T-Bone Walker
's fluid guitar lines helped define the role of the electric guitar in the modern recording era, and it's as a guitar player that the blues community generally remembers him. But his smooth yet smoky vocals were every bit as classy as his guitar playing, as this two-disc, 36-track set of sides
Walker
recorded for the
Black & White
,
Capitol
, and
Imperial
record labels between 1946 and 1955 clearly shows. Highlights here include the fine "Mean Old World," the immortal "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)" from 1947, as well as "Blue Mood" and "Love Is Just a Gamble," among others. Standing at the junction of blues, jazz, and R&B,
brought a little something to all of these genres, and with "Stormy Monday," gave the world a classic. ~ Steve Leggett