Mike is joined by Dave Specter on guitar, Roosevelt Purifoy on Hammond B3 organ, Larry Williams on bass and Cleo Cole on drums.
BLUES BYTES
| What’s New |
January 2024
Delmark is making good use of the live show that featured the set by Sheryl Youngblood, with guitarist Mike Wheeler also leading the same band and putting down enough material for an upcoming album of his own. Wheeler was a blues cat that I was late in discovering, but since finding his past Delmark albums I’ve become a big fan.
We now have a single to keep us satisfied until his album comes out, with Wheeler and the band doing a killer six-and-a-half minute version of John Lee Hooker’s “Serve Me Right To Suffer.” Wheeler’s rich voice suits the song and he really, really smokes on guitar, nimbly managing his fingers over the fretboard. We also get more hot piano work from Purifoy.
If these two singles are indicative of what’s ahead, it’s going to be a great year for Delmark Records.
— Bill Mitchell
http://www.bluenight.com/BluesBytes/wn0124.html
BLUES.GR (Greece)
KEEP THE BLUES ALIVE
Q&A with the ambassador of Chicago blues music Mike Wheeler – a heartfelt tribute to his mentor, Jimmy Johnson
“I feel that music should make you dance, think and also be aware of what’s going on around you and all over the world. Be willing to accept other people perspectives.”
Mike Wheeler: Chicago Blues Hall of Famer
Mike Wheeler has a vast knowledge of music and a voice that’s reminiscent of the late Sam Cooke. He can sing and play everything so well that you may forget what the original record even sounds like. From Jazz to Rock, from popular music to Top 40, he slides in and out of musical genres with sophistication, ease and indulgence. Mike Wheeler is a brilliant staple in the Chicago blues community, playing and writing songs for a variety of Chicago artists including, Nellie Tiger Travis, Peaches Staten, Sam Cockrell, Demetria Taylor, Big Ray & Cadillac Dave. Mike was a well known member of Big James &The Chicago Playboys, a notable band in Chicago and recorded five albums with the group. He has travelled the world as an ambassador for Chicago blues music. He’s been to Monaco, France, Switzerland, Spain and Belgium, just to name a few. He’s also shared the stage with the most elite musicians the world has known, including Willie Kent, Koko Taylor, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, George Benson, Jimmy Johnson and Shemekia Copeland. Mike was inducted in the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame in 2014.
(Mike Wheeler is a brilliant staple in the Chicago blues community / Photo by Casey Mitchell)
Mike Wheeler & The Delmark All-Stars, new album titled “Serves Me Right To Suffer” (2024) – a heartfelt tribute to Mike’s former mentor and hero and bandleader, the late, great legendary Jimmy Johnson! “Serves Me Right To Suffer”, was written by John Lee Hooker and recorded by many artists including the late Jimmy Johnson. Here it’s performed and recorded live by Chicago blues guitar star Mike Wheeler. The tune was recorded by Mike and the Delmark All-Star Band during the label’s 70th anniversary celebration at Space, Evanston, IL on September 20, 2023 and features stellar guitar solos by Mike Wheeler and Dave Specter. Recorded as a Tribute to the late Jimmy Johnson. Mike is joined by Dave Specter on guitar, Roosevelt Purifoy on Hammond B3 organ, Larry Williams on bass and Cleo Cole on drums. Live performance produced by Elbio Barilari – Mixed by Harry Brotman & Julia A. Miller at Delmark Records – Mastered by Harry Brotman at Harry Brotman Musical Services.
Interview by Michael Limnios Special Thanks: Delmark Records & Kevin Johnson
How has the music influenced your views of the world? What does the blues mean to you?
Music has influenced my views of the world by giving me a perspective of what’s going on everywhere.
For me the blues is everyday life. The trials and tribulations of what we all go through.
How do you describe your sound and songbook? What’s the balance in music between technique and soul?
I describe my sound and songbook as a combination of blues, soul and r&b. I think the balance between technique and soul should be 50/50 if possible. You can practice technique but if you’re not playing or singing from your heart the people won’t feel it.
Why do you think that Chicago Blues & Delmark Records continues to generate such a devoted following?
The history of Delmark Records has a lot to do with it. A lot of legendary musicians have recorded there. The new owners are musicians also and they’re keeping the tradition going with new fresh ideas.
