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One beauty of the blues is that its masters may get together with no
practice and produce fabulous music. That is what occurs on The Bob
Margolin All Star Blues Jam, where the leader assembles what is left of the
Chicago Blues 1950s heyday for a bit of a trip down memory lane. Margolin,
himself an alumni of the Muddy Waters band, is quite deft at pulling this all
off. Joining Margolin is harpist Carey Bell, who produces a very credible
"One Day You’re Gonna Get Lucky" and Hubert Sumlin, whose guitar
style pioneered electric blues. Add octogenarian Pinetop Perkins on piano, Will Smith on drums,
and one has two more stellar Waters alumni. Mookie
Brill holds down vocals and bass duties.
Almost all of the participants sing. Margolin opens the games with
Johnny Shines’ "Brutal-Hearted Woman." He then provides Perkins some
tasty slide guitar as the pianist stretched out on the Robert Nighthawk gem,
"My Sweet Black Angel." Brill croons his bet Bobby Bland on
"I’ll Take Care of You."
Carey Bell swings around the very slow
"Easy to Love You" sounding more like himself all of the time.
Margolin, Sumlin, and Brill have a trio date on Jimmy Roger’s "Last
Time." Muddy’s "Country Boy" is sung by Willie Smith with
more of Margolin’s fine slide guitar, electrified but still smelling of the
Delta.
As an all-star recording, this one is better than most. But, as good as
it is, it tends to have a contrived feel and mood. It is not likely the best blues recording
you have heard this year, but it's still pretty damn good.
For more information, see Telarc Blues.
~ C. Michael Bailey
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Track Listing: Brutal-Hearted Woman; Sweet Black Angel; One Day You’re Gonna Get Lucky; I’ll Take Care Of
You; Juke; Mean Old Chicago; Always On My Mind; Easy To Love You; Last Time; Maybe The
Hippies Were Right; Country Boy; Crazy ‘;Bout You Baby; My New Baby Owns A Whiskey Store;
Goin’ Down Slow; Just A Closer Walk With Thee.
Personnel: Bob Margolin, Hubert Sumlin—Guitars; Carey Bell- Harmonica; Mookie Brill—Bass, Harmonic,
Vocals; Pinetop Perkins—Piano; Willie "Big Eyes" Smith—Drums.
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