A rich collection of work from this legendary Chicago bluesman – 36 tracks on 2 CDs, plus an oversized booklet with nice photos and notes! CD

With McKinley Mitchell on "That Last Home Run". 7-inch, Vinyl record

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One of the greatest albums ever made by Willie Dixon as a leader – a really cooking set done after years backing other folks up in the Chess Records studio – and a date recorded for the Chicago-based Ovation Records label, who really let Willie do his thing! Given that Dixon plays bass, there's some great currents of funk in here – and the grooves are nice and raw, thanks to tight drums from Clifton James, and instrumentation from Buster Benton on guitar, Lafayette Leake on piano, and Carrie Bell on harmonica! There's a gritty electric groove throughout – and titles include "Hold Me Baby", "Moon Cat", "Pretty Baby", "Shakin The Shack", "What Happened To My Blues", "Uh Huh Baby", and "Put It All In There". LP, Vinyl record album

Very early pre-Chess work from bassist Willie Dixon – heard here in his cool Big Three Trio – a hip jump blues group with almost a west coast vibe at times – presented here on some rare 78rpm material recorded for Columbia, including a few unreleased tracks! CD

A long-overdue recognition of the blues contributions of Willie Dixon – a set that pulls him out of the indie ghetto and pushes him firmly into the mainstream with this key release on Columbia Records! Yet despite that placement, the style is nicely down home – a strong recreation of older Chicago blues modes by producer Abner Spector – one that has Willie singing versions of his classic tunes like "Back Door Man", "The Seventh Son", "Little Red Rooster", "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man", and "The Same Thing". LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

A long-overdue recognition of the blues contributions of Willie Dixon – a set that pulls him out of the indie ghetto and pushes him firmly into the mainstream with this key release on Columbia Records! Yet despite that placement, the style is nicely down home – a strong recreation of older Chicago blues modes by producer Abner Spector – one that has Willie singing versions of his classic tunes like "Back Door Man", "The Seventh Son", "Little Red Rooster", "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man", and "The Same Thing". LP, Vinyl record album

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

A long-overdue recognition of the blues contributions of Willie Dixon – a set that pulls him out of the indie ghetto and pushes him firmly into the mainstream with this key release on Columbia Records! Yet despite that placement, the style is nicely down home – a strong recreation of older Chicago blues modes by producer Abner Spector – one that has Willie singing versions of his classic tunes like "Back Door Man", "The Seventh Son", "Little Red Rooster", "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man", and "The Same Thing". CD

... CD

Produced by Willie Dixon. CD

A tight batch of organ groovers with a raw R&B feel, recorded by the obscure St Louis organist Sam Lazar – with a very young Grant Green on guitar! The album's a bit different than Sam's other records for Argo – in that the tunes are all quite short, with a tight fast sound that's almost more R&B at times than jazz – a very unusual setting especially for Grant Green! The guitar is nice and loud – really racing to keep up with Lazar's fast work on the Hammond – and other members of the group include Willie Dixon on bass and Chauncey Williams on drums. Titles include "Mad Lad", "Space Flight", "Caramu", "Funky Blues", and "Big Willie". LP, Vinyl record album

A very strange record from Chicago! The album features one side of soul jazz piano work by the Lafayette Leake trio – a bluesy group from Chicago that feature Leake on piano, Clifton James on drums, and Willie Dixon on bass. They play one very long track called "Soul Wrinkles", with lots of nice changes, and a good live feel. The flipside of the record features radio DJ E. Rodney Jones reciting an extended work called "Might Is Right", with backing "courtesy of Chess Records". The work is vaguely political, and has a similar sound to records by Gary Byrd and Jim Ingram – although less funky. A strange one, but a great relic of the kind of indie record scene that once helped spread knowledge and wisdom through the African American community. LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful images from the legendary Ann Arbor Blues Festival – a long-running even that's pulled together an amazing range of talent over the years – a good number of whom are featured here! The festival probably hit its biggest fame in the early 70s – when recordings documented work by Sun Ra, Art Ensemble, and many blues musicians – and most of the images here even predate those years, as almost all the photographs appear to be from 1969 and 1970 – huge appearances for still-living blues legends! The quality of the images is great – and the book features images of John Lee Hooker, Son House, Sippie Wallace, Sunnyland Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, Fred McDowell, Little Brother Montgomery, Willie Dixon, Robert Lockwood, Buddy Guy, Lowell Fulson, and many others – all in crisp, vintage black and white. 128 pages, softcover, with images throughout. Book

