There’s not much more we can say about blues veteran Willie Buck than we did in this post on his previous album Willie Buck Way, except that Willie’s latest album Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends (Delmark Records) is the closest thing you can get to a live set of old-school Chicago blues today without incurring all of the costs associated with a trip to Chicago (unless Willie or one of the other very few remaining old-time Chicago players like John Primer happens to be coming through your area, which seems to be occurring less and less these days). A large part of that is, of course, Willie, who’s been, well, singing the blues in the classic Muddy Waters style for many decades now, having gotten his start performing with the likes of such greats as Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, Little Walter, Eddie Taylor, Magic Slim, Byther Smith, and Johnny “Big Moose” Walker, among others.
But we also have to give loads of credit to his backing band on this performance, featuring a number of other well-known names in the blues, including Willie “The Touch” Hayes on drums on what would turn out to be his very last recording, Billy Flynn and Thaddeus Krolicki on guitar, Johnny Iguana on keys, Melvin Smith on bass, and Scott Dirks on harmonica. While Buck of course commands a large part of the focus throughout the album, you do get a great taste for the band itself on the bubbly, swinging instrumental introduction “Jumping”, with lots more terrific harmonica, keyboard, and guitar parts over the course of the following nine songs, as Hayes and Smith expertly hold down the rhythm.
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