“I mostly miss the players. They were teachers who taught by example. Jimmy Johnson, Eddie Shaw, Willie Kent, Lonnie Brooks, Otis Rush, Magic Slim and Koko Taylor just to name a few. To hear the records and then see and hear them perform live. I miss that. My hope are that the younger generation of all races will embrace this music. No fears!” (Photo: Mike Wheeler & Jimmy Johnson, Chicago 2013)
Are there any specific memories or highlights of your career that you would like to tell us about?!
One highlight of my career was sharing the stage with BB King, Buddy Guy, George Benson and Jimmy Johnson at Legends one night. They jammed together for over an hour. It was a great night!
What do you miss most nowadays from the blues of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?
I mostly miss the players. They were teachers who taught by example. Jimmy Johnson, Eddie Shaw, Willie Kent, Lonnie Brooks, Otis Rush, Magic Slim and Koko Taylor just to name a few. To hear the records and then see and hear them perform live. I miss that. My hope are that the younger generation of all races will embrace this music. No fears!
What is the impact of music on the socio-cultural implications? How do you want the music to affect people?
I feel that music should make you dance, think and also be aware of what’s going on around you and all over the world. Be willing to accept other people perspectives.
What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?
My mentor Jimmy Johnson taught me two important lessons that I live by:
- Be kind
- Take your job seriously
What are you doing to keep your music relevant today, to develop it and present it to the new generation?
I’m mostly just being myself and trying to write songs that I like and hopefully the younger generation can understand and accept.
(Mike Wheeler / Photo by Andrew Olifirenko)
https://blues.gr/profiles/blogs/q-a-with-ambassador-of-chicago-blues-music-mike-wheeler-a-heartfe
CULTURA BLUES (Mexico)
Mike Wheeler – Serves Me Right To Suffer
Chapter 45: Mike Wheeler & the Delmark All-Stars – Serves Me Right To Suffer (digital single)
“Serves Me Right To Suffer” was written by John Lee Hooker and recorded by many artists, including Jimmy Johnson. Here it is performed and recorded live by Chicago blues guitar star Mike Wheeler. The tune was recorded by the Mike and Delmark All-Star Band during the label’s 70th anniversary celebration at the Space, located in Evanston, IL, on September 20, 2023, and features spectacular guitar solos by Mike Wheeler and Dave Specter. The song was recorded as a tribute to Jimmy Johnson.
The musicians on the recording are: Mike Wheeler: vocals and guitar; Dave Specter: guitar; Roosevelt Purifoy: Hammond B3 organ; Larry Williams: bass; and Cleo Cole: drums. The song was recorded live at the Space by Jackson Hamrick. Live performance produced by Elbio Barilari. Mixed by Harry Brotman and Julia A. Miller on Delmark Records. Mastered by Harry Brotman at Harry Brotman Musical Services. Photography by Casey Mitchell. Graphic design by Elbio Barilari.
I have a brief history of seeing Mike Wheeler performances in Chicago. It was the first band I saw play in the Windy City, precisely at Buddy Guy’s Leyends in June 2019. That same year I enjoyed it again within the framework of the festival at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. And then, again on that stage, both within the framework of the Festival in 2022; as in a very successful performance accompanying Demetria Taylor in 2023.
BLUESTOWN MUSIC (The Netherlands)
“Serves Me Right To Suffer”, was written by John Lee Hooker and recorded by many artists including the late Jimmy Johnson.
Here it’s performed and recorded live by Chicago blues guitar star Mike Wheeler. The tune was recorded by Mike and the Delmark All-Star Band during the label’s 70th anniversary celebration at Space, Evanston, IL on September 20, 2023 and features stellar guitar solos by Mike Wheeler and Dave Specter. Recorded as a Tribute to the late, great Jimmy Johnson.
Website: https://www.mikewheelerband.com/
Mike Wheeler, vocals
Dave Specter & Mike Wheeler, guitars
Roosevelt Purifoy, Hammond B3 organ
Larry Williams, bass
Cleo Cole, drums
SENTIR EL BLUES TIME ! (FEEL THE BLUES) (Spain)
MIKE WHEELER & THE DELMARK ALL STARS * SERVES ME RIGHT TO SUFFER * SINGLE
Mike Wheeler & The Delmark All-Stars – Serves Me Right To Suffer
(John Lee Hooker, Arc Music Inc, BMI)
Mike Wheeler, vocals
Dave Specter & Mike Wheeler, guitars
Roosevelt Purifoy, Hammond B3 organ
Larry Williams, bass
Cleo Cole, drums
“Serves Me Right To Suffer”, was written by John Lee Hooker and recorded by many artists including the late Jimmy Johnson. Here it’s performed and recorded live by Chicago blues guitar star Mike Wheeler. The tune was recorded by Mike and the Delmark All-Star Band during the label’s 70th anniversary celebration at Space, Evanston, IL on September 20, 2023 and features stellar guitar solos by Mike Wheeler and Dave Specter. Recorded as a Tribute to the late, great Jimmy Johnson.
https://sentirelblues.blogspot.com/2024/01/blog-post_17.html
CURT’S BLUES
New Delmark Records Singles Available For Download
New dynamic singles for Sheryl Youngblood (“Every Day Of Your Life”) and Mike Wheeler (“Serves Me Right To Suffer”) are now available at the Delmark Records web site (link below).
