CD Review
Various
Delmark 50 Years of Jazz & Blues - BLUES
Delmark (2003) DD-905
2 CDs, 33 tracks, 131 minutes.
by Craig Ruskey
Review date: July 2003
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"Keeping the Blues Alive Award"
Achievement for Blues on the Internet
Presented by The Blues Foundation
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Bob Koester's Delmark label is celebrating its golden anniversary in fine form with this
sparkling 2-CD set packed with blues gems from the past. While the imprint began as an
outlet for jazz music, Koester soon began issuing blues albums by Speckled Red, Junior
Wells, Big Joe Williams, Sleepy John Estes, and many others. While this two-CD set only scratches the surface of Delmark's deep vaults, it does a superb job of spotlighting the talent that has graced its grooves for years. Although most of the material here has seen prior commercial release, there are a number of previously unissued tracks that will thrill collectors, including disc one's alternate take of Ways Like An Angel by Junior Wells from his States recordings in 1953 and a riveting Big Joe Williams performance on Midnight Creep. Disc two collects five more unissued cuts with Magic Sam's
wrenching 'live' rendition of Everything's Gonna Be Alright from 1968, J.B. Hutto's
Love Retirement with careening slide licks, Johnny B. Moore slicing through Broke
Man, Sleepy John Estes sounding as if he's in your living room during My Time Is
Drawing Near, and Jimmy Burns with the closer, Back To The Delta. If it were only
the unissued gems making this worthwhile, the budget-line price would still be fair, but in
addition, there's Otis Rush cutting deep in I Can't Quit You, Baby and Willie Kent's I
Had A Dream, but add piano players like Albert Ammons, Speckled Red, Roosevelt
Sykes, and Sunnyland Slim, or guitarists Luther Allison, Steve Freund, Syl Johnson, and Dave
Specter, or harp flash from Carey Bell, gripping vocal showcases from Tail Dragger, Big Time
Sarah, Jesse Fortune, and others and you have a superb collection of blues. Whether
focusing on modern practitioners or rifling through the catalogs of vintage labels, Delmark
has a long and influential history as one of the premier blues labels and this superb two-disc
compilation gathers a solid cross-section of artists and styles. www.delmark.com has plenty
more information on this release and a mind-boggling array of others. Help celebrate
Delmark's 50th birthday with a copy of this winner. In addition, the wonderful cover art by
Kevin Belford will also be available as a 50th Anniversary poster, but only for a limited time.
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