THE AMAZING JIMMI MAYES SIDEMAN TO THE STARS

THE AMAZING JIMMI MAYES                JIMMI MAYES & V C SPEEK


For more than fifty years, Chicago drummer Jimmi Mayes served as a sideman behind some of the greatest musicians and musical groups in history. He began his career playing the blues in the juke joints of Mississippi, sharpened his trade under the mentor ship of drum legends Sam Lay and Fred Below in the steamy nightclubs of south Chicago, and hit it big in New York City behind such music legends as Tommy Hunt from the Flamingos, Marvin Gaye, and James Brown.

Mayes played his drums behind blues giants Little Walter Jacobs, Jimmy Reed, Robert Junior Lockwood, Earl Hooker, Junior Wells, Pinetop Perkins, and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. He lived for a while with Motown sensation Martha Reeves and her family and traveled with the Shirelles and the Motown Review. Jimi Hendrix was one of Mayes's best friends, and they traveled together with Joey Dee and the Starliters in the mid-1960s.

Mayes lived through racial segregation, the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the integration of rock bands, and the emergence of Motown. He personally experienced the sexual and moral revolutions of the sixties, was robbed of his musical royalties, and survived a musical drought. He's been a pimp and a drug pusher--and lived to tell the tale when so many musicians have not. This sideman to the stars witnessed music history from the best seat in the house--behind the drum set.


HUBBY'S REVIEW:

A good book about a drummer that I did not know that I had been listening to for some time now. When I read the bio and it said he played with Pinetop Perkins, Big Eyes Willie Smith, Honey Boy Edwards. I have been listening to these men for years. Now to have some stories to go with them is great. He does go into his life and how he started out and who he has worked with over the years. H does talk about Jimmi Hendrix and how they were friends and played in some clubs together before he got famo...moreA good book about a drummer that I did not know that I had been listening to for some time now. When I read the bio and it said he played with Pinetop Perkins, Big Eyes Willie Smith, Honey Boy Edwards. I have been listening to these men for years. Now to have some stories to go with them is great. He does go into his life and how he started out and who he has worked with over the years. H does talk about Jimmi Hendrix and how they were friends and played in some clubs together before he got famous. He also talks about working on some of the last record but not getting credit. This I believe just because he had passed away and they rushed to get the record out. Also the two songs are more of a blues feel and that is what he mostly plays. Enjoyed the book and the stories and now the music will be a little better when I listen to it. I got this book off Net Galley.