Any discerning, seasoned blues aficionado can tell you the jaw-dropping instant they heard Magic Sam for the first time. A possessor of an often imitated—but never duplicated—guitar and vocal technique, you could pick Magic Sam out from 10,000 other blues players at the drop of a hat.
Unfortunately, his tragic death in 1969, at the age of 32, left a void in the blues world that even together Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Albert Collin couldn’t nearly fill. Since his passing, thankfully, there have been a number of live Magic Sam recordings that surfaced which exhibit his inarguable genius.
Now, a new posthumous “live” chapter, Live at the Avant Garde, recorded June 22, 1968, has recently been unearthed and it is quite different. I don’t know if it’s the venue, the recording equipment, or the moment, but these recordings are, for lack of a better word, intimate.
Sam sounds like he’s right there in your living room, or the back seat of your Honda, sitting on his amp, playing his set. With only a bass and drums in support (and way, way down in the mix), Sam makes every string on his guitar work overtime—and sings his behind off.
Being that he’s playing to a polite young white Milwaukee crowd—and not the usual blue-collar black, rough-and-tumble Westside Chicago audience—Sam seems quite entertained (and entertaining), trading quips and jokes with the audience.
Material-wise, this set doesn’t include a whole lot of surprises (except no “Sweet Home Chicago”). Usual Westside covers like “San-Ho-Zay,” (an instrumental interpretation of Tommy Ridgley’s “Girl From Kookamonga”), “Come on in This House,” “That’s Alright” and “Hootchie Coochie Man” are included, as is his superb adaptation of Otis Rush’s “All Your Love (I Miss Loving),” which is unexpected.
Unlike some of the other live recordings, Sam here plugs his recent Delmark LPs, recycling “Bad Luck Blues,” “You Belong to Me,” “Lookin’ Good” (Gawd, could this man play the guitar) and “That’s All I Need” among others—great stuff from the first-to-last note. This is the kind of set you wish you could have witnessed.
If you’re new to Sam, this is as good a place as any to get started. But, even if you’ve got a shelf full of Magic Sam recordings, you’ve gotta hear this CD.
