Buddy Guy – A Man & The Blues – Vanguard Records VMD-79272

The camps can be deeply divided when it comes to Buddy Guy.  Many blues fans prefer 1960s era Buddy Guy, where perhaps his playing relied more upon touch, tone, and more restrained volume, rather than the auditory assaults most commonly displayed in his latter-day recordings.  However, that argument may rest upon a shaky foundation, as there is no denying the at-times frantic vocal and guitar Buddy provides during his early period.  That’s always been part of the allure of Buddy Guy; the passion.

The other Buddy Guy camp seems to find its origins dating to the beginning of Buddy’s alliance with the Silvertone label, a partnership that began in 1991.  Buddy’s Silvertone recordings were produced in such a way as to bring the swagger, bravado, and volume that Buddy brought in performance to the listening public.  Many blues fans want to hear and “feel” the undeniable power of a latter-day Buddy Guy performance, and the Silvertone recordings bring that sonic capacity.  However, the Silvertone recordings were not in actuality the first to provide that aural bluster.  In the early 1980s, Buddy recorded for the JSP label, and most notably, his 1982 release, D.J. Play My Blues, is a significant example of Buddy Guy captured at his most untamed.

Regardless of which Buddy Guy faction one falls into, his nine song A Man & The Blues collection is one of the chronicled highlights of his long career, a gathering of blues that has stood the test of time, and presents all that Buddy Guy should be known and heralded for, with both a sparseness and the sonic attacks that define him.

This 1967 set was produced by Samuel Charters during his period with Vanguard shortly after he left the Folkways label.  As I’ve previously written about, Charters convinced his Vanguard boss to allow him to record various Chicago blues artists for the label’s Chicago / The Blues / Today! series, in what his boss envisioned as a loss leader for the label’s other recordings (i.e., the money lost on these recordings would help from a tax perspective).  Those recordings were first released in 1966.

This Vanguard collection was only Guy’s second full album, and the first outside of the Chess label.  It was recorded at Universal Studios in Chicago.  And, it may be the ultimate tribute to Guy’s legacy.

This 1967 assemblage joined Guy’s forces with what truly can be described as an all-star talent aggregation.  Wayne Bennet, the fine blues guitarist who moved to Chicago in the 1950s after a stint in Amos Milburn’s band, played with Otis Rush, Arbee Stidham, Jimmy Reed, and Elmore James, besides Guy during his period in Chicago.  Of course, Bennett is well-remembered for his work with Bobby “Blue” Bland’s band.  On Guy’s A Man & The Blues, Bennett supports him well with his rhythm guitar talents.

Jack Myers, the skilled blues bassist, provides solid underpinnings to the work here.  It has been said that a great bass line is a song within a song.  Listen closely to Myers’ bass meanderings, none better than those found on the opening selection “A Man And The Blues”.  Myers, you may remember from a past review of mine of Junior Wells’ Hoodoo Man Blues, played bass on that seminal set, as well.

A pair of great drummers provided firm support on this package; Fred Below and Lonny Taylor.  Nothing is overplayed, busy, or “in your face” with their collective efforts.

Three saxophone players provide punchy, driving counterpoints throughout these recordings.  Aaron Corthen (better known as A.C. Reed), Donald Hankins, and Bobby Fields supply crisp, worthy textures to the cuts here.

On many levels, Otis Spann’s piano work on display here is a true primer of everything blues piano should be in an ensemble setting.  Like dark clouds and thunder rolling in ahead of a storm, Spann’s piano offers dark roiling foundations.  Spann’s sense of timing and knowing when to play, and when to let a moment of silence precede his flourishes, is masterful.  His brooding groundwork sets the tone and keeps it moving forward, again, akin to a song within a song.  This set is worth the price of admission if for only to examine and appreciate the sum of Spann’s accomplishments here.

So many analogies could be used to summarize the totality of Guy’s work here, and most would still fall short.  From the perspective of being able to present the mood of a given tune via his vocals, Guy simply offers a master class on emotion on the whole of the songs offered.  You feel his anguish, sorrow, and joy.  You know his pain, his euphoria, and you sense when he is crying due to sadness or smiling with joy.  His vocal work is plaintive, affirming, and all yearning.  What distinctly stands out is Guy’s ability to stay in control on the more melancholy of cuts, where each fiber of his emotions can be ideally experienced. 

Guy’s guitar playing is a marvelous feast of seasoned emotionality.  When Guy laments, the listener does, as well, and his guitar verifies that fact either via an economy of notes, or, when a curlicue of stinging, rapid-fire notes are offered to convey the same, they blister and scald.  However, they are not noise for noise’s sake; they are to emphasize a point.

On the more upbeat and celebratory of tunes, Guy rides his guitar skills like a jockey on a galloping stallion, broaching the airs of confidence and joy with a cascade of notes that dance with a sense of unbridled spirit.

But make no mistake: When Guy employs a single note to emphasize a passage, it’s purely amazing what that one note can do.

Save for three songs on this collection, individual tunes arrive close to the three-minute mark in duration.  The three that do not have a necessary length that is fully supported by Guy’s stretched visions.  But, it is simply astounding how much life Guy can inject into a tune in roughly three short minutes.  It is testament to the whole of his skill set.

Back in the early 1990s, I went to see Guy perform at his first club on S. Wabash St. in Chicago.  The place was jammed.  And while I have been to many musical events on all scales during my lifetime, I do not believe that I’ve ever had a musical experience match that Guy show for the enthusiasm of the crowd, the sheer bliss of the performer, the breadth of emotions tendered via the music, the manic delivery of the artist, and the entirety of the theater of the event.  I’ve seen Guy numerous times over the years, but nothing will ever match that night of blues and celebration.

Buddy Guy: a man and the blues, indeed.  Highly- and passionately-recommended!