If you’ve never heard of Wild Jimmy Spruill, you’re not alone. But if you’ve ever grooved to the magnificently churning guitar solos on Dave “Baby” Cortez’s “The Happy Organ” or Wilbert Harrison’s “Kansas City,” you’ve certainly dug his way with a six-string. And once you crank this disc up, Jimi Hendrix may suddenly not seem so amazing. Wielding a rectangular-bodied axe that he often played with his teeth, his tongue and various other body parts, Spruill was—with the possible exception of Mickey Baker—New York’s primo session guitarist throughout the late ’50s and into the ’60s, playing on records by the likes of Tarheel Slim, the Shirelles, Bobby Lewis and Elmore James. But his unmistakable style—raw to the core, scratching, grinding, choking and pushing everything totally to the edge—was arguably even better employed on the handful of instrumentals released under his own name. Titles like “Cut And Dried,” “Hard Grind” and “Raisin’ Hell” have got the driving, distorted flavor of Freddie King at his early ’60s finest, while much of the remainder of Scratch ‘n’ Twist’s 20 tracks are made up of obscure—but great—singles on which Spruill played sideman. Of these, the vocal on “If You Just Woulda” could easily be mistaken for Chris Kenner (credits go to Walkin’ Willie and his Orchestra) while “Sweet Little Girl” and “Believe Me Darling” (vocals courtesy of Lynn Taylor and the Peachettes and June Bateman, respectively) have a stone New York girl group sound. Jim and Bob Harrison’s “Please Don’t Hurt Me” is sanctified gospel with secular lyrics, while “Lonely Island” seems Jimmy’s gorgeous instrumental answer to it. For any fan of mind-blowing R&B guitar—the kind that nobody seems to play anymore—Scratch ‘n’ Twist is an indispensable album. Which is why it’s almost unfathomable that it took this long for Spruill to have an entire CD dedicated to his work. Nevertheless, it was certainly worth the wait.