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Today's Blues Playlist

Albert King - Live wire. Recorded at the Fillmore West.

Great album I bought in the 60s after seeing him at the Fillmore East with BB King headlining and Johnny Winter as the opening act.
 
Otis Rush: Cobra Recordings 1956-58
Otis Rush has had a seriously underrecorded career. Locked into recording contracts with companies who failed to record him (one single in 5 years, for example), truly a travesty because Rush is a blues giant. His guitar playing is about as good as it gets, and he is an great, expressive singer also. His 16 recordings for the short-lived Cobra label were his first, and rank with his best. Willie Dixon produced, and also played bass, and other blues luminaries of the 50's Chicago scene helped out (Little Walter, Matt Murphy, and Ike Turner). The music is uniformly excellent, highlights include Double Trouble, All Your Love, Violent Love, and Rush's signature piece I Can't Quit You Baby. Like the early Muddy Waters material described above, Rush's playing was as good as anything he ever did. Essential electric blues by one of the giants. Good sound, too.

bjarmson
 
Howlin' Wolf: A Proper Introduction To—Memphis Days
Recorded 1951-53
Chester Burnett (AKA) was like a great elemental force of nature. A huge man (6'6" and about 300 #), to see the Wolf in action was to be simultaneously scared stiff and vastly entertained. His raspy, fervent vocals were a trademark, no one else sounds like the Wolf. Starting in the late 20's, Wolf hung with some of the greats of the Delta blues. Though he had an off and on career as a musician for 20 years, he never recorded till 1951. Though these recordings were made in Memphis (at Sam Phillips studio—founder of Sun Records & Elvis, Johnny Cash, etc, fame), many presage the Chicago electric blues sound (Phillips sold many of the recordings to Chess). Wolf moved to Chicago in 1953 where his classic blues were recorded, but this is where it started. There's a rawness and intensity to the singing and playing here that would, perhaps, never quite surface on his great, but more polished, Chess recordings. If you like the blues elemental and electric give this album a listen. Sound mostly good, though some of the early cuts sound as if they were recorded from a long ways off.

bjarmson
 
at

datsunmike said:
Albert King - Live wire. Great album I bought in the 60s after seeing him at the Fillmore East with BB King headlining and Johnny Winter as the opening act.
Click to expand...

Wow! THAT must have been one HELL of a show!!!
 
Jimmy Vaughn : Do you get the blues

A little off the beaten path for Jimmy but it sounds so good. No Bass player on this one just the bass pedals off the Hammond B3.....
Hope to get into some old Albert Collins (vinyl) tonight....
 
Lightning Hopkins - 'Sittin' Down Thinkin'.

Wonder why this album has the 'g' after the Lightning, unlike his other albums which have an apostrophe rather than the 'g'?
 
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Hi B-2, probably just ignorance at the copy/graphics department of whoever released the CD. Figured n' was wrong or incorrect English.
 
Re: Otis Rush: Cobra Recordings 1956-58

I've got to find that! I've got some vinyl of Otis around her somewhere.

Ever hear?

Magic Sam: West Side Guitar, 1957-1966

All Cobra cuts and on CD by Paula Records PCD02. Phone = 318-227-2228 (on the jacket). Fantastic Chicago blues from one of the best. Next on my wish list is the Howlin' Wolf Chess box set. I see them, sealed no less, on ePrey for around $30--$40. Have to get it to complement my Wolf and Hubert Sumlin vinyl. I have the Willie Dixon Chess Box set on vinyl and it is a landmark, I think.
 
Memphis Minnie: Queen of the Delta Blues—Vol 2
Recorded 1937-53
Minnie was the greatest female bluesman, bar none. Minnie wasn't a blues singer ala Bessie Smith or Ma Rainey, she was a hard-livin', hard drinkin', gamblin', cussin' bluesman who played guitar as well as any man (she was the winner in a legendary cuttin' contest with Tampa Red and Big Bill Broonzy—both of who were great guitar players) and wrote her own songs. She was extremely popular with the black record-buying public for some 20 years, recording some 200 sides. She usually recorded in a duo setting (notably featuring husbands of the moment 'Kansas Joe' McCoy and 'Little Son Joe' Lawlars), but Minnie sang and played lead and was the star. She wrote a plethora of great blues songs, usually from the female perspective, that provide modern blueswomen with a gold mine of material to draw from. Like most bluesmen, she had no qualms singing about sex and sexual politics. Her songs contain some truly delightful double entendres (and some that aren't so double) and she could lay it on line about "no good" men. I'd suggest starting with a greatest hits package (you can then expand to the 2 volume, 10 CD box set, 200+ songs, from JSP Records, which contains virtually everything she did as a leader). The sound varies from not very good to good, mostly according to when it was recorded (but a little lowfi is a small price to pay for such great music). Essential music for the avid blues afficianado and required listening for anyone interested in the history of blues, as well as just great fun.

bjarmson
 
Hi ears, yeah the Otis Rush (mine also Paula Records, but there is a more recent release out that has several more previously unreleased cuts on it) is really first rate stuff. Best of it stands up against anything Muddy, Wolf, Little Walter, were doing at the same time. I'll watch for the Magic Sam stuff, sounds great. I'd also suggest the Chess 50th Anniversary Editions of Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson (I'll get around to talking about those here soon). Essential Chicago Blues by, probably, the two greatest blues harmonica players of all time. Memphis Minnie (mentioned above) was also a great Chicago bluesman, but from an earlier era.