As many of you know, Delmark Records celebrated its 70th anniversary last year in 2023, with multiple tribute shows with the Delmark All-Stars, including a very special show that was recorded live at SPACE in Evanston on September 20, 2023.
These two songs were from that memorable evening, and both are heartfelt tributes to the late, great Chicago legendary blues hero, Jimmy Johnson, who passed away in 2022.
You want these in your music collection!
DELMARK RECORDS – Blues & Jazz since 1953
KEYS & CHORDS (Belgium)
MIKE WHEELER & THE DELMARK ALL-STAR BAND RELEASES NEW SINGLE ‘SERVES ME RIGHT TO SUFFER’
23/1/2024
“Serves Me Right To Suffer”, was written by John Lee Hooker and recorded by many artists including the late Jimmy Johnson.
Here it’s performed and recorded live by Chicago blues guitar star Mike Wheeler. The tune was recorded by Mike and the Delmark All-Star Band during the label’s 70th anniversary celebration at Space, Evanston, IL on September 20, 2023 and features stellar guitar solos by Mike Wheeler and Dave Specter. Recorded as a Tribute to the late, great Jimmy Johnson.
Mike Wheeler, vocals
Dave Specter & Mike Wheeler, guitars
Roosevelt Purifoy, Hammond B3 organ
Larry Williams, bass
Cleo Cole, drums
Website: https://www.mikewheelerband.com/
BLUES 21 (Spain)
FEATURED SINGLES
Mike Wheeler & The Delmark All Stars (USA)
“Serves Me Right To Suffer” – January 2024
Label : Delmark Records
Musicians:
Mike Wheeler, – vocals
Dave Specter – guitar
Mike Wheeler – guitar
Roosevelt Purifoy – Hammond B3 organ
Larry Williams – bass
Cleo Cole – drums
Serves Me Right To Suffer – Mike Wheeler
https://www.blues21.com/featured-singles
PROFESSOR JOHN’S BLUES REVIEWS
Delmark Singles ~ ~ Mike Wheeler and Sheryl Youngblood
Trying to get caught up on all the great CDs and downloads that came across my desk during the holidays. I’m afraid I came down with “goofoffitis” and didn’t get much done. Oh well, chalk it down to learning what not to do for next year. All I can say is Santa Blues was very busy spreading blues music far and wide.
There are two Delmark singles that slipped past me during this time, and I want to correct that mistake right now. The first is a live recording of Mike Wheeler taking on John Lee Hooker’s Serves Me Right To Suffer. This one has been covered by a lot of different artists, but Wheeler has found a way to keep it alive and fresh. A couple of reasons for that are stellar guitar work by Dave Specter and some amazing keyboards provided by Roosevelt Purifoy.
Whoever named the backing musicians the “Delmark All-Star Band” Certainly knew what they were talking about as this is one of the tightest groups I’ve heard in a long time. Wheeler was also on guitar, Larry Williams played bass, and Cleo Cole was on drums. The two of them gave Wheeler such a deep pocket for his vocals that it was a pleasure to hear him sing. The entire performance was recorded during the label’s 70th anniversary celebration.
It had to be a helluva show.
Wheeler’s voice is versatile and emotive and gives a great performance. Check this one out on your streaming services and hope that Delmark will put out a full album with these performances.The second single is Sheryl Youngblood performing Every Day of Your Life, which was also recorded at Delmark’s 70th anniversary celebration. The same instrumental lineup delivered fabulous backing with Wheeler and Specter trading breaks and Purifoy adding his touches to the song.
Both songs were dedicated to the memory of Jimmy Johnson.
Both of these singles belong in any Chicago style blues lover’s collection. And take to heart the message that you should live every day of your life ’cause one day it will come to pass.
