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moved back to Little Rock, where he was still very popular, and later to Springfield,
Illinois. Finally, he moved to Rockford, Illinois.

Robinson embraced the Islamic faith in the 1970s, and changed his name to Fenton
Lee Shabazz.

He continued to tour, both at home and abroad, and to record, but whilst retaining

popularity within the blues fraternity, he was never able to move to the next rung of
the ladder. His more subtle and laid back approach in live performance didn’t seem to
fit with what was required in the blues bars of the time, so he spent his time teaching
blues music and guitar technique in Springfield schools, which apparently he much

enjoyed. However, he continued to work occasionally throughout the 1970s, 80s, and
into the 1990s, until his death from cancer on 25th November 1997, at the age of 62,
leaving a wife he had married in his last years of life.

He is buried at the Shady Grove Cemetery, Marks, Quitman County, Mississippi, and

his impressive gravestone carries a picture of his semi-solid Gibson, and the words
“The Mellow Blues Genius” - indeed!

A number of his albums are still available from such as Amazon, although, as far as I

can see, his early Meteor and Duke sides (9 of them) can only be accessed on the
Jasmine cd compilation entitled “Chicken Stuff”, which also features the six earliest
recordings of Larry Davis………
Larry Davis

Larry Davis was born on 4th December 1936, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, although the
family moved to England (that’s the town England, not the country!) and Little Rock,
in the same state. By the age of 14 Davis was playing music professionally around the

Little Rock area, initially as a drummer, but later as a bass player, when he backed
harmonica player Sunny Blair. He even stood
in for B.B. King’s bass player, who was taken
ill during a stopover!

By the 1950s he was working with Fenton
Robinson around the same area, until the
previously mentioned recommendation of
Bobby Bland took them to Houston, where

they signed for Duke Records.

The first Davis release (in 1958) was a two
sided classic - ‘I Tried’ c/w ‘Texas Flood’ - on
which he played bass and Fenton Robinson

played some exceptionally fine guitar. The
recordings also featured the acclaimed New
Orleans piano player James Booker.

Two further singles were issued, one of which was another blues classic, entitled
‘Angels In Houston’. Inexplicably, none of his singles were successful nationally,