T-Bone Walker - The Complete Capitol / Black & White Recordings (3 CD, 1995/FLAC)

 Three-CD, 75-track box of T-Bone Walker's recordings for the Capitol and Black & White labels in the 1940s. From a historical perspective, this is perhaps the most important phase of Walker's evolution. It was here where he perfected his electric guitar style, becoming an important influence on everyone from B.B. King down. It was also here where he acted as one of the key players in a small combo West Coast bands' transition from jazz to a more jump blues/R&B-oriented sound (though most of these sides retain a pretty strong jazz flavor). These sessions, which include the original version of his most famous tune ("Call It Stormy Monday"), have previously been chopped up into small morsels for reissue, or incorporated into the mammoth limited-edition Mosaic box set; this isolates them more conveniently. At the same time, it may be too extensive for some listeners, especially with the abundance of alternate takes (which are placed right after the official versions). Excellent liner notes, although the discographical information is surprisingly inconsistent.

T-Bone Walker - Goodbye Blues (4 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 T-Bone Walker was the Charlie Christian of the blues. A fluent guitarist who was one of the first important electric guitarists in the blues, Walker had the facility of a jazz musician and often recorded with jazz-oriented combos while sticking largely to the blues. His influence was so strong that in some of his 1940s recordings, he plays phrases that would be picked up and popularized by Chuck Berry a decade later.

Born in Texas in 1910, Walker first recorded two selections in 1929 and cut a few titles during 1940-44 but did not really get going as a recording artist until 1945. 

His Quadromania release is a four-CD set that begins with the 1929 numbers and the early performances before mostly concentrating on the 1945-54 period. While only one of Walker's originals became a hit (Stormy Monday which is heard here in its original version), his performances with his sextet (which usually included tenor-saxophonist Bumps Myers) are infectious and joyful. The blues was never a downbeat music when T-Bone Walker was playing.

This four-CD set shows why T-Bone Walker is considered an influential blues giant even today.

 

T-Bone Walker - The Complete Recordings 1940-1954 [6 CD, 1990/FLAC]

 

T-Bone Walker is best known for composing "Stormy Monday," but the late guitarist's impact extended far beyond writing one of the enduring classics of the blues.

   Walker, who died in 1975 at 64, played a pivotal role in shaping the modern blues sound. He pioneered the electric guitar in the late 1930s and established it as a lead instrument playing single string solo lines rather than just rhythm chords.His acrobatic performing style--including splits, flips and playing guitar behind his neck--reportedly was a major influence on Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley.

   Though Walker was initiated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, none of the early recordings that made him famous had been available on an American album for 15 years. That changed with the recent release of "The Complete Recordings of T-Bone Walker, 1940-1954."

   The package (available as nine LPs or six CDs) marks the first blues/R&B venture by Mosaic Records, a Connecticut-based mail order company with a sterling reputation for comprehensive, limited-edition reissues of major jazz figures. ( Mosaic Records, 35 Melrose Place, Stamford, C o nn., 06902. (203) 327-7111.)

   And a rock fan listening to Walker's guitar on 1947's "On Your Way Blues" or 1950's "Strollin' With Bone" might easily identify it as Chuck Berry. "The Natural Blues" has the kind of classic guitar solo and arrangement that Texas bluesmen and rockabilly cats have been going to school onfor decades. And the package provides the first opportunity for today's fans to hear the original version of "Stormy Monday."

 

VA - New Orleans Guitar (4 CD, 2006/FLAC)

New Orleans of a hundred years ago teemed with a host of pianists playing blues and boogie in establishments both legal and recreational. Then came the guitarists. Here’s one: ‘You ought to have heard Smiley Lewis in person – he made the walls rattle!’ said drummer Earl Palmer. 

Lewis was born in July 1913 in DeQuincy, LA. His mother may have died while he was young – a sister-in-law recalled the family moving to West Lake, LA, where he was raised by a stepmother. Somewhere in his teens, he took up the guitar. Then he ran across trumpeter Thomas Jefferson’s band which he joined. ‘(He) always was a good entertainer,’ Tuts Washington remembered. ‘He sang the blues and all of them sentimental numbers. He would walk off the bandstand and sing to the people in the audience. See, Lewis had a voice so strong he could sing over the band, and that was before we had microphones.’ During WW2, Lewis found work where he could – ending up in a band with Tuts. At the end of the war, the band split up but Smiley and Tuts recruited drummer Herman Seale to form a blues trio. ‘We had the hottest trio in town,’ Washington boasted. They also hung around J&M Records. The following year, the New York label DeLuxe came to record local talent, using J&M as a source. When DeLuxe returned in September 1947, Lewis’ trio was one of the acts he decided to record. No copy has ever turned up. Although popular around New Orleans, Smiley’s record failed on the national market. He was dropped by DeLuxe. Nevertheless, his status as a recording artist ensured that Smiley’s trio was in demand around Louisiana and for some months they had a residency at the Cinq Sou Hall, next door to the Dew Drop Inn. Occasionally, he would drop into the Dew Drop to make guest appearances with Dave Bartholomew’s orchestra, billing himself as ‘the drifting blues singer’. As with most of the other artists here, Lewis had a life of ups and downs (his ‘One Night’ was cut by Presley). He died in 1966.