Black Magic | ||||
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Studio album by Magic Sam Blues Band | ||||
Released | November 1969 | |||
Recorded | October 23 & November 6, 1968 | |||
Genre | Blues | |||
Length | 39:04 | |||
Label | Delmark | |||
Producer | Robert G. Koester | |||
Magic Sam chronology | ||||
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Black Magic is a studio album by Chicago blues musician Magic Sam. Delmark Records released it under the name of "Magic Sam Blues Band" in November 1969, shortly before his death. [1] The album was a follow-up to Magic Sam's highly influential studio debut, West Side Soul (1968), and also includes a mix of originals with songs written by his contemporaries.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Bill Dahl, in a retrospective review for AllMusic, gave the album its highest rating –five out of five stars. He called it "another instant classic" and noted some R&B-style influenced songs. [4]
Blues historian Gerard Herzhaft commented that the album, along with West Side Soul, "brought unanimous praise from the critics. Today [1996], they are considered classics of the Chicago blues". [5]
In 1990, Black Magic was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame as a classic of blues recording. The induction statement includes:
Black Magic follows in the same vein as Magic Sam's first Delmark LP (and first Hall of Fame album), West Side Soul, combining burning West Side blues with heartfelt touches of soul. Again, most of the songs are covers (Little Milton, Otis Rush, Lowell Fulson, Freddie King, et al, with the more obscure Andrew Brown cut "Stop! You're Hurting Me" a definite highlight) and there a couple remakes of Sam's 45s, but again, it all sounds vital and up-to-the-minute. [6]
Side A
Side B
Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 67 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Lowell Fulson was an American blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. He also recorded for contractual reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, he was the most important figure in West Coast blues in the 1940s and 1950s.
Otis Rush Jr. was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. With qualities similar to the styles of other 1950s artists Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, his sound became known as West Side Chicago blues and was an influence on many musicians, including Michael Bloomfield, Peter Green and Eric Clapton.
Samuel Gene Maghett, known as Magic Sam, was an American Chicago blues musician. He was born in Grenada County, Mississippi, and learned to play the blues from listening to records by Muddy Waters and Little Walter. After moving to Chicago at the age of 19, he was signed by Cobra Records and became well known as a bluesman after the release of his first record, "All Your Love", in 1957. He was known for his distinctive tremolo guitar playing.
West Side Soul is the debut studio album by Chicago blues musician Magic Sam. Released by Delmark Records in 1968, it is often cited as one of the key modern electric blues albums. The album includes a re-recording of Magic Sam's first Cobra Records single, "All Your Love" (1957), and an updated "Sweet Home Chicago", which became a popular blues anthem.
James Henry “Jimmy” Dawkins was an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. He is generally considered to have been a practitioner of the "West Side sound" of Chicago blues.
Joseph Young Jr., known as Mighty Joe Young, was an American Chicago blues guitarist.
"Tramp" is a soul blues song with funk elements, written by West Coast blues artists Lowell Fulson and Jimmy McCracklin. First recorded by Fulson in 1967, it was his highest-charting single since "Reconsider Baby" in 1954. The song was covered by Otis Redding in a duet with Carla Thomas, and this version reached No. 2 on Billboard R&B chart.
James Earl Thompson, known professionally as Jimmy Johnson, was an American blues guitarist and singer.
Eddie Shaw was an American Chicago blues tenor saxophonist, arranger and bandleader. He led Howlin' Wolf's band, the Wolf Gang, from 1972, both before Wolf's death in 1976 and subsequently.
James D. "Shakey Jake" Harris was an American Chicago blues singer, harmonicist and songwriter. He released five albums over a period of almost 25 years. He was often musically associated with his nephew Magic Sam.
Odie Payne was an American Chicago blues drummer. Over his long career he worked with a range of musicians, including Sonny Boy Williamson II, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Little Johnny Jones, Tampa Red, Otis Rush, Yank Rachell, Sleepy John Estes, Little Brother Montgomery, Memphis Minnie, Magic Sam, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Guy.
"Reconsider Baby" is a blues song written and recorded by Lowell Fulson in 1954. Performed in the West Coast blues style, it was Fulson's first record chart hit for Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records. With memorable lyrics and a driving rhythm, "Reconsider Baby" became a blues standard and has been recognized by the Blues Foundation and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.
"You've Got to Love Her with a Feeling", or "Love with a Feeling" as it was originally titled, is a blues song first recorded by Tampa Red in 1938. Numerous blues artists have interpreted and recorded the song, making it a blues standard. When Freddie King adapted it in 1961, it became his first single to appear in the record charts.
Paul Filipowicz is an American Chicago blues musician. He is a singer, guitarist, and harmonica player, who writes some of his own material. To date, Filipowicz has released eight albums. Filipowicz has fronted his own band for over forty years and played across most of the United States. His friend, Luther Allison, once told Filipowicz "I know you're a bluesman and you know you're a bluesman and every time you take the stage you got to prove it!"
The Magic Sam Legacy is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the American blues musician Magic Sam, recorded in Chicago between 1966 and 1968, that was released by the Delmark label in 1989.
Magic Touch is a live album by Chicago blues guitarist and vocalist Magic Sam, with harmonica player Shakey Jake. The set list only included one Magic Sam original, "All Your Love", his signature tune first recorded for Cobra Records in 1957. Four feature Shakey Jake on vocal and/or harmonica, including his composition "Sawed Off Shotgun". Several of the songs are contemporary 1965–1966 R&B blues-style songs popularized by Junior Parker, Little Joe Blue, Jimmy Robins, and Jimmy McCracklin performed in Magic Sam's distinctive style.
Rockin' Wild in Chicago is a live album by the American blues musician Magic Sam, compiling tracks recorded in Chicago between 1963 and 1968, that was released by the Delmark label in 2021.
Live at the Avant Garde is a live album by the American blues musician Magic Sam that was released by Delmark Records in 2013. It contains tracks recorded live at the Avant Garde in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on June 22, 1968.
"Too Many Drivers" is a blues song recorded by Big Bill Broonzy in 1939. It is performed in an acoustic ensemble-style of early Chicago blues and the lyrics use double entendre often found in hokum-style blues songs. The song has been identified as one of Broonzy's more popular tunes and has been recorded over the years by a variety of artists, who often who use alternate titles, such as "Little Car Blues", "Little Side Car", "Automobile Blues", and "Let Me Ride Your Little Automobile".