T-Bone Walker – T-Bone Blues – Atlantic 8020-2

He was a pioneering spirit across the landscapes of those honeyed sounds of west coast blues, what became known as jump blues, certainly electric blues guitar, and the whole of modern blues.  His broad sways continue to be felt these 80 plus years since he first laid-down his work with Les Hite And His Orchestra on the Varsity label in 1940, segueing into his first solo outing for the Capitol Records label in 1945.  He then applied his formidable skills with Marl Young’s Orchestra, and then onward to sides with the Jack McVea & All Stars aggregation.  More was yet to come with outings alongside the Al Killian Quartet, and then he finally spiraled into blues orbit solely under his name. 

This 14-song 1989 CD release of an original 11-track 1959 album captures cuts originally recorded in the fertile three-year period 1955-1957.  What is contained here is pure velvet rumblings, ingenious and touching, jazz-imbued, understated, and sternly passionate, all at the same time.  Lyrics jump from the songs into one’s consciousness, and Walker’s guitar swings, sways, sears, and hops.  This is the best of swing blues, unadulterated, and without any semblance of peer.  A mammoth inspiration on immeasurable numbers of guitar artisans, including those who became modern-day west coast guitar-style specialists such as Pee Wee Crayton, Hollywood Fats, and Junior Watson, and more far-flung devotees including Duke Robillard, Walker’s prominence on sweet, full-bodied chording, and cascading trimmings of single notes endure to model the point where restraint, tone, and ardent drive blur. 

Below are the running tracks on this indispensable collection.  It is considered essential without any stipulations whatsoever!

Song Titles

• Papa Ain’t Salty
• Why Not
• T-Bone Shuffle
• Play On Little Girl
• Mean Old World
• T-Bone Blues
• Call It Stormy Monday
• Blues For Marili
• Shufflin’ The Blues
• Evenin’
• Two Bones And A Pick
• You Don’t Know What You’re Doing
• How Long Blues
• Blues Rock