Does it get any better than Magic Sam? Would Magic Sam have been more widely known and followed had he not died in his prime at age 32, and been able to capitalize on the European blues tours that followed? Here is west-side Chicago soul blues at it’s finest.
listen: Just Give Me Your Love, from the LP pictured above.
Great history of Magic Sam from Cascade Blues Association, also mentioning 1969′S Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival:
August 1969 may bring to mind the grandeur of the Woodstock Arts and Music Festival in upstate New York whenever you ask somebody with basic music knowledge to name an event of that year. It’s pretty hard to ignore an event of such magnitude which featured so many prolific artists of the day. But, in the Blues world, August 1969 also marked an extraordinary festival of its own, two weeks earlier in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The 1969 Ann Arbor Blues Festival was a conglomeration of the greatest Blues musicians, past, present and future. The line-up was phenomenal: Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Big Boy Crudup, Otis Rush, B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, Freddy King, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, Jimmy Dawkins, Clifton Chenier, Big Joe Williams, Roosevelt Sykes, Luther Allison and Big Mama Thornton. But, the one musician who stood tallest over the weekend may have been the least known, at least outside of Chicago.
Magic Sam was scheduled to take the stage at 3:00 p.m., Sunday afternoon. But, when his time came, he was nowhere to be found. Charlie Musselwhite, who was originally set to follow, took to the stage in his place. By the time Musselwhite finished, Sam had arrived, but with only his bassist Buffalo Bruce Barlow. Missing a drummer, he was fortunate to recruit Sam Lay to fill the void. As the three stepped to the stage, the crowd of 10,000 fans were leery of what to expect from this individual who should have been on an hour earlier. But, by the time he had finished the opening number, Freddy King’s classic instrumental, “San-Ho-Zay”, the word was out and the festival grounds were abuzz with the name of Magic Sam.
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February 25th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Cousin Geoff
Magic Sam had his own style. Luther Allison is right up there as my favorite all-time, as well as Hound Dog Taylor (at least as far as 70s Chicago blues). Each had their own style though, so my preference depends on what I’m in the mood to listen to. But for west side soul-blues, give me Magic Sam all day long. That LP above is one of those must-haves for any blues collection, widely considered one of the best blues records ever made. And you can find it relatively cheap too.