Page 89 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2015

brings new discoveries. This is pure, raw genius. And it even
has a couple cuts that predate the band period, with my
mentor Sunnyland Slim on piano.
4 – Big Maceo, The King of Chicago Blues Piano,
RCA Bluebird
Speaking of great piano players, this one, on RCA
Bluebird, was a favorite of Sunnyland Slim, David Maxwell
and yours truly.
Maceo was a 6-foot, 6-inch tall southpaw from Detroit.
He played with a thunderous left hand that literally shook the
room. This double album features his greatest sides, along
with many of his classic duets with guitar wizard Tampa Red.
It is lyrically very sophisticated and a good representative of
the guitar-piano duets that were so popular in the ’30s and
’40s. Don’t miss “Chicago Breakdown.”
5 – B.B. King, Live at the Regal, ABC
This is the best “live” blues album ever recorded. This
is B.B. King like you’ve probably not heard him. It was
recorded at Chicago’s Regal Theatre when his career was
in a downturn, and just months away from his rediscovery
by the rockers in the mid-’60s. The band is loose, the
arrangements swing like Count Basie, and B.B. preaches a
special kind of sermon to the faithful. Essential.
6 – Guitar Slim, Sufferin’ Mind, Specialty
Not long ago, I saw Buddy Guy on Tavis Smiley. As
Smiley began singing his praises, Buddy dismissed him
rather abruptly and said:
“Everything I do, came from a guy named Guitar Slim.”
He paused, and then for effect, added: “Everything.”
Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones was the deal – a Cadillac
drivin’, stylin’ and profilin’ guitar slinger who drove
audiences insane back in the early ’50s. He wore red suits,
dyed his hair red and wailed away on his red Strat while
hanging upside down from the rafters of Masonic Halls
in South Louisiana. He was the original wild man of the
highways. Read about him in Guy’s book When I Left Home.
This album corrals some of that manic energy and amazing
guitar sound.
The tone is an over-amped buzzsaw going through
watermelon, with chunks flying everywhere. If you’re a fan
of Buddy Guy, or blues guitar in general, do not let this one
get away.
7 – Bobby “Blue” Bland, Two Steps from the Blues,
Duke DLP 74
Exquisite, classy and understated, this album is the total
opposite of Guitar Slim, and yet every bit as powerful,
featuring horns, strings and Bland’s liquid honey voice. The
selections are phenomenal, but the sequencing also hits the
target. It has the coolest cover ever of any genre by far,
complete with alligator shoes, shades and an off-the-chain
badass conk (hairstyle). Under the watchful eye of Don
Robey, Bland was the Suge Knight of the blues.

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