Magic Sam - Black Magic

While usually overshadowed by many writers in comparison to the earlier studio album, "West Side Soul," Magic Sam's "Black Magic" is in the opinion of some, including this writer, a better recording. Recorded in Fall 1968, with a superb band including Mighty Joe Young rhythm guitar, Lafayette Leake on piano, Eddie Shaw on tenor sax, Mac Thompson (brother of Jimmy and Syl Johnson) and Odie Payne, Jr. on drums, "Black Magic" is full of Sam's soulful vocals and wonderful guitar playing without any harried frenzied moments (for example the rendition of "Mama Talk to Your Daughter") or sometimes shrill, overwrought vocals ("My Love Will Never Die") that marred the earlier recording.

It is a pleasure to listen again to "Black Magic," in Delmark's new deluxe reissue with new, previously unissued alternate takes included. This release contains the ten selections that were on the original vinyl LP and 1994 CD reissue, six selections that were included on "The Magic Sam Legacy" and two previously unissued alternates. The additional eight tracks include three songs not on the original and alternate takes of four songs ("What Have I Done Wrong" is heard in two alternates).

There are so many pleasures listening to the flow of the music, the relaxed soulful intensity of Sam's vocals and the terrific backing with some solo space for Shaw and Young. Leake was a superb band pianist and Thompson and Payne made a superb rhythm foundation. The album opens with a marvelous take on "Just a Little Bit," the classic Little Willie John number that became a blues standard. He takes us back to his Cobra recordings, reworking "Easy Baby" as well as a take on Lowell Fulson's "It's All Your Fault," that he adapted for many recordings Then there is his wonderful rendition of Willie Cobb's "You Don't Love Me, Baby," followed by a terrific rendition of Freddie King's classic instrumental, "San-Ho-Zay," that is so wonderfully paced as well as played. The standout track remains for this listener Andrew Brown's "You Better Stop," where he tells Leake to "play those ticklish blues for me."

Of the songs not issued on the original album, Sam's reworking of his Cobra single "Everything's Gonna Be All Right, a musical sibling to the Fulson number, stands out along with a slow instrumental "Blues For Odie Payne." The alternate takes are pretty solid in their own respect, although with minor differences in the groove, Sam's vocal or perhaps a sudden end. The accompanying booklet reproduces Jim O'Neal's liner notes from the original release and the 1994 CD reissue, along with liner notes from The Magic Sam legacy" and updated with Bob Koester's own recollections of Sam and the music. This is a most welcome new Deluxe Edition of Delmark's classic blues albums, of which it is one of the finest.

I received my review copy from Delmark. Here is "Just a Little Bit," from Black Magic.

60 Years of Delmark Blues

Delmark 60 Years of Blues is one of two compilations in which Delmark Records celebrates its 60 years. Blues has been a strong part of Delmark’s catalog including recordings by Speckled Red and Big Joe Williams that were part of what the label originally called “Roots of Jazz.” In fact, when the historic Junior Wells Hoodoo Man Blues was issued it was part of this series (I still have my monaural vinyl LP of Hoodoo Man Blues). Such a compilation provides a glimpse of the label’s history as well as a sampler of some of its more current (and upcoming releases). Additionally, Delmark provides us with some unissued tracks from earlier albums and selections from forthcoming releases.

There are plenty of delights here ranging from Studebaker John’s opening lament When They Played the Real Blues, to Giles Corey psychedelic funk blues from a forthcoming new release. Recent releases by Linsey Alexander and Quintus McCormick are spotlighted along with selections from Eddie C. Campbell, Lurrie Bell (Channeling Otis Rush), Sharon Lewis and Tail Dragger. Among the delights is a previously unissued Rock Me Baby from Junior Wells from the sessions that produced Southside Blues Jam, an alternate take of the Little Walter Trio (with Muddy Waters and Baby Face Leroy Foster) doing I Just Keep Loving Her, Big Joe Williams on a 7-string guitar doing a strong 44 Blues, a previously unissued “Key to the Highway” by Detroit Jr., and Sleepy John Estes (with Hammie Nixon) performing Stop That Thing from the forthcoming Live in Japan CD. There is a fabulous track by Magic Sam from the recent Live at the Avant Garde album” and this compilation closes with Toronzo Cannon’s fervent Hendrix-inspired (but no Hendrix copy) John The Conquer Root. Over an hour of solid blues to be heard here.

