Ann Arbor Blues Festival

Third Man Records is excited to announce the release of ANN ARBOR BLUES FESTIVAL 1969, a 50th anniversary celebration collecting 24 previously unheard songs by such blues legends as Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, James Cotton, Son House, Magic Sam, T-Bone Walker, Junior Wells, Big Mama Thornton, Clifton Chenier, Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Pinetop Perkins, J. B. Hutto & His Hawks, Roosevelt Sykes, Luther Allison, Otis Rush, Big Joe Williams, Charlie Musselwhite and more. The first ever release of music recorded live at the landmark event, ANN ARBOR BLUES FESTIVAL 1969 will be available on August 2, 2019 in two individual 2x LP volumes, exclusively on 180 gram vinyl, and on CD.

The second of three Allison albums issued on Motown's Gordy subsidiary in the 1970s, Luther's Blues captures the guitarist's uncovered-wire sound in its full glory. The crescendo ending of "Let's Have a Little Talk," one of five Allison originals here, is more than another standard variation on crowd-pleasing clichés. It's an apocalyptic, blues-wailing roar, with Allison's pleading vocal at its core. Berry Gordy turns up in the composer credits for one tune, "Someday Pretty Baby," which, along with "Part Time Love," trawls the company's early raw-edged back catalog. Even the funk-flavored "K.T."–an attempted hit single?–fits the mood. The three bonus tracks on this exemplary remaster nearly double the original LP's length, with a raw version of Freddy King's "San-Ho-Zay" glowing alongside an alternate version of Allison's "Bloomington Closing" and a lengthy medley from the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues Festival.

The powers that be at Alligator were subjected to a fair amount of criticism for taking a 1977 album of standards that Otis Rush had cut in Sweden and overdubbing Lucky Peterson's keyboards to make the thing sound fuller and more contemporary. History, after all, should not be messed with. But it's still a reasonably successful enterprise, with Rush imparting his own intense twist to "I Miss You So," "You Don't Have to Go," and "Little Red Rooster."

The Avant Garde was a coffeehouse in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that played host to a variety of rock, blues, and folk performers in the '60s, and Windy City guitar wizard Magic Sam (aka Sam Maghett) rolled in to play a few sets in June 1968. A local kid with an interest in recording named Jim Charne showed up with a reel-to-reel machine and a couple of microphones, and he captured Magic Sam's show on tape; 45 years later, those tapes have finally been made public on the album Live at the Avant Garde, and given the relatively small amount of material that's surfaced on the late blues legend (who succumbed to a heart attack when he was just 32), this set is a very welcome find. Live at the Avant Garde has a decidedly different feel than Magic Sam Live, which preserved radio broadcasts from 1963 and 1964 and a 1969 appearance at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival; while those recordings blazed with intensity, this captures Magic Sam and his band in more laid-back form, playing a small, booze-free venue rather than a rowdy bar or a festival audience in the thousands.

Magic Sam Blues Band - Black Magic (1969) {2015 Delmark Deluxe Edition DE 620}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 423 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 159 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 54 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1969, 2015 Delmark Records | DE 620
Blues / Rhythm & Blues / Soul / Chicago Blues / Electric Blues

Recorded on October 23 and November 6, 1968 Black Magic was released only days before Magic Sam's untimely passing on December 1, 1969. He was only 32! The album went on to win a W.C. Handy Award in the classic blues album category. This Digipak Deluxe Edition contains more than an hour of west side Chicago blues at its finest, re-mastered from the original analog tapes. The 16-page booklet contains never before seen photos at the recording session, additional color photos from the Ann Arbor Music Festival, the original liner note from the LP and a new note by producer Bob Koester.

Freddie King - Live & Loud 1968 (2014) {Floating World FLOATM6243}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 352 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 171 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 28 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1968, 2014 Floating World Records / Rockbeat Records | FLOATM6243
Blues / Electric Texas Blues / Modern Electric Blues / Regional Blues

The energy on this CD conveys the passion Freddie King put into his playing and the bending of strings really comes through in his music. The song selection is great and Freddie wails on guitar despite muffled vocals. Freddie King lived almost his entire adult life on the road playing the blues. King died at age 42, in 1976, so his recording history is limited. This is a great chance to experience Freddie King live and why his unique playing style is so legendary.

Magic Sam - Magic Sam Live (1963-1969) {Delmark DE-645 rel 1990}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 369 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 174 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 24 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1963-69, 1990 Delmark Records | DE 645
Blues / Rhythm & Blues / Soul / Chicago Blues / Electric Blues

While the sound quality leaves something to be desired, fans of electric Chicago blues should hear Magic Sam live. Recorded at two separate locations, the Alex Club in Chicago in 1963 and 1964 and the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival in 1969, this disc captures the raw energy not only of the musicians, but the crowds' tremendous response to them. Sam is in his natural environment at the Alex Club with an interchanging quintet, including electric pianist Tyrone Carter and tenor saxophonists Eddie Shaw and A.C. Reed, playing in front of a rowdy audience, ready to party.

This choice chapter in the Memphis Slim story delivers an exciting taste of what a modern electric blues band sounded like in live performance during the early '70s. This reissue includes a bonus track featuring Hammond B-3 organist Deacon Jones and formidable electric guitar wizard Freddie King. The year 1973 was particularly exciting as blues, soul, funk, and rock & roll began to blend in ways that had only been hinted at during the 1960s. This cultural explosion was inevitable as music festivals were expanded to include a wide range of styles and genres. The 1973 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, for example, featured One String Sam, Victoria Spivey, Roosevelt Sykes, John Lee Hooker, and Ray Charles on the same weekend as Yusef Lateef, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, and the Sun Ra Arkestra. The 1973 jazz festival held in Montreux, Switzerland, underwent comparable dilation…

Accurately dubbed "the Queen of Chicago blues" (and sometimes just the blues in general), Koko Taylor helped keep the tradition of big-voiced, brassy female blues belters alive, recasting the spirits of early legends like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Big Mama Thornton, and Memphis Minnie for the modern age. Taylor's rough, raw vocals were perfect for the swaggering new electrified era of the blues, and her massive hit "Wang Dang Doodle" served notice that male dominance in the blues wasn't as exclusive as it seemed. After a productive initial stint on Chess, Taylor spent several decades on the prominent contemporary blues label Alligator, going on to win more W.C. Handy Awards than any other female performer in history, and establishing herself as far and away the greatest female blues singer of her time. Collection includes: Koko Taylor (1969); South Side Lady (1973); I Got What It Takes (1975); The Earthshaker (1978); From The Heart Of A Woman (1981); Queen of the Blues (1985); Jump For Joy (1990).