A Benefit in the Spirit of Willie Dixon

Blues giant Willie Dixon spent the last decade of his life in Southern California, where he’d discovered a healthy following for the music he helped define in a 40-year career as a songwriter and performer.

Before his death in January at age 76, Dixon had planned to attend an April 4 concert by Cash McCall, Floyd Dixon and other local blues players at the Club Lingerie in Hollywood. The event will raise funds for the Willie Dixon Scholarship, an award for undergraduate and graduate college students, sponsored by the Southern California Blues Society.

Dixon’s death is unlikely to cast a cloud over the performance, however, much as his funeral had turned into a bittersweet concert “more about celebrating his life than mourning his death,” said Kathleen Barlow, Floyd Dixon’s manager and a five-year member of the society. (The two Dixons were unrelated.)

“I think it’s going to be a great show,” McCall added last week. “Willie, he was a pretty practical guy. He really wouldn’t want anything special to go on except that we get together and try to help some young students make it over the hump.

“But I think it is going to be special, because it is something that he dreamed about, and was really looking forward to it.”

As in his own nonprofit Blues Heaven Foundation, Dixon had long supported the society’s efforts to preserve the legacy of American blues. He also hoped one day to establish a museum dedicated to the blues, back home in Chicago, and he often visited local schools to talk about the blues and to give away musical instruments.

Singer and guitarist McCall--who began his career at Chicago’s Chess Records in the 1960s as a sideman to Muddy Waters, Little Milton, Koko Taylor and others--said the growing local audience for live blues concerts owes much to the efforts of the society. This level of appreciation already exists in Europe, he said.

“But now it’s like chickens coming home to roost,” he continued. “Americans are beginning to appreciate what Willie so often said: that blues are the roots of all American music.”

At the Club Lingerie show, each player is expected to perform at least one song written by Dixon. During his career at Chess, through most of the 1950s and ‘60s, Dixon composed such blues standards as “Hoochie Coochie Man,” “Back Door Man,” “Little Red Rooster” and “Spoonful.” Over the years, those Dixon songs and others have been performed by acts ranging from Howlin’ Wolf to Led Zeppelin.

“I probably wouldn’t be a blues singer right now if it wasn’t for him,” said McCall, who now lives in the San Fernando Valley. “He helped me at Chess, when I came in. . . . Every day around him was a learning experience for me.”

He added that the creative atmosphere at Chess Records was like “a madhouse, like a beehive.” McCall laughed. “The blues guys back in those days had a certain ambience about themselves, man. The old guy, Willie, he really knew how to deal with them. And he used to teach me.”

All performers at the concert are volunteers, including some of Dixon’s children: singer Shirley Dixon and pianist Alex Dixon. Butch Dixon, another son and also a pianist, may also appear. The venue was donated.

The Willie Dixon Scholarship is to be awarded at another blues show in May, said Melvin Eddy, a spokesman for the society and a former president of the group.

“These were people who were really influenced by Willie,” Eddy said, “so this should be a real good show.”

Blues players Cash McCall, Leon Blue, Larry (Arkansas) Davis, Floyd Dixon with Port Barlow & The Full House, Margie Evans, Charlie Jene, Robert Lucas, Tony and Shanti Mathews, Abu (Freddie Robinson) Talib, T-Lou and Steve F’Dor perform a benefit for the Willie Dixon Scholarship on April 4 at the Club Lingerie, 6507 Sunset Blvd. Tickets for the 9 p.m. show are $10. Call (800) 498-6870.

MORE BLUES: The outdoor Topanga Blues Festival celebrates its 10th year May 30 at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum with seven hours of live music by a variety of local blues talents.

“It’s the only blues festival this spring,” said organizer Barlow, who also guided the 1991 event. “Last year we did sell out. We had to turn 100 people away.”

Among the scheduled performers are Floyd Dixon and Big Jay McNeely, both “living legends from the local area,” Barlow added. “And the venue is beautiful, and holds a maximum of 1,000 people. It’s not like the Long Beach Blues Festival, which is a wonderful event, but with 8,000 a day.”

The Topanga Blues Festival, with performances by Larry (Arkansas) Davis, Phillip Walker, Big Jay McNeely, Floyd Dixon, Linda Hopkins and Rob Rio, begins at 11 a.m. May 30 at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Blvd., Topanga. Tickets are $20 for adults, $5 for children 6 to 12, free for children 5 and under. “Onstage seating” is available at $35. Call (213) 455-2322.