T-BONE WALKER T-BONE BLUES
(1959)
That an album released 65 years ago can sound this fresh is testament to T-Bone Walker’s brilliance. Its two most famous tracks, T-Bone Shuffle and Call It Stormy Monday, highlight the jump jive and slow blues genius of the Texan singer-guitarist. Brim-full of sliding 9th-chord rhythms and tasty 6th and 9th-infused licks and solos, they highlight Walker’s musicality, with Stormy Monday ’s solo so modern-sounding it might have been recorded yesterday. The title track, too, displays a cool swinging vibe with T-Bone laying back on the beat while spitting out streams of Gibson-toned licks. Every track is a masterclass.
Standout track: Call It Stormy Monday
HOWLIN’ WOLF MOANIN’ IN THE MOONLIGHT
(1959)
A collection of ’50s singles, contains more A-grade material than you could shake a six-stringed stick at. Although several different guitarists appear across – a riff so good that it loops unchanged, aside from a just-perceptible increase in tempo, for three whole minutes – while Johnson contributed some ahead-of-his-time distortion and macho swagger to .
