Albert Collins (October 1, 1932 — November 24, 1993)

Born in Leona, Texas[1], Collins was a distant relative of Lightnin' Hopkins and grew up learning about music and playing guitar. His family moved to Houston, Texas when he was seven.[1] Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, he absorbed the blues sounds and styles from Texas, Mississippi and Chicago. His style would soon envelop these sounds. He regularly named John Lee Hooker and organist Jimmy McGriff, along with Hopkins, Guitar Slim and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown as major influences on his playing.
He formed his first band in 1952 and two years later was the headliner at several blues clubs in Houston. By the late 1950s Collins began using Fender Telecasters. He later chose a "maple-cap" 1966 Custom Fender Telecaster with a Gibson PAF humbucker in the neck position and a 100 watt RMS silverfaced 1970s Fender Quad Reverb combo as his main equipment, and developed a unique sound featuring minor tunings, sustained notes and an "attack" fingerstyle. He also frequently used a capo on his guitar, particularly on the 5th, 7th, and 9th frets. He primarily favored an "open F-minor" tuning (low to high: F-C-F-Ab-C-F). In the booklet from the CD Ice Pickin, it was stated that Albert tuned to a "D minor D-A-D-F-A-D" Tuning. He played without picks using his thumb and first finger. Collins credited his unusual tuning to his cousin, Willow Young, who taught it to him.
Collins began recording in 1958 and released singles, including many instrumentals such as the million selling "Frosty".[1] on Texas-based labels like Kangaroo and Hall-Way. A number of these singles were collected on the album The Cool Sounds Of Albert Collins on the TCF Hall label (later reissued on the Blue Thumb label as Truckin’ With Albert Collins. In the spring of 1965 he moved to Kansas City, Missouri and made a name for himself there. This was also where he met his future wife, Gwendolyn.
Many of Kansas City's recording studios had closed by the mid 1960s. Unable to record, Collins moved to California in 1967. He lived in Palo Alto, CA for a short time before moving to Los Angeles, CA and played many of the West Coast venues popular with the counter-culture. In early 1969 after playing a concert with Canned Heat, members of this band introduced him to Liberty Records. In appreciation, Collins’ first album title, Love Can Be Found Anywhere, was taken from the lyrics of "Refried Hockey Boogie". Collins signed and released his first album on Imperial Records, a sister label, in 1968.
Collins remained in California for another five years, and was popular on double-billed shows at The Fillmore and the Winterland. He was signed to Alligator Records in 1978 and recorded and released Ice Pickin'. [1] He would record seven more albums with the label, before being signed to Point Blank Records in 1990.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Collins toured the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. He was becoming a popular blues musician and was an influence for Coco Montoya, Robert Cray, Gary Moore, Debbie Davies, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jonny Lang, Susan Tedeschi, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, John Mayer and Frank Zappa.
In 1983, when he won the W. C. Handy Award for his album Don't Lose Your Cool, which won the award for Best Blues Album of the Year. In 1987, he shared a Grammy for the album Showdown! (released in 1986) which he recorded with Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland. The following year his solo release Cold Snap was also nominated for a Grammy.[1] In 1987, John Zorn enlisted him to play lead guitar in a suite he had composed especially for him, entitled "Two-Lane Highway," on Zorn's album Spillane .
Alongside George Thorogood and the Destroyers and Bo Diddley, Collins performed at Live Aid in 1985, playing "The Sky Is Crying" and "Madison Blues", at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. He was the only black blues artist to appear.[2]
Collins was invited to play at the 'Legends Of Guitar Festival' concerts in Seville, Spain at the Expo in 1992, where amongst others, he played "Iceman", the title track from his final studio album.
He made his last visit to London, England in March 1993.[2]
After falling ill at a show in Switzerland in late July 1993, he was diagnosed in mid August with lung cancer which had metastasized to his liver, with an expected survival time of four months. Parts of his last album, Live '92/'93, were recorded at shows that September; he died shortly afterwards, in November at the age of 61. He was survived by his wife, Gwendolyn.[3] He is interred at the Davis Memorial Park, Las Vegas, Nevada.[4]
Collins will be remembered not only for the quantity of quality blues music that he put out throughout his career that has inspired so many other blues musicians, but also for his live performances, where he would frequently come down from the stage, attached to his amplifier with a very long cord, and mingle with the audience whilst still playing.[1] He was known to leave clubs while still playing, and continue to play outside on the sidewalk, even boarding a city bus in Chicago while playing, outside of a club called Biddy Mulligan’s (the bus driver stayed at the bus stop until Collins got off).
In Collins' cameo appearance in the film Adventures in Babysitting[2], he insisted to Elisabeth Shue that "nobody leaves this place without singin' the blues", forcing the children to improvise a song before escaping.
Collins has influenced many artists and did collaborations with Ronnie Wood, Jimmy Page, Robert Cray, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King and Eric Clapton.
Another instance of Collins' humorous stage presence was recounted in the film documentary, Antones: Austin's Home of the Blues. Collins left the building, still plugged in and playing. Several minutes after Collins returned to the stage, a pizza delivery man came in and gave Collins the pizza he had just ordered when he left the building. Collins had gone to Milto's Pizza & Pasta through an adjoining alley and ordered while he was still playing.
[edit] Fender Albert Collins Signature Telecaster
The Fender Custom Shop created an accurate replica of the "Ice Man"'s namesake '66 Custom Telecaster in 1990. This guitar featured a double-bound swamp ash body, a custom-shaped maple neck sporting a separate laminated maple fingerboard with 21 vintage frets, a custom-wound Seymour Duncan '59 humbucker in the neck position and a Fender Texas Special Tele single-coil in the bridge.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Singles

