Willie Buck – Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends
For aficionados of the blues, the set opens with a hot instrumental so listeners can settle in before the heavy machinery comes. So, “Jumping” sets the mood. Pour the beers & whiskies, get the basket of hot wings & listen. The piano & subterranean bass lay down the cement as the guitar is spread out like water to help make it finish. It is quite captivating & satisfying.
Recorded in Chicago, on August 28, 2023, the 17-track old school blues collection documented on Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends (Drops Aug 30/52:00) is Willie’s 4th Delmark LP. It features the Delmark All-Stars — Scott Dirks, Thaddeus Krolicki, Billy Flynn, Johnny Iguana, Melvin Smith & the late drummer Willie Hayes.
Born William Crawford in Houston, Mississippi he moved to Chicago in 1953 & is now one of the elder statesmen of the “storyteller” bluesmen of the Muddy Waters era. Elbio Barilari produced this live LP.
Among some originals are standard blues like the Leiber-Stoller 1959 hit “Kansas City” by North Carolina’s Wilbert Harrison. Willie lays down a warm rocking nostalgic vocal.
The set was recorded last year & retains the emblematic sound of the 50s. The atmospheric value can be heard in the recording & each instrument is captured quite well. Even as Mr. Hayes hits the cymbals they don’t blur the guitar, piano, or bass work that steams ahead with gusto. These blues are not drawn out in any melancholy turn as much as a rocking style. The instrumentation is bright & the piano work is exceptional.
Willie can whip up a gut-wrenching blues when needed. His tonality while not as gruff & raw as Howlin’ Wolf has the necessary authority the way B.B. King would accentuate his blues. “What We Were Talking About” & “Rock Me” both have these elements if not a cross between 1945’s Lionel Hampton’s “Hamp’s Blues,” & the later cross-pollination of blues melodies laid down by Chuck Berry in a more rock affiliation.
In “Let’s See If We Can Come Together” the lead guitar is thin like in the early 1930s blues. But that thin sound is part of the attraction. It surrenders eventually to the harmonica that warms up the arrangement & the succession of raindrop piano notes that lend it color – all the skill is still in attendance. There are lots of vintage flavors.
“Snow” comes across juke joint raw like a lost Robert Johnson side & a cover of the Willie Dixon track made famous by Muddy Waters “Hootchie Cootchie Man” is a thrilling close.
Highlights – “Jumping,” “Kansas City,” “What We Were Talking About,” “Let’s See If We Can Come Together,” “Snow,” “Rock Me” & “Hootchie Cootchie Man.”
Musicians – Willie Buck (vocals), Scott Dirks (harmonica), Thaddeus Krolicki & Billy Flynn (guitars), Johnny Iguana (piano), Melvin Smith (bass) & Willie “The Touch” Hayes (drums).
CD cover images by Peter Hurley. CD @ Apple Music & Amazon + https://delmark.com/
