“In Session,” Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan….

What is it about this original American art form that gets to folks? I’m talking about the blues, y’all. Well, I may not be able to define what it is that ‘gets’ to people the world over but I can illustrate it real well. I’m asked to write a blog for Concord Records on a once-in-a-lifetime teaming between two blues men, the iconic Albert King whose playing influenced a generation of British musicians (check Eric Clapton) among others and his acknowledged musical ‘disciple,’ Stevie Ray Vaughan.

The album is entitled “In Session,” derived from a Canadian television series of the same name, recorded initially in 1983 (and later in 1988) and originally released by Fantasy Records in 1999, nine years after Stevie was killed in a helicopter crash at the age of 35 and seven years after Albert (known for his rambunctious, cantankerous manner) suffered a massive heart attack at 69.

At first, I am reluctant. I’ve been listening to the blues in one form or another since my teenage days in London when some of my Kilburn Grammar School pals were attempting to introduce me to the music of Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker and Willie Dixon. We’re talking mid-sixties when kids from Clapton and Jagger to my good school pal Richard Posner. Richard, who still plays guitar, is hosting a blues jam session at his home, he and the rest of the gang thinking that my already-confessed love for the pop/soul of Dionne Warwick, the jazz/folk of Nina Simone and the Motown magic of a bunch of folks will make me an obvious convert to the blues. I found the rawness of those Chess Records’ guys a little too ‘earthy’ for me.

That was ’65. Life’s ups and downs, love’s joy and pain, sometimes being broke, sometimes being lonely, sometimes feeling lost and alone, sometimes not knowing where the rent is gonna come from or how I’m gonna pay my taxes or my credit card bills or when I’m next gonna be lip-locking with who knows who…well, that will give you a taste for the blues.

It’s Tuesday morning. Got up early after a restless night to find that my bank balance ain’t what it should be. I call the bank and we get into it. I turn on “In Session” to listen the amazing interplay between Albert and Stevie and I ‘get’ it. I got the blues and these guys are actually providing me with a sense of understanding or belonging or something. I’ve already experienced “Blues At Sunrise,” one of Albert’s most beloved Stax recordings, a blisterin’ piece he did with Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix at the Fillmore West years before. In the words of the late Esther Phillips, I’m gettin’ along alright.

Albert lays it down, challenging Stevie to recreate the Hendrix riff from King’s jam session with Jimi and Janis. Vaughan complies with a right-on-the-money solo. The pair are groovin’ on “Blues At Sunrise,” as they did on Stevie’s own “Pride And Joy,” another key cut on this outstanding set of eleven songs which includes the T-Bone Walker standard “Call It Stormy Monday,” the B.B. King classic “Ask Me No Questions” and “Don’t Lie To Me,” a Tampa Red-penned tune that Albert cut back in ’62. “In Session” is everything my Concord bud David Henson says it is. Brilliant, real, honest, a one-off collaboration that lives and breathes with the obvious mutual admiration between King and Vaughan.

In between songs, there are three short monologues, priceless moments shared between two stellar musicians, now playing in blues heaven where I know they are riffin’ like champs. Meanwhile, I’m down here on the ground (to quote the late Lou Rawls) dealin’ with bills, no lip-lock, L.A. blah’s and such. I got up with blues at sunrise, for real. With Albert and Stevie on my CD player, I believe I’ll make it through….

(With thanks to Dave Henson and David Vienna for persisting with me so I’d write this!)

David Nathan
a/k/a “The British Ambassador Of Soul”
Owner, www.soulmusic.com, www.soulmusicstore.com, www.soulmusicglobal.com