Blues

Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, B.B. King, Lightning Slim, Ray Charles, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker and many others.

It's appropriate that the great Freddy King is pictured on the disk cover; he's got two of his best on the album: "Hide Away" and "Have You Ever Loved a Woman", the latter surely one of the most searing and emotionally impassioned performances in the entire blues pantheon. This disk is absolutely crammed with bonafide blues classics from the likes of Howling Wolf, Elmore James, Slim Harpo, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Earl Hooker, and B.B. King.

Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Willie Mabon, B.B. King, Dinah Washington, Big Joe Turner, Muddy Waters and many others.

The group is still called Blues Incorporated, but without Cyril Davies or Long John Baldry, who were present on the first record. Recording at Liverpool's Cavern Club was more a gimmick than anything else, and the music is not as well made or exciting as the group's first album. This record shows Alexis Korner's more big-band type blues work, favoring horns. At the Cavern was a good album, but not one that was going to make much noise amid the work of the Rolling Stones, the Animals, or the Yardbirds. Originally released in 1964, At the Cavern was reissued on CD in 2006 and includes bonus tracks.

This is an excellent '60s recording by the down-home urban singer, guitarist, and mandolinist, accompanied by Otis Spann on piano and James Cotton and Big Walter Horton on harmonicas.

Guitarist Melvin Taylor's fluid, smartly constructed solos and understated yet winning vocals are surprises on this 1984 nine-track set recorded for Isabel and recently reissued by Evidence on CD. Taylor is not a fancy or arresting singer but succeeds through his simple, effective delivery of lyrics, slight inflections, and vocal nuances. His guitar work is impressive, with skittering riffs, shifting runs, and dashing solos. Organist/pianist Lucky Peterson is an excellent second soloist, adding cute background phrases at times, then stepping forward and challenging or buttressing Taylor's playing with his own dazzling lines.

This is a later recording from the legendary pianist made for the German L & R label and now re-released on Evidence. The first nine songs are from a studio set feature Slim with a terrific band including Carey Bell on harmonica, Hubert Sumlin on guitar and Odie Payne on drums. These songs are the best on the CD as Slim and the band run through a set mixing slow blues with up-tempo songs, including several instrumentals. The last six songs are pulled from a series of live recordings that are decent but not spectacular.