Zu Zu Bollin
b. 5 September 1922, Frisco, Texas, USA, d. 19 October 1990, Dallas, Texas, USA. One of the legion of guitarists who embraced the innovatory style of ‘T-Bone’ Walker, for decades, Bollin's reputation rested on two records made in Dallas for Bob Sutton's Torch label in 1951/2. He didn't take up music until 1947, after service in the US Navy. He got help in his guitar technique from ‘T-Bone’ himself, while singing with the E.X. Brooks Band in Omaha, Nebraska. His first band, formed in 1949, included jazzmen Booker Ervin and David ‘Fathead’ Newman. He also worked with Ernie Fields, Milton (Brother Bear) Thomas and Percy Mayfield. His first record, Why Don't You Eat Where You Slept Last Night/Matchbox Blues, featured Newman and Leroy Cooper, both later to work with Ray Charles. The second single, Stavin' Chain/Cry, Cry, Cry, used members of Jimmy McCracklin's band. Both records were later reissued. Apart from two untraced 1954 titles, Bollin did not record again until his rediscovery in 1988. During the '50s, Bollin worked with Joe Morris and Jimmy Reed before retiring from music at the end of the decade. Rediscovered by Chuck Nevitt, he recorded the album TEXAS BLUESMAN, sponsored by the Dallas Blues Society. He toured Europe in 1989 and was in the process of recording a second album at the time of his death. Two titles from these sessions were added to a reissue of the first album.