Rollicking country-tinged blues from Jimmy Reed and an incredible group of backing musicians – actually not captured in the opulent grandeur of Carnegie Hall – and probably all the better for it! Prior to the original double LP release of Jimmy Reed At Carnegie Hall, Reed headlined a Blues At Carnegie Hall event, and though the performance was not recorded for a live album release he went on the cut a similar set list with varying players that included Lonnie Brooks, Phil Upchurch and Eddie Tayor on guitar, Willie Dixon on bass, Earl Phillips and Albert King on tracks. It's really wonderful stuff, obvious epiphany material for loads of rockers and young players on both the US and British blues scenes to come! 23 tracks in all: "Bright Lights Big City", "I'm Mr Luck", "Found Joy", "Kind Of Lonesome", "Tell Me You Love Me", "Hold Me Close", "Baby What You Want Me To Do", "Blue Blue Water", "Hush Hush", "Found Love", "Honest I Do", "You Got Me Dizzy", "Boogie In The Dark", "Take Out Some Insurance", "The Sun Is Shining" and lots more! CD

Probably THE album you truly need to own from Koko Taylor – and a completely great one, recorded way before she'd become a cliched fixture paying the bills on the frat boy tourist blues scene! The tracks here were recorded over a few years in mid-to-late 60s Chicago – mostly with production from Willie Dixon, who also co-wrote most of the tunes on the set! The groove is nice and gritty – electric Chess Chicago blues at it's finest, but also with a good sense of soul in the mix – and tracks include the fiery hit "Wang Dang Doodle", plus "Fire", "29 Ways", "I Don't Care Who Knows", "Nitty Gritty", and "Love You Like A Woman". Amazing stuff! LP, Vinyl record album

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". 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

Some of the first recordings ever from Chicago legend Junior Wells – made for the small States label in the Windy City, many years before Wells exploded out with much greater national fame! The music here has Junior stepping into the same early electric space that Chess Records was cutting at the time – and given the presence of Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, and Willie Dixon on some of these sides – the group's also not far off either! Wells is the main star throughout, though – alternating bold young vocals and razor-sharp harmonica lines – in the company of players who include Louis Myers, Elmore James, and Muddy Waters on guitar, Johnnie Jones and Otis Spann on piano, Willie Dixon on bass, and Odie Payne on drums. Titles include "Hoodoo Man", "Tomorrow Night", "Eagle Rock", "Junior's Wail", "Throw This Poor Dog A Bone", "So All Alone", "Blues Hit Big Town", and "Lovin Blues". CD features six previously unissued tracks! CD

One in a series of double LP compilations Chess put out in the 70s collecting some of the classic blues sides in their catalog. As near as we can tell, these raw folk blues numbers were mostly issued as 45s, featuring Sonny Boy on vocals and harp, with sidemen that include Muddy Waters, Robert Jr Lockwood, Willie Dixon, Otis Spann and others. 28 tracks in all, including "One Way Out", "Don't Lose Your Eye", "Keep It To Yourself", "Sad To Be Alone", "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide", "I Never Do Wrong", "I Don't Know", "Don't Start Me Talkin'", "Bring It On Home", "Key To Your Door", "All My Love In Vain", "Nine Below Zero", "Got To Move", "She Got Next To Me", "Keep Your Hand Out Of My Pocket", "Too Close Together", "Like Wolf" and "Santa Claus". LP, Vinyl record album

Great material from this famous German blues festival – with work by Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon, T Bone Walker, Jump Jackson, Sonny Terry, John Lee Hooker, and Shakey Jake! LP, Vinyl record album

A treasure box of early 60s R&B 45s – a top shelf collection of singles cut for the King & Federal labels from 1960 to 1964 – amazing numbers from Hank Ballard, Freddy King, The Drivers, Little Bobby Moore, Willie Dixon & The Big Wheels, Johnny Guitar Watson, Carol Ford, Little Willie John and more. Early 60s soul and rollicking R&B sides to rival the best and most exciting sounds of the era – compiled by DJ Mr Fine Wine, most of which have never been reissued before now! Includes "Gibble Gobble" by Willie Wright & His Sparklers, "Broadway" by Hank Ballard, "What Makes You So Cold" by Lulu Reed, "My Nerves" by Little Willie John, "The Slummer The Slum" by The 5 Royales, "I Don't Know About You" by Lloyd Nolan, "Where You At Jack" by Little Mummy,, "That's It Man" by The Valentines, "Mind Your Own Business" by Eugene Church, "Regardless" by Charles Brown,, "Texas Oil" by Freddie King", "One Zippy Zam" by Roy Mildton & His Orchestra, "Mom, Won't You Teach Me To Monkey" by Little Emmett Suttoon, "Hog Killin Time" by Eddie Kirk and more. CD

The title definitely gets it right – as this 70s collection brings together most of the best Chess Records material by Howlin Wolf from the late 50s and early 60s – almost all of them small combo sides that present the man in all of his raspy, growling glory! The tracks span a space from 1954 through 1965 – showing a great development over the space of a decade, but no departure at all from that core energy that made Wolf one of the key figures to transform the sound of blues in the postwar years. Other players include Hubert Sumlin on guitar, Otis Spann on piano, Willie Dixon on bass, and JT Brown on tenor – and titles include "Evil", "Spoonful", "No Place To Go", "Down In The Bottom", "Who's Been Talkin", "Wang Dang Doodle", and "Three Hundred Pounds Of Joy". LP, Vinyl record album

2 blues classics from the great Howlin Wolf – back to back on a single CD! First up is the self-titled Howlin Wolf – a record that has Wolf tightening it up a bit from his earliest years at Chess, and moving into a groove that would forever make him one of the key artists to record for the label! The raspy, rootsy feel of earlier years is still in place – but the recording quality's a bit better, and the tunes have a more unified feel – thanks partly to some classic compositions from Willie Dixon, whose work makes up a very big part of the album! Tunes were recorded between the years 1959 to 1962, and brought together for the record – and titles include "Shake For Me", "Spoonful", "Going Down Slow", "Down In The Bottom", "Wang Dang Doodle", "Red Rooster", and "Tell Me". On Moanin In The Moonlight, a set filled with raspy vocals, Wolf sings in a way that definitely lives up to his nickname! The sound here is spare and stripped down, with very little accompaniment – usually just a bit of guitar, piano, bass, and drums – and sometimes not even all that much! Wolf's vocals are wonderful throughout – archetypal, but not nearly as cliched as some of his contemporaries came to sound – with a timeless feel that really holds up throughout. Titles include "Smokestack Lightnin", "No Place To Go", "All Night Boogie", "Evil", "I Asked For Water", "Forty Four", and "Somebody In My Home". CD

Some of the most hard-edged, gritty material ever cut by the legendary Otis Rush – work done on the Chicago scene of the 50s for Cobra Records – a company who were even more low-fi than Chess Records at the time! Otis' vocals are as incredible as his guitar – and the groups here are often nicely full – not large ensembles, but well-crafted combos that feature plenty of work from key contemporaries on the scene – including Walter Horton on harmonica, Lafayette Leake and Little Brother Montgomery on piano, Harold Ashby and Red Holloway on tenors, and Willie Dixon on bass. All these cuts were originally only issued as rare singles back in the day – and the set features 16 tracks that include "Groaning The Blues", "Violent Love", "Sit Down Baby", "I Can't Quit You Baby", "Checking On My Baby", "She's A Good Un", "Three Times A Fool", and "Love That Woman". LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the first recordings ever from Chicago legend Junior Wells – made for the small States label in the Windy City, many years before Wells exploded out with much greater national fame! The music here has Junior stepping into the same early electric space that Chess Records was cutting at the time – and given the presence of Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, and Willie Dixon on some of these sides – the group's also not far off either! Wells is the main star throughout, though – alternating bold young vocals and razor-sharp harmonica lines – in the company of players who include Louis Myers, Elmore James, and Muddy Waters on guitar, Johnnie Jones and Otis Spann on piano, Willie Dixon on bass, and Odie Payne on drums. Titles include "Hoodoo Man", "Tomorrow Night", "Eagle Rock", "Junior's Wail", "Throw This Poor Dog A Bone", "So All Alone", "Blues Hit Big Town", and "Lovin Blues". CD

The thunderous, chaotic buzzsaw rumble of the great Link Wray – a batch of the amazing earlier pulp guitar stormers from one of most legendary rock instrumentalists of all time! Early Recordings was released as an LP compilation in 1978 – comprised of his best early material. With that in mind, it's hardly worth mentioning that this is one of the best long playing collections of the great Wray ever put together – featuring many of his signature instrumental gems! Tracks include an exceedingly pulpy take on Neal Hefti's "Batman Theme" plus a bunch of tracks penned or co-penned by Wray, including "Ace Of Spades", "Cross Ties", "Jack The Ripper", "I'm Branded", "Fat Back", "Run Chicken Run", "Turnpike USA", "Mr Guitar", the immortal "Rumble", Willie Dixon's "Hidden Charms" and more! LP, Vinyl record album

Chuck Berry's way more than just rocking for sock hops here – as the set has the seminal figure working at the height of his powers – in a raw, stripped-down setting that still packs way more punch than you might remember if you only think of Chuck in terms of all those over-used cliches! The approach is almost more blues than rock – as the core combos have key work from Chess staple Willie Dixon on bass, plus piano from Johnnie Johnson and some occasional tenor from Leroy C Davis. But the real highlight is Berry and his mean guitar – and his sinister style of singing – almost a midwest counterpart to the nasty gritty grooves that the young Johnny Guitar Watson was laying down on the west coast at the time! Titles include "Worried Life Blues", "Too Pooped To Pop", "I Got To Find My Baby", "Broken Arrow", "Let It Rock", "Down The Road Apiece", and the cool instrumental "Mad Lad". LP, Vinyl record album

A tight batch of organ groovers with a raw R&B feel, recorded by the obscure St Louis organist Sam Lazar – with a very young Grant Green on guitar! The album's a bit different than Sam's other records for Argo – in that the tunes are all quite short, with a tight fast sound that's almost more R&B at times than jazz – a very unusual setting especially for Grant Green! The guitar is nice and loud – really racing to keep up with Lazar's fast work on the Hammond – and other members of the group include Willie Dixon on bass and Chauncey Williams on drums. Titles include "Mad Lad", "Space Flight", "Caramu", "Funky Blues", and "Big Willie". LP, Vinyl record album

A really great collection of Chess Records work by JB Lenoir – one of the more unusual singers on the Chicago scene at the time – and one with a sound that's pretty darn great all the way through! Lenoir's tone is a pitch or two up from most of his contemporaries – not as gritty and deep, and with inflections that almost point the way towards soul singers in the generation to come. Yet the backings are definitely in the best Windy City modes of the time – as Lenoir plays some great electric guitar, alongside Alex Atkins on alto, Ernest Cotton on tenor, Joe Montgomery on piano, and Willie Dixon on bass. The set mixes vintage singles with a few unreleased tracks – and titles include "Natural Man", "Don't Dog Your Woman", "Don't Touch My Head", "Five Years", "Mama What About Your Daughter", "Korea Blues", "Let Me Die With The One I Love", "I'm In Korea", and "Carrie Lee". LP, Vinyl record album