His first experience singing came in church, where he went "all the time"
with his mother and brother. "Blues and gospel come from the same place,"
he would say later in life. "They're both from the heart." But the blues
always called to him. Dewitt Munson, a neighbor wending homeward late
nights with a guitar in his hand and a bottle in his pocket, would stop a
while at the Kent porch to rest, letting the young Willie hold his guitar
while he told stories.
Through radio station KFFA’s famous "King Biscuit Time", Willie basked in
the sounds of Arthur Crudup, Sonny Boy Williamson, and especially Robert
Nighthawk. By the time he was eleven, he was regularly slipping out to the
Harlem Inn on Highway 61 to hear it all live: Raymond Hill, Jackie
Brenston, Howlin’ Wolf, Clayton Love, Ike Turner, Little Milton.
He left home at the age of thirteen. In 1952 he arrived in Chicago, where
he soon was working all day and listening to music all night. One of his
co-workers was cousin to Elmore James - and Willie Kent (still underage)
took to following that famous bluesman from club to club, absorbing his
music. Each weekend he’d go out looking for blues, and he found it: Muddy
Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, J.B. Lenoir, Johnnie Jones, Eddie "Playboy" Taylor,
A.C. Reed, J.B. Hutto, and Earring George Mayweather.
His love for the music led him further and further into it. He bought
himself a guitar, and in 1959 through guitarist friend Willie Hudson, linked
up with the band Ralph and the Red Tops, acting as driver and manager and
sometimes joining them onstage to sing. He made a deal with Hudson, letting
him use the new guitar in trade for lessons on how to play it.
One night’s show was decisive: the band’s bass player arrived too drunk to
play, and because the band had already spent the club’s deposit, they
couldn’t back out of the gig; so Willie Kent made his debut as a bass
player, on the spot. He never looked back.
From that point on, his credits as a musician read like a "Who’s Who" of
Chicago blues. After the Red Tops, he played bass with several bands around
the city and stopped in often for Kansas City Red’s reknowned "Blue Monday"
parties. He was increasingly serious about his music and formed a group with
guitarists Joe Harper and Joe Spells and singer Little Wolf.
By 1961, he was playing bass behind Little Walter, and by the mid-60’s was
sitting in with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Junior Parker. Toward the
end of the 60’s, he joined Arthur Stallworth and the Chicago Playboys as
their bass player, worked briefly with Hip Linkchain, then played bass
behind Jimmy Dawkins.
He joined Jimmy Dawkins on his 1971 European tour, but when they returned
to the States, their paths diverged: Dawkins wanted to keep touring and
turned over his regular gig at Ma Bea’s Lounge to Willie Kent, who wanted to
stay in Chicago. For the next six years, the Ma Bea’s house band was known
as Sugar Bear and the Beehives, headed by Willie Kent (the Sugar Bear
himself) with guitarist Willie James Lyons and drummer Robert
Plunkett.
In that setting, he set the tone of the club and backed up a stellar guest
list including Fenton Robinson, Hubert Sumlin, Eddie Clearwater, Jimmy
Johnson, Carey Bell, Buster Benton, Johnny Littlejohn, Casey Jones, Bob
Fender, Mighty Joe Young, B.B. Jones, and Jerry Wells. (For a taste of the
music, check out the superb 1975 recording Ghetto – Willie Kent and Willie
James Lyons live at Ma Bea’s.)
Willie Kent had played occasionally with Eddie Taylor’s blues band during
the late 70’s, and in 1982 became a regular member of the band, which then
included Eddie Taylor on guitar, Willie Kent on bass, Johnny B. Moore on
guitar, and Larry and Tim Taylor on drums. His relationship with Eddie
Taylor was both a solid friendship and a warm musical partnership (evidenced
in Eddie Taylor’s fine recording Bad Boy on Wolf Records).
After the death of Eddie Taylor, Willie Kent devoted his energies to his
own band, Willie Kent and the Gents, with Kent on bass and vocals, Tim
Taylor on drums, and Jesse Williams and Johnny B. Moore on guitar. And the
Gents endured. Over the years, the composition of the group shifted as
musicians joined or moved on, but the music remained as clear, powerful and
steady as the bass line that held it true: a pure Chicago West Side
blues.
By the end of his life, Willie Kent was well-known and respected in the
blues world, but getting there wasn’t easy. In 1989, a series of heart
problems led to life-changing triple bypass surgery. As he healed, he spent
time reflecting on blues music, his career, and the future. He gave up his
day job and turned his full attention to music.
His discography bears witness: before 1989, there were just two recordings
to his credit; in the years since, he had ten releases under his own name,
recorded behind many other blues artists, and appeared in countless blues
compilations.