• "Freeze" / "Collins' Shuffle" (Kangaroo KA-103/104)
• "Lonely Heart" / "True Love" (Great Scott 1008) (Note: this single may be unreleased)
• "Soulroad" / "I Don't Know" (Tracie 2003)
• "Defrost" / "Albert's Alley" (Great Scott 0007/Hall-Way 1795)
• "Sippin' Soda" / "Homesick" (Hall-Way 1831)
• "Frosty" / "Tremble" (Hall 1920)
• "Thaw-out" / "Backstroke" (Hall 1925)
• "Sno-Cone Part I" / "Sno-Cone Part II" (TCF Hall 104)
• "Dyin' Flu" / "Hot 'n Cold" (TCF Hall 116)
• "Don't Lose Your Cool" / "Frostbite" (TCF Hall 127)
• "Cookin' Catfish" / "Taking my Time" (20th Century 45-6708)
• "Ain't Got Time" / "Got a Good Thing Goin'" (Imperial 66351)
• "Do the Sissy" / "Turnin' On" (Imperial 66391)
• "Conversation with Collins" / "And Then it Started Raining" (Imperial 66412)
• "Coon 'n Collards" / "Do What You Want to Do" (Liberty 56184)
• "Get Your Business Straight" / "Frog Jumpin'" (Tumbleweed 1002) - 1972 - Black Singles #46 [5]
• "Eight Days on the Road" / "Stickin'" (Tumbleweed 1007)
• "Blues for Stevie" / "Guitars that Rule the World" (1994)

• 2008 Albert Collins: Live At Montreux 1992 (Eagle Records)
• 2005 The Iceman at Mount Fuji (Fuel 2000)
• 1995 Live '92/'93 (Pointblank 40658) - Top Blues Albums #5[5]
• 1993 Collins Mix: His Best (Pointblank 39097) - not a compilation
• 1991 Iceman (Pointblank VPBCD 3)
• 1986 Cold Snap (Alligator 4752)
• 1985 Showdown! (Alligator 4743) - with Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland - Billboard 200 #124[5]
• 1984 Live In Japan (Alligator 4733)
• 1983 Jammin With Albert - with Rory Gallagher
• 1983 Don't Lose Your Cool (Alligator 4730)
• 1981 Frozen Alive (Alligator 4725)
• 1980 Frostbite (Alligator 4719)
• 1979 Albert Collins and Barrelhouse Live (Munich 225)
• 1978 Ice Pickin' (Alligator 4713)
• 1971 There's Gotta Be A Change (Tumbleweed 103) - Billboard 200 #196[5]
• 1970 The Compleat Albert Collins (Imperial LP-12449)
• 1969 Trash Talkin' (Imperial LP-12438)
• 1968 Love Can Be Found Anywhere (Even In A Guitar) (Imperial LP-12428)

• 1997 Deluxe Edition (Alligator 5601) – collection of tracks from each of his Alligator albums.
• 1969 Truckin' With Albert Collins (Blue Thumb BTS-8) - re-release of The Cool Sounds of Albert Collins
• 1965 The Cool Sounds of Albert Collins (TCF Hall 8002)

• 1971 Alive & Cool (Red Lightnin' 004) - bootleg

• Gary Moore - Still Got the Blues, After Hours and Blues Alive
• David Bowie - "Underground" and Labyrinth
• Jack Bruce - A Question of Time
• John Mayall - Wake Up Call
• B. B. King - Blues Summit
• Robert Cray - Shame and a Sin
• Branford Marsalis - Super Models in Deep Conversation
• John Lee Hooker - Mr Lucky
• John Zorn - Spillane

• 2003 The Iceman at Mount Fuji (Varese 061299)
• 2003 In Concert: One Filter (Music Video Distributors 6526)
• 2005 Albert Collins: Warner Bros. Classics (Warner Brothers 9086390)
• 2008 Albert Collins: Live At Montreux 1992 (Eagle Rock Entertainment B0012IWNYU)

• 1987 Adventures in Babysitting (as himself).[2] He plays and sings back-up on "Babysitting Blues."

• List of blues musicians
• List of R&B musicians
• List of guitarists
• List of Telecaster players
• List of people from Texas
• Bentonia School (blues)
• Six Strings Down

• ^ a b c d e f g h Allmusic biography
• ^ a b c d Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 82-83. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
• ^ Albert Collins, blues great, dies of cancer in Las Vegas - guitar player and vocalist - obituary - Brief Article, Jet, Dec 13, 1993
• ^ Findagrave.com - accessed February 2008
• ^ a b c d AMG discography

• Albert Collins at Alligator Records
• Albert Collins at Allmusic
• IMDb:Adventures in Babysitting
• Albert Collins at AuthenticBlues.com
• Albert Collins: The Ice Man Cometh
• Albert Collins
• Includes reviews of many of his albums
• Fender Players Club - Albert Collins
• Albert Collins discography at MusicBrainz
• Kayos Productions

Albert King

One of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with B. B. King and Freddie King), Albert King stood 6' 4" (192 cm) and weighed 250 lbs (118 kg)[1] and was known as "The Velvet Bulldozer". He was born Albert Nelson on a cotton plantation in Indianola, Mississippi. During his childhood he would sing at a family gospel group at a church. He began his professional work as a musician with a group called In The Groove Boys, in Osceola, Arkansas.[1] He also briefly played drums for Jimmy Reed's band and on several early Reed recordings. Influenced by blues musicians Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lonnie Johnson, but also interestingly Hawaiian music, the electric guitar became his signature instrument, his preference being the Gibson Flying V, which he named "Lucy".
King was a left-handed "upside-down/backwards" guitarist. He was left-handed, but usually played right-handed guitars flipped over upside-down so the low E string was on the bottom. In later years he played a custom-made guitar that was basically left-handed, but had the strings reversed (as he was used to playing). He also used very unorthodox tunings (i.e., tuning as low as C to allow him to make sweeping string bends). Some believe that he was using open Eminor tuning (C-B-E-G-B-E) or open F tuning (C-F-C-F-A-D). A "less is more" type blues player, he was known for his expressive "bending" of notes, a technique characteristic of blues guitarists.
He recorded his first disc in 1953 for Parrot Records in Chicago, but it made no impact.[1] His first minor hit came in 1959[1] with "I'm a Lonely Man" written by Bobbin Records A&R man and fellow guitar hero Little Milton, responsible for King's signing with the label. However, it was not until his 1961 release "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong" that he had a major hit,[1] reaching number fourteen on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart. In 1966 he signed with the Stax record label.[1] Produced by Al Jackson, Jr., King with Booker T. & the MGs recorded dozens of influential sides, such as "Crosscut Saw" and "As The Years Go Passing By", and in 1967 Stax released the album, Born Under a Bad Sign.[1] The title track of that album (written by Booker T. Jones and William Bell) became King's best known song and has been covered by many artists (from Cream to Homer Simpson).
Another landmark album followed in Live Wire/Blues Power from one of many dates King played at promoter Bill Graham's Fillmore venues. It had a wide and long-term influence on Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Robbie Robertson, and later Gary Moore and Stevie Ray Vaughan ("Criminal World", on David Bowie's 1983 release "Let's Dance", features a guitar solo copied note-for-note from his hero Albert King by young session musician Stevie Ray Vaughan).[1]
In the 1970s, King was teamed with members of The Bar-Kays and The Movement (Isaac Hayes's backing group), including bassist James Alexander and drummer Willie Hall adding strong funk elements to his music. Adding strings and multiple rhythm guitarists, producers Allen Jones and Henry Bush created a wall of sound that contrasted the sparse, punchy records King made with Booker T. & the MGs. Among these was another signature tune for King with "I'll Play the Blues For You" in 1972.
King influenced others such as Mick Taylor, Warren Haynes, Mike Bloomfield and Joe Walsh (the James Gang guitarist spoke at King's funeral). He also had an impact on contemporaries Albert Collins and Otis Rush. Clapton has said that his work on the 1967 Cream hit "Strange Brew" and throughout the album Disraeli Gears was inspired by King.
As he hit his mid-sixties King began to muse about retirement, not unreasonable given that he had health problems.[1] Nevertheless, when near to death, he was planning yet another overseas tour.[1]
King died on December 21, 1992 from a heart attack in Memphis, Tennessee.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums

• 1962 The Big Blues, King Records
• 1967 Born Under a Bad Sign, Stax Records
• 1968 Live Wire/Blues Power, Stax Records
• 1969 Years Gone By, Stax Records
• 1969 King Of The Blues Guitar, Atlantic Records
• 1970 Blues For Elvis - King Does The King's Things, Stax Records
• 1971 Lovejoy, Stax Records
• 1972 I'll Play The Blues For You, Stax Records
• 1972 WattStax Wattstax (Compilation), Stax Records (live at the LA Memorial Coliseum 8-20-1972)
• 1973 Blues At Sunset, Stax Records
• 1973 Blues At Sunrise, Stax Records
• 1974 I Wanna Get Funky, Stax Records
• 1974 Montreux Festival (Compilation), Stax Records
• 1974 The Blues Don't Change, Stax Records
• 1974 Funky London, Stax Records
• 1976 Albert, Tomato Records
• 1976 Truckload Of Lovin' , Tomato Records
• 1977 I'll Play the Blues For You, Tomato Records (with John Lee Hooker)
• 1977 King Albert, Tomato Records
• 1979 New Orleans Heat, Tomato Records
• 1979 Chronicle, Stax Records (with Little Milton)
• 1983 San Francisco '83, (Recorded March 2-10 1983) Fantasy Records
• 1983 Crosscut Saw: Albert King In San Francisco, Stax Records
• 1984 I'm In A Phone Booth, Baby, Stax Records
• 1986 The Best Of Albert King, Stax Records
• 1986 The Lost Session, Stax Records (with John Mayall)
• 1989 Let's Have A Natural Ball, Modern Blues Recordings
• 1989 Live, Rhino Records
• 1990 Door To Door, Chess Records
• 1990 Wednesday Night In San Francisco, Stax Records
• 1990 Thursday Night in San Francisco, Stax Records
• 1991 Red House, Essential
• 1992 Roadhouse Blues, RSP Records

• 1993 The Ultimate Collection, Rhino Records
• 1993 So Many Roads, Charly Blues Masters
• 1994 The Tomato Years, Tomato Records
• 1994 Funky London, Stax Records
• 1994 Chicago 1978, Charly Records
• 1995 Mean Mean Blues, King Records
• 1995 Live On Memory Lane, Monad Records
• 1996 Hard Bargain, Stax Records
• 1997 Born Under A Bad Sign & Other Hits, Flashback Records
• 1998 Rainin' In California, Wolf Records
• 1999 Blues Power, Stax Records
• 1999 Live In Canada, Charly Records
• 1999 The Very Best Of Albert King, Rhino Records
• 1999 A Truckload Of Lovin': The Best Of Albert King, Recall Records (UK)
• 1999 Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan In Session, Stax Records (with Stevie Ray Vaughan)
• 2001 Guitar Man, Fuel 2000 Records
• 2001 I Get Evil: Classic Blues Collected, Music Club Records
• 2001 More Big Blues Of Albert King, Ace Records
• 2001 Godfather Of The Blues: His Last European Tour, P-Vine Records
• 2002 Blue On Blues, Fuel 2000 Records
• 2003 Talkin' Blues, Thirsty Ear Records
• 2003 Blues From The Road, Fuel 2000 Records
• 2003 Live '69, Stax Records
• 2004 The Complete King & Bobbin Recordings, Collectables Records
• 2006 Stax Profiles, Stax Records
• 2006 Albert King's King's Jump, Charly Records
• 2007 Heat Of The Blues, Music Avenue

• Despite the same title, the 1972 and 1977 albums I'll Play The Blues For You differ in content, and the later one is a collection of previously released songs by King and John Lee Hooker.
• In Session (1999) was actually recorded in 1983 with Stevie Ray Vaughan. An outtake from the sessions not used for the 1999 CD, "Born Under A Bad Sign", appears on Stax Records' compilation Albert King: Stax Profiles.
• Talkin' Blues (2003) was recorded live in February 1978, and includes interviews with King.
• King played guitar, and sang on the Finnish rock and blues guitarist, Albert Järvinen's solo 1990 album, Braindamage or Still Alive?.
• King also was a guest on the 1990 album release by Gary Moore entitled Still Got the Blues.

• 1995 Maintenance Shop Blues (VHS), Yazoo
• 2001 Godfather Of The Blues: His Last European Tour DVD, P-Vine Records
• 2004 Live In Sweden, Image Entertainment

• ^ a b c d e f g h i j Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 72–73. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.

• Bowman, Rob (1997) Soulsville, U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records, Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-8256-7227-9
• Discography at Lycos Music

AlbertKing02

Amos Milburn

Born in Houston, one of thirteen children, by the age of five Milburn was playing tunes on the piano. He enlisted in the United States Navy when he was fifteen and earned thirteen battle stars in the Philippines, before returning to Houston and organizing a sixteen-piece band playing in Houston clubs, and mixing with the Houston jazz and blues scene. He was a polished pianist and performer and in 1946 attracted the attention of an enterprising woman who arranged a recording session with Aladdin Records in Los Angeles. Milburn's relationship with Aladdin lasted eight years during which he cut over seventy-five sides. His cover of "Down the Road a Piece" (1946), a blues with a rocking Texas boogie beat that bordered on rock, was ahead of its time.[1] However, none caught on until 1949 when seven of his singles got the attention of the R&B audience. "Hold Me Baby" and "Chicken Shack Boogie" landed numbers eight and nine on Billboard's survey of 1949's R&B Bestsellers.[2] He became one of the leading performers associated with the Central Avenue music scene of Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood. Among his best known songs was "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer". In 1950 Milburn's "Bad, Bad, Whiskey" reached the top of the R&B charts and began a string of drinking songs (none written by Milburn, but several penned by Rudy Toombs). However, there is no evidence that Milburn had a drinking problem.[3]
Milburn continued his successful drinking songs through 1952 {"Thinking and Drinking", "Trouble in Mind"} and was by now touring the country playing clubs. While touring the Midwest that summer, he announced that he would disband his combo and continue as a solo act and that fall he joined Charles Brown for a Southern concert tour. For the next few years his tours were made up of strings of one nighters. After three years of solo performing he returned to Houston in 1956 to reform his band. In 1957 Milburn's releases on Aladdin Records did not sell well, and the record label, having its own problems, went out of business. He tried to regain commercial success with a few more releases on Ace Records but his time had passed. Radio airplay was becoming focused on the teenage market.[4]
Milburn contributed a fine offering to the R&B Yuletide canon in 1960 with his swinging "Christmas (Comes but Once a Year)" for King. Berry Gordy gave him a comeback forum in 1962, issuing an album on Motown predominated by remakes of his old hits that doesn't deserve its extreme rarity today (even Little Stevie Wonder pitched in on harmonica for the sessions).
Nothing could jump start the pianist's fading career by then, though.[5]
Milburn's final recording was on an album by Johnny Otis. This was in 1972 after he had been incapacitated by a stroke, so much so that Otis had to play the left-hand piano parts for his enfeebled old friend.[3] His second stroke led to the amputation of a leg because of circulatory problems. He died shortly after at the age of 52 from a third stroke.[5]
[edit] Legacy
The Texan boogie woogie pianist and singer was an important marker in the map of blues music in the years following World War II. His best work encapsulated much of what was good about his Houston, hipster's romp style, piano work. Thus, Milburn remains an important figure in the history of blues musicianship.
Milburn's boogieing R&B records rocked as hard as the later Rock 'n' Roll.[6] Milburn was one of the first performers to switch from sophisticated jazz arrangements to a rougher jump blues. He began to put rhythm first and technical qualities of voice and instrumentation second.[7] His high-energy numbers, about getting 'high', led the way for a 10 year party, jointly celebrated by fellow musician admirers, such as Little Willie Littlefield, Floyd Dixon and his prime disciple, Fats Domino.[3]
He was a commercial success for eleven years and influenced many performers. Fats Domino consistently credited Milburn as an influence on his music. At least one person has noted the similarity between Milburn's piano fills and Chuck Berry's later guitar stylings. Milburn was a musical pioneer, who made the transition from the swing and jump blues of the 1940s, to the R&B of the late 1940s and early 1950s, that evolved into today's rock music.[4]
[edit] Selected recordings

• "Amos Blues" - 1946
• "Down the Road a Piece" - 1947
• "Chicken Shack Boogie" - 1948
• "A&M Blues" - 1948
• "Bewildered" - 1948
• "Hold Me, Baby" - 1949
• "In the Middle of the Night" - 1949
• "Roomin' House Boogie" - 1949
• "Let’s Make Christmas Merry, Baby" - 1949
• "Bad, Bad, Whiskey" - 1950
• "Thinkin' And Drinkin" - 1952 - written by Rudy Toombs
• "Trouble in Mind" - 1952
• "Let Me Go Home, Whiskey" - 1953 - written by Shifty Henry
• "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer" - 1953 - also written by Rudy Toombs
• Rockin' The Boogie - (LP) - 1955
• Let's Have A Party - (LP) - 1957
• Amos Milburn Sings The Blues - (LP) - 1958
• The Return of Blues Boss - (LP) - 1963 - Motown Records

• The Best of Amos Milburn: Down the Road Apiece - (CD - 1994 - EMI America Records
• The Complete Aladdin Recordings of Amos Milburn - (CD box set) - 1994 - Mosaic Records
• Blues, Barrelhouse & Boogie Woogie - (CD box set) - 1996 - Capitol Records
• The Best of Amos Milburn - (CD) - 2001 - EMI-Capitol Special Markets

amosmilburn

BB King

King was born on a plantation in Itta Bena, Mississippi, a small town near Indianola, Mississippi. His parents were Alfred King and Nora Ella King. While singing in a local gospel group, at the age of twelve Riley bought his first guitar for $15.00.[3] In 1943 King left Indianola to work as a tractor driver.
King went to Memphis, Tennessee in 1946, looking for a cousin, Bukka White, who took him in for the next ten months.[3] However, after a few months of hardship he returned to Mississippi, where he decided to prepare himself better for the next visit and returned to Memphis two years later. Initially he worked at the local R&B radio station WDIA as a singer and disc jockey, where he gained the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy", later shortened to "B.B."[4][5] It was there that he first met T-Bone Walker. "Once I'd heard him for the first time, I knew I'd have to have [an electric guitar] myself. 'Had' to have one, short of stealing!", he said.[6]
[edit] Career
In 1949, King began recording songs under contract with Los Angeles-based RPM Records. Many of King's early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. Before his RPM contract, King had debuted on Bullet Records by issuing the single "Miss Martha King" (1949), which received a bad review in Billboard magazine[citation needed] and did not chart well.
"My very first recordings [in 1949] were for a company out of Nashville called Bullet, the Bullet Record Transcription company," King recalls. "I had horns that very first session. I had Phineas Newborn on piano; his father played drums, and his brother, Calvin, played guitar with me. I had Tuff Green on bass, Ben Branch on tenor sax, his brother, Thomas Branch, on trumpet, and a lady trombone player."[7]


