Paul Vaughn Butterfield was an American blues harmonica player, singer and bandleader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his native Chicago, where he met Muddy Waters and other blues greats, who provided encouragement and opportunities for him to join in jam sessions. He soon began performing with fellow blues enthusiasts Nick Gravenites and Elvin Bishop.
James Andrew Rushing was an American singer and pianist from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.
Otis Spann was an American blues musician, whom many consider to be the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.
Marion Walter Jacobs, known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him comparisons to such seminal artists as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix. His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners' expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. He was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, the first and, to date, only artist to be inducted specifically as a harmonica player.
The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June, that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and always occurs in early June. Until 2017, the event always took place at and around Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park, adjacent to the Lake Michigan waterfront east of the Loop in Chicago. In 2017, the festival was moved to the nearby Millennium Park.
Bobby Rush is an American blues musician, composer, and singer. His style incorporates elements of blues, rap, and funk.
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.
James Henry Cotton was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career.
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.
Blues Jam in Chicago is a studio recording by the British rock band Fleetwood Mac, originally released in two single-LP volumes by Blue Horizon in December 1969. It was the result of a recording session in early 1969 at Chess Records in Chicago with Fleetwood Mac, then a young British blues band, and a number of famous Chicago blues artists from whom they drew inspiration. The album has also been released, with slightly different track listings, under the titles Blues Jam at Chess Volumes One and Two and Fleetwood Mac in Chicago, the latter by Sire Records in 1976.
John Thomas Brown was an American tenor saxophonist of the Chicago blues era. He was variously billed as Saxman Brown, J. T. Brown, Bep Brown, Nature Boy Brown and J.T. "Blow It" Brown.
I Am the Blues is the sixth studio Chicago blues album released in 1970 by the well-known bluesman Willie Dixon. It is also the title of Dixon's autobiography, edited by Don Snowden.
Luther Tucker was an American blues guitarist.
Joseph Leon "Jody" Williams was an American blues guitarist and singer. His singular guitar playing, marked by flamboyant string-bending, imaginative chord voicings and a distinctive tone, was influential in the Chicago blues scene of the 1950s.
Steppin' Out is a compilation album of songs featuring Eric Clapton, released in 1981. It was compiled by Decca Records Music Executive Tony Watts with liner notes by Cliff Gater and Fred Dellar. The LP contains eight of the 12 tracks that appeared originally on John Mayall's Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton in 1966, plus a Mayall/Clapton single, "Lonely Years," two tracks from the 1966 recording session for From New Orleans to Chicago by Champion Jack Dupree on which Clapton played guitar, and "Pretty Girls Everywhere", which is from a May 1964 Otis Spann session, also featuring Clapton.
"All Your Love (I Miss Loving)" or "All Your Love" is a blues standard written and recorded by Chicago blues guitarist Otis Rush in 1958. Of all of his compositions, it is the best-known with versions by several blues and other artists. "All Your Love" was inspired by an earlier blues song and later influenced other popular songs.
Live in Chicago is a live album by the American blues musician Luther Allison, recorded in Chicago in 1995 and Nebraska in 1997 and released by the Alligator label in 1999.
Chicago/The Blues/Today! is a series of three blues albums by various artists. It was recorded in late 1965 and released in 1966. It was remastered and released as a three-disc album in 1999.
Little Walter (1930–1968) was an American blues artist who is generally regarded as the most influential blues harmonica player of his era. Most of his earliest recordings were as a sideman, when he contributed harmonica to songs by Chicago blues musicians such as Jimmy Rogers and Muddy Waters. As the featured artist, he recorded the instrumental "Juke" in 1952. The single reached number one on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues chart and launched his career as a solo artist.
