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Chester "Memphis Gold" chandler, Profiled in LB # 199, describes this disc as"chiltlin circuit blues," but actually it sounds more like the kind of raw-edged, delta-driven roots-blues that erupted out of Memphis and Chicago in the '50s and early '60s.
Catfish Creeper is a straight-ahead broomduster featuring some spine-tingling slide ( unfortunately the credits are vague about exactly who's playing what where); I Shoulda Known is set to a Wolfian single-chord modal vamp. My two Kcandys (sic) witty melds blues and rockabilly ideas (Jay Summerour's swirling harp accompaniment keeps things grounded throughout), while the horn-flavored title song struts and boogies like and old school Beale Street sport. Do You Still Want Me? is based on the well-known Woke Up This Morning/ Teeny Weeny Bit rhythmic and melodic pattern; I Was Born In Memphis and Squeaky Wheel feature off-center, loping patterns reminiscent of Willie Dixon's song writing style. Thoughout,though, everything sounds fresh and newly conceived-between the impeccable musicianship of all concerned and his own deep-running, life affirming enthusiasm for the music and its message. Chandler's music breathes life and meaning into virtually everything it touches.
Chandler's voice is grainy, powerful, and unerringly sure; his keening timbre makes everything he sings sound urgent and focused. The hard driving Louise Fanniemae Brown finds him coarsening his timbre a bit more than usual to evoke James Brown-a reference made explicit by the hard-funk guitar comping ( Probably from Chandler himself). Overlook a few self indulgent oddities- the brief orchestral intro to the opening cut, the clumsy segue from moody cocktail-lounge piano-jazz nooding into crunching roadhouse-rocking blues on the closing Lil' Lucy-and enjoy this disc for what it is; one of the most well executed, enjoyable, and pure-D bluesy releases to come down the pike in recent memory.- DAVID WHITEIS
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 This guy certainly has the credentials to be a real Blues Star
author: Byron Foulger (Blues & Rhythm Magazine) (U.K.)
This album was originally reviewed by Howard Rye in B&R 2000,when it was described as being on the Memphis Gold label and without a number. The 'current release' was recieved in the B&R offices with a label on the back of the jewel case indicating that Jim O`neal's Stackhouse label(See Bluesosterica.com) has taken over promotion of it with the label number Stackhouse SRC-1911. I certainly hope that the album now gets the distribution and promotion it deserves, because this is simply one heck of an album. A very strong vocalist and guitarist, Memphis Gold(alias Chester 'Chet Chandler) has a varied backing crew to assist him, including saxes, organ, harmonica, bass, drums-and another guitar. He calls his music "Sanctified Beale Street Urban Gutbucket Blues' and performed on Beale Street as a child, learning from the legendary blues and gospel guitarist Reverend Robert Wilkins (hence the inclusion of Prodigal Son). His influences are understated, in that there are no blatant comparisons to be made, but this album has a varied mixture of many 'blues' and bluesy' sounds. The main thing though is that the whole album, at the same time, sounds both traditional and modern. This is really fine blues, and if there is such styling that allows blues to go forward and remain (within reason of course) popular then surely this could - perhaps should - be it. Quite why nothing has been heard of Memphis Gold since the original'issue' of this album I don`t know, this guy certainly has the credentials to be a real blues star, mixing straight blues, gospel, funk, r&b and most anything else that is artistically good.As far as I know 'Gold' hasn`t appeared at any 'major' Euro-festival, or very often on blues festivals in his homeland, again, why I don`t know. Howard described him as a major talent, I can`t disagree with that. He also advised readers to buy the album on the basis that it would soon become a 'tomorrow`s classic'. again I can`t disagree- in other words get it while you can.
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MEMPHIS GOLD
Prodigal Son
Stackhouse Recording Company SRC-1911
(UPC 049998 191123)
Memphis Gold calls his music “Sanctified Beale Street Urban Gutbucket Blues,” and with the national release of Prodigal Son he stakes out his claim to this special realm of blues turf, which extends from his Memphis birthplace to his present home in the Washington, D.C. area. Memphis Gold (singer-guitarist-harmonica player Chester “K.D.” Chandler) performed on Beale Street as a child and learned from the legendary blues and gospel guitarist Reverend Robert Wilkins, who recorded the seminal version of Prodigal Son that the Rolling Stones once copied. Memphis Gold is joined on this CD of fresh, soulful and original blues by D.C. area musicians such as harp players Phil Wiggins and Charlie Sayles and Nighthawks drummer Pete Ragusa. Memphis Gold first released this CD on his own, to enthusiastic reviews and airplay, but with no distribution, so Stackhouse Recording Co. and City Hall Distributors are proud to bring this hidden treasure into the light.
Tracks: Come With Me, Don’t Let Her Ride, Crabcakes, Big Leg Woman, Prodigal Son, Chicken It, 3’s Tonic, Preacher Blues, Test Drive That Woman, Serves Me Rightm Melt Down Baby, Bedroom Mumba.
