Willie Dixon i am The Blues

Slim cut this session in May 1968 in Chicago (with Mike Vernon producing) as a member of the Chicago Blues All Stars, an ad hoc touring group that consisted of Willie Dixon, Johnny Shines, Walter Horton, and Clifton James. With all that to recommend it, it's still a pretty workmanlike set - no real sparks of any kind, just competently played blues by five old veterans who could knock this stuff out in their sleep, and probably did.

Mose Allison - I Love The Life I Live (1960) {Columbia CK 57880 rel 1994}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 283 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 107 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 14 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1960, 1994 Columbia / Legacy / Sony Music | CK 57880
Jazz / Hard Bop / Jazz Blues / Vocal Jazz / Piano

When this album was recorded in 1960, this laconic Mississippian wasn't the brilliant lyricist he would later become. But he had great taste. The title track, written by Willie Dixon, sure sounds like a Mose song; "Fool's Paradise" is another gem. Mose's four tunes are instrumentals. The production by Teo Macero makes it feel like you're perched on one end of the piano bench.

This single disc neatly collects everything of importance that Chicago blues belter Koko Taylor released through Chess and its subsidiary Checker label, presenting a thoroughly enjoyable, collection as historically important for Taylor's sizzling performances as it is for Willie Dixon's sublime compositions and sympathetic production. Those who know these formative years from Taylor's immortal "Wang Dang Doodle" will thrill to realize that the classic isn't even the best entry here. It's a toss-up as to which others challenge it, but "What Came First the Egg or the Hen," with Dixon joining in on vocals, is in the running, as is the absolutely chilling "Insane Asylum," where Dixon interestingly kicks off the song before Taylor appears over a minute later…

This single disc neatly collects everything of importance that Chicago blues belter Koko Taylor released through Chess and its subsidiary Checker label, presenting a thoroughly enjoyable, collection as historically important for Taylor's sizzling performances as it is for Willie Dixon's sublime compositions and sympathetic production. Those who know these formative years from Taylor's immortal "Wang Dang Doodle" will thrill to realize that the classic isn't even the best entry here. It's a toss-up as to which others challenge it, but "What Came First the Egg or the Hen," with Dixon joining in on vocals, is in the running, as is the absolutely chilling "Insane Asylum," where Dixon interestingly kicks off the song before Taylor appears over a minute later…