Willie's Blues

Performer: Willie Dixon
Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder
Producer: Esmond Edwards
Distributor: Fantasy (distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Willie Dixon (vocals, bass); Memphis Slim (piano); Wally Richardson (guitar); Al Ashby (tenor saxophone); Gus Johnson (drums). Recorded in Engelwood Cliffs, New Jersey on December 3, 1959. Originally released on Pretige/Bluesville (1003). Includes original liner notes by Dale Wright. Digitally remastered by Joe Tarantino (1990, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley). According to the original liner notes, this 1959 Willie Dixon session was cut during a two hour span in between flights. This certainly explains the relaxed, jam session feel of the recordings. Unfortunately, the songs come out sounding sluggish and stilted at times; this is partly due, no doubt, to the makeshift nature of the date, but also, more surprisingly, because of drummer Gus Johnson's overly slick and formalized playing. On top of this, one has to contend with Dixon's less-then-inspired vocals -- it's Dixon's writing talents and A&R savvy in the blues world that warrant him a place in the pantheon, not his skills at the microphone. That all said, this still is an enjoyable disc to listen to, not least of all because of the quality of Dixon's many originals and the freshness of pianist Memphis Slim's playing. And while the vaudevillian comedy of a song like "Built for Comfort" can be traced to Dixon's earlier pop R&B work with the Big Three Trio, rougher blues standouts like "Go Easy" and "Move Me" lead back to the Chicago blues world Dixon shared with Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Not a first disc for curious listeners, but certainly a pleasant enough addition to the blues lover's collection. ~ Stephen Cook Willie Dixon's first album under his own name is a tasty, if rather curious affair. It was recorded at the dawn of the first great blues revival, before white college kids like the Rolling Stones started plugging their guitars into amps and emulating Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf. In fact, WILLIE'S BLUES is what those two artists might have sounded like had they been recorded in a jazz setting. The lack of harmonica is unsettling, although Al Ashby's tenor sax fills in manfully, and the sound is eerily clean--one waits in vain for that great Chess Records reverb. All in all, the album is rather more laid back than you might have expected. For want of a better term, it's almost lounge blues, with the notable exceptions of "Slim's Thing," a great boogie woogie workout that gives co-conspirator Memphis Slim a chance to strut his stuff on piano, and a chugging version of Howlin' Wolf's "Built for Comfort."

Q (12/92, p.146) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Frontally mixed, his sonorous, slapping double bass promenades through each of the very distinctive songs, his fully-burred, casually swinging voice ambles through the jazzy sparseness..."

Chicago blues legend Willie Dixon was both house bassist and songwriter for the seminal Chess label in the 1950s through the early 1960s, providing material and/or accompaniment for Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Koko Taylor, et al. His songs have left an indelible mark on the identity of urban blues. His many classics are known primarily in their renditions by other stellar blues luminaries, but his fully engaged manner lit up his own studio work as well.

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