Maugh, Bugsy (6th March 1942-2nd July 2015)

Multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter born Charles J. Maugh who was a member of The Sen-Say-Shuns in the mid-1960s before becoming the electric bassist for The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. (He can also play the electric sitar and lead guitar.) They played venues such as the Café Au Go-Go in New York, New York, the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, California, JD’s in Tempe, Arizona, the Monterey Pop Festival, the New Penelope in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Whiskey A Go-Go in Hollywood.

In 1967, they released The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw. (Pigboy Crabshaw was the nickname of band member, Elvin Bishop.) Many of their live performances were captured on the album, Strawberry Jam. In 1968, they issued the album, In My Own Dream, which featured three of Bugsy’s compositions, “Get Yourself Together” (co-written with Ronnie Laine and Steve Marriott), “Mine to Love”, and “Morning Blues”. “Get Yourself Together” was covered by Common Ground on The New Testament of Funk, Vol. 3, and by Small Faces on on The Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette.

Other artists and groups with whom he worked include Big Brother and the Holding Company, Bob Bordy, Brother Gene Didwiddie, Danny Draher, Jerry Forney, Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, Bobbie Kinder, Knock Kneed Sally, the Mark Naftalin Rhythm & Blues Revue, Buddy Miles, Richard “Rockin’ Rick” Patterson, Wilson Pickett, Mike “Pinky” Semrad, and Tom Trovas.

Bugsy struck out on his own in the late ‘60s with a pair of self-titled albums, Bugsy and Inside Bugsy, on Dot Records. In 1972, he appeared on Todd Rundgren’s ambitious double album, Something/Anything?. He also appeared on a handful of singles in the 1979, including “Hot Summer Nights”/”Love Message” and “Night”. “Night” was the title track of an album by Chris Thompson, who worked with Manfred Mann. It contained one song co-penned by Bugsy, Chris, and Stevie Lange, entitled “Love Message”.

Other songs he wrote included “As We Travel”, “Away”, “In Limbo”, and “It All Comes Back to Me”. “As We Travel” became part of the title of the 2002 compilation, As We Travel – Folk Funk Flavours & Ambient Soul. For a sampling of Bugsy’s work with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, check out An Anthology: The Elektra Years.

On 18^th December 2000, he hooked up with Sam Lay, Mark Naftaline, and Little Smokey Smothers for a concert at the Hilton Arts Gallery in Chicago, Illinois. He shared arranging duties with Dale Oehler on the 2004 CD, Cherrystones: Hidden Charms, a compendium of late ‘60s psychedelia by artists and groups such as Ennio Morricone, The Shadows, Shocking Blue, and Sonny & Cher. In 2009, “One More Time” by The Paul Butterfield Band was featured on the soundtrack of Taking Woodstock.

In the new millennium, Bugsy became something of a house musician at Ben Magoon’s Delicatessen in Saint Joseph, Missouri. He celebrated his 68^th birthday there on 6th March 2010 with his new band, Bugsy and the Insects. They were joined by Chili for the fourth annual Coleman Hawkins Jazz Heritage Society’s Bikes and Blues Festival, held in September 2010 in Saint Joseph. On 9^thOctober 2010, he joined Richard “Rockin’ Rick” Patterson in a 20^th year reunion concert at The First Ward House, also in Saint Joseph.

He has the distinction of being the first musician inducted into the Missouri State Music Hall of Fame and is also enshrined in The Nebraska Music Hall of Fame.

He died in July 2015 when he was 73 years old.

Sources:

Maugh, Bugsy (6th March 1942-2nd July 2015)

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