Jim Daly

The Northern Irish blues community has been devastated by the death, after an illness, of pianist Jim Daly; a decades-long friend of Van Morrison and a legend in the province, both for his own profound musicianship and for the consistent generosity with which he shared his massive knowledge and love of the blues.

Almost unbelievably, Jim had been playing blues in Belfast since the Fifties and it is no exaggeration to say that countless local blues musicians were as influenced by Jim as they were by the pioneering legends of the music such as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Van Morrison, early in his career, happily sat in with Jim’s band and the two men remained friends right up until Jim’s death. In a comment that one has heard repeated by many local musicians, harmonica player Bill Miskimmin, who now tours internationally with the highly rated English band Nine Below Zero, said, ‘Jim’s was the first blues band I ever saw, and the first time I ever got on stage to play the blues was with Jim – I cried my eyes out when I heard the news.’

Daly’s career began inauspiciously with the Jimmy Compton Jazz Band. ‘I was so young and shy that I refused to do it by myself, so I got a friend of mine and he played the left hand and I played the right,’ recalled Jim before his death. ‘Jimmy was part of the showband era. He drove around town in a big pink Cadillac. He used to take the band down to Cork and they’d all have to sleep in the pink car – Jimmy wouldn’t pay the money to put them up for the night!’

Daly’s skills developed with fondly remembered jazz bands such as The Saints, The Crescent City, The Oriole and The White Eagles. ‘We played at Ophir Tennis Club, Belfast Tech, Belfast Boat Club, the Drill Hall at Queen’s and so on. As far back as the Fifties I remember playing the Saturday night hops at Belfast Tech, doing solo spots as part of The White Eagles and doing Brownie McGhee numbers. And George Hats – the banjo player – and I used to do a little blues spot. George played a National Steel and I remember us playing “Dust My Blues”.

‘The White Eagles had offers to tour England but we never took them up because we all had day jobs. Even now I don’t think I would want to be a professional musician. I enjoy it as a hobby, but I think if I did it full time it would be too much like work.’

In the Fifties blues records were almost impossible to obtain. ‘You couldn’t get them in Belfast. I got them from a guy in France, a famous collector called Bert Bradfield. Locally Gerry McQueen was the king of collectors – it was a great thing if you got to hear his collection.’

Jim’s own blues heroes first began to tour Europe in the late Fifties, often on package tours. ‘I was crafty. I would find out what London hotel they were staying in and book into the same hotel. There were people like Skip James, Bukka White, John Lee Hooker, Son House…They were all great, all great guys.

‘I remember sitting talking to Otis Spann, who was sharing a room with Sonny Boy Williamson, who was lying drunk, and Victoria Spivey came in and wanted to get him awake – she had a packed lunch prepared. And Otis Spann was saying, “Oh leave him, he’s all right the way he is,” Then Big Joe Williams came in and we all went to the Crawdaddy club with Lonnie Johnson,’ reminisced Jim, casually dropping five of the most legendary names in the history of the blues.

Jim also met Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. ‘They said, “You from Ireland? We played a gig with guys from Ireland.” I was racking my brain for all the names I could think of. It turned out it was The Clancy Brothers!

‘And Muddy Waters was a great guy. He became like an old friend. When I first met him he could hardly believe that I had a Library of Congress 78 record by him. He wanted to buy it off me!’

For Jim these experiences were invaluable. ‘It was laying the foundation – trying to get close to the music’s roots. Meeting the legends. And most of them were happy enough to talk. Son House was a great old gentleman. So was Bukka White. And Skip James. Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee would talk the leg off a stool. They were great craic. I later played with them many times.’

On his visits to London Jim got to know Alexis Korner; known as the father of British blues for the encouragement he gave in the early Sixties to young musicians who went on to form bands such as The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Free. ‘Alexis and I became quite good friends. We would sit talking blues till four in the morning and I sat in with his band at the Marquee club with [saxophonist] Dick Heckstall-Smith. And once in Belfast I took him to the Maritime to see Them.’

Enthusiasts like record shop owner Dougie Knight began to bring legends such as Mississippi Fred McDowell, Memphis Slim, Jesse Fuller, Champion Jack Dupree and Juke Boy Bonner to Belfast. ‘Did you know there was a blues outfit called “The Belfast Blues”? When I first got to Belfast boy was I surprised! To see all those happy people and those big laughing Irish eyes. Juke Boy wrote and recorded that after his visit.

‘And Mississippi Fred McDowell was an absolute gentleman. He said the best night’s sleep he had on his tour was in my bed in Alliance Avenue.

