LUTHER ALLISON - Live In Chicago

LUTHER ALLISON - Live In Chicago - ALLIGATOR 

The late Luther Allison certainly emerged as among the most exciting live blues performers in his too-brief American comeback of 1994 to his passing in 1997. While there are some excellent live albums of Luther in Paris and at the Montreux Jazz Festival on Ruf, Alligator has just issued Live in Chicago, a two-disc set of live performances, anchored by his June 1995 Chicago Blues Festival performance. Also included are November 1995 performances at Buddy Guy’s Legends and May 1997 performances from Lincoln Nebraska’s Zoo Bar, the latter being among what would be his last.

Backed by the James Solberg Band augmented by the Memphis Horns, Luther opens his Chicago Festival performance with an incendiary rendition of Soul Fixin’ Man, sung with as much passion as his guitar possessed fire. The Chicago Fest performance is laced with impassioned renditions of Cherry Red Wine and Bad Love (the latter featuring a dialog between Luther and his guitar. A rendition of Hound Dog Taylor’s Give Me Back My Wig is taken at supersonic tempo, a bit fast, although Luther cleanly sings the lyrics and rips out his slide guitar solo. This performance is not from the festival but from the Legends recordings. Perhaps some audio problems with the festival performance resulted in the substitution of this recording. It is followed by another slide feature, It Hurts Me Too with Allison pouring everything into his vocal. 

The first disc concludes with Luther and Eddie Campbell joining Otis Rush for a medley Gambler’s Blues, (first waxed by Dinah Washington), and Sweet Little Angel (which goes back to Lucille Bogan’s Sweet Black Angel). It is a memorable jam as Rush and Allison sing with fire and all three layout some strong licks. The second disc continues in the same spirit, with originals like All the King’s Men and Will It Ever Change heard along with covers of What Have I Done Wrong and Everything’s Gonna Be All Right. 

Some of the most memorable performances I ever attended were from Luther Allison, and this release probably best showcases the power and passion he brought to the stage.

I received a review copy from Alligator. This review originally appeared in the November-December 1999 Jazz & Blues Report, although I have made minor edits. Here is a video of Luther performing "Bad Love" from another show.