Friday, September 08, 2006

Blues for Herman Buzzard Lott, 1938 - 2006; benefit for Buzzard at Noble Savage Tues, Sept 12, 8 pm


Buddy Flett
Originally uploaded by trudeau.
Buddy and Bruce Flett and many other aficionados of Shreveport blues knew bassist Buzzard Lott from the Glass Hat Lounge, the 3 Dimension Club, Enoch's, the Silver Dollar on Fannin, and from the bands assembled behind Raymond Blakes, Marvin Seals and Elgie Brown. Here's Bruce Flett's homage to Buzzard:

IN MEMORIAM:
Herman Lott, better known as the bassist "Buzzard." He was born in Shreveport in 1938 and passed away almost two weeks ago. Buzzard was not buried for two weeks due to poverty.

* One of the Unsung Heroes of the local music scene.
* Arguably the best soul/blues bass player of his generation in this area.
* Poor Buzzard basically deteriorated over the past couple of decades, unkown to most but unforgettable to anyone that knew him or heard him play.

Buzzard toured with Ike & Tina Turner and Ted Taylor in the 1960s. As bassist for Elgie Brown & the Downbeats he backed up stars such as Johnny Taylor, Freddy King, ZZ Hill and Etta James in the early 1960s in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kansas and New Mexico.

We knew him as the bass player for Raymond Blakes and Marvin Seals in the late 70s, early 80s. A really lovable guy, he played his Fender bass with only 3 strings on it, and sometimes only two! Just the low strings is all he needed to hold down the bottom."

Buddy Flett says that he has put together a benefit for Buzzard to be performed Tuesday at the Noble Savage. Guitarist Flett says, "I'm calling up trombonist Dunny Gilyard, Elgie Brown, some more of the older heads, for the occasion." Please see SptBlog Links for the Noble Savage web site.

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