Performing with his famous guitar, Lucille
King assembled his own band; the B.B. King Review, under the leadership of Millard Lee. The band initially consisted of Calvin Owens and Kenneth Sands (trumpet), Lawrence Burdin (alto saxophone), George Coleman (tenor saxophone),[8] Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone), Millard Lee (piano), George Joyner (bass) and Earl Forest and Ted Curry (drums). Onzie Horne was a trained musician elicited as an arranger to assist King with his compositions. By his own admission, he cannot play chords well[9] and always relies on improvisation. This was followed by tours across the USA with performances in major theaters in cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit and St. Louis, as well as numerous gigs in small clubs and juke joints of the southern US states. King meanwhile toured the entire "Chitlin' circuit" and 1956 became a record-breaking year, with 342 concerts booked. The same year he founded his own record label, Blues Boys Kingdom, with headquarters at Beale Street in Memphis. There, among other projects, he produced artists such as Millard Lee and Levi Seabury. The record company eventually failed, however, because King's schedule left him too little time for the role of a businessman.[citation needed]
In the 1950s, B.B. King became one of the most important names in R&B music, amassing an impressive list of hits including "You Know I Love You," "Woke Up This Morning," "Please Love Me," "When My Heart Beats like a Hammer," "Whole Lotta Love," "You Upset Me Baby," "Every Day I Have the Blues," "Sneakin' Around," "Ten Long Years," "Bad Luck," "Sweet Little Angel," "On My Word of Honor," and "Please Accept My Love." In 1962, King signed to ABC-Paramount Records, which was later absorbed into MCA Records, and then his current label, Geffen Records. In November 1964, King recorded the Live at the Regal album at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois.
King won a Grammy Award for a tune called "The Thrill Is Gone";[10] his version became a hit on both the pop and R&B charts, which was rare during that time for an R&B artist. It also gained the number 183 spot in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. He gained further visibility among rock audiences as an opening act on The Rolling Stones' 1969 American Tour. King's mainstream success continued throughout the 1970s with songs like "To Know You is to Love You" and "I Like to Live the Love".
King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. In 2004 he was awarded the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists "in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music."[11]


B.B. King in concert in France 1989
From the 1980s onward, King has been recording less,[citation needed] but he has continued to maintain a highly visible and active career, appearing on numerous television shows and performing 300 nights a year. In 1988, King reached a new generation of fans with the single "When Love Comes to Town", a collaborative effort between King and the Irish band U2 on their Rattle and Hum album. In 2000, King teamed up with guitarist Eric Clapton to record Riding With the King. In 1998, King appeared in The Blues Brothers 2000, playing the part of the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator Boys, along with Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor and Bo Diddley.
[edit] Farewell tour
Aged 80 at the time, on March 29, 2006, King played at Hallam Arena in Sheffield, England. This was the first date of his UK and European farewell tour. He played this tour supported by Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore, with whom King had previously toured and recorded, including the song "Since I Met You Baby". The British leg of the tour ended on April 4 with a concert at Wembley Arena. And on June 28, 2009 King returned to Wembley arena to end a tour around Great Britain with British blues icon John Mayall. When questioned as to why he was embarking on another tour after already completing his farewell stint, King jokingly remarked that he had never actually said the farewell tour would be his last.[12]
In July King went back to Europe, playing twice (July 2 and 3) in the 40th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival and also in Zürich at the Blues at Sunset on July 14. During his show in Montreux at the Stravinski Hall he jammed with Joe Sample, Randy Crawford, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Lella James, Earl Thomas, Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin, Barbara Hendricks and George Duke. The European leg of the Farewell Tour ended in Luxembourg on September 19, 2006, at the D'Coque Arena (support act: Todd Sharpville).
In November and December, King played six times in Brazil. During a press conference on November 29 in São Paulo, a journalist asked King if that would be the actual farewell tour. He answered: "One of my favorite actors is a man from Scotland named Sean Connery. Most of you know him as James Bond, 007. He made a movie called Never Say Never Again."
In June 2006, King was present at a memorial of his first radio broadcast at the Three Deuces Building in Greenwood, Mississippi, where an official marker of the Mississippi Blues Trail was erected. The same month, a groundbreaking was held for a new museum, dedicated to King.[13] in Indianola, Mississippi. The museum opened on September 13, 2008.


B.B. King at Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, Ontario (May 2007)
In late October 2006, he recorded a concert CD and DVD entitled B.B. King: Live at his B.B. King Blues Clubs in Nashville and Memphis. The four night production featured his regular B.B. King Blues Band and captured his show as he performs it nightly around the world. It was his first live performance recording in 14 years.
On July 28, 2007, King played at Eric Clapton's second Crossroads Guitar Festival with 20 other guitarists to raise money for the Crossroads Centre for addictive disorders. Performing in Chicago, he played "Paying the Cost to Be the Boss", "Rock Me Baby" and "Thrill is Gone" (although the latter was not published on the DVD release) with Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan and Hubert Sumlin. In a poignant moment during the live broadcast, he offered a toast to the concert's host, Eric Clapton, and also reflected upon his own life and seniority. Adding to the poignancy, the four-minute speech — which had been underlaid with a mellow chord progression by Robert Cray throughout — made a transition to an emotional rendition of "Thrill is Gone". Parts of this performance were subsequently aired in a PBS broadcast and released on the Crossroads II DVD.
In June 2008, King played at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee; he was also the final performer at the 25th annual Chicago Blues Festival on June 8, 2008, and at the Monterey Blues Festival, following Taj Mahal. Another June 2008 event was King's induction into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame alongside Liza Minnelli and Sir James Galway.
In July 2008, Sirius XM Radio's Bluesville channel was re-named B.B. King's Bluesville.
On December 1, 2008, King performed at the Maryland Theater in Hagerstown, Maryland.[14] On December 3, King and John Mayer were the closing act at the 51st Grammy Nomination Concert, playing "Let the Good Times Roll" by Louis Jordan. On December 30, 2008, King played at The Kennedy Center Honors Awards Show; his performance was in honor of actor Morgan Freeman.
King is slated to perform at the closing ceremonies of the Mawazine festival in Rabat, Morocco, on May 29, 2010.[citation needed]
Over a period of 52 years, B.B. King has played in excess of 15,000 performances.[15]
[edit] B.B. King's Blues Club


Sign outside B.B. King's Blues Club on Beale Street, Memphis
In 1991, B.B. King's Blues Club opened on Beale Street in Memphis, and in 1994, a second club was launched at Universal City Walk in Los Angeles. A third club in New York City's Times Square opened in June 2000. Two further clubs opened at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut in January 2002[16] and another in Nashville in 2003.[17] A club in West Palm Beach opened in the fall of 2009[18] and an additional one, based in the Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, is due to open in the winter of 2009.[19]
[edit] Philanthropy
In 2001, King signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a non-profit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underserved public schools throughout the US. He sits on LKR's Honorary Board of Directors.
[edit] TV appearances
B.B. King has made guest appearances in numerous popular television shows, including The Cosby Show,[20] The Young and the Restless,[20] General Hospital,[21] The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,[20] Sesame Street,[22] Married With Children[20], Sanford and Son[20], and Touched by an Angel.[20]
[edit] Personal life
King has been married twice, to Martha Lee Denton, 1946 to 1952, and to Sue Carol Hall, 1958 to 1966. Both marriages ended because of the heavy demands made on the marriage by King's 250 performances a year.[3] It is reported that he has fathered 15 children.[3] He has lived with Type II diabetes for over twenty years and is a high-profile spokesman in the fight against the disease, appearing in advertisements for diabetes-management products.
His favorite singer is Frank Sinatra. In his autobiography King speaks about how he was, and is, a "Sinatra nut" and how he went to bed every night listening to Sinatra's classic album In the Wee Small Hours. King has credited Sinatra for opening doors to black entertainers who were not given the chance to play in "white dominated" venues; Sinatra got B.B. King into the main clubs in Las Vegas during the 1960s.[23][page needed]
[edit] Discography
Main article: B. B. King discography

[edit] Honors and awards


B.B. King in 1990

• In May 1977, King was awarded an honorary doctorate by Yale University.[citation needed]
• In 1987 he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, becoming one of the first artists to be honored by the museum.[24]
• In 1990 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.[25]
• In 1991 he was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the NEA.[26]

• King was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995. This is given to recognize "the lifelong accomplishments and extraordinary talents of our nation's most prestigious artists."[27]
• In 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Mississippi;[citation needed] and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music awarded him the Polar Music Prize for his "significant contributions to the blues".[11]
• On December 15, 2006, President George W. Bush awarded King the Presidential Medal of Freedom.[28]
• On May 27, 2007, King was awarded an honorary doctorate in music by Brown University.[29]
• On May 14, 2008, King was presented with the keys to the city of Utica, New York; and on May 18, 2008, the mayor of Portland, Maine, Edward Suslovic, declared the day "B. B. King Day" in the city. Prior to King's performance at the

• In 2009, Time Magazine named B.B. King #3 on its list of the 10 best electric guitarists of all-time.[31]
• Each year during the first week in June, a B.B. King Homecoming Festival is held in Indianola, Mississippi.[32]
• A Mississippi Blues Trail marker was added for B. B. King, commemorating his birthplace.[33]

Big Joe Turner

Early days
Known variously as The Boss of the Blues, and Big Joe Turner (due to his 6'2", 300+ lbs stature), Turner was born in Kansas City and first discovered his love of music through involvement in the church. Turner's father was killed in a train accident when Joe was only four years old.[3] He began singing on street corners for money, leaving school at age fourteen to begin working in Kansas City's nightclub scene, first as a cook, and later as a singing bartender. He eventually became known as The Singing Barman, and worked in such venues as The Kingfish Club and The Sunset, where he and his piano playing partner Pete Johnson became resident performers.[2] The Sunset was managed by Piney Brown. It featured "separate but equal" facilities for white patrons. Turner wrote "Piney Brown Blues" in his honor and sang it throughout his entire career.
At that time Kansas City was a wide-open town run by "Boss" Tom Pendergast. Despite this, the clubs were subject to frequent raids by the police, but as Turner recounts, "The Boss man would have his bondsmen down at the police station before we got there. We'd walk in, sign our names and walk right out. Then we would cabaret until morning".
His partnership with boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson proved fruitful.[2] Together they headed to New York City in 1936, where they appeared on a bill with Benny Goodman, but as Turner recounts, "After our show with Goodman, we auditioned at several places, but New York wasn't ready for us yet, so we headed back to K.C.". Eventually they were spotted by the talent scout, John H. Hammond in 1938, who invited them back to New York to appear in one of his "From Spirituals to Swing" concerts at Carnegie Hall, which was instrumental in introducing jazz and blues to a wider American audience.[2]
Due in part to their appearance at Carnegie Hall, Turner and Johnson scored a major hit with "Roll 'Em Pete".[2] The track contained one of the earliest recorded examples of a back beat. It was a song which Turner recorded many times, with various combinations of musicians, over the ensuing years.
[edit] 1939 to 1950
In 1939, along with boogie players Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis, they began a residency at Café Society, a club in New York City, where they appeared on the same bill as Billie Holiday and Frank Newton's band.[2] Besides "Roll 'Em, Pete", Turner's best-known recordings from this period are probably "Cherry Red", "I Want A Little Girl" and "Wee Baby Blues". "Cherry Red" was recorded in 1939 for the Vocalion label, with Hot Lips Page on trumpet and a full band in attendance.[4] The following year Turner moved to Decca and recorded, "Piney Brown Blues", with Johnson on piano accompianment. But not all of Turner's Decca recordings teamed him with Johnson; Willie "The Lion" Smith accompanied him on "Careless Love," whilst Freddie Slack's Trio provided the backing for "Rocks in My Bed" (1941).[4]
In 1941, he headed to Los Angeles where he performed in Duke Ellington's revue Jump for Joy in Hollywood. He appeared as a singing policeman in a comedy sketch called "He's on the Beat." Los Angeles became his home base for a time, and in 1944 he worked in Meade Lux Lewis's Soundies musical films. Although he sang on the soundtrack recordings, he was not present for the filming, and his vocals were mouthed by comedian Dudley Dickerson for the camera. In 1945 Turner and Pete Johnson opened their own bar in Los Angeles, The Blue Moon Club.
The same year he signed on with National Records, and recorded under Herb Abramson's supervision. Turner remained with National up to 1947, with "My Gal's a Jockey" becoming his first national R&B hit. Nevertheless he recorded the risqué "Around the Clock" the same year, and Aladdin released his duet with Wynonie Harris, on the ribald two-parter, "Battle of the Blues." Apart from "Still in the Dark," (1950) none of Turner's records were big sellers.[4]
Turner made lots of records, not only with Johnson but with the pianists Art Tatum and Sammy Price and with various small jazz ensembles.[5] He recorded on several record labels, particularly National, and also appeared with the Count Basie Orchestra.[2] In his career, Turner successively led the transition from big bands to jump blues to rhythm and blues, and finally to rock and roll. Turner was a master of traditional blues verses and at the legendary Kansas City jam sessions he could swap choruses with instrumental soloists for hours.
[edit] Success in the 1950s
In 1951, while performing with the Count Basie Orchestra at Harlem's Apollo Theater as a replacement for Jimmy Rushing, he was spotted by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegün, who signed him to their new recording company, Atlantic Records.[2] Turner recorded a number of hits for them, including the blues standards, "Chains of Love" and "Sweet Sixteen".[4] Many of his vocals are punctuated with shouts to the band members, as in "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" ("That's a good rockin' band!", "Go ahead, man! Ow! That's just what I need!" ) and "Honey Hush" (he repeatedly sings "Hi-yo, Silver!", probably in reference to The Treniers singing the phrase in their Lone Ranger parody "Ride, Red, Ride"). Turner's records shot to the top of the rhythm-and-blues charts; although they were sometimes so earthy that some radio stations would not play them, the songs received heavy play on jukeboxes and records.
Turner hit it big in 1954 with "Shake, Rattle and Roll", which not only enhanced his career, turning him into a teenage favorite, but also helped to transform popular music.[2] The song is fairly raw, as Turner yells at his woman to "get outa that bed, wash yo' face an' hands" and comments that she's "wearin' those dresses, the sun comes shinin' through!, I can't believe my eyes, all that mess belongs to you."[6] He sang the number on film in the 1955 theatrical feature Rhythm and Blues Revue.
Although the cover version of the song by Bill Haley and His Comets, with the risqué lyrics incompletely cleaned up, was a bigger hit, many listeners sought out Turner's version and were introduced thereby to the whole world of rhythm and blues. Elvis Presley showed he needed no such introduction. Presley's version of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" combined Turner's lyrics with Haley's arrangement, but was not successful as a single.
Suddenly, at the age of 43, Turner was a rock star. His follow-ups "Well All Right," "Flip Flop and Fly," "Hide and Seek," "Morning, Noon and Night," and "The Chicken and the Hawk" all continued the good-time feel of "Shake, Rattle and Roll".[4] He appeared on the television program Showtime at the Apollo during the mid 1950s, and in the film, Shake Rattle & Rock! (1956).[4]
"Corrine, Corrina" provided Turner with another massive seller in 1956.[4] In addition to the rock songs he found time to cut the classic Boss of the Blues album in 1956.[5] On May 26, 1958, "(I’m Gonna) Jump for Joy," the twentieth and last of Turner's run of hits, entered the US R&B record chart.[2]
[edit] Returning to the blues
After a number of hits in this vein, Turner left popular music behind and returned to his roots as a singer with small jazz combos, recording numerous album in that style in the 1960s and 1970s.[2] In 1966, Bill Haley helped revive Turner's career by lending him the Comets for a series of popular recordings in Mexico[4] (apparently no one thought of getting the two to record a duet of "Shake, Rattle and Roll", as no such recording has yet surfaced). In 1977 he recorded a cover version of Guitar Slim's song, "The Things that I Used to Do."
In the 1960s and 1970s he was reclaimed by jazz and blues, appearing at many music festivals and recording for the impresario Norman Granz's Pablo label, once with his friendly rival, Jimmy Witherspoon.[4][5] He also worked with the German boogie-woogie pianist Axel Zwingenberger.[5] Turner also took part in good natured 'Battles of the Blues' with Wynonie Harris and T-Bone Walker.[7]
It is a mark of his dominance as a singer that he won the Esquire magazine award for male vocalist in 1945, the Melody Maker award for best 'new' vocalist in 1956, and the British Jazz Journal award as top male singer in 1965. His career thus stretched from the bar rooms of Kansas City in the 1920s (at the age of twelve when he performed with a pencilled moustache and his father's hat), on to the European jazz music festivals of the 1980s.
In 1983, only two years before his death, Turner was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.[8] The same year saw the release on Mute Records of Blues Train, an album which paired Turner with Roomful of Blues.[2]
[edit] Death
He died in Inglewood, California in November 1985, at the age of 74 of a heart attack, having suffered the earlier effects of arthritis, a stroke and diabetes. Big Joe Turner was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.[9]
[edit] Tributes
The late The New York Times music critic Robert Palmer, said: "...his voice, pushing like a Count Basie solo, rich and grainy as a section of saxophones, which dominated the room with the sheer sumptuousness of its sound."[10]
In announcing Turner's death in their December 1985 edition, the British music magazine, NME, described Turner as "the grandfather of rock and roll."[11]
[edit] Quotation

"Roll 'Em Pete" - by Joe Turner and Pete Johnson
[edit] Most famous recordings

• "Roll 'Em Pete" (1938) (available in many versions over the years. Used for the million-dollar first scene in Spike Lee's film, Malcolm X)[12]
• "Chains Of Love" (1951) † (this was Turner's first million seller. The song was written by 'Nugetre' (words) and Van "Piano Man" Walls (music), and the disc reached the million sales mark by 1954)[13]
• "Honey Hush" (1953) † (Turner's second million-seller through the years, written by Turner it was credited to Lou Willie Turner)[13]
• "Shake, Rattle and Roll" (1954)
• "Flip Flop And Fly" (1955) † (has sold a million through the years. The song was written by Charles Calhoun and Turner, although credited to the latter's wife, Lou Willie Turner)[13]
• "Cherry Red" (1956)
• "Corrine, Corrina" (1956) † (his fourth million seller; with adaption by J. Mayo Williams, Mitchell Parish and Bo Chatmon in 1932. This disc reached #41, and spent 10 weeks in the Billboard record chart)[13]
• "Wee Baby Blues" (1956) (a song Turner had been singing since his Kingfish Club days)
• "Love Roller Coaster" (1956)
• "Midnight Special" (1957)