Until then, listen to great music. Like these two singles!
https://professorjohnnyp.substack.com/p/delmark-singles-mike-wheeler-and
IL POPOLO DEL BLUES (Italy)
Delmark Records 70th Anniversary
5 FEBRUARY 2024 by
Sheryl Youngblood & The Delmark All-Stars – Every Day Of Life (Single)
Mike Wheeler & The Delmark All-Stars – Serves Me Right To Suffer (Single)
DELMARK RECORDS SHOP
https://www.facebook.com/DelmarkRecords
https://sheryyoungbloodband.com/
https://www.mikewheelerband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/mikewheelerband
Bob Koester (from Wichita, Kansas), has been passionate about music, especially jazz, since he was a child, listening to it on the radio. Already as a teenager he began buying records and later seeing concerts in Kansas City clubs. In 1953 he moved to St. Louis to study at college. It is in this city that the twenty-year-old Koester, increasingly motivated, begins to lay the foundations for what will become his historic activities, all linked by a common denominator, the deep passion for black American music. In St. Louis, he began selling records in his dorm, frequented jazz clubs, made acquaintances, including a certain Ron Fister, with whom he opened a record store, K&F Sales, later changed to Blue Note Records Shop . The alliance between the two has little life, Bob Koester continues the business by settling in another shop located on the corner of Delmar Street, where he also takes his first steps as a record producer, recording a local jazz group, the Windy City Six, publishing it under the imprint, Delmar. He also has skills as a talent scout, finding bluesmen who live in St. Louis such as Speckled Red, JD Short, Big Joe Williams. In 1958 he moved to Chicago, a city that had become the capital of African-American musical culture, due to a concentration of stylistic situations, from gospel to blues, from jazz to doo-wop, from rock’n’roll, to soul and r&b; of record labels, Chess, Cobra, Vee-Jay, Delmark of course, plus some more home-based realities; and clubs, many, from the north side to the west side, to the south side. Koester purchased Seymour’s Jazz Mart, immediately changing the name to Jazz Record Mart, adding the K to the Delmar name and establishing the label’s headquarters in the basement of the record store. Throughout his long activity, he has always been an observant person of his passion between jazz and blues, publishing immovable recording pearls in the history, not only of black music. Citing some of them becomes embarrassing to the detriment of others, but…Hoodoo Man Blues, by harmonica player Junior Wells, with Buddy Guy guitar, Jack Myers bass, Bill Warren drums, and…West Side Soul, by Magic Sam, remain two very precious pearls! Well past the threshold of eighty years, in 2018 Koester retired to private life, which unfortunately lasted only three years having passed away in 2021, selling the Delmark brand to Julia A Miller (President/CEO) and Elbio Barilari (Artistic Director) . The two partners continue to keep a piece of music history alive, and while waiting for interesting news, last year they celebrated the seventieth anniversary of the oldest independent record label, with an anthology composed of blues performed by: Junior Wells and Buddy Guy, Magic Sam, Otis Rush, Dinah Washington, T-Bone Walker, Little Walter and Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, Jimmy Johnson; and a concert held in September last year at the Space in Evanston (Illinois), from where these two singles were also taken,
Respecting the issue dates, we start from a new addition to the Delmark house, Sheryl Youngblood, sings, plays the drums and keyboards, all learned in the family, her mother was a gospel singer and played the piano, while her brother played the drums. A child prodigy, therefore, who grew up with sacred music until at a young age she formed the first all-female band and broadened her musical vision towards the blues, passing from an experience with doo-wop with the Chicagoans, The Spaniels, to then form a new female rhythm & blues and funk group. While waiting for a whole album, here is a live performance with, Every Day Of Life, by the highly esteemed bluesman, Jimmy Johnson (he was also a Delmark artist), where we can listen to all the interpretative energy of Sheryl Youngblood.
The second single is from Chicago born, raised and based bluesman Mike Wheeler. He has three albums under his belt, two of which for Delmark, but he has always played the guitar more for others in albums and concerts, for blueswoman, bluesman, and various groups, and the confirmation is that he is also part of the All-Stars , who accompanied Youngblood, together with the other guitarist, Dave Specter, Roosevelt Purifoy Hammond, Larry Williams bass, Cleo Cole drums. The same musicians are also alongside a convincing Mike Wheeler, now in the role of leader, in the revisitation, in full Chicago blues climate, of, Serves Me Right To Suffer, by John Lee Hooker, taken up among many also by Jimmy Johnson, deceased on January 31, 2022. These two singles are a tribute to him. We wish Delmark another long life!
