Have You Ever Heard of Shuggie Otis?

Here's another unsung music great that I have discovered recently. Shuggie Otis was a child prodigy of sorts, the son of R&B pioneer Johnny Otis. By his mid-teens he was playing guitar on Johnny's recordings and had become a much sought after session player. Much like Terry Reid, Otis is also a mysterious figure who was criminally under-recorded. He only recorded three records of his own (and one duet record with Al Kooper) in the early to mid-70's, and then dropped out of the music scene, other than participating in the occasional session here or there. Supposedly he has a new record out later this year, but we'll see.



By his teens, he was being praised as a rising guitar great, and he was also an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer and singer. Al Kooper was the first to give Shuggie top billing, teaming with him for 1969's Kooper Session Featuring Shuggie Otis, Kooper's follow-up to his legendary Super Session with Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. It is a decent blues-rock set and features some fine playing from Shuggie. But he came into his own with his 1970 debut, Here Comes Shuggie Otis. While most of it is fairly straightforward blues or R&B influenced rock, the instrumental suite "Oxford Grey" is a dizzying blend of musical styles, jumping from blues, to funk, to baroque, to psychedelic...with Shuggie playing funk electric one minute, and delta slide acoustic blues the next. It is a tour de force showpiece heavily influenced by late period Hendrix. That and the psychedelic influenced "Jennie Lee" are worth the price.

His follow-up, 1971's Freedom Flight, was an impressive step forward, finding Shuggie creating an impressive mishmash of rock/blues/soul/funk/jazz. The title track veers convincingly into Miles Davis-fusion territory, a 13-minute journey that compares favorably with Miles's moody In a Silent Way. This record also features Shuggie's most famous tune, the R&B/psychedelic gem "Strawberry Letter 23," later covered and made a huge hit by the Brothers Johnson.


ABOVE: Here is his most famous tune, "Strawberry Letter 23." Some dude on YouTube made a nice tribute video to go along with the song with some fun Shuggie facts.

Shuggie took several years to craft his next record, the remarkable 1974 release and cult classic Information Inspiration. He wrote and arranged the entire record, playing every instrument except the horns and some strings. This record is why we still talk about Shuggie. It takes the rock/blues/soul/funk/jazz/psychedelic mix of the previous record and turns mere disparate influences and elements and then blends them into a seamless new whole. There are no hits here, the record works as a whole piece, a psychedelic soul masterpiece. It was also the last record he put out. He retreated into family life and only appeared as an occasional session musician, turning down offers to tour as the guitarist for the Rolling Stones and to work with Quincy Jones. Apparently he is readying a new self-produced and self-recorded album for later this year. An infectious Shuggie R&B single with a killer guitar solo popped up on iTunes last year called "If You'd Be Mine." So perhaps we have not heard the last from Shuggie Otis.


ABOVE: I love this tune "Aht Uh Mi Hed" from Inspiration Information. It is indicative of the fusion of soul and psychedelia that is all over this great record.

Recommended listening: hunt down Information Inspiration. Killer soul/rock record with confidence and talent oozing from every track. Unfortunately, it is the only one of Shuggie's records that is not available on iTunes, so you will have to find the real thing. A remastered version was released a few years back that included some tunes from Freedom Flight as bonus tracks (including "Strawberry Letter 23.") That is the one to get.


ABOVE: Get Inspiration Information