Buddy Guy: Buddy's Blues

This is another exceptional entry in the Chess Records 50th anniversary series from the late Nineties and features fifteen tracks from Guy's tenure at the legendary Chicago blues label from 1960-1967.  Guy was truly a triple threat--a fine songwriter, an excellent soulful singer, and a staggering guitarist-and these selections are a great cross-section to his years with the label.  Notably, he was not as well regarded in those years as some of the other Chess greats like Muddy Waters, B.B. King and so forth, but his time would come years later with his 1991 album Damn Right, I Got The Blues, which sold loads of copies and got tons of acclaim.

Still, there's no denying the stunning quality of Buddy's Blues from his singing and playing to the beautiful remastering that opens up the sound of these Sixties recordings to the stellar bands he performed with, including pianist Otis Spann, bassist Jack Meyers, drummer Fred Below and horn players Jarrett Gibson, Bob Neely, Donald Hankins, Gene Berge and more.

Guy originals like "Worried Mind;" "I Found a True Love;" "Stone Crazy;" "Ten Years Ago;" and "My Love is Real" are complemented by a raft of tunes by the great Willie Dixon, including his "I Cry and Sing the Blues;" "Let Me Love You Baby;" "Pretty Baby;" and "When My Left Eye Jumps."  There is also a standout cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Keep It To Yourself," retitled here as "Keep It to Myself."  Throughout, Guy sings with great power and intensity, while his guitar burns with a fantastically clean clear tone.

Guy just celebrated his 78th birthday on 30 July and it was intended to get this post together for that day, but here's a belated birthday wish to one of the great musical figures in American history, not just in the blues.  Long may Buddy Guy live and play live and otherwise!

Howlin' Wolf: Howlin' Wolf/Moanin' in the Moonlight

The great Howlin' Wolf, born Chester Burnett in White Station, Missisippi in 1910 and who died in 1976 at age 65, was a massive 6'3" and about 300 pounds and his imposing physical stature was enhanced by his imposing growling voice and his manic stage presence.  Songs associated with him that have become legendary blues masterpieces include "Smokestack Lightning;" "Back Door Man;" "Killing Floor;" and "How Many More Years."

He began his career in the 1930s, working as a solo performer and in bands throughout the South before serving a two-year Army stint during World War II, though he was not sent overseas.  He farmed and continued performing for the remainder of the 1940s and was finally discovered by Sam Phillips, who was later instrumental in launching the careers of early rock legends like Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.

In 1950, nearing 40, Wolf cut his first sides for Phillips and shortly afterwards made his first recordings for Chicago's famed Chess Records.  He was a bit of a free agent those first couple of years, but became an exclusive Chess artist from 1953 when he settled in Chicago.  With singles being the medium of the era, Wolf had several top ten R&B tunes during the Fifties and it wasn't until 1959 that his first LP, Moanin' in the Moonlight was released and it consisted of singles dating back to his early years with Chess.

Three years later, he followed with 1962's Howlin' Wolf and there was a distinct difference in approach for this record.  Whereas with Moanin' Wolf wrote all the songs, save "Evil," written by blues stalwart Willie Dixon (another track, "Forty Four" was credited to Wolf but was composed by Roosevelt Sykes), the eponymous album featured only two of Wolf's tracks and another by St. Louis Jimmy Oden, with the remainder penned by Dixon.

For the new CD generation, Chess issued a two-fer in 1986 combining the two legendary albums, making this one of the great blues discs of all.  The seemingly-strange aspect about this is the sequencing, with Moanin' placed after Howlin' Wolf, but the playing on the latter is just incredible and Wolf's gravelly singing is at its best.

Yet, the revelation, especially for the novice like YHB, is the staggering playing of lead guitarist Hubert Sumlin, who is only really known to true aficionados.  Discovering his keening, piercing style, full of unexpected twists and turns of rhythmic invention and powerful soloing.  Other great musicians include Dixon on bass, pianist Spann and future giant Buddy Guy, who played bass on the Howlin' Wolf record.  Wolf was a formidable talent, whose singing was rough, but also finely honed and emotionally resonant, but he also had incredible sidemen and the combination makes this dual package a great way to get introduced, as this listener did, to the phenomenon that was Howlin' Wolf.