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except one, James, the eldest. He didn’t live with us because he was my mother’s first child she
had at 18 in Louisiana. I was the last she had at 38, in Chicago. Mama had four kids, everyone
just about 10 years apart, ‘cept me and my older brother. We’re 21 months apart.

My father died when I was 6 or 7. He was a carpenter and I have fond memories of him
working on the building or walking me down the street. I even remember him taking me to
my first dentist appointment. That apartment had 5 rooms. Two bedrooms, a living and dining
room and a kitchen. For most of the time it was my older brother and sister, my mother and
her mother who lived there. However, I was told stories of when relatives would come up
from Louisiana, they’d stay with us until they could get on their feet.

My mother told me that she worked for a time in Los Angeles before coming to Chicago with
her mother. Down south she picked cotton, washed clothes, whatever. But for most of my life
she worked on the line of a big electrical manufacturing company in the west suburbs until she
retired. If we were poor growing up,we didn’t know it cause everybody in our hood knew and
loved the taste of mayo & jelly sandwiches or government grilled cheese, washed down with
powdered milk.

LL: What musical genres and artists were you exposed to in your home?

BLJ: In our community there was music everywhere you turned around. Even though we
were growing up in “the hood” during the 60’s we were still exposed to all types of music, R&B,
Soul, Country, Pop, Blues, Musicals and even classical. No, you couldn’t find the latest Chicago
Symphony Orchestra album in the record collection, but we’d have “field trips” organized by
the Chicago Public School system to take us to the symphony as well as the opera house. So,
my appreciation for musical genres
was wide and varied … from
Motown to the Osmonds, Charlie
Pride to Gilbert O’Sullivan. As a
matter of fact, one of my very first
album purchases was O’Sullivan’s
“I’m a Writer, not a Fighter”.. which I
still owned until recently.

I also gravitated to the likes of Paul
Robeson, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny &
Cher, Stanley Turrentine (who I
eventually represented as his
commercial agent) & Bobby Rush,
who today I consider a friend &
mentor.
So, as you can see, my musical tastes
are as wide as the Grand Canyon ...
simply because of that exposure as a

young man. I’m sure that’s why my
current album sounds the way it
does.

LL: Did you take any musical
lessons while growing up? Did
you sing?

BLJ: Well, when I was growing up I