Valerie Wellington Blues Band
1986-11-15
Commodore Barry Club
Philadelphia PA

Source - Soundboard & Schoeps MK41 mics (live matrix) > Sony PCM-F1(@16bit) > Zenith Beta Recorder
Transfer - Beta master tape > Sony Beta Video Deck > Modified Sony 601EsD PCM digital out > Edirol R-44 WAV (emphasis decoded)
Final processing - 16/44 WAV > Audacity > TLH > FLAC (level 8)
Recorded by billydee and Len Pikulski

First set
01. Instrumental*
02. You're So Fine*
03. Blues with a Feeling*
04. TBD
05. Million Dollar Secret
06. Mannish Boy > I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Woman
07. Sweet Home Chicago
08. Steal Away

Second set
09. Instrumental*
10. Ruby Lee*
11. My Country Man
12. Rock Me Baby
13. Got My Mojo Working
14. banter
15. Down In The Dumps
16. banter
17. I'd Rather Go Blind
18. Happy Birthday Valerie

Third set
19. Kansas City*
20. Little Red Rooster*
21. Dust My Broom
22. band intros
23. The Sky Is Crying
24. Hop Scot Blues
25. A Fool For You
26. banter
27. Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On
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28. Proud Mary

Total time- 02:58:02

*band only

Members:
- Valerie Wellington (vocals)
- John Duich (guitar, slide guitar, vocals)
- Sumito Ariyoshi (piano)
- Brady Williams (drums)
- Kenny Pickens (bass)

As always thanks to the Philly Crew for the master tape transfer and all the painstaking work they do and have done to preserve the music.

Miss Valerie Wellington left us much too early, but her voice and legacy will live on.

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Biography
Opera diva, actress, blues belter�Valerie Wellington tackled all three roles successfully while still in her 20s. After three years of studying the classics at the American Conservatory of Music, Valerie burst onto the Chicago blues scene, unleashing her roof-raising pipes on the blues scene in the summer of 1982 and snaring the role of Ma Rainey in a local stage play. Her rise was nothing short of meteoric, boosted by her 1984 Rooster debut album, Million Dollar Secret. A pair of very popular television commercials for the Chicago Tribune, aired on national superstation WGN-TV, plus a concert broadcast on National Public Radio, introduced this powerhouse singer to a nationwide audience.

Wellington�s full-bodied sound combined the influence of contemporary singers like Ray Charles and Koko Taylor with the classic styles of Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey. In fact, she was one of the few younger blues women to regularly feature songs from the 1920s in her dynamic live show.

Valerie showed the promise of becoming a true blues superstar, but the blues world was sadly robbed of her talent when she died of a brain aneurysm at the age of 33, in 1992.

DISCOGRAPHY

1984 Million Dollar Secret (Rooster Blues)
1987 The New Bluebloods (Alligator)
1991 Life In The Big City (GBW)


This recording is dedicated to Peg and Doug Waltner, the couple that started the Philadelphia Blues Machine concert series and brought so many great blues artists to the area.

And special thanks to Nicky C, WR and the Philly Crew for helping to liberate another one from my archives.