bjarmson
 
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Little Walter: His Best—The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection
Recorded 1952-60
Walter was the Jimi Hendrix of the harmonica. He took a simple acoustic instrument and changed it through technique and amplification till it was far beyond what it started as. Walter 's career wasn't particularly long (he was dead by 38 and the last 6-8 years of his career were a ghost of his 50's output). He started working for Muddy Waters' band, but soon struck out on his own. This CD contains his Chess best. Everything's great, but highlights include Juke; Blues With a Feeling: Mellow Down Easy; Boom, Boom Out Goes the Light; Key to the Highway. Essential blues.

bjarmson
 
Elmore James: The Very Best Of
Recorded 1951-61
Rhino Records
Elmore James is one of those bluesmen who everyone has heard of, but few have actually listened to. Probably the most influential electric slide guitar player ever, his disciples include Duane Allman, Peter Green, and virtually every slide guitar player since he recorded. His career was fairly short (he died at 45 in 1963) and he really didn't record all that much, often working as a sideman on other's records, but what he did record was extremely influential. Best known recordings include Dust My Broom, Hawaiian Boogie, It Hurts Me Too, Madison Blues, Done Somebody Wrong, Shake Your Moneymaker. Essential blues.

I should mention the Rhino Records Blues Masters series, as a great place to begin getting into classic blues. The Rhino folks have a knack for picking the Very Best of the great bluesmen and releasing them with great information and full annotation. I recommend anyone just getting into the blues check out their offerings. They're a perfect way to begin a blues collection.

bjarmson
 
John Lee Hooker Live at Soledad Prison. I Listened to that on Saturday morning. John is backed by his son Jr. and a few other modern guitarists.
 
T-Bone Walker: The Complete Imperial Recordings, 1950-1954
EMI Blues Series
Walker was as responsible as anyone for the modern electric blues that predominates through till the present. Rightly regarded as the first great electric blues guitarist/star, he recorded profusely from the mid 40's till his death in 1975. Every modern blues guitarist owes something to Walker's guitar playing (B.B. King cites him as his foremost influence) and showmanship (he started as a dancer and could play behind his head while dancing or doing the splits). The composer of many blues standards (Stormy Monday: They call it Stormy Monday, but Tuesday is just as bad—being the most famous), Walker affected a sophisticated, urban blues sound (horns are often used on his recordings), quite different than the rough and tumble approach of the Chicago scene. These recordings represent him at the height of his powers, sophisticated guitar blues with a touch of R&B. This double CD collection is a good place to begin an appreciation of Walker's tremendous influence over modern music. Mostly excellent sound. Essential blues.

bjarmson
 
Rev. Gary Davis: The Complete Early Recordings of
Recorded 1935 & 1949
Yazoo
The Reverend Gary Davis is one of the greatest acoustic guitar players of the 20th Century. Much of his career was spent as a street evangelist playing blues-influenced gospel songs in New York City. With the blues revival of the mid-60's, he widened his audience with appearances at blues festivals, colleges, and coffee houses. Though usually sticking to religious-oriented, gospel blues, he was occasionally given to play straightaway blues material. The real appeal is his nonpareil guitar playing, truly the stuff of legend and enough to make you get religion. There are many modern recordings of the good rev., so you might want to start with one of them. Good sound. Essential acoustic blues.

bjarmson
 
Muddy Waters: The Complete Plantation Recordings—The Historic 1941-42 Library of Congress Field Recordings
MCA Records (Chess)
These recordings, made by the great field archivist/musicologist Alan Lomax on two of his trips to Mississippi, are Muddy Waters before he became "Muddy Waters." Mostly recording by himself, except for 4 recordings with Muddy's working band of the time, the Son Simms Four, and several with a second guitarist accompanying him. There are also four short interviews which provide insights into the young McKinley Morganfield (Muddy's real name). Mostly for diehard Muddy Waters' or Delta blues fans, these recordings nonetheless are quite listenable (there is no "bad" Muddy—except perhaps his psychedelic stuff), showing Muddy in full Delta mode already building upon his two major influences, Son House and Robert Johnson. The melodies of the songs credited to Muddy were to reappear in many guises throughout his career. These recordings gave Muddy enough confidence in in his music ability that he moved to Chicago within a few years. The rest, as they say, is history. Good sound for the circumstances.
 
Furry Lewis: Fourth & Beale
Recorded 1969, Lucky Seven Records
Furry was another of those great Mississippi bluesmen who recorded a handfull of songs in the late 1920's and then was missing in action till the blues revival of the early 60's. Lewis' claim to fame are great blues versions of the classic folk tunes "John Henry" and "Casey Jones," both of which are on this album (though hardly the only reason to give it a listen). After working as a Memphis municipal worker for 30 years, his musical skills were still excellent, and he began a second career in the music business. A marvelous, yet subtle, slide player, he was perhaps the only rediscovered bluesman to become a media darling (appearing in a Burt Reynolds movie, having a Playboy interview, Tonight Show appearances, etc, even received the accolade of having Joni Mitchell write a song about him, "Furry Sings the Blues"). In spite of the accolades, he remained largely unaffected by the sudden spotlight. This album is noted as having been recorded in his home near Fourth and Beale Streets in Memphis, with Furry in bed with his leg off (he'd lost it while working for the railroad in 1917). Informal, uncomplicated, and completely entrancing blues by a master. Good sound. Also look for his late 20's recordings.
 
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