''Willie's Blues'' is

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

's debut album, released in 1959. Given almost equal credit on the album was his piano accompanist, Memphis Slim, who played on all of the tracks, and

wrote Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

the two numbers that were not penned by Dixon. The album was issued on the Prestige

Bluesville B.B. King's Bluesville is a Sirius XM Radio channel devoted to blues music. It plays a mix of traditional blues, modern blues, rockin' blues and soul or "finger-poppin blues. Bill Wax was the original Program Director for the channel until hi ...

record label in the vinyl format. According to the original liner notes, the album was recorded during a two-hour recording span, in between flights. It was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.Liner notes from BVLP-1003 - original vinyl album The album was re-issued on CD in June 1992 on Charly - catalog reference CDCHD 349.

Critical reception

'' The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' wrote: "Imbued with a dark, after-hours ambience, the album is Dixon's strongest solo recording."

Track listing

*All songs written by Willie Dixon, except where indicated. #"Nervous" 3:15 #"Good Understanding" 2:15 #"That's My Baby" 3:22 #"Slim's Thing" ( Memphis Slim) 3:24 #"That's All I Want Baby" 2:15 #"Don't You Tell Nobody" 2:09 #"Youth to You" 3:24 #"Sittin' and Cryin' the Blues" 3:23 #"Built for Comfort" 2:32 #"I Got a Razor" 4:14 #"Go Easy" ( Memphis Slim) 5:52 #"Move Me" 3:20

Personnel

- double bass, vocals * Memphis Slim - piano * Gus Johnson -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Wally Richardson - guitar *Al Ashby - tenor saxophone *

Harold Ashby Harold Ashby (March 27, 1925, in Kansas City, Missouri, United States – June 13, 2003, in New York City) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He worked with Duke Ellington's band, replacing Jimmy Hamilton in 1968. In 1959, he recorded backing ...

- tenor saxophone ;Technical * Esmond Edwards - supervisor *Dale Wright - liner notes

References

{{Authority control 1959 debut albums Bluesville Records albums Willie Dixon albums Albums produced by Esmond Edwards Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio