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We love our Buddy Guy here in Chicago – and this set cut for Vanguard, one of his first full solo albums with his own band will always be a favorite! Buddy's late 60s sound was as charismatic as he'd always be, but there's an understated approach to his lead that's really wonderful, and hits us much deeper than the showy, guitar solo heavy stuff that the blues club tourists want to hear! He's got the great Otis Spann playing piano, Wayne Bennett on rhythm, Jack Myers on bass, Lonny Taylor and Fred Below on drums, and Donald Hankins, Aaron Corthen and Bobby Fields on saxes. Titles include "A Man And His Blues", "I Can't Quit The Blues", "One Room Country Shack", "Just Playing My Axe", "Worry, Worry", "Jam On A Monday Morning" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

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Landmark early 70s Buddy Guy on Vanguard! Titles include "Watermelon Man", "Hold That Plane", "I'm Ready", "You Don't Love Me", "Come See About Me", "Hello San Francisco" and more. CD

Two albums' worth of material – both recorded in Paris – one with Roosevelt Sykes, the other with Buddy Guy & Junior Wells! CD

An early trio session by Lester Young – recorded with Buddy Rich on drums! The record also features an obscure pianist named "Aye Guy" – Nat King Cole under another name! Guy and Young trade lines in a very nicely relaxed format, and even though the record's mostly all standards, the group works well with the material. The one original track – "Back To The Land" – is a live improvised one, recorded in the studio with no overdubs – and other titles include "I've Found A New Baby", "I Cover The Waterfront", and "Somebody Loves Me". CD

Crisply-tailored, yet soulful and groovy mod jazz from the 60s – a slew of great numbers by Byrdie Green, Johnny Lytle, Mark Murphy, Reuben Wilson, The Nightbeats, The Cals, Billy Larkin, Johnny Hammond Smith, Byrdie Smith and more! Lots of great stuff here, from names synonymous to moddish jazz and others that nicely fit that mold for a bit – cats like Buddy Guy, for instance. A sweet, sweet set from the passionate compilers at Kent UK! Includes "The Real Thing" by Troy Dodds, "Finders Keepers" by Floyd White, "Rod Run" by The Reuben Wilson Quartet, "Talkin' About Love" by Tobi Lark, "Screamin'" by Jack McDuff, "Double Love" by The Cals, "Tricky Too" by Gus Jenkins, "Fever" by Buddy Guy, "Work Song" by Clint Stacy, "My Beat" by George Stone, " It's Like Love" by Mark Murphy, "The Village Caller" by The Johnny Lytle Trio and more. CD

Music from Big Daddy Kinsey & sons, Hubert Smith, Joanna Connor, Otis Rush, Pinetop Perkins, Mitch Woods & his Rocket 88s, Henry Gray, Roy Rogers, James Cotton, Snooky Pryor, Yank Rachell, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells & more CD

An early 90s Hendrix tribute LP with The Cure, Eric Clapton, The Pretenders, Living Colour, Pat Metheny and more – a compilation that might seemed a little unnecessary at the time, with Jimi's legacy looming as large as ever – but in hindsight it's not only a testament to how far his influence spread to artists of different genres, each song casts works on it's own unique merits. What could've been a simple link from Jimi's heyday to the early 90s alt rock boom is so more diverse than that, with a tracklist that includes ""Purple Haze" by The Cure, "Stone Free" by Eric Clapton, "Red House" by Buddy Guy, ' Hey Joe" by Body Count, "Bold As Love" by The Pretenders, "You Got Me Floatin" by PM Dawn, "Crosstown Traffic" by Living Colour, "Third Stone From The Sun" by Pat Metheny and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A great follow-up to the Doldinger Jubilee album of a few years previous – easily one of the most successful Passport records for Atlantic, thanks to a host of great guest stars! The format is followed again for this recording too – by augmenting the core Passport quartet with players that include Philip Catherine on guitar, Johnny Griffin on tenor, and Les McCann on Fender Rhodes – plus a surprising bit of vocals and guitar from Buddy Guy! Les steps out on their rendition of his "Compared To What" – and other tracks are more fusion-centrist numbers in the Passport mode – with titles that include "Albatros Song", "Abracadabra", "Jadoo", and "Angel Wings". LP, Vinyl record album

A great early album from Junior Wells – and one that really opens up that more soulful side of his talents that was becoming a Chicago hallmark at the time! The set was produced by Samuel Charters, but has none of the rootsy vibe of his earlier work on Folkways – and instead matches the harmonica and raw vocals of Wells with a bit of horn backings on a few tunes by the great Ed Bland (of previous Sun Ra cinema fame, and later funk arrangements) – blown by the unlikely mix of Tom McIntosh on trombone, with trumpets by Clark Terry, Wallace Davenport, and Jimmy Owens! The core group has the mighty Buddy Guy on guitar, with Walter Williams on rhythm guitar and Douglas Fagan on tenor – and Junior knocks it out of the park, on tunes that include "So Sad This Morning", "When My Baby Left Me", "Stop Breakin Down", "Somebody's Tippin In", "You Don't Love Me", "Little By Little", and "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man". CD

A rare Savoy album that compiles sides cut previously for the label by Pres – all apparently during the late 40s years, with players that include Roy Haynes, Junior Mance, Billy Taylor, Cozy Cole, Harry Edison, Buddy Tate, and others. Tracks are offered in master takes, and alternate ones – and titles include "Ghost Of a Chance", "Tush", "Circus In Rhythm", "Exercise In Swing", "Basie English", and "Salute To Fats". Great cover, too – with a guy painting a portrait of Pres! CD

Music from Ronnie Earl, Buddy Guy, Memphis Slim & Matt Murphy, Ronnie Earl, Eddie Taylor, James Cotton, Doug Sahm, Lou Ann Barton, Silent Partners, Matt Murphy & more. CD

Includes 24 tracks from Buddy Guy, Larry Johnson, India Arie, Keb Mo, Mavis Staples, Solomon Burke, Mos Def, Gregg Allman, Natalie Cole and Odetta. CD

With performances by Snooky Pryor, Eddie Taylor, James Cotton, Sunnyland Slim, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Pinetop Perkins, Otis Rush, and Jimmy Rogers. LP, Vinyl record album

A really unusual album from actor Jack Palance – unusual in that it may well be his only vocal performance on record, and even more unusual in that it came out during a very hip stretch of Warner Brothers at the start of the 70s! Yet the pairing of Palance and the budding genius of Warner maybe makes perfect sense – as the aging actor is a great fit here for the sorts of moods that you'd find in the bluer songs of Van Dyke Parks, or the subtle drama of Neon Philharmonic – even though the whole thing is less of a Los Angeles affair overall – as it was produced by Buddy Killen in Nashville, with some arrangements by Bergen White. You could call the record a country album, and there's definitely some country elements here – but Jack kind of sing/speaks, and maybe presents the whole thing as a meaner, more mature take on modes that some of the other cowboys on the screen were recording a decade before. Palance also wrote some of the songs – including "The Meanest Guy That Ever Lived" – and other titles include "Goodbye Lucy", "Blackjack County Chains", "A Little Bitty Tear", "Love Can Only Mean You", "Dancing Like Children", and "Brother River". CD

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

12 tracks with music from Otis Rush, Shakey Horton, Louis Myers & the Aces, Magic Sam, Betty Everett, Buddy Guy & his band & Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm. CD

Funky blues treasures from the late 60s & early 70s – a once-scoffed at movement from a period when aging blues stars and purist blues fans alike were hesitant to accept their beloved style modernized in a funky fashion – but the best of it stands up today as some of the coolest and most unique funk, blues and soul of the era! BGP does a terrific job here of digging a bit deeper then some the more famous blues funk fusions, with numbers by Slim Green, Al King, Icewater Slim, Little Milton, The Johnny Otis Show, Al King, Big Daddy Rucker, Buddy Guy and more. 21 tracks in all: "Shake 'Em Up" by Slim Green, "It Took A Long Time" by Finis Tasby, "I'm Not The Best" by Buddy Guy, "Tough Competition" by Ray Agee, "Eli's Pork Chop" by Little Sonny, "Playing On Me" by Albert King, "Good Feeling" by Freddy Robinson, "Welcome Home" by Lowell Fulson, "Comin' At Ya Baby" by The Johnny Otis Show, "That's What Love Will Make You Do" by Little Milton and more. CD

The naming of this CD's a bit unusual – as it's issued under the name of trumpeter Jack Sheldon, who's only featured on 3 of its 22 tracks – but that's hardly a problem for us, as the bulk of the work features arrangements by the great John Graas! The first 11 tracks on the set from a 1956 Decca session by The Westlake College Quintet, a hipper group than you'd expect – especially since they're all college kids! John Graas found these guys playing at Westlake College, and he rightly thought they had a sound that was well worth recording for Decca – not surprising, since these guys have a similar chamber modern groove to some of Graas' own work for the label. The ensemble features tenor, trombone, bass, drums, and piano, the last of which is played by Dick Grove, probably the only player in the group who went onto become a more famous name. The titles include a lot of Graas originals – including "Ghost Talk", "Westlake Bounce", "Theme", "Mood", and "La Paz". Next up are the Sheldon tracks – 3 titles from the West Coast All Star Ninet album International Premier In Jazz – led by Sheldon, and featuring Graas, Art Pepper, Buddy Collette, Bill Perkins, and Larry Bunker – all working through a 3-part suite entitled "Jazz Chaconne No 1". Last up are 8 tunes from a 1953 album for Kapp – entitled French Horn Jazz – and featuring John Graas alternating between an octet that features Jimmy Giuffre, Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne and Bud Shank, and a quintet with Jack Montrose, Gerald Wiggins, Walter Clark, and Larry Bunker. Tunes on that set include "Lady Like", "Egypt", "Argyles", "Blue Haze", "Pyramid", "6/4 Trend", "Not Exactly", "Cordova", "Be My Guest", "Frappe", "Bananera", and "Sequence". CD