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Reveals A Major Talent
author: Ray Templeton
MEMPHIS GOLD: Prodigal Son Memphis Gold (60:40) Come Wit Me/ Don't Let Her Ride/ Crabcakes/ Big Leg Woman/ Prodigal Son/ Chicken It/ 3's Tonic/ Preacher Blues/ Test Drive That Woman/ Serves Me Right/ Melt Down Baby/ Bedroom Mumba Memphis Gold is Chester Chandler, born Memphis, Tennessee, 4th March, 1955. His father played bass and piano in the Church of God in Christ, and he began playing guitar in church at the age of four. Later he was mentored by Rev. Robert Wilkins. I'm not completely clear what he has been doing in the intervening period, but this is his third CD and it reveals a major talent. The notes give only a collective personnel, but as Mr. Chandler responded promptly to my e-mailed appeal for more detailed information, I can reveal that there are four basic groups involved, with overlapping personnel. Two of them, responsible for `Chicken It' and 'Preacher Blues', involve bassist Willie Hicks, who died in January 2004, with Emmit Cortrell on drums on the first and Pete Raguso making his only appearance on the second. '3's Tonic' has Don Atliff on drums, who hits a fine groove. Cortrell returns for `Test Drive' and `Serves Me Right', now with Apaulo Trinidade on bass. The remaining tracks have L. Warren Weatherspoon on drums and Ralph Oliver on bass. Joey Poppen plays second guitar wherever one is heard. The tenor sax heard on three tracks is not noted on the CD at all and I was relieved to be reassured that my ears did not deceive me that he wasn't a synthesizer effect. He is Robert Elkridge 'of the Duke Ellington Show Band'.
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Ron Weinstock
A recent post on Memphis Gold, noted the deep influence his upbringing in the Church of God in Christ had on his music. When chatting about it and the name of Utah Smith came up he launched into an a cappella Smith's iconic number "I Got Two Wings," and recalled seeing Smith perform wearing his wings. To reiterate a point I made, while Robert Wilkins showed Chester Chandler specific things on playing the guitar, Utah Smith's music is part of the musical DNA of his music as displayed on his recent albums.
When I was in New Orleans this past spring I came across (at the Louisiana Music Factory) Lynn Abbott's book on Utah Smith, "I Got Two Wings which comes with an accompanying CD that includes several versions of "Two Wings," including some previously unreleased versions and recordings by associates (Arizona Dranes, Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and his daughter, on this intriguing biographical study that I recommend enthusiastic. Additionally the CD has some wild fervent music. There is a review on amazon that is also helpful. You can get it from either www.louisianamusicfactory.com or
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A Pike Full Of Blues
A long-running blues festival returns to South Arlington.
By David Schultz, The Connection
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 |
It’ll take more than a broken back to keep local musician Memphis Gold from playing the blues.
Gold, who was born on Memphis’ famed Beale Street as Chester Chandler, is an accomplished guitarist who will be playing this weekend’s Columbia Pike Blues Festival.
Earlier this year, while working his second job as a landscaper, Gold fell out of a tree and suffered a serious spinal injury. He was hospitalized for almost three months.
But Gold, who has been playing the blues since he was twelve, never lost his love of music. The week he was released from the hospital, Gold played an impromptu concert for the nurses and patients.
"I wanted to show them how much I cared," he said. "We had a ball. I had them rocking in their wheelchairs."
GOLD is just one of the many performers who are scheduled to appear at the 13th annual Columbia Pike Blues Festival, which is being held this weekend in South Arlington.
The event has become a yearly tradition for Pike residents and those who live elsewhere in the Washington area to gather for fun, food and authentic blues music.
"It’s our best line up ever," Jim Whittaker, the director of the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, said. He said that the Columbia Pike area has taken to the idea of an annual blues festival because "They wanted something that was sort of authentic and fun and down to Earth. The blues certainly fit that."
This year’s headliners are Roomful Of Blues, a long-running ensemble that combines blues, funk, jazz and many other genres. The festival, which is being held on Walter Reed Drive just north of Columbia Pike, will also feature more than a dozen food vendors and a children’s activity area.
THE NORTHERN Virginia-based Gold will be playing one of his first post-injury gigs at this year’s festival. He describes his style of music as "sanctified, Beale Street, urban, gut-bucket blues."
The thirteenth of fourteen children, Gold has led a rich yet difficult life. He moved to the Washington area in 1992 with, as Gold recalled, "$100 and a one-way bus ticket." He was briefly homeless but has been able to become a sought-after international entertainer, having played in almost 40 different countries.
Now, after his injury, Gold has to go to physical therapy almost every day. "He’s still in pain," friend and protégé Stacy Brooks said, "But he loves to perform so you can’t stop a man from doing what he has to do."
Gold himself is thinking only about his next gig. "I’m ready to get some folks dancing," he said. "People are gonna get crazy out there.
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MC to stars @ Jazz Foundation Loft Party benefit
October 29, 2011 By Howard Mandel
MC JazzMandel: At the Jazz Foundation of America’s Benefit Loft Party tonight (Oct. 29), 7 pm to midnight, Manhattan, my room has –
perc. Neil Clarke (left, standing) and MC HM, JFA loft party 2010 --
Tom Harrell‘s Quintet, pianist Marc Marc Cary, preeminent bassist Ron Carter with fine guitarist Gene Bertoncini, turbanated organist Dr. Lonnie Smith with alto sax/Mardi Gras Indian Donald Harrison and N.O. drummer Herlin Riley (yeah!), magisterial Randy Weston’s African Rhythm Quintet, and DC-based blues/r&b updater Memphis Gold.
Memphis Gold
It’s a great lineup to raise funds for the nationwide safety-net for jazzers-in-need. If you can’t be there, you can still donate.
These parties have been annual big fun, with approx. 600 – 800 fervent fans milling about, including such major business & culture influencers as Richard Parsons, chairman of Citigroup and on President Obama’s economic advisory team, as well as chairman of the board of the Jazz Foundation. Dress is festive/casual. There’s food, beverages, usually a silent auction of jazz-related goodies, and more music: besides the roster in my “jazz room” there are simultaneous sets by the Black Rock Coalition w/electric guitar star Vernon Reid, legendary singer Ronnie Spector (! — model for Amy Winehouse), slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra, writer-gtrst Greg Tate’s Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, surprise sitters-in, et al. in the adjoining spaces, looking out on the Hudson.
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