Various Artists – Chicago / The Blues / Today! Vol. 2 – Vanguard VMD 79217 

In short, the story goes that renowned blues documentarian, Sam Charters, after being fired from Folklore, a Prestige Records offshoot, took a job at Vanguard Records editing the 1964 Newport Folk Festival recordings.  Vanguard Records, at that time, was primarily involved with recording and releasing works in the folk and classical veins, along with some jazz efforts, as well.  While at Folklore, though, Charters recorded two Chicago blues sessions, one each by Homesick James and Billy Boy Arnold.  These experiences in the Chicago blues world made a deep impression on Charters.

Vanguard was selling a lot of albums at the time of Charters’ employment there.  Charters pitched the idea of returning to Chicago to record working Chicago bands to his boss, and in what turned out to be very fortunate for blues fans, his boss agreed to do so, but on a very limited budget.  Charters also framed his desire to record these blues bands as a way to diversify black blues recordings into the Vanguard catalog.  But more than likely, his boss probably felt that the market would be small, and any financial losses incurred would help, from a tax perspective, the larger amounts of money being made on their then-current folk, classical, and jazz catalogs and energies.  In short, the losses from Charters’ blues recording sessions would act as a tax benefit to Vanguard.  But, given Charters deep-seated desire to record more Chicago blues, tax implications for his employer had to be the furthest thing in his mind.

You’ve got to remember that at the time of these recordings, 1965, the blues was continuing to be dismissed by a younger generation of blacks.  Soul music was the thing, and these younger blacks didn’t want to be reminded of the southern oppression that was a part of their heritage via their parents’ experiences.  They wanted the latest and hippest music.  However, the blues was still being played in neighborhood taverns and clubs all over Chicago, as older blacks still wanted and needed to hear the music.  They still highly-appreciated the blues in their urban environments. 

It is also important to note that the British Invasion, that unique period when young U.K. musicians dove head-first into U.S blues music and adapted it into their own new musical stew, started only a couple of years before Charters’ Chicago recordings.  And ultimately, these cuts became yet another important point of reference for those British youth who were consuming as much U.S. blues as they could get their hands on.  Blues was beginning to influence rock and roll in a major way.  Blues was majorly influencing modern music.  This had a couple of good outcomes for black blues artists.  First, it opened their music to a whole new young white audience, and it provided performing opportunities for white audiences where previously those chances were meager, at best. 

Charters was also very astute in another regard.  When one thinks of the “Mount Rushmore”, if you will, of post-war Chicago blues, four names come easily to mind; Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, and Sonny Boy Williamson II.  However, these four blues giants were already under contract for their work.  With Charters being provided just enough money from Vanguard to cover three hours of recording time per band, along with other reasonable expenses, it necessitated that he sought those blues bands that were little known outside of Chicago that still represented the best of the blues in the city.

And we are all the better for Charters’ search and work!

The complete Chicago / The Blues / Today! series has most recently been available on three CDs or a three-album collection (I believe this was a U.S. Record Store Day offering).  But, it is not easily discernable today in what format or from what source this collection can be obtained at any one time.  Its availability is rather fluid.  But, isn’t that part of blues music collecting anyway; the hunt?  However, like much in today’s Internet-fueled world, sources exist, so browsing sources such as Amazon, Discogs, and other sites would no doubt find these recordings available for purchase. 

In total, nine Chicago blues artists and bands were recorded by Charters.  They were The Junior Wells Chicago Blues Band, J.B. Hutto and his Hawks, Otis Spann’s South Side Piano, The Johnny Shines Blues Band, Johnny Young’s South Side Blues Band, Big Walter Horton’s Blues Harp Band, The Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, The Otis Rush Blues Band, and Homesick James And His Dusters.

Simply, the Chicago blues bands Charters recorded were probably the best practitioners of the blues in the city not under active contracts.  Whether by his knowledge or sheer luck, Charters has left us with an amazing document of mid-1960s Chicago urban blues at a pivotal moment in its life.

You’ve undoubtedly noticed that I have chosen to speak to only Volume 2 of the Chicago / The Blues / Today! series.  One, attempting to review the entirety of the nine great Chicago blues bands recorded would be prohibited by the scope of such an overview within this format.  Second, I believe that Volume 2 is a solid representation of the whole of the series, and therefore can speak to what ultimately is the unform high quality of all the Chicago blues artists and bands recorded.  So, this review covers the work of The Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, The Otis Rush Blues Band, and Homesick James And His Dusters.

We all know that Jimmy Cotton (also known as James Cotton) made his first recordings for Sam Phillips’ Sun label.  Those recordings were made in the early 1950s.  Cotton’s work here is roughly 12 years removed from his last Sun recordings, and his harmonica playing had matured into a powerful, bellowing, yet emotive, partner to his impassioned vocals, whether the tenor of his blues was more reflective and subtle, or, upbeat, driving, and rapidly afoot.  At once, Cotton borders on the teetering edge of rock and roll here, but as heard, he falls effortlessly to more interpersonal story telling.  How do you go wrong when you have James “Pee Wee” Madison, Otis Spann, and S. P. Leary backing you? 

If you were to ask me who my favorite bluesman of all-time is, I’d say, “Otis Rush.”  The combination of Rush’s inventive blues guitar mastery, poignant vocal abilities, and mood chemistry long ago touched me in a way no other blues artist has ever done.  For this session, Rush was roughly seven years removed from his formative period on the Cobra label.  Of his five selections, two are instrumentals, with one being a new take on one of his Cobra label songs.  Some reviewers, who I believe to be completely wrong, label Rush’s instrumentals here as akin to throw away items.  As someone who witnessed Otis in-performance up close, I couldn’t disagree any more vehemently.  Instrumentals were always a mainstay in Rush’s arsenal, opportunities for him to stretch-out and search for new sounds.  To me here, they show the breadth of Rush’s yearning to explore and find just that right sonic spark and groove while staying hip to the new sounds being created at the time.  Rush’s vocals remain highly- and achingly-impassioned, and the theater he is able to create through is music is vivid.  With a backing ensemble including the illustrious guitarist Luther Tucker and sax great Robert Crowder in tow, Rush brings his best energies and determination to the proceedings.

Of course, if you’re speaking of Chicago blues, the heritage of electric slide guitar must be a part of the conversation.  At the time of these recordings, who else was practicing the craft in Chicago?  Of course, Johnny Shines would be brought into the conversation, though he was on somewhat of a musical hiatus at this point (and again, he is part of this series, and it resurrected his career), as would Johnny Littlejohn.  But for my money, we are all better for Charters’ decision to showcase Homesick James.  The claim that Homesick James was Elmore James’ cousin is debatable, but there’s no denying that he played in Elmore’s band.  On James’ four tunes here, his slide guitar soars, glides, weeps, moans, and burbles in the point-counterpoint manner demanded when utilizing the slide guitar technique.  James’ timing is fine here (as in later years some would question his ability to keep good time), and his vocals emit the passionate purpose of each song.  With a simple trio including blues legend Willie Dixon on bass, and Frank Kirkland playing drums (who would also go on to be instrumental in another slidemaster’s band; J.B. Hutto’s), this is Chicago slide guitar blues of the highest esteem!   

The complete Chicago / The Blues / Today! series captures magic in the proverbial blues bottle, the blues having grown and matured in Chicago, on the cusp of even greater influence, both in the blues and in rock and roll, yet before the effects of even more shifting tastes in black music desires with the onset of disco in the 1970s.  However, that said, whatever part of this series that you can get your hands on, you will savor 1960s urban Chicago blues at its finest.  Seek this collection out.  It is worth the price of admission into this scene.