Ransom Knowling b. 24 June 1912, d. 22 November 1967 . Knowling played bass, and was best known for his extensive work as a session player, used by producer Lester Melrose on hundreds of blues records in Chicago in the '30s and '40s, by artists such as Big Bill Broonzy, Tampa Red and Sonny BoyRice Miller Williamson. His rock-solid bass work was also used to add a more urban sound to the work of country blues singers like Tommy McClennan. In later years he claimed never to have liked the blues, preferring more sophisticated sounds, but he owes virtually all his fame to that idiom. Although known to have died, details of Ransom's death are scant.
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Despite what is stated he died 22 November 1967 and Downbeat in January 1968 published an obituary - just one of three that I know of.
ReplyDeleteSilly question, but where is the information you use originate? Not very reliable if I may say so.
Alan, as a regular reader I'm certain that you are aware that historical and biographical information that I publish is a part of the research that I do online for any particular artist and not information that I regurgitate from my own memory. I provide this information for others like me who are interested in knowing more about artists and their backgrounds. Even of contemporary artists, I am using what ever info I can capture from their own websites. I am reliant on experts like yourself as well as the artist who often have out of date info on their owns sites to provide me with good data. I am stuck with using multiple sources on the internet and have no simple way to validate the content. I am not publishing a formal blues encyclopedia but a simple reference for people like me to be exposed to new (and old) artists. I often use wikipedia or other Allmusic like sites. Sometimes it is the info posted with the video on youtube. In this case the excerpt came from this link. http://www.centrohd.com/biogra/k2/ransom_knowling_b.htm Just discovering the artist I have no reasonable way to determine the validity, and even with two references, no way of knowing what is correct. Wiki seems to be somewhat reliable but I have specific knowledge on some artists and find their info incorrect as well. I have two choices (without taking this from a hobby to making it a full time unemployment activity), Printing what I find or not printing anything as I do not have your historical resources. If you would care to provide reliable info on this artist, I will gladly correct my entry as always. best Bman
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