To a country blues purist, asking
Sleepy John Estes to record an album of electric Chicago blues is an act of blasphemy. So imagine the reaction of such elitists when, in 1968,
Delmark president
Bob Koester united the Tennessee bluesman with an electric-oriented Chicago blues band that included
Jimmy Dawkins on electric guitar,
Sunnyland Slim on piano,
Carey Bell on harmonica, and
Earl Hooker or
Joe Harper on electric bass. Purists were appalled, and they had no kind words for the resulting album,
Electric Sleep. But if they hadn't been so close-minded, they would have realized that this is a decent album, if an uneven and unremarkable one. While
Estes' vocal style is pretty much the same, the band is pure Chicago blues -- and when you think it, the combination makes perfect sense. Chicago's electric blues were a logical extension of southern country blues, just as rock & roll, soul, and funk were a logical extension of electric Chicago blues and jump blues (and just as hip-hop is a logical extension of funk and soul). Hearing a 69-year-old
Estes backed by Chicago bluesmen like
Dawkins and
Hooker offended purists, but
Electric Sleep (which was reissued on CD in 1991) is nothing for
Delmark to be ashamed of. Although not among
Estes' essential recordings,
Electric Sleep is an interesting footnote in his long career. ~ Alex Henderson
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