Search - Willie Mabon :: Chicago Blues Session

Willie Mabon

Sam Mosley | Toronto, Ontario | 04/25/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Willie Mabon scored big R&B hits during the 1950's but by 1979 he was pretty much forgotten in America. He was living in France but decided to venture to Chicago to record this album in 1979. It features the pianist on both harmonica and his regular piano backed by an all-star band, Eddie Taylor and Hubert Sumlin on guitars, Aron Burton on bass and Casey Jones on drums. It is somewhat of a "quickie" session so it is not totally rock solid music, but it is still a fairly well produced album. Everybody gets a lot of space to solo and Mabon's vocals are terrific throughout. The songs are a mix of new ones, re-cuts of a few of Mabon's old singles, and a few covers.

Willie Mabon never got much recognition beyond his chess singles, but this album, while not amazing, proves he still could make good music even in the later parts of his life at a time when blues was very under-recognized."