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An excellent 2LP set that brings together 28 early 50s recordings by T-Bone Walker – crucial sides that link together jazz and blues traditions, with incredible work on guitar that would go onto influence both genres tremendously. The fact that Walker became a huge influence on soul jazz guitarists like Billy Butler, George Freeman, and Wild Bill Jennings is probably not lost on Blue Note – who included the set here as the only non-jazz set in their 2LP 70s reissue series. Titles include "Blue Mood", "Alimony Blues", "The Sun Went Down", "Cold Cold Feeling", "Strollin With Bones", "Street Walkin Woman", "You Don't Love Me", "Party Girl", "Life is Too Short", and "News For You Baby". LP, Vinyl record album

Features Charlie McCoy, Big Bill Broonzy, and Big Joe Williams on guitar – and Walter Davis on piano! LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Little Walter and his Night Cats, Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, Lazy Lester, Jerry McCain, Howlin' Wolf, Billy Boy Arnold, Jimmy & Walter, Snooky Pryor, Slim Harpo, and more. 18 tracks total. CD

Featuring music from Freddy King, Jimmy Reed, Bobby Bland, Muddy Waters, BB King, Slim Harpo, Etta James, Little Johnny Taylor, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, Bobby Parker, Johnny Guitar Watson, Earl King, Buddy Guy, Elmore James, Little Junior Parker, and Earl Hooker – 20 tracks in all. CD

Music from Elmore James, Muddy Waters, JB Hutton & his Hawks, Blind Willie Johnson, the Johnny Shines Blues Band, Homesick James, Chuck Berry, Black Ace, Earl Hooker, Canned Heat, Johnny Winter, Ry Cooder & more. CD

With selections by Sidney Bechet, Lil Johnson, Bessie Smith, Oscar's Chicago Swingers, Johnny Temple, Merline Johnson, Coot Grant & Kid Wesley Wilson, Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band, Jelly Roll Morton, Lucille Bogan, Bessie Jackson, and Georgia White. LP, Vinyl record album

(Funky 45's, Blues) 7-inch, Vinyl record

Includes tracks by Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Blind Willie Johnson, Robert Junior Lockwood, Black Ace, Tampa Red, Son House, Earl Hooker, Johnny Winter, and Boyd Gilmore. CD

Titles include "Maude", "Hobo Blues", "Boom Boom", "Want-Ad Blues", and "Boogie Chillun". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Muddy Waters, Little Johnny Jones, Jimmy Rogers, John Lee Hooker, Eddie Boyd, Little Walter, Lowell Folson, JB Lenoir, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin' Wolf, and Willie Dixon – 16 tracks total. CD

Music from Billy Boy Arnold, Willie Mabon, Willie Cobbs, Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, Memphis Slim, Jimmy Reed, Walter Horton, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, Ricky Allen, and more. CD

Includes recordings with Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra and Her Down Home Syncopaters. (Vocalists, Blues) LP, Vinyl record album

Features early work by Homesick James, Baby Face Leroy, Little Walter, JB Hutto, Eddie Boyd, Junior Wells, Little Willie Foster, Snooky & Moody, Johnny Young, Floyd Jones, Big Walter, Rober Nighthawk, and John Brim. LP, Vinyl record album

Features tracks by Texas Alexander, Mercy Dee, Frankie Lee Sims, John Hogg, Lightning Hopkins, LC Williams, Buddy Chiles, and even a title by an unknown artist! LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

Overlooked recordings from the Chicago via New Orleans pianist Richard M Jones. This is the second of two volumes and collects work with his groups the Jazz Wizards and the Chicago Cosmopolitans. Tracks include "Canal Street Blues", "29th & Dearborn", "Hot & Ready", "Joe Louis Chant", "Trouble In Mind", "Blue Reefer Blues", and "Tickle Britches Blues". CD

Features work from Doctor Ross, LC Green, Detroit Count, John Lee Hooker, One String Sam, Big Maceo, Brother Will Hariston, Bobo Jenkins, and Baby Boy Warren! LP, Vinyl record album

Sonny Terry may be the king – but his vocals and harmonica are working here with a real "royal court" of blues – Lightnin Hopkins and Brownie McGhee on guitar, each of whom set a side of the record – alongside Terry, plus bass from Leonard Gaskin and drums from Belton Evans. CD

... CD

A great batch of raw R&B vocals from Jimmy Witherspoon – along with backing by an excellent group that includes the great Clifford Scott on tenor, the always-great T-Bone Walker on guitar, and the little-known Bert Kendrix on organ. Tracks are short, and have a bit more fire than some of Jimmy's other work. Titles include "Grab Me A Freight", "Don't Let Go", "Money's Gettin' Cheaper", "Cane River", and "Drinking Beer". (Vocalists, Blues) CD

(Vocalists, Blues) CD

Features Gary Davis on six and twelve string guitar, plus a bit of harmonica – on titles that include "Lovin Spoonful", "Samson & Delilah", "You Got To Move", "Twelve Sticks", "Buck Dance", and "Twelve Gates To The City". LP, Vinyl record album

One of THE all time classics of funky blues – a record built around Lowell's huge single "Tramp" – a massive tune that spawned a whole generation of answer tunes! "Tramp" kicks off the set with a stone break that's worth the price of the album – then Lowell slides into some tunes that have a bit more of a conventional bluesy approach, mixed with a few other nice cuts that get a bit funky too! A rough-edged classic that really stands out – and which has made Fulsom one of the better-collected bluesmen of the beathead crowd. In addition to "Tramp", other tracks include "Two Way Wishin", "Back Door Key", "Year Of 29", "Pico", "Goin' Home", and "Black Nights". Includes 2 bonus tracks – "Tramp (take 1)" and "Year Of 29 (alt take)". CD

20 tracks in all – from early Detroit classics to later duets with Carlos Santana and Canned Heat! CD

Great gritty sides from the mighty John Lee Hooker – material with a slightly obscure origin, but recorded in the late 50s, right in a stretch when he was cutting some of his classics! Hooker's guitar and vocals are center stage – both growling with a hell of a lot of soulful power – and the backing features just a bit of rhythm guitar, bass, and drums. Titles include "I Bought You A Brand New Home", "Teasin Me", "My Cryin Days Are Over", "Sad & Lonesome", "How Long", and "Mean Mistreatin". LP, Vinyl record album

Two great female blues talents, recorded at a time when they were still alive and well in Chicago – Alberta Hunter on vocals, and Lovie Austin on piano! CD

Blues, but with an undercurrent of New Orleans jazz – no surprise, given the Louisiana roots of Eurreal "Little Brother" Montgomery! The album's a classic set recorded in Chicago in the early 60s – featuring both Montgomery in a spare solo setting, and with help from a small backup group that includes Ted Butterman on cornet, Bob Gordon on clarinet, and Mike McKendrick on banjo. Little Brother plays piano on all numbers, and sings on most – and titles include "44 Vicksburg", "Prescriptions Of The Blues", "Sweet Daddy", "Home Again Blues", "Up The Country Blues", "Saturday Night Function", "Michigan Water Blues", and "Oh Daddy". CD features the bonus track "Cooter Crawl". CD

Jimmy Rushing reprises a nice batch of blues classics from the 20s, all of which were sung by early recording artists like Bessie or Clara Smith. The group that backs him is a nice one, and features Buck Clayton on trumpet, Buster Bailey on clarinet, and Coleman Hawkins on tenor. As with many of Columbia's late 50's sessions in this style, the sound is excellent, and has an intimacy and warmth that works extremely well with the material – including titles like "Arkansas Blues", "Gulf Coast Blues", "Muddy Waters", "Squeeze Me", and "Crazy Blues". (Vocalists, Blues) LP, Vinyl record album

Backings by Eddie Chamblee, on a host of Bessie Smith classics – updated with more of a 50s R&B vibe. (Vocalists, Blues) LP, Vinyl record album

2 Muddy Waters classics! On the first record, the Big Bill in the title is Big Bill Broonzy – a key influence on midcentury bluesmen all over the US, and paid tribute to nicely here by Muddy Waters! Given this tribute approach, the sound's a bit rootsier than some of Waters' other work for Chess at the time – a bit more emphasis on some of the acoustic elements in the instrumentation, and a recording style and approach to rhythm that's sometimes a bit more down home than postwar Chicago. Many titles are Broonzy originals, and titles include "Tell Me Baby", "Southbound Train", "Just A Dream", "Double Trouble", "I Feel So Good", "I Done Got Wise", and "Mopper's Blues". Folk Singer is a seminal album by Muddy – recorded in a style that's rootsier, and more down to earth than a lot of his other chess sides! Muddy's playing acoustic guitar, and the rest of the group features Buddy Guy, Willie Dixon, and Clifton James. The sound is really spare, and very moody – and tracks include "You Gonna Need My Help", "Cold Weather Blues", "Feel Like Going Home", and "My Home Is In The Delta". CD

A sweet collection of early work by Sonny Boy Williamson – lots of Chess Records classics! LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most important indie labels of the postwar years – heard here in a flurry of great tracks that really show them at their finest! This excellent double-length set brings together magical moments from a time when the Flair imprint was really hitting on all burners – recording key vocal, instrumental, blues, and doo wop tracks that would go onto have a huge impact on generations to come – mixed here with a host of titles that haven't been on CD before! The package digs deeper than any look at Flair we've ever seen – and that's saying a lot, given that Ace Records was already giving the label their due a few decades before – and all the new material sits strongly next to classics that make the 50 track collection one of the best R&B collections from the 78rpm era that we've heard in a long long time. Titles include "She Wants To Rock" and "Getting High" by The Flairs, "Loosely" and "Cuban Get Away" by Ike Turner, "Chop House" by Blinky Allen, "Quit Hangin Around Me" by Saunders King, "Early In The Morning" and "Can't Stop Lovin" by Elmore James, "Hello Baby" and "Baby Beat It" by Big Duke, "Midnight Hours Journey" by Johnny Ace, "Night Howler" by Billy Gale, "You Better Hold Me" by James Reed, "I've Got The Feeling" by Baby Parham, "This Time It's Real" by Ricky & Jennell, "Send Him Back" by Shirley Gunter, "An Angel Cried" by Anna Marie, "Blue Mambo" by Bobby Rey, and "Love Me Love Me Love Me" by The Chimes. (Soul, Blues) CD

Fantastic work from the great Charles Brown – an equal mix of jazz and blues, delivered with a smooth, sophisticated touch that really helped move things forward in the postwar years! 20 classics from his years at Aladdin Records. (Soul, Blues) CD