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SCRAPPER BLACKWELL, 'The Virtuoso Guitar Of Scrapper Blackwell' (Yazoo, 1991)

This is definitely a cd for guitar players. The sleeve notes give a comprehensive breakdown of keys and chord progressions for most, if not all, of the songs on this cd and, if you're not familiar with this kind of thing, this can be a bit pointless/confusing. All of the material on this cd was recorded between 1928 & 1934 and still has that original sound that you don't get with the stuff which has been re-mastered, this has crackles, hisses and all.

Scrapper Blackwell was one of the originals who led the kind of life which seems to have been fairly typical of the early blues men, i.e. recorded, drifted into obscurity, re-discovered, murdered, (he was shot by an unidentified assailant in 1962).Who knows what part he would have played in the blues revival of the early 1960's had he survived.

Most of the tracks on this cd have Scrapper Blackwell doing his own thing although others feature his well known collaboration with the piano player Leroy Carr. The cd starts with a track which sets the scene for what is to come, plenty of intricate guitar fills, seamlessly weaving their way throughout the vocal parts of a number of singers. The second track has Blackwell playing a brilliant solo using bass and lead simultaneously in a way seldom heard from guitar players today. The following tracks have Blackwell playing with, not only, Leroy Carr but also Tommie Bradley and "Black Bottom" McPhail. Allthough the quality of the recording does mean that some of these tracks can be a bit like hard work at times, they still have Blackwell on excellent form and, as such, add to the flavour of the cd.

Track #8 has not only Blackwell on guitar but also a second, 'mystery', guitar player who, according to the sleeve notes might indeed be Blackwell himself bearing in mind the similarity of the guitar styles. Alas, unless someone can shed some light on the truth of the matter, this is likely remain a mystery.

This is a cd which has been put together to show off Scrapper Blackwell's undoubted ability as a virtuoso guitar player, and it does indeed do justice to the man himself although, I must say, this is a cd for those into the old time stuff.

However, don't take my word for it, check out the sound bytes in this review to see what you think.