Ever since donning the enduring black hat, swimsuit and shades of Elwood Blues in John Landis’ 1980 blockbuster The Blues Brothers, Dan Aykroyd has been irrevocably related to blues music. It’s a scenario which could possibly be painfully irritating if the actor in query weren’t such a dyed-in-the-wool and well-informed hardcore fan of the style. Catching up with Dan on a go to to the UK again in 2013, we requested him to decide on his high 10 blues information. However he refused… and selected 11…
Howlin’ Wolf – Evil
“You may’t get any deeper into the blues than Chester Burnett. I acquired to see him a dozen instances after I was rising up in Ottawa, Canada, and Evil showcases his voice fantastically. It’s a haunting, mysterious monitor, and my favorite blues report.
“Though he was a really bodily imposing man, he was all the time good to us youngsters once we acquired the prospect to go backstage to speak to him. I assume as a result of he knew that we had been the up-and-coming fanbase reviving his profession.”
Jimi Hendrix Expertise – Crimson Home
“Hendrix actually is a blues man, and touching that vein the way in which he did, he was capable of minimize a classically structured blues monitor however spin it out in a approach solely Hendrix, together with his guitar abilities, might. Crimson Home is a superb instance of his work and a tribute to blues music, filtered by way of Hendrix. Whereas retaining a terrific respect for the blues type, his guitar was all the time revolutionary and didn’t sound like anyone else.”
John Lee Hooker – The Healer
“An exquisite, fantastic guitar and an important collaboration with Carlos Santana, an important use of John’s voice on a soothing, romantic music, simply terrific.This was recorded close to the tip of his profession and he performed till he was into his 80s. I keep in mind seeing him at The Home of Blues in Anaheim and he simply tore the roof off the place.
“It was nice to get him into The Blues Brothers. I want he’d been in it extra, it was a bit of battle I had with [director John] Landis, however he was within the Maxwell Road scene earlier than we go into the restaurant, that’s John Lee Hooker and Massive Walter Horton enjoying there.”
Junior Wells with Buddy Man – Messin’ With The Child
“Nice collaboration, nice artists, fantastic harp work, Junior at his finest and a beautiful, staccato blues music, not precisely in a conventional construction of 12-bar, a extra progressive construction, it breaks up musically a bit of extra and it’s simply improbable.”
Wynonie Harris – Sittin’ On It All The Time
“It’s an important music a few lady who held onto her charms and didn’t share them with anyone, then ultimately was too outdated to share them with anyone as a result of nobody wished them anymore. I really like Wynonie Harris, an important leap swing artist, an important blues participant. What he realised was, it wasn’t solely the music that might join with audiences, it was humour.”
Paul Butterfield Blues Band – Born In Chicago
“A extremely painful Chicago music about how arduous it’s to lose buddies. Once I sing it, I consider Johnny [Belushi]. I carry out it with The Blues Brothers All Stars Present Band, with Zee [James Belushi] the buddy of Jake Blues, and we sing that music loads. There’s a verse in there, ‘my second good friend went down when he was 33 years of age’ so it’s significant for me after I do it. The one factor you possibly can say about Johnny is that he made the entrance web page.”
The Rolling Stones – Little Crimson Rooster
“It’s simply them at their sluggish, simple, horny finest, with Mick actually nailing it as a vocalist and Keith giving it that nice spin that solely the Stones can do. There was that seminal recording session, once they went to Chess Information to see the place all the nice information had been made, and Muddy Waters walked out to assist them in with their gear.
“Once I was 16, I went to see Muddy Waters at Le Hibou [club in Ottawa]. SP Leary didn’t come again to the stage [for the encore] and so Muddy goes ‘Is there a drummer in the home?’ and I stated ‘Yeah’ and I hopped up there. I truly acquired to drum behind Muddy Waters.”
Albert King – Born Beneath A Dangerous Signal
“The most effective of the Stax-Volt period, you would say that he was a blues and blues/R&B crossover artist, however that’s simply acquired to be one of many best blues songs ever written, and massive outdated Albert King, left-handed guitar participant, pipe smoking, gun carrying Albert King, was effectively geared up to ship that music.
Freddie King – Going Down
“An important, haunting, evocative, mysterious, unhappy, tragic music with nice guitar and nice lyrics. There’s lots of tragedy within the blues, however lots of humour too. you understand, like ‘All She Desires To Do Is Rock: ‘My child don’t like aeroplanes, she don’t like high-class garments or fancy trains/All she needs to do is keep at house and hucklebuck with daddy all night time lengthy.’ ”
Eric Clapton – Rethink Child
“I imagine Lowell Fulson initially recorded that one, however I cherished Clapton’s model of it. That report of his From The Cradle, that’s simply lovely. Something Clapton’s carried out, all his early work, he’s an important artist and a real bluesman.”
Solomon Burke – Everyone Wants Any individual To Love
“Once more, that is most likely extra R&B than blues, however it’s definitely within the blues custom, and what an important blues artist he was. We coated that [in The Blues Brothers], and The Stones coated it however, Solomon Burke’s model is sluggish with a rolling really feel to it and the richness in his voice.”
Initially printed in Basic Rock subject 186, June 2013