I received from Delmark and last Monday I covered a similar compilation devoted to jazz. Here is Eddie C, Campbell performing.

Magic Sam's Live at the Avant Garde

The blues world was abuzz when word got out that a previously unknown live recording of the legendary Magic Sam was coming out on Delmark. Live at the Avant Garde makes available a June 22, 1968 performance at a Milwaukee coffee house” is a revelation among the live recordings of Magic Sam by the clarity of the location recording. Jim Charne, who made the recordings, describes how it all came about in the liner notes as well as background on the coffeehouse which would close several months after this performance. The sound of Sam’s vocals and guitar as well as that of his backing musicians, bassist Big Mojo Elem and drummer Bob Richey, sounds almost like they were in a recording studio. 

In addition to the clean, crisp sound, the music is exceptional. I am not claiming that Sam is better than the prior live recordings, which I have not listened to recently. Just that Sam’s playing is terrific and his vocals are right on, from the first notes of his cover of Freddie King’s San-Ho-Zay to the closing B.B. King instrumental, Hully Gully Twist. There are strong renditions of I Don’t Want No Woman, I Need Your Love So Bad, Feeling Good, That’s All I Need and Looking Good, all from the West Side Soul album that had been issued a few months previously. There are also his rendition of Lowell Fulson’s Its All My Fault (a source of Sam’s All Your Love), his own Bad Luck Blues and “You Belong to Me, Muddy Waters’ Still a Fool, Junior Wells Come On In This House, Jimmy McCracklin’s Every Day, Every Night,” Jimmy Rogers’ That’s All Right, and Otis Rush’s All Your Love (I Miss Loving). 

One thing that is worth noting is the range of artists and songs Magic Sam covered this June 1968 evening. Yet whether singing a Muddy Waters classic or Otis Rush, Sam brought his own voice and distinctive guitar while supported by the marvelous duo of Elem and Richey. The songs are performed at a nice tempo and lack the frenzy or overwrought vocals that mar a couple of performances on West Side Soul (Mama Talk To Your Daughter and My Love Will Never Die on that classic album). With this wonderful sound and superb music, Live at the Avant Garde is more than the best sounding live Magic Sam recording. It is another terrific Magic Sam album.

I received my review copy from Delmark.

Notable Jazz and Blues of 2012 - Part 2

This is the second blog recapping some of the finer jazz and blues releases that came out recently. Today I focus on recordings I reviewed in the second half of 2012.

New Jazz Recordings

Our Thing (Motéma Music) is the first time studio collaboration between Israeli-born guitarist/composer Roni Ben-Hur and Panamanian-born bassist/composer Santi Debraino. The musical delights of this trio is captured in a beautifully engineered recording which is also one of the better jazz guitar recordings this listener has heard recently.

Cassandra Wilson's, Another Country (eOne Music), is a collaboration with the Italian guitarist and producer, Fabrizio Sotti. From the opening moments of Red Guitar, to the closingOlumutoro, Wilson's sultry and intimate vocals benefits from the backing.

Brazilian born drummer Duduka Da Fonseca bridged the world of samba and jazz on Samba Jazz - Jazz Samba (Anzic Records). With a band of well-regarded players (and bandleaders): Anat Cohen - clarinet and tenor saxophone; Helio Alves - piano; Guilherme Monteiro - guitar; and Leonardo Cioglia on bass, he produced an appealing album with strong ensemble playing on a varied set of compositions. 

Ernest Dawkins Afro-Straight (Delmark) is a terrific recording of straight-ahead jazz from an ensemble led by Dawkins, who is most associated with free jazz, as they tackle tunes from Coltrane, Shorter, Gillespie as well as an original blues from the leader. This is an excellent recording that easily refutes the stereotype that free jazz players can’t play straight-ahead.

