Few blues guitarists can boast the varied résumé of Texas native
Cal Green. From blues to doo wop to jazz,
Green has played 'em all, and done each idiom proud in the process.
Green's idol as a teenager was Lone Star wonder
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. So pervasive was
Gate's sway that
Green and his ninth-grade pal
Roy Gaines used to stage mock guitar battles imitating their idols (
Gaines was a
T-Bone Walker disciple) at various Houston bars.
Cal didn't have to leave the house to find worthy competition; his older brother
Clarence was also an accomplished picker who cut a load of killer instrumentals (notably 1962's "Red Light") for small Lone Star label.
Cal Green played on RPM Records releases by Quinton Kimble and pianist Connie McBooker, but his main claim to fame is as the guitarist for
Hank Ballard & the Midnighters, who roared through Houston in 1954 looking to replace their just-drafted axeman Arthur Porter, scooped up teenaged
Green, and went on their way.
Green received plenty of solo space during his
Midnighters stint. His ringing guitar provided a sturdy hook for the group's rocker "Don't Change Your Pretty Ways" and figured prominently on "Tore Up Over You" (later revived in blistering fashion by rockabilly giant
Sleepy LaBeef) and "Open Up the Back Door."
The Midnighters' label, Cincinnati-based Federal Records, thought enough of
Green's slashing Texas licks to cut a couple of 45s on him in 1958: the double-sided instrumental "The Big Push"/"Green's Blues" and a pair of vocals, "I Can Hear My Baby Calling"/"The Search Is All Over."
A 1959 marijuana bust sent
Green to a Texas slammer for 21 months, but he briefly rejoined
the Midnighters in 1962. After that, jazz became
Green's music of choice. He gigged with organists
Brother Jack McDuff and
Charles Kynard, and then singer
Lou Rawls, eventually settling in L.A. He recorded several singles and eventually an album, Trippin' for the Los Angeles-based Mutt & Jeff label in the late '60s. An acclaimed but tough-to-find 1988 album for Double Trouble,
White Pearl, showed conclusively that
Green still knew his way around the blues on guitar. On July 6, 2004, he passed away at his California home. He was 69. ~ Bill Dahl