RIP Otis Rush 1935-2018

[blake 10]

the greatest of all the Chicago blues guitarists died Saturday.

 

 

he could sing too.

 

---------- Post added 04-10-2018 at 20:19 ----------

 

ever been scared you might having a mental breakdown?

 

don't worry about it. Otis Rush will guide you through it better any psychiatrist in the world ever could.

 

[horribleblob 212]

I think both Peter Green and Mike Bloomfield were influenced a bit by

[blake 10]

he was the most incredible musician of them all. He makes mincemeat of Magic Sam and Buddy Guy who were his nearest Mississipi matches. Athough they were brilliant too, Otis Rush was just a different class.

 

[horribleblob 212]

Imagine coming across

in 1958.

[blake 10]

his first Cobra sessions, All Your Love in the link, Double Trouble etc were totally amazing and showed that he was the genuine finished article, even as a young man. He was only 22 when he made those first records. Otis Rush was a totally first-class blues musician from the outset. He never had to serve any apprenticeship like as a sideman, for anybody else. He was IT, top drawer, top level, first-class straight away. One of the very most accomplished musicians in the world, even at that young age - a totally brilliant instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter.

 

Otis was fantastic throughout his career while he still had his health. And he did grow. But those first Cobra sessions were still some of his best that he never improved on. They were impossible to improve. All the sides cut during the Cobra sessions were brilliant. They were each of them amazing performances, and all of course live with no overdubs. The best one for me is probably Checking on my Baby

which wasn't released as a single. The doom laden saxophone is being played by the incomparable JT Brown (1918-69) also, like Otis Rush, from Mississipi like the majority of the greatest Chicago bluesmen were.

 

commercial success eluded Otis Rush, although he didn't really look for it. He had a bit of a hit with 'So Many Roads' which was the song he was most associated with during the 1960s. He worked a lot in the 60s, sometimes as a leader but often just as a session man. When you see old film of Chicago blues bands from back then, if one of them is left-handed, the chances are it is Otis even if his back is turned and you can't see his face in the film and even if his solos didn't give him away.

 

The Cold Day in Hell and Right Place Wrong Time albums when in his mid to late thirties he morphed into the fully mature genuine article, were like a renaissance and just cemented what everyone already knew. Otis Rush was the best of the best in the business.

[blake 10]

happy new year in blues heaven, Mr. Otis Rush. You were the very best.  Even if Radio 4's Last Words obituary show didn't even mention you. They don't know what a real prince you were. That's their problem.