• The Boss of the Blues (1956)
• Big Joe Rides Again (1959)
• Bosses of the Blues, Vol. 1 (1969)
• Texas Style (1971)
• Flip, Flop & Fly (1972)
• Life Ain't Easy (1974)
• The Trumpet Kings Meet Joe Turner (1974)

• ^ IMDb database
• ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rockhall.com - accessed July 2009
• ^ "Big Joe Turner" at BBC website
• ^ a b c d e f g h i "Biography by Bill Dahl". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=BIG|JOE|TURNER&sql=11:kiftxq95ldae~T1. Retrieved November 17, 2009.
• ^ a b c d Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 178–79. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
• ^ History-of-rock.com
• ^ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. p. 117. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
• ^ 1996 Inductees to the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame at Infoplease.com
• ^ Blues.about.com website
• ^ Rhino.com/Black History/Mini biography
• ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 413. CN 5585.
• ^ Amazon.com
• ^ a b c d e Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (Second ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp. 57. ISBN 0-214-20512-6

bigjoeturner

Buddy Guy

Born in Lettsworth, Louisiana, Guy grew up in Louisiana learning guitar on a two string diddley bow he made. Later he was given a Harmony acoustic guitar, which he later donated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the early '50s he began performing with bands in Baton Rouge. Soon after moving to Chicago in 1957, Guy fell under the influence of Muddy Waters. In 1958, a competition with West Side guitarists Magic Sam and Otis Rush gave Guy a record contract. Soon afterwards he recorded for Cobra Records. He recorded sessions with Junior Wells for Delmark Records under the pseudonym Friendly Chap in 1965 and 1966[5].
Guy’s early career was supposedly held back by both conservative business choices made by his record company (Chess Records) and "the scorn, diminishments and petty subterfuge from a few jealous rivals"[citation needed]. Chess, Guy’s record label from 1959 to 1968, refused to record Buddy Guy’s novel style that was similar to his live shows. Leonard Chess (Chess founder and 1987 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee) denounced Guy’s playing as "noise". In the early 1960s, Chess tried recording Guy as a solo artist with R&B ballads, jazz instrumentals, soul and novelty dance tunes, but none were released as singles. Guy’s only Chess album, "Left My Blues in San Francisco", was finally issued in 1967. Most of the songs belong stylistically to the era's soul boom, with orchestrations by Gene Barge and Charlie Stepney. Chess used Guy mainly as a session guitarist to back Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Koko Taylor and others.
Buddy Guy appeared onstage at the April 1969 Supershow at Staines, England that also included Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Jack Bruce, Stephen Stills, Buddy Miles, Glen Campbell, Roland Kirk, and Jon HisemanThe Misunderstood Roland Kirk. Image: 1969 Supershow.
By the late 1960s, Guy's career was in decline. The heavy blues-rock scene he had helped inspire was flourishing without him. For the next two decades, Buddy Guy had to endure the neglect many blues and rock artists faced in their careers: As visionaries and pathfinders they are overlooked while their followers received the fame, recognition and fortune.
Guy's career finally took off during the blues revival period of the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was sparked by Clapton's request that Guy be part of the '24 Nights' all-star blues guitar lineup at London's Royal Albert Hall and Guy's subsequent signing with Silvertone Records.
[edit] Music


Buddy Guy in 1993 performing
Courtesy: Jean-Luc Ourlin
While Buddy Guy's music is often labeled Chicago blues, his style is unique and separate. His music can vary from the most traditional, deepest blues to a creative, unpredictable and radical gumbo of the blues, avant rock, soul and free jazz that morphs at each night’s performance.
As New York Times pop music critic Jon Pareles noted in 2004:
Mr. Guy, 68, mingles anarchy, virtuosity, deep blues and hammy shtick in ways that keep all eyes on him... [Guy] loves extremes: sudden drops from loud to soft, or a sweet, sustained guitar solo followed by a jolt of speed, or a high, imploring vocal cut off with a rasp...Whether he's singing with gentle menace or bending new curves into a blue note, he is a master of tension and release, and his every wayward impulse was riveting.
Some blues fans and music critics believe that Guy's 1960–1967 Chess catalog remains his most satisfying body of work. This view discounts the pathfinding music Guy was creating since his early live performances, some of which is captured in the American Folk Blues Festival albums. Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page appreciated this more radical side of Guy's music, in the early 1960s. However, Guy himself has suggested that the styles represented on his albums from the 1990s, which tended to stray furthest from traditional blues, were an effort to adapt to the changing realities of commercial radio and the record business. In an revealing interview taped on April 14, 2000 for WRUW-FM Cleveland (a college station), Guy said "The purpose of me trying to play the kind of rocky stuff is to get airplay...I find myself kind of searching, hoping I'll hit the right notes, say the right things, maybe they'll put me on one of these big stations, what they call 'classic'...if you get Eric Clapton to play a Muddy Waters song, they call it classic, and they will put it on that station, but you'll never hear Muddy Waters."
Guy’s songs have been covered by Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayall, Jack Bruce, and others.[citation needed] Regardless, Guy is perhaps better known for his creative interpretation of the work of other songwriters.
Traditional blues fans may appreciate the albums, The Very Best of Buddy Guy, Blues Singer, Junior Wells' Hoodoo Man Blues, A Man & The Blues and I Was Walking Through The Woods. Contemporary blues and rock fans may appreciate Slippin’ In, Sweet Tea, Stone Crazy, Buddy's Baddest: The Best Of Buddy Guy, Damn Right, I've Got the Blues, and D.J. Play My Blues. Guy's live show is featured in the video Live! The Real Deal and he performs in the DVDs Lightning In a Bottle, Crossroads Guitar Festival, Eric Clapton: 24 Nights, Festival Express, and A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan.
[edit] Entertainer

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R. L. Burnside

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