Jimmy Witherspoon – Evenin' Blues (Analogue Productions, 180g, Stereo, QPR)

Part of the ultimate audiophile Prestige stereo reissues from Analogue Productions — 25 of the most collectible, rarest, most audiophile-sounding Rudy Van Gelder recordings ever made. All cut at 33 1/3 and also released on Hybrid SACD.

All mastered from the original analog master tapes by mastering maestro Kevin Gray. 180-gram LPs pressed at Acoustic Sounds' state-of-the-art pressing plant, Quality Record Pressings, plated by Gary Salstrom.

Tip-on jackets on thick cardboard stock.

This relaxed, rather informal August 15, 1963, session is one of Jimmy Witherspoon’s rarest and was the only time that the great Arkansas shouter recorded with T-Bone Walker, the Texas-born father of electric blues guitar. In an unusual appearance as a sideman, Walker contributed his trademark brittle-toned solos, obbligatos, and “from the five” intros to a set of tunes that included such standards as “Money’s Gettin’ Cheaper” (a ’Spoon favorite since he borrowed it from Charles Brown in the late Forties), “How Long Blues,” “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” “Kansas City,” and “Don’t Let Go.” And adding further Texas seasoning was San Antonio saxophonist Clifford Scott, best known for his distinctive solos on “Honky Tonk” and other Bill Doggett hits, who not only played tenor (as the original credits indicate), but blew searing alto on “Grab Me a Freight” and flute on ’Spoon’s reading of the haunting title track, a blues ballad previously associated with both Jimmy Rushing and Walker. With Clifford Scott, Bert Kendrix, T-Bone Walker, Clarence Jones and Wayne Robertson.