When Eric Clapton left John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers he did so with the express intention of emulating Buddy Guy.
With Magic Sam and Otis Rush, Buddy Guy was part of the next generation of blues guitarists that followed Muddy Waters in Chicago blues. It was fate that Guy would gravitate to Waters for advice and underage entry to clubs.
Over on the West Side, Buddy started to build a live reputation as a showman player and got deal with Cobra Records. Two years on, in 1959, he was recording for Chess. He cut four songs on 2nd March 1960 in Chicago that included “First Time I Met The Blues”. There was a sense of anguish defined by his falsetto pitched vocals and razor sharp guitar. The line-up included both baritone and tenor saxes: tough urban blues – the polar opposite of easy listening. Even today it is at the heart of Buddy’s definitive style – much emulated though rarely equalled.
His flamboyant live act with more than a little tendency to rely on rock star histrionics and rapid-fire licks at high volume simultaneously reinvigorated his fortunes in 1991 and alienated many purists. Few however can argue with his potency aged 74 on his 2010 album “Living Proof”: it won a Grammy in the category of “Best Contemporary Blues” - a full fifty years after he first met the blues
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