Buddy Guy
« Buddy Guy è stato per me ciò che probabilmente Elvis è stato per altri. La mia rotta era ormai decisa, e lui fu il mio pilota. » (Eric Clapton)
È uno dei più importanti esponenti dell'Electric blues americano. Figura di spicco del genere nero è, insieme a B.B. King, uno dei capostipiti. Eric Clapton lo ha definito uno dei migliori chitarristi blues della storia.
Biografia
Ricevette la sua prima chitarra all'età di diciassette anni (oggi custodita al Rock and Roll Hall of Fame di Cleveland).Dopo aver vissuto fino all'età di 21 anni in Lousiana, un suo amico cuoco a Chicago lo convinse a lasciare il lavoro che aveva come custode all'università per spostarsi a Chicago e intraprendere la carriera di musicista blues. Il 25 settembre 1957 Buddy Guy arrivò a Chicago e iniziò la propria lunga carriera.
Negli anni successivi incise svariati album e collaborò con tutti i principali attori della scena chitarristica mondiale.
Ha suonato all'evento "Crossroads Guitar festival" organizzato da Eric Clapton, nel quale si è esibito in una sfida con un più giovane chitarrista di fama, John Mayer.
Buddy Guy è proprietario di un bar in Chicago, nella zona del Loop, il Buddy Guy's Legend con musica dal vivo. A volte lo stesso Buddy Guy serve al banco o suona.
Per gli appassionati del genere il locale è anche una sorta di museo, dove si possono ammirare alle pareti le più prestigiose chitarre, le stesse con orgoglio evidenziano sotto i nomi illustri di musicisti più importanti nel panorama musicale.
Buddy Guy è da sempre estimatore dei concerti dal vivo, che rende dei veri e propri spettacoli, grazie alla presenza scenica ed alle sue doti di chitarrista e cantante.
Tour
Recentemente Buddy Guy ha intrapreso un tour europeo e negli Stati Uniti e il 1º luglio 2008 c'è stata l'unica tappa italiana al Live Club di Trezzo sull'Adda. Il 5 luglio ha suonato all'Estival Jazz di Lugano, evento gratuito che la città svizzera ripropone ogni anno nel periodo estivo.Il 17 luglio 2010 Buddy Guy è tornato nuovamente in Italia esibendosi al Pistoia Blues Festival, mentre il 18 luglio 2010 ha suonato al Festival delle Invasioni a Cosenza.
George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues and has influenced guitarists including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, John Mayer and Stevie Ray Vaughan. In the 1960s, Guy played with Muddy Waters as a house guitarist at Chess Records and began a musical partnership with the harmonica player Junior Wells.
Guy was ranked 30th in Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. His song "Stone Crazy" was ranked 78th in Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. Clapton once described him as "the best guitar player alive".
In 1999 Guy wrote the book, Damn Right I've Got the Blues, with Donald Wilcock.
Guy's autobiography, When I Left Home: My Story, was published in 2012.
Early life
Career
In the early 1950s Guy began performing with bands in Baton Rouge. While living there, he worked as a custodian at Louisiana State University.Soon after moving to Chicago on September 25, 1957, Guy fell under the influence of Muddy Waters. In 1958, a competition with West Side guitarists Magic Sam and Otis Rush gave Guy a record contract. Soon afterwards he recorded for Cobra Records. He recorded sessions with Junior Wells for Delmark Records under the pseudonym Friendly Chap in 1965 and 1966.
Guy’s early career was impeded by conservative business choices made by his record company (Chess Records) Chess, his record label from 1959 to 1968, refused to record Guy playing in the novel style of his live shows. Leonard Chess, Chess Records founder, denounced Guy’s playing as "noise". In the early 1960s, Chess tried recording Guy as a solo artist with R&B ballads, jazz instrumentals, soul and novelty dance tunes, but none of these recordings was released as a single. Guy’s only Chess album, I Left My Blues in San Francisco, was released in 1967. Most of the songs belong stylistically to the era's soul boom, with orchestrations by Gene Barge and Charlie Stepney. Chess used Guy mainly as a session guitarist to back Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Koko Taylor and others.
In 1965, Guy participated in the European tour American Folk Blues Festival.
He appeared onstage at the March 1969 "Supershow" in Staines, England, which also included Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Jack Bruce, Stephen Stills, Buddy Miles, Glenn Campbell, Roland Kirk, Jon Hiseman, and the Misunderstood. In 1972, he established The Checkerboard Lounge, with partner L.C. Thurman.
Guy's career took off during the blues revival of the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was sparked by Clapton's request that Guy be part of the "24 Nights" all-star blues guitar lineup at London's Royal Albert Hall. Guy subsequently signed with Silvertone Records.
Guy performs a month of shows each January at his Chicago blues club, Buddy Guy's Legends.
In 2015, British blues fan Alan Harper published a book entitled Waiting for Buddy Guy: Chicago Blues at the Crossroads.
Music
While Guy's music is often labelled Chicago blues, his style is unique and separate. His music can vary from the most traditional, deepest blues to a creative, unpredictable and radical gumbo of the blues, avant rock, soul and free jazz that changes with each performance.As the New York Times music critic Jon Pareles noted in 2004,
Mr. Guy, 68, mingles anarchy, virtuosity, deep blues and hammy shtick in ways that keep all eyes on him.... [Guy] loves extremes: sudden drops from loud to soft, or a sweet, sustained guitar solo followed by a jolt of speed, or a high, imploring vocal cut off with a rasp.... Whether he's singing with gentle menace or bending new curves into a blue note, he is a master of tension and release, and his every wayward impulse was riveting.In an interview taped on April 14, 2000, for the Cleveland college station WRUW-FM, Guy said,
The purpose of me trying to play the kind of rocky stuff is to get airplay...I find myself kind of searching, hoping I'll hit the right notes, say the right things, maybe they'll put me on one of these big stations, what they call 'classic'...if you get Eric Clapton to play a Muddy Waters song, they call it classic, and they will put it on that station, but you'll never hear Muddy Waters.
Influence
For almost 50 years, Guy has performed flamboyant live concerts of energetic blues and blues rock, predating the 1960s blues rockers. As a musician, he had a fundamental impact on the blues and on rock and roll, influencing a new generation of artists.Guy has been called the bridge between the blues and rock and roll. He is one of the historic links between Chicago electric blues pioneers Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf and popular musicians like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and later revivalists like Stevie Ray Vaughan. Vaughan stated that "Without Buddy Guy, there would be no Stevie Ray Vaughan." Guitarist magazine observed,
Without Buddy Guy, the blues, not to mention rock as we know it, might be a heckuva lot less interesting today. Take the blues out of contemporary rock music—or pop, jazz and funk for that matter—and what you have left is a wholly spineless affair. A tasteless stew. Makes you shudder to think about it ...[where?]
Guy's guitar techniques also contributed greatly to rock and roll. His guitar playing is loud and aggressive, uses pioneering distortion and feedback techniques, employs long solos, has shifts in volume and texture, and is driven by emotion and impulse. These characteristics were eagerly learned and applied by the new wave of 1960s British artists and later became basic attributes of blues-rock music and its offspring, hard rock and heavy metal music. Jeff Beck realized in the early 1960s that "I didn't know a Strat could sound like that—until I heard Buddy's tracks on the Blues From Big Bill's Copa Cabana album" (a reissue of the album 1963 Folk Festival of the Blues) and that "It was the total manic abandon in Buddy's solos. They broke all boundaries. I just thought, this is more like it! Also, his solos weren't restricted to a three-minute pop format; they were long and really developed."[citation needed]
Clapton has stated that he got the idea for a blues-rock power trio while watching Guy's trio perform in England in 1965. Clapton later formed the rock band Cream, "the first rock supergroup to become superstars" and "the first top group to truly exploit the power-trio format, in the process laying the foundation for much blues-rock and hard rock of the 1960s and 1970s."[where?]
Clapton said that "Buddy Guy was to me what Elvis was for others." In a 1985 article in Musician magazine, he was quoted as saying that "Buddy Guy is by far and without a doubt the best guitar player alive...if you see him in person, the way he plays is beyond anyone. Total freedom of spirit, I guess. He really changed the course of rock and roll blues." In inducting Guy into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Clapton said, "No matter how great the song, or performance, my ear would always find him out. He stood out in the mix, simply by virtue of the originality and vitality of his playing."
Recalls Guy, "Eric Clapton and I are the best of friends and I like the tune "Strange Brew" and we were sitting and having a drink one day and I said 'Man, that "Strange Brew" ... you just cracked me up with that note.' And he said 'You should...cause it's your licks ...' " As soon as Clapton completed his sessions with Derek & the Dominos in October 1970, he co-produced (with Ahmet Ertegün and Tom Dowd) the album Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues, with Guy's longtime harp and vocal companion, Junior Wells. The record, released in 1972, is regarded by some critics as among the finest electric blues recordings of the modern era.[citation needed]
In recognition of Guy's influence on the career of Jimi Hendrix, the Hendrix family invited him to headline all-star casts at several tribute concerts they organized, "calling on a legend to celebrate a legend." Hendrix himself once said that "Heaven is lying at Buddy Guy’s feet while listening to him play guitar."[citation needed] Songs such as "Red House", "Voodoo Chile" and "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" came partly from the sonic world that Guy helped to create. According to the Fender Players' Club, "Almost ten years before Jimi Hendrix would electrify the rock world with his high-voltage voodoo blues, Buddy Guy was shocking juke joint patrons in Baton Rouge with his own brand of high-octane blues. Ironically, when Buddy’s playing technique and flamboyant showmanship were later revealed to crossover audiences in the late Sixties, it was erroneously assumed that he was imitating Hendrix." (In 1993, Guy covered "Red House" on Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix.)
Stevie Ray Vaughan once declared that Buddy Guy "plays from a place that I've never heard anyone play." Vaughan continued:
- Buddy can go from one end of the spectrum to another. He can play quieter than anybody I've ever heard, or wilder and louder than anybody I've ever heard. I play pretty loud a lot of times, but Buddy's tones are incredible. He pulls such emotion out of so little volume. Buddy just has this cool feel to everything he does. And when he sings, it's just compounded. Girls fall over and sweat and die! Every once in a while I get the chance to play with Buddy, and he gets me every time, because we could try to go to Mars on guitars but then he'll start singing, sing a couple of lines, and then stick the mike in front of me! What are you gonna do? What is a person gonna do?!
Geez, you can't forget Buddy Guy. He transcended blues and started becoming theater. It was high art, kind of like drama theater when he played, you know. He was playing behind his head long before Hendrix. I once saw him throw the guitar up in the air and catch it in the same chord.Beck recalled the night he and Vaughan performed with Guy at Buddy Guy's Legends club in Chicago: "That was just the most incredible stuff I ever heard in my life. The three of us all jammed and it was so thrilling. That is as close you can come to the heart of the blues."
— Jeff Beck
According to Jimmy Page, "Buddy Guy is an absolute monster." "There were a number of albums that everybody got tuned into in the early days. There was one in particular called, I think, American Folk Festival Of The Blues, which featured Buddy Guy. He just astounded everybody."[citation needed]
Singer-songwriter and guitarist John Mayer, who has performed with Guy on numerous occasions (including Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival and on the PBS television program Soundstage) and collaborated with him on Guy's 2005 album Bring 'Em In, has stated on several occasions that Guy was one of his top influences.
Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman said,
Guitar Legends do not come any better than Buddy Guy. He is feted by his peers and loved by his fans for his ability to make the guitar both talk and cry the blues. Such is Buddy's mastery of the guitar that there is virtually no guitarist that he cannot imitate.[citation needed]
Guy opened for the Rolling Stones on numerous tours, beginning in the early 1970s. Slash said that "Buddy Guy is the perfect combination of R&B and hardcore rock and roll." ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons said, "He ain't no trickster. He may appear surprised by his own instant ability but, clearly, he knows what's up."
He was a judge for the 6th and 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.
He appeared as the "King of Swing" and performed in an episode of the popular children's show Jack's Big Music Show.
Guy has influenced the styles of subsequent artists such as Reggie Sears and Jesse Marchant of JBM.
On February 21, 2012, Guy performed in concert at the White House for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. During the finale of the concert, he persuaded the President to sing a few bars of "Sweet Home Chicago".
Awards
On September 20, 1996, Guy was inducted into Guitar Center's Hollywood Rockwalk.Guy has won seven Grammy Awards, for his work on electric and acoustic guitars and for contemporary and traditional forms of blues music.
In 2003, he was presented with the National Medal of Arts, awarded by the President of the United States to those who have made extraordinary contributions to the creation, growth and support of the arts in the United States.
By 2004, Guy had also earned 23 W.C. Handy Awards, Billboard magazine's Century Award (he was its second recipient) for distinguished artistic achievement, and the title of Greatest Living Electric Blues Guitarist.
Guy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 14, 2005, by Eric Clapton and B.B. King. Clapton recalled seeing Guy perform in London’s Marquee Club in 1965, impressing him with his technique, his looks and his charismatic showmanship. He remembered seeing Guy pick the guitar with his teeth and play it over his head—two tricks that later influenced Jimi Hendrix.[citation needed] Guy’s acceptance speech was concise: "If you don’t think you have the blues, just keep living." He had previously served on the nominating committee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 2008, Guy was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, performing at the Texas Club in Baton Rouge to commemorate the occasion.
In October 2009, he performed "Let Me Love You Baby" with Jeff Beck at the 25th anniversary concert at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
On November 15, 2010, he performed a live set for Guitar Center Sessions on DirecTV. The episode also included an interview with Guy by program host Nic Harcourt.
On December 2, 2012, Guy was awarded the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors. At his induction, Kennedy Center chairman David Rubenstein said, "Buddy Guy is a titan of the blues and has been a tremendous influence on virtually everyone who has picked up an electric guitar in the last half century". He was honored that night along with Dustin Hoffman, Led Zeppelin (John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant), David Letterman and Natalia Makarova.
On January 28, 2014, Guy was inducted into Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum.
Born to Play Guitar won a Grammy Award in 2016 for Best Blues Album. Also in 2016, Guy toured the US east coast as the opening act for Jeff Beck.
Personal life and family
Buddy was born as George Guy to Sam and Isabel Guy in Lettsworth, Louisiana. He was one of five children born to the couple.His brother, Phil Guy, was also a blues musician. Buddy Guy's daughter, Shawnