Description

1LP Vinyl – CLP 30011

Perhaps best known for his long association with the legendary Muddy Waters, Otis Spann is largely recognized as one of the greatest blues pianists of all time.

Lockwood, Muddy Water’s guitar player, was an obvious choice to accompany Spann at these sessions in August of 1960.  It’s worth noting  that Lockwood had been a longtime collaborator of Sonny Boy Williamson, and was the step-son and only student of then virtually unknown blues musician Robert Johnson.  (Columbia Records would release Robert Johnson King Of The Delta Blues Singers the following year and change the course of music history forever.)

Stripped down to just the two musicians, this magnificently performed and produced set showcases Spann’s voice as well as piano.  With only Lockwood's guitar behind him, Spann stretches out with his pulsing two-handed rhythmic attack, and brings the barrelhouse piano style of his youth in line with the modern Chicago style he embodied.