Cornetist Josh Berman & His Gang, There Now (Delmark) is an imaginative free-bop release that includes very original interpretations of songs associated with the Chicago Jazz of the thirties. I found it a most imaginative and fascinating recording, full of surprises and passion.

Five members of Brooklyn Jazz Underground, a cooperative association of jazz artists from Brooklyn, NY, collaborated on a new recording A Portrait of Brooklyn on the association’s sister company, Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records. It is an excellent collection of first-rate original compositions and terrific playing.

New Blues Recordings

Vicksburg Blues (Red House Records) is the first collaboration between pianist and clarinetist Butch Thompson and singer-guitarist Pat Donohue and mostly explores classic blues in the vein of Leroy Carr, Tampa Red and Big Bill. "This is simply the finest album of blues piano and guitar duets in a number of years and certainly one of the finest new blues albums I have heard in 2012."

Johnnie Bassett had a new release on Sly Dog Records, I Can Make That Happen. This was another well produced and enjoyable recording. He died not long after this was released but was still making it happen with his soulful and sophisticated blues.

There are several songs on Linsey Alexander's Delmark debut Been There Done Thatthat if were recorded thirty years ago would be viewed as blues classics. This was one of the finer blues albums I heard in 2012. 

Michael Burks, Show of Strength (Alligator). What turned out to be a posthumous release was a stunning display of his fiery fretwork and soulful singing performing some fine material. 

Omar and the Howlers, Too Much Is Not Enough (Big Guitar). There is the second album of JimmY Reed's music Omar Dykes has put together and this includes the alte harmonica master Gary Primich about others. These are wonderfully paced performances and many ‘blues players’ would do well to see how one can take familiar material and make it sound fresh and vital

The Lioness of the Blues, Sista Monica, most recent recording on her Mo Muscle Records label is Living In The Danger Zone. A singer that combines the power of an Etta James with the nuanced delivery of Ruth brown, Sista Monica has produced another strong release.

Willie Buck with The Rockin’ Johnny Band had a new album on Delmark, Cell Phone Man. Evoking Muddy Waters, His vocals exhibit some of the same expressive qualities and with the strong backing here (which at times suggests some of the outstanding Delmark albums of the late sixties and seventies) Buck produced an outstanding recording of real-deal Chicago blues.

Fourteen Stories is the self-released recording by the Red Lotus Revue, a band rooted in fifties’ Chicago blues. They produced a strong collection of Chicago styled blues.

Vintage Jazz and Blues Recordings

Magic Sam, Live 1969 - Raw Blues (Rock Beat label). Exceptional previously unissued club recordings by legendary Magic Sam backed by Bruce Barlow (later with Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen) on bass and Sam Lay on drums. Soul may not be quite hi-fi, but the performances are searing.

Don Sebesky’s Giant Box was part of the CTI Masterworks reissues of classic CTI albums marking the label’s 40th Anniversary. The performances onGiant Box display how his ambitious synthesis of classical, jazz and popular music was realized. His orchestrations frame the featured players here and enhance the solos that exhibit the skill and imagination of some of the greatest jazz musicians of four decades ago.

Celebrating a half century of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a new box set on Columbia/Legacy, The 50th Anniversary Collection. It spans there recordings and includes some previously unreleased material. This is a joy and soulfulness of all of the performances here on this celebration of 50 years of what is truly a cornerstone of American culture, not simply music.

Labor Records issued a new Louisiana Red CD, When My Mama Was Living, bringing together 16 tracks comprised of one track on CD for first time and the rest previously unissued selections or unissued alternate takes. This new release of unissued songs and alternate takes is welcome as. Louisiana Red was in quite fine form during this period.

Grant Green, The Holy Barbarian/ St. Louis 1959 (Uptown Records). This is first release of live recording of nearly 70 minutes of what was a strong performance of blues and hard-bop organ jazz in St. Louis at a short-lived pioneering venue.  Beautifully packaged this is as exciting release as Resonance Records recent Wes Montgomery CD.

