Memphis Slim introduces Otis Spann on piano..."We call this the future of the blues because he's young in the business - he's only being playing and singing the blues for 25 years" A joke, possibly? - commenting on the general age profile of blues players at this time and on this particular American Folk Blues Festival tour of Europe in 1963? Whatever, the London audience isn't laughing, sitting all neat and tidy in rows, and applauding politely at the end. A change from Chicago clubs, no doubt.
Then onto the stage ambles the inimitable Sonny Boy Williamson....
Sonny Boy (strictly Sonny Boy Williamson II - the first one died in 1948) was hugely influential to that Sixties generation of English musicians like the Yardbirds, though the respect wasn't necessarily mutual:
During this time Sonny was quoted as saying of the backing bands who accompanied him, "those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do".
He even started the ritual of trashing hotel rooms - a tradition continued and perfected by his English acolytes:
According to the Led Zeppelin biography Hammer of the Gods, while in England Sonny Boy set his hotel room on fire while trying to cook a rabbit in a coffee percolator.
Still, if he didn't always appreciate London musicians, he liked the place:
Sonny Boy took a liking to the European fans, and while there had a custom-made, two-tone suit tailored personally for him, along with a bowler hat, matching umbrella, and an attaché case for his harmonicas.... One of his final recordings from England, in 1964, featured him singing "I'm Trying To Make London My Home" with Hubert Sumlin providing the guitar.
"I'm Trying To Make London My Home" follows this track on YouTube. His move to London didn't happen, though: he died just two years later in Arkansas, in 1965.
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