Larks and, singing with his wife Anna, billed as The Lovers. Alden had some good solo R&B hits under the name Tarheel Slim.

Why did Pinetop Perkins give up guitar and start playing piano?

1. He broke his legs so badly in an auto accident, and had to play sitting down.No. In fact he sometimes played piano standing up when he was young.
2. Sam Phillips needed a piano player in a hurry at a session where Pinetop was hanging out. He could tinkle the keys a little, so he volunteered and was amazed at how much he got paid!No. Although Pinetop did record his first tracks at Sam’s Memphis studio in 1953, and they were some of Sun Records‘ earliest releases.
3. Rice ‘Sonny Boy II’ Miller bet him $50 he couldn’t get a deal to record a piano track.No. Pinetop and his slide-guitar playing buddy Robert Nighthawk appeared many times on the King Biscuit Time radio show, hosted by ‘Sonny Boy II’. When Robert relocated to Chicago, Pinetop stayed in Helena to play gigs and the radio show in ‘Sonny Boy’s band, but always as a piano player. Also ‘Sonny Boy’ wouldn’t part with $50 to save his life!
4. The boogie-woogie master Pinetop Smith gave him lessons.No. Pinetop Smith, the man who popularised the infectious, up-tempo, walking-bass piano style later called boogie-woogie, was killed in 1929. One of those tracks Willie Joe Perkins recorded for Sam Phillips in 1953 was a version of Smith’s famous tune ‘Pinetop’s Boogie’ and it became so popular ‘Pinetop’ adopted the name and many people thought he had composed the number.
5. A crazy chorus girl attacked him with a knife and cut his tendons.True. Willie Joe ‘Pinetop’ Perkins was a guitarist in piano-player Willie Love‘s band, but after the attack, which cut tendons in his left arm and hand, he couldn’t handle a guitar any more so he took up piano, which he played for almost 60 years!

Which movie told the story of Leonard Chess’s record label?

1. Checkmate.No. In 2008, a film called ‘Checkmate’ was made in India, in the Marathi language, one of the 23 official Indian languages. A film of the same name, about a Detective who gets involved with a gang-boss’s daughter, was made in Britain in 1935.
2. The Story of Chess.No. There is no film of that name, but a book with that title by Horacio Cardo is an imagined re-telling of the origins of the most popular board game in the world, set in ancient India and China.
3. Southside.No. This was a 2003 boxing movie directed by Billy Hayes, the author of the book which was adapted into the multi-Oscar-winning film ‘Midnight Express’.
4. Chess: The Musical.No. It is a stage musical by Sir Tim Rice and Bjorn and Benni from Abba, loosely based on the geopolitical hoo-ha, and a spurious love-triangle, surrounding the historic World Chess Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972.
5. Cadillac Records.Correct. Taking its title from Leonard’s habit of giving Cadillacs to the artists who made him so much money, a great deal of artistic licence was used in the storyline of this bio-pic. It features some great character performances, notably Beyoncé as Etta James. 

‘Meat Head Johnson’ was the pseudonym of which great Blues pianist?

1. ‘Champion Jack’ DupreeCorrect. The ex-light-heavyweight boxing champion from New Orleans enjoyed a long career playing Blues piano in Europe, marrying a Yorkshire girl and settling there for the rest of his life. ‘Champion Jack‘ made some records under the ‘Meat Head’ name in New York after returning from duty in WWII, where he was held as a Prisoner of War in the Pacific.
2.  Ray Charles.No. Raymond Charles Robinson was born in Georgia, but when he relocated to the West-coast in the late 40s, he switched to ‘Ray Charles‘ to avoid confusion with boxing Champion Sugar Ray Robinson.
3. Memphis Slim.No. Memphis Slim was anything but a ‘Meat Head’, with his profound intelligence and suave manner. This elegant statesman of the Blues piano was Honoured by both the French and American governments.
4. Johnnie Johnson.No. Johnnie played rockin’ piano on most of Chuck Berry‘s great big hits. He was a fierce, hard-drinking character who inspired Chuck to tell him, “Johnnie, be good!” when he had been drinking. It would take a brave soul to call him ‘Meat Head’ to his face.
5. Peetie Wheatstraw.No. St. Louis pianist and singer William Bunch adopted the name ‘Peetie Wheatstraw‘ from Afro-American mythology, the evil twin of ‘Stingeroo’ in a story of the supernatural. He was also known as ‘The Devil’s Son-in-Law’ and ‘The High Sheriff of Hell’, but not ‘Meat Head’.