Louis Armstrong & the Allstars, Satchmo at Symphony Hall - 65th Anniversary: The Complete Recordings (Hip-O-Select). A double CD reissue that includes previously unissued music that is one of the classic traditional jazz recordings and one of the most legendary performances of Armstrong’s career which thankfully is finally available in a complete issue.

Al Garrett Climbing Out Of Bad Luck

The following review appeared originally in the January-February 2000 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 243) as one of three reviews I did of recent releases on Fedora Records. I have made a few minor changes to the original review.

Among recent releases from Fedora Records are albums by J.J. Malone, Mojo Buford and Al Garrett. Garrett is the least known of the three, and while based in the Fresno, California area, was born in Memphis. His dad played juke joints in the delta in the 20s. When the family moved to the Los Angeles area, he became part of the R&B scene there, playing bass with the likes of Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, Smokey Wilson, Roy Brown and Lowell Fulson. 

Listening to his debut album, Out of Bad Luck, one cannot help but notice Magic Sam's influence in both his vocal phrasing and some of his guitar playing. Bobby Logan's tenor sax also contributes this feel as his playing suggests that of Eddie Shaw on the Black Magic album. Garrett sings and plays well, but one will find little original here in his covers, although his performances are not slavish covers. 

There is a nice mix of material here, ranging from the title track and Jimmy McCracklin's I Just Got to Know, to Guitar Slim's rocking shuffle, You Give Me Nothing But the Blues, and the stark, topical Cummins Prison Farm, with a strong, passionate vocal.  Even if he is not nearly as accomplished as Magic Sam, his playing here does suggest how Sam would have sounded doing Little Walter's Last Night and B.B. King's Please Love Me. 

If far from essential, Garrett's Out of Bad Luck does have plenty of pleasures to offer blues listeners.

Magic Sam Live in Berkeley in 1969

With a small body of studio recordings augmented by live recordings, a new CD of club performances by the legendary Magic Sam is certain to be warmly received by West Side Chicago blues lovers. 17 performances (Nearly 80 minutes of music) from Mandrake’s in Berkeley, California are made available on Live 1969 - Raw Blues on the Rock Beat label. These July, 1969 performances date are five months before his passing, and give a strong display of the blues world’s loss. I believe Sam’s legendary Ann Arbor Blues Festival performance was shortly thereafter. On these club recordings Magic Sam was backed by Bruce Barlow (later with Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen) on bass and Sam Lay on drums. These were the same musicians that were with Sam at his legendary Ann Arbor Blues Festival appearance.

Songs include familiar items of his repertoire from his Cobra recordings and his Delmark albums such as All You Love, J. B. Lenoir’s Mama Talk To Your Daughter, Willie Cobb’s You Don’t Love Me, Junior Parker’s I Feel So Good, Bobby Bland’s I Don’t Want No Woman, Freddie King’s instrumental San-Ho-Zay, and his own instrumental Looking Good. Less familiar material includes renditions of B.B. King’s I Got Papers On You, and You Done Lost Your Good Thing, as well as Albert Collins’ Tremble, and Freddie King’s Just Pickin’.

There are some minor variations from his recordings such as in the guitar accompaniment on You Don’t Love Me, which is a bit simpler than the “Black Magic” rendition. On I Feel So Good, and Looking Good, the tempo goes into warp drive while Sam avoids sounding frenzied. The performance of “”I Got Papers On you Baby” is representative of the intensity he invested his performances with.

The album closes with a fiery Sweet Home Chicago. It was Sam’s recording and performances of this perhaps had a role in making it the blues anthem it has become. The accompanying booklet includes Mark A. Humphrey’s astute overview of the music and sam’s career and legacy. Sound is not high fidelity but not terrible with the power of his searing guitar and soaring vocals evident. Magic Sam’s Live 1969 - Raw Blues, undoubtedly will be on many lists of the best blues releases of 2012. The music is that good.

This was a purchase from bluebeatmusic.com, although it should be readily available from better retailers.