Silvano Brambilla
http://www.ilpopolodelblues.com/wp/2024/02/delmark-records-70-anniversario/
BLUES MAGAZINE (The Netherlands)
Listen to: Mike Wheeler – ‘Serves Me Right To Suffer’
22 januari 2024|Muziek|0 Reacties
‘Serves Me Right To Suffer’ is een nummer geschreven door John Lee Hooker en opgenomen door vele artiesten, waaronder wijlen Jimmy Johnson
In deze live uitvoering van ‘Serves Me Right To Suffer horen Chicago bluesgitaarster Mike Wheeler en de Delmark All-Star Band. Het nummer is ter ere van de viering van het 70-jarig jubileum van het Delmark label opgenomen in Space, Evanston, Illinois op 20 september 2023
Het is een oprecht eerbetoon van Mike aan zijn voormalige mentor en bandleider, de in 2022 overleden legendarische Jimmy Johnson!. Het bevat geweldige gitaarsolo’s van Mike Wheeler. Mike Wheeler wordt in dit nummer bijgestaan door Dave Spectre op gitaar, Roosevelt Purifoy op Hammond B3 orgel, Larry Williams op bas en Cleo Cole op drums
THE ALTERNATE ROOT Magazine
The Alt Root Top Ten For The Week
The Alt Root Top Ten For February 7, 2024
05
Serves Me Right to Suffer – Mike Wheeler and The Delmark Allstars (single available on Delmark Records)
Listen and buy “Serves Me Right to Suffer” by Mike Wheeler and The Delmark Allstars from AMAZON
Visit the Mike Wheeler website for more band and purchase information
Serves Me Right To Suffer – ‘Mike Wheeler and the Delmark
http://www.thealternateroot.com/topten02072024-303712.html
SOUL EXPRESS Magazine (FINLAND)
BLUES ACCORDING TO MIKE AND SHERYL
I hope that in our long line of features on soul music you now allow a small digression simply because Chicago’s Delmark Records celebrated its 70th anniversary last year and, in the afterglow, they now have released two more blues singles by Mike Wheeler and Sheryl Youngblood. These two singles have one link in common, one unifying person, a renowned blues guitarist and singer named Jimmy Johnson, who passed away in Harvey Illinois in January 2022 at the age of 93. He was Syl Johnson’s brother.Mike’s song is a tribute to Jimmy, and Cheryl’s song was composed by Jimmy.
MIKE WHEELER
The 62-year-old Mike Wheeler (https://www.mikewheelerband.com) is a guitarist/singer/songwriter out of Chicago and during his close to 40-year career he has played and performed with Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Nellie Tiger Travis, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Shemekia Copeland and, of course, Jimmy Johnson – just to name a few. So far, he has released three albums, and two of them – Self Made Man (2012) and Turn Up!! (2016) – have come out on Delmark. Mike was inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame in 2014.
Mike’s recording of Serves Me Right to Suffer is a speeded-up and vigorous version of a song that Percy Mayfield originally recorded in 1953 – but was released only eleven years later on Tangerine – under the title of Memory Pain, and among those many artists that have since covered it there are John Lee Hooker in 1965 and, of course, Jimmy Johnson in 1978. Mike’s dynamic interpretation was recorded during Delmark’s 70th anniversary celebration at the Evanston Space in Illinois, in September 2023.
With the running time close to 7 minutes, this fast-paced jam includes lengthy guitar and piano solos. In addition to Mike, Dave Specter is on guitar, Roosevelt Purifoy on keys, Larry Williams on bass and Cleo Cole on drums. Although the players here are called the Delmark All-Star Band, both Larry and Cleo are long-standing members of the Mike Wheeler Band.
(acknowledgements to Kevin Johnson)
© Heikki Suosalo
https://www.soulexpress.net/delmarkblues.htm
ABS BLUES MAGAZINE (France)
Mike Wheeler
& the Delmark All-Stars
Serve Me Right To Suffer
Delmark 880-8 (Digital Single) – www.delmark.com
Here is a release available for download recorded in the Space club in Evanston, during the evening celebrating the 70th anniversary of the famous Chicago label, last September. The excellent guitarist Mike Wheeler, who made his debut alongside pianist Lovie Lee, pays here a wonderful tribute to the late Jimmy Johnson, but also to the creator of Serves Me Right To Suffer, namely John Lee Hooker. He is admirably supported in his endeavor by Dave Specter on guitar, Roosevelt Purifoy on keyboards, while Larry Williams is on bass and Cleo Cole behind the drums. This formidable and dynamic team gives their best to properly salute the unique music and style of “Bar Room Preacher”. This nugget is also available on streaming platforms. – Jean-Luc Vabres
