Willie Kent – Long Way To Ol’ Miss – Delmark DE-696 

I can still hear the power, force, and decisiveness of Willie Kent’s voice in a blues club, especially in the original location of Blue Chicago, and then when the joint moved south to the 500 block north on Clark St.  When the audience is right on top of as powerful a singer as Kent, not only feeling his vocals so up close, but seeing the sweat drip from his face as he gave everything to the performance, there was no doubt as to his dedication to his chosen musical craft.  A more emotive blues singer as Kent cannot be referenced, even taking into account pre-war giants such as Son House and Charley Patton, and post-war titans like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.  Kent possessed a commanding tool via his voice, and when combined with his sturdy, unyielding bass frameworks, his capabilities as a firm bandleader, and his desire to assist aspiring bluesmen and blueswomen, a more fully realized modern blues artist of comparable passion is hard to contrast.  Kent’s approach was throwback to a period when lyrics were distributed with an impassioned aggression.  Kent always succeeded delivering his blues stories.  It was, and is still, highly rare for a bass player to lead a blues band, but Kent’s capacity for encircling himself with certain of the supreme Chicago blues players afforded him international, national, and local audiences that knew him and his groups as acts worthwhile of high praise.  Kent’s reputation and strength was always predicated upon his band’s dynamics, and this mode of approach always allowed each group member to come forward and validate their abilities.  Here, Kent’s bass playing is authoritative and rich, and when paired with his declamatory, awe-inspiring vocal workouts, let him offer the blues with a fervor harkening back four or five decades before this collection’s 1996 release year.  It was frequently uttered that seldom (if ever) was a Willie Kent show or recording unsatisfactory.  Well, this outing is no exception, with assured musicianship and vocals abundant.  So much so, that at least for this reviewer, this chronicle is essential to the history and understanding of modern Chicago blues.

Below is the running track order of this indispensable modern blues assemblage.

Song Titles

• Long Way To Ol’ Miss
• Blues In My Bedroom
• Dirty Works
• It Ain’t Right
• Ain’t Got Long To Stay
• My Friend
• Don’t Know Much About Love
• Extension 309
• All My Life
• Ain’t No Love In Your Heart
• Don’t Drive Me Away
• Black Night
• What You Doin’ To Me