Magic Sam Had The Magic Touch

One of the blues artists I discovered when I first started listening to blues was Samuel Maghett, better known as Magic Sam. The release of West Side Soul on Delmark was quite an important album and highly acclaimed. Alas Sam died only a few years after despite the promise of a career that might have taken off. The following review of some club recordings appeared in the April, 1993 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 180) and I have made minor stylistic revisions. I likely received a review copy from the label. It is out-of-print but is available used. It should be noted that this was released originally on vinyl on the Dutch Black Magic label around 1984 and they likely issued it on CD as well. Black Top’s release of Magic Touch makes available a live club recording by the legendary Magic Sam that was originally on the Black Magic label. Recorded at Sylvio’s (Howlin’ Wolf’s home base and it is Wolf that introduces Sam and Shakey Jake) by the Belgium blues and jazz collector George Adins, it complements the recordings from the Alex Club that Delmark issued on Magic Sam Live and is valuable as additional documentation of him. Magic Sam was joined by Shakey Jake Harris on harp and vocals on six of the fourteen selections, the bass of Mack Thompson, and the drums of Odie Payne. These are location recordings, and not hi-fi. The sound on this is better than on the Delmark, Adins source recordings likely being better. However, the editing is not as clean as the Delmark, so instead of the banter with the audience between songs on the Delmark, tracks get cut off abruptly as the song ends and the applause begins. The music is extraordinary, and there are some songs that Sam didn’t record elsewhere including Just Like a Fish, Dirty Work Going On, and I Just Can’t Please You. Shakey Jake sounds as good as he ever did on record on She’s Nineteen Years Old, and Juke. Thompson and Payne would play on Sam’s Delmark studio recordings, and add a tight, bottom to the music. Sam’s studio albums, West Side Soul, and Black Magic, are the logical places for persons unfamiliar with Magic Sam. Those hooked on his music will certainly want this and the Delmark live recordings. This is great stuff that shows why forty odd years later he is still revered by the musicians he worked with and blues enthusiasts everywhere. Here is the cover of the original Black Magic release of this material.

Wonderful New Rerelease of Magic Sam's Classic "West Side Soul"

Magic Sam lived a relatively brief life, yet his influence on blues since can be heard in the music played today. Samuel Maghett had recorded for Cobra and other labels before Delmark got him in the studio to record his first album “West Side Soul.” That recording was one of the Top Ten Blues Desert Island Discs when I compiled the list in “Living Blues.” Delmark has rereleased this classic album, going back to the original analog mix from Stu Black, who engineered the original session. The present release is in a digipak case and reproduces the original liner notes as well as adds Don Wilcock’s appreciation and photographs of Sam from Bill Lindemann.

For this album, Sam was backed by a band that included Mighty Joe Young on rhythm guitar, Per Notini (Stockholm Slim) on piano, Earnest Johnson on bass and Odie Payne on drums (Mack Thompson and Odie Payne III appear on three of the selections). There are terrific renditions of Sam’s “All Your Love” and Jimmy McCracklin’s “Every Day and Every Night,” one of the songs that influenced Sam and some of his songs such as “All Your Love”; along with “Feeling Good,” a remake of the Junior Parker Sun classic and Sam’s instrumental “Lookin’ Good.” Both of these latter tunes demonstrate how it is possible to build a hot boogie blues with a rhythmically oriented attack without endless single note runs.

There are moments such as during Little Milton’s “I Found a New Love” and Sam’s flawed cover of the Otis Rush recording (which Willie Dixon wrote), “My Love Will Never Die” where Sam singing employes a bit too much vibrato and sometimes comes off as too high-strung. There is plenty of strong guitar on these tracks, and the latter number is followed by the vigorous rendition of J.B. Lenoir’s “Mama Talk To You Daughter.” It is Sam’s rendition of “Sweet Home Chicago” from this album that likely led to this becoming a staple of the Chicago blues scene. Sam’s recording is one of the two or three indispensable contemporary renditions of this song.

I have been listening to this since purchasing the original vinyl album when it was originally released. I find this new release sounds better than I remember prior digital or analog versions. “West Side Soul” is among the classic contemporary Chicago blues albums, and this new release of it is most welcome.


My review copy was provided by Delmark Records.

