Hubert Sumlin at the Half Note Jazz Club

When Hubert Sumlin plays guitar he takes you to his World of Blues Feeling -- from despair to ecstasy, from delicate grace to raw power, from lost to found. Though he’s influenced and inspired many of the most famous guitar players, Hubert owns the magic. His style is original and personal and instantly recognizable. What kind of man can make or break your heart with his guitar?

Hubert Sumlin feat. Buddy Flett and the Bluebirds

A session that Pinetop Perkins co-led with one-time Howlin' Wolf sideman Hubert Sumlin, Legends should have been outstanding but is merely average. Singer/pianist Perkins (who was 84 when Legends was recorded in May 1998) and singer/guitarist Hubert Sumlin both had strong Chicago blues credentials going way back, and one greets Legends with very high expectations. But while Legends isn't a bad album, the sparks don't fly the way they should have. Embracing familiar electric blues classics like Willie Dixon's "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man," Jimmy Reed's "Shame, Shame, Shame" and B.B. King's "Rock Me, Baby," Perkins and Sumlin simmer without ever really igniting. And their accompaniment (which includes guitarist Doug Wainoris, harmonica player Annie Raines, bassist Rod Carey and drummer Per Hanson) doesn't go that extra mile either. The CD sinks to its lowest point when Wainoris and Raines sing lead on Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown's "She Walks Right In" — while Wainoris is a competent singer, Raines has a terrible voice and makes listeners painfully aware of the fact that she should stick to harmonica playing. For the most part, however, Legends isn't disastrous — just mildly disappointing. This is a CD that only completists will want.

Half Note Jazz Club
17 Trivonianou St., 11636 Athens
210-9213310, 9213360

29.10.2007