Big Mama Thornton was a great singer, but which instrument did she play on stage?

1. Guitar.No. But there are many great photos from that era featuring Sister Rosetta Tharpe wielding a big white Gibson.
2. Piano.No.
3. Harp.Correct. She had a great echoing tone and could wail with the best of them.
4. Banjo.No.
5. None of the above.No. She played both harp and drums when she first appeared on the Houston club scene in the early 50s.

John Grimaldi took his nom-de-Blues from which make of car?

1. Thunderbird.No. However, James ‘Thunderbird’ Davis was given his tag by his friend Guitar Slim after a drinking contest. No prizes for guessing what the drink was!
2. T-Model Ford.No. Mississippi Bluesman T-Model Ford played hypnotic juke-joint boogies like his Fat Possum label-mates Junior Kimbrough and RL Burnside.
3. Mustang.No. That was a Cowgirl called Sally!
4. Pontiac.No. Johnny Pontiac has a certain ring about it, but John chose a different General Motors brand.
5. Studebaker.Correct. John started performing as ‘Studebaker John‘ in 70s Chicago with his band The Hawks, so I guess his car was a Studebaker Hawk. John is still active on the Chicago club scene. 

Which record label released Albert King’s version of ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’.

1. Chess.No. None of the famous Blues Kings recorded for the Chess label.
2. King/Federal.No. Although King/Federal did issue several of Albert’s early records which they leased from Bobbin Records in St. Louis in the late 50s.
3. Stax.Correct. Written by MGs leader Booker T Jones and Soul singer William Bell, who both recorded for Stax, the song went on to become a Blues standard. Backed by the stupendous Stax house band The MGs and a hot horn section, it brought some Blues to Memphis, known as ‘Soulsville USA’, and made Albert a star.
4. Parrot Records.No. Albert Nelson made his recording debut for the Parrot label in 1953, cutting five tracks for them. The records were issued under the name Albert King, probably to cash in on BB‘s fame as they both came from the same Mississippi town.
5. Tomato.No. But Albert cut several albums for the New York based label near the end of his career. 

Professor Longhair’s real name was?

1. Peter Higgs.No. Professor Peter Higgs is the Nobel Prize-winning Scottish mathematician who, 60 years ago, proposed the existence of the recently discovered sub-atomic ‘Higgs Bosun’, also known as the ‘God Particle’.
2. David Evans.No. Professor Dave Evans of the University of California is an ethnomusicologist who won a Grammy for his album notes on a Charley Patton collection in 2003. Before that, at the Uni of Memphis, he directed the Music Dept’s ‘High Water’ record label that first issued the work of Junior Kimbrough, Jessie Mae Hemphill and many others. Dave also plays guitar with the Last Chance Blues Band.
3. Steve Manderson.No. Steve is better known as Professor Green, a British Rap artist and songwriter who won a MOBO Award (Music of Black Origin) in 2010 for Best Grime/Hip-Hop Act.
4. Rafael Wilczur.No. ‘Professor Wilczur’ is the title of a romantic novel by Polish writer Tadeusz Dalega-Mostowicz, which was made into a film in 1938.
5. Roy Byrd.Correct. Henry Roeland ‘Roy’ Byrd was the New Orleans pianist who most embodied the spirit of Mardi Gras. He was given his name by Caldonia Club owner Mike Tessitore when Roy refused to get a haircut after coming home from WWII, and two years of vicious Military barbering.

Which Chuck Berry tune did The Beach Boys steal for their worldwide hit ‘Surfin’ USA’?

1. Maybelline.No. This was Chuck’s first record and it became a massive breakthrough ‘crossover’ hit for his label after Leonard Chess got him to change the lyric from “Ida Red”.
2. Route 66.No. Chuck didn’t write that one. It was a Bobby Troup composition from 1946.
3. Too Much Monkey BusinessNo. This was Chuck’s 5^th single for Chess. It was also issued as the title track of an EP and appeared on Chuck’s first album.
4. You Can’t Catch Me.No. This single also featured in Chuck’s 1956 film ‘Rock, Rock, Rock’, and The Rolling Stones covered the song on their second album which was wittily entitled ‘Rolling Stones No.2’.
5. Sweet Little Sixteen.Correct. Chuck successfully sued The Beach Boys and won substantial damages. The verse melody is quite different but the ‘hook’ in the chorus is note-for-note.