Eddie Campbell Still Tearing Up The Blues World

Chicago bluesman Eddie C. Campbell has been spinning his brand of West Side Chicago blues for several decades. This review of Eddie’s 2009 Delmark album, Tear This World Up, originally appeared in the July 2009 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 318). It was his first album since the 2000 Rooster Blues Cd Hopes & Dreams. Campbell has not recorded that frequently, but has produced some very distinctive recordings. The review copy of this was provided by Delmark Records.

Its been a few years since Eddie C. Campbell, one of the few remaining masters of the West Side Chicago blues style has had a new recording out. Not that he hasn’t merited it, but his understated guitar and laid-back and witty vocals lack the immediate appeal to those more rock-oriented listeners of the blues. His latest album “Tear This World Up,” on Delmark will be welcome to those of us that have been fans of him for decades as well as those that want the real deal blues.

Dick Shurman, who produced Campbell’s classic first album, “King of the Jungle” over three decades ago has assembled a solid studio band including Dairy Golliday on bass, Marty Binder on drums and Karl ‘Lil Daddy’ Outten on keyboards. Mojo Mark Cihlar plays harp on several tracks and several other tracks have a full horn section. One thing that stands out is how uncluttered this recording sounds compared with so many recordings in recent months.

It is refreshing to hear someone handle the blues in such an unfrenzied manner whether the light lyrics of his opening “Making Popcorn;” the rocking “Big World,” a story about meeting this fine lady who wants to show Eddie her big world; and his remake of “Easy Baby,” a tribute to his late friend Magic Sam. All are marked by Campbell’s restrained, yet soulful, vocals with his occasional effective employment of a falsetto, and his crisply played, snap and pop crackling guitar with just a bit of treble and echo.

His playing imparts a rockabilly tinge to Magic Sam’s “Love Me With a Feeling,” with some pretty impressive picking here. In contrast “Vibrations in the Air,” has a lazy Jimmy Reed styled shuffle that few today play with nice harp from Cihlar who also added his atmospheric playing to Campbell’s witty “Voodoo.” “Care,” has a bit of a funk groove and one several selections with a full horn section. Punching horns add to the flavor of the easy walking instrumental shuffle of “It’s So Easy” where Campbell’s snapping guitar playing is also complemented by the organ of Marty Sammon, Buddy Guy’s keyboard player.

Campbell turns Howlin’ Wolf’s “My Last Affair,” into a compelling blues ballad with his genially pleading singing, followed by the rocking rendition of “I’m Just Your Fool,” with horns and harp supporting his terrific rendition of the Buddy Johnson composition, although his performance is modeled after Little Walter’s recording. He evokes Link Wray and the Ventures before getting into another shuffle groove for his rendition of “Summertime,” adding jazzy fills, before closing the album with “Bluesman,”where backed just by his guitar, Eddie sings about being a real bluesman, and having played with everyone from A and Z. But as he sings, you can still hear them in his blues played so direct and honest which is why this recording is so appealing.


BTW, my review of Hope and Dreams can be found on Amazon.com.

Blues in Black & White Documents Blues History

Blues in Black & White
The Landmark Ann Arbor Blues Festivals as photographed by Stanley Livingston
2010: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press

Two weeks prior to the Woodstock Festival, in 1969, on the University of Michigan Campus, the first Ann Arbor Blues Festival was held. I neither attended Woodstock or the Ann Arbor Blues Festival. The Ann Arbor Blues Festival was the one of the two I wish I could have attended. It was a gathering of blues legends that one would never see the likes of again. In 1970 a second Blues Festival was held and then after a short hiatus, the festival returned as the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival for a few more years, with a somewhat broader palette of music that now ranged from Son House to Sun Ra, the Art Ensemble of Chicago to Otis Rush. The University of Michigan Press has published “Blues in Black & White” a celebration of those path making festivals centered around the marvelous photography of Stanley Livingston, one of several photographers who documented this event.

Livingston passed away in mid-September, 2010, but lived to see publication of this book that he worked on with his former photographic assistant, Tom Erlewine, who is the book’s editor and designer. The previously unpublished photos here were from thousands he took at the festivals. Livingston had never heard blues until he attended the first Ann Arbor Festival. He recalled, “When I arrived, Howlin’ Wolf was playing. I was struck by the intensity in his eyes. He had a scowling, expression, but then he’d smile just like a little baby. He was the greatest.”

