Muddy Waters – Muddy Waters at Newport 1960 (Chess Records 75, Acoustic Sounds Series)

Muddy Waters' Muddy Waters At Newport 1960 captures his July 3, 1960 set at the Newport Jazz Festival, a performance that helped carry electric Chicago blues to a much broader audience. Heard in front of a major festival crowd rather than a South Side club, Waters sounds completely in command, turning a live document into a clear statement of how forceful and modern his band could be at the start of the 1960s.

The supporting group is a major part of why this record lands so hard: Otis Spann on piano, James Cotton on harmonica, Pat Hare on guitar, Andrew Stephenson on bass and Francis Clay on drums. Their playing gives the album its drive, from the stomp of I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man to the momentum of Baby, Please Don't Go and the explosive closing stretch of Got My Mojo Working. The finale, Goodbye Newport Blues, adds another layer of context, with lyrics by Langston Hughes and vocals from Spann.

Often cited as one of the earliest great live blues albums, At Newport 1960 remains one of the strongest introductions to Muddy Waters as a bandleader and stage performer. This edition also makes sense as a vinyl title in its own right: part of the Chess Records 75 / Acoustic Sounds program, it returns the album to all-analog form with the focus on clarity, punch and the atmosphere of the original festival recording.

Features

• LP, 33RPM, 180g, Acoustic Sounds Series
• Remastered from the original analog tapes by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab
• Pressed at Quality Record Pressings
• Tip-on gatefold sleeve printed on high-grade board

Reviews

• The record revealed the King of Chicago blues at his very best - AllMusic.com