NONFICTION

The Amazing Jimmi Mayes: Sideman to the Stars

by V.C. Speek
Mayes, Jimmi & . Univ. of Mississippi. (American Made Music). 2014. 224p. photos. discog. index. ISBN 9781617039164. $30. MUSIC
COPY ISBN
The "amazing" part of the title of drummer Mayes's memoir captures the up-and-down career of a musician who played behind blues greats such as Junior Wells, Pinetop Perkins, and Little Walter Jacobs, who backed up R&B and soul singers such as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, and James Brown, and who roomed with Jimi Hendrix when the two were members of Joey Dee and the Starliters. Mayes provides interesting and titillating tidbits about his life, fellow musicians, and the reality of existence for the club and touring musician, including the stereotypical drugs, sex, alcohol, sex, and more sex. There is a more serious side, as Mayes also describes racism he encountered and the changes in social attitudes he has witnessed.
VERDICT This book should be of interest to blues and soul fans, but it rambles a little too much for the casual reader, and is probably a little too sketchy for the serious scholar of blues, soul, and R&B from 1960 to the present.
Reviewed by James E. Perone, Univ. of Mount Union, Alliance, OH , Mar 01, 2014
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