Seeing Wolf and the others he knew he had to photograph them and that is what he did. and he did so, marvelously. The book presents candid backstage and performance shots that capture a young Luther Allison (Ann Arbor was a breakthrough performance for him); Howlin’ Wolf; Mississippi Fred McDowell (in performance and with a little child hugging him); Doctor Ross; Johnny Winter and pianist David ALexander (n/k/a Omar Sharif) hanging out; Lucille Spann and Sippie Wallace, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells (together and separately); B.B. King; Otis Rush; Papa Lightfoot; Victoria Spivey, Johnny Shines and a laughing Robert Lockwood; Charlie Musselwhite with Freddie Roulette playing lap steel guitar; Roosevelt Sykes backstage with Big mama Thornton and Big Joe Williams; Johnny Winter and Luther Allison playing guitar together; Magic Sam (a nice sequence of shots, one of which includes (an unidentified Eddie Shaw on saxophone) as Sam smiles and Bruce Barlow looks on); Lightnin’ Hopkins: Mance Lipscomb; Son House (one where he and his wife sing a gospel number a cappella and the other shows Son intensely playing guitar); Albert King (including one picture where Robert Lockwood is hugging him on stage); Muddy Waters; Otis Rush; Mighty Joe Young; Bonnie Raitt accompanying Sippie Wallace; Jimmy ‘Fast Fingers’ Dawkins; Freddie King; Hound Dog Taylor; J.B. Hutto; John lee Hooker, Juke Boy Bonner; Bobby Bland; Pee Wee Crayton; John Jackson (with his characteristic warm smile); Koko Taylor; and Robert Pete Williams. I am sure I may have omitted a few names but as you can see, this was a veritable Blues Hall of Fame and very few of the performers shown here are still alive. But this book is more than photos of blues legends. These are classic images of the performers and performances as Livingston gives us a sense of the intensity and joy on stage and back stage. As Peter ‘Mudcat’ Ruth is quoted on the back cover, “These photos are works of art.”

The book includes an introduction by Jim O’Neal who discusses how the Festival impacted him and led to the beginning of the magazine, Living Blues. Michael Erlewine, who founded the All Music Guide, provides a History of the Ann Arbor Blues Festival as well as an interview with Howlin’ Wolf. Blues in Black & White also includes brief biographies and suggested recordings of the artists pictured (and this also serves as an index for the photographs). The book also strikes me as beautifully printed with the images wonderfully reproduced. It is a no brainer that anyone who considers themselves a blues lover needs this book. This reviewer also suggests that it is among the finest recently published books of music photography.


For purposes of FTC Regulations, I purchased this book.

A bit of blues video to savor

I have been a bit lazy and not posted in a few weeks. To remedy that I have a couple blues videos from you tube for you to enjoy. First is T-Bone Walker. I believe this is from the American Folk Blues Festival tours which have been made available on some fabulous DVD's put together by Reelin' In the Ear Productions.



Follow that from Robert Lockwood, Jr. doing a rendition of his stepfather's "Sweet Home Chicago." Lockwood's J.O.B. recording of "Aw Aw Baby" was one of the earlier post-war Chicago Blues versions of this song. I am not sure if this predates Roosevelt Sykes' "Sweet Old Chicago," which likely inspired Junior Parker's "Sweet Home Chicago" for Duke and which Magic Sam cited when he performed it at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival. It was not until after magic Sam's rendition before we got a plethora of recordings, some good, but way overdone. This rendition is part of the Grammy Award Winning, The Blues Shoe Project.



Finally another rendition of "Sweet Home Chicago," by Robert Johnson's travelling friend, Johnny Shines. Listening to mediocre Robert Johnson tributes by the Eric Clapton and Rory Block, I need to cleanse my ears by playing Shines whose mix of Lonnie Johnson, Howling Wolf and Robert Johnson made him, to my mind, the best interpreter of Johnson's songs.