‘Curtis Jones was another one. He played the Marquee in Belfast. They had a regular dance as well and when he saw the queues of people – who were actually queuing up to get into the dance – he thought they were queuing for him and he complained he wasn’t getting enough money! He stayed with me afterwards and we’d just about reached the house after the gig when he started peeing up against my neighbour’s car, much to my horror.’

Another visitor was Arthur Crudup, whose ‘That’s All Right Mama’ had been covered by Elvis Presley. ‘His voice was great. He played everything in one key – G. He used to refer to Elvis Preston – I didn’t know who he was talking about!’

The great pianist Little Brother Montgomery unfortunately came to grief on his visit. ‘Somebody had taken him out that afternoon and fed him Bushmills whiskey and he could hardly see the piano. I had to sit beside him and hold him on his stool; otherwise he’d have fallen off. I remember Tom Cusack, a local collector, telling him he was a disgrace to music and to his race. And Little brother said, “Aw, fuck off!” But the next day – when he was sober – he sat down at Gerry McQueen’s piano and played the most lovely piano.’

By the early Sixties Jim was running a blues club in the Jubilee Bar in Cromac Street and Belfast’s own blues superstar-in-waiting Van Morrison inevitably befriended him. ‘Van used to ring me at work and play John Lee Hooker records over the phone, and his mother, who was a good singer and a very lively woman – she used to jump on the tables and dance – used to sing with my band in the Jubilee. I was doing a bit of singing – because I was the only one who knew the words of the bloody songs. But when Van came up, without any alteration to the mike, his voice just came through loud and strong. He always was a great singer.

‘One night we went together to hear [Eric Clapton/Jack Bruce/Ginger Baker’s supergroup] Cream in Queen’s student union snack bar. Good times. And I remember once in London [harmonica genius] Little Walter coming over to me. “Hey, Belfast, I remember a little guy from there with long hair did a tour with me.” It was Van Morrison he was talking about!’

The highlight of Jim’s career came on 9 December 1970 with the visit of Muddy Waters to Belfast, when blues music’s greatest legend invited Jim to sit in with him, on ‘Blues Before Sunrise’, and afterwards enthused about his playing. ‘But one thing I’ve always regretted is he asked me to go with him to Dublin for his next gig, but I said no, because I had to go to work the next day.’

A lifelong dream came true for Jim in 1984 when he visited Chicago and, at last, heard in its natural habitat the music that had been inspiring him since his youth. On his first night in town Jim jammed with the critically acclaimed Big Daddy Kinsey & The Kinsey Report. ‘It was great to be a white face in a Chicago club, playing with a black band. The thrill was terrific. Magic Slim sat in… and Big Time Sara… and B.B. Jones… and Sugar Blue. I heard all these people play in one night, which was incredible.’

Sugar Blue had recorded with The Rolling Stones after reportedly being discovered by Mick Jagger busking in the Paris Subway. ‘Sugar Blue said that was a load of… “What would Mick Jagger be doing in the Subway?”

In Chicago Jim also met the incomparable pianist Sunnyland Slim. ‘I asked him to listen to me and give me some tips. Afterwards he said, “Man, you don’t need any tips – you play good down-home piano.”’

Daly’s bands have included some of Northern Ireland’s greatest musicians including ex-Chris Barber Band bassist Jackie Flavelle and ex-Them and Taste drummer John Wilson, but the two musicians most associated with him have been Ronnie Greer and singer Patsy Malarkey. ‘I’m a great fan of Ronnie’s guitar playing. He is an excellent guitar player and very devoted to the blues. And Patsy is one of the very few female singers who can create blues – one of the very few in Ireland, outside Ottilie Patterson. Ronnie could stand up to most of the guitar players in Chicago and the same with Patsy singing blues because they’ve been listening to it, they’re steeped in it.’

For years Jim Daly backed all the American blues performers who visited Belfast, including Lowell Fulson, Fenton Robinson, Mojo Buford, Dr John, Byther Smith and Phil Guy. ‘There’s never time to rehearse with any of these guys. Frequently we never see them till they come on the bandstand. You just have to cross your fingers and hope it’s all right. But I’ve never known any of them to be difficult to work with. And I can say without reservation that the most thrilling one to play with – outside Muddy – was Carey Bell. He gave my band the feeling of being a Chicago band. I could see him playing in Maxwell Street market in Chicago, with a hole in his pants, for nickels and dimes. The guy is completely unpretentious. He lifted me off the seat of the piano. He was great.’

As indeed was Jim himself, for he played Chicago blues with a feel matched by very few musicians in the British Isles. He was a colossal figure on the local scene and Irish Blues lovers will surely never see his equal again.