The Aces – The Aces & Their Guests – Storyville Records STCD 8049

Originally produced by French blues fan and promoter Marcelle Morgantini, and released on the French MCM Blues Records label back in the 1970s under the title The Aces And Their Guests, The Aces, bassist and vocalist Dave Myers, harmonicist, guitarist, and singer Louis Myers, and drummer and vocalist Fred Below, along with fellow Chicago blues guitarists and vocalists Joe Carter and Bobby King, along with multi-instrumentalist Johnny Drummer sitting in on vocals, this “live” set is a fascinating glimpse into the Chicago club scene in the 1970s.

The Aces were initially established in the early 1950s, as siblings Dave Myers and Louis Myers combined with Fred Below under the original name The Three Aces.  The band was the in-demand trio to perform behind a horde of Chicago vocalists and harmonica players, including blues greats Junior Wells and Little Walter when they were known as The Four Aces and The Jukes, respectively.

The group had a recording lineage dating to 1952 when they were Little Walter’s session group on some of his Checker label outings.  The band also provided support to blues artists such as Bo Diddley, T-Bone Walker, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Dawkins, and Koko Taylor, among others as their show bands, and also laid down tracks with blues performers such as Roosevelt Sykes, Jimmy Reed, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood, Jr., and Eddie Taylor, in addition to various others. 

Though not always playing collectively as The Aces, each of the men were active presences on the fertile Chicago blues scene, and when they did conjoin, their individual and combined prowess was highly-remarkable. 

On this 16-track 2001 collection, a re-release of an original 1976 nine-song offering, the very potencies that made The Aces so extremely popular shine with amazing blues outcomes. 

Dave Myers always lurks in the background, his metronomic bass frameworks supremely encasing the cadence required of any given blues song. 

Below, himself nothing short of a human metronome, encloses each blues tune with the feel and jazz-infused buoyancy he was always known for, and when he sidles up to the microphone, his vocals bounce with a jubilant enthusiasm, and they purely bring joy.

Louis Myers is in many ways the mainstay of this entire blues jaunt.  His singing is incisive and clear, his guitar proficiencies pure and economical, and his harmonica efforts ring true with Chicago blues energy and strut.  The concept of a more wide-ranging bluesman is a tough contention.

The guitar and vocal work from guests King, Carter, and Drummer ideally highlight how fluid the Chicago blues scene was, and certainly how deep was the city’s highly talented roster of artists.  Blues by the likes of B.B. King, Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, and Elmore James, among others as covered here, provide insights into what club goers demanded back in the 1970s in Chicago’s blues joints. 

But make no error, this is The Aces show through-and-through.

If you like excellent, informal modern Chicago blues as it was being performed in 1970s Chicago, then this is an assemblage you will find yourself turning to again and again, just as I do.  It is just that singular in approach, and idyllically encapsulates a very special blues time in the great blues city.

This is a highly essential blues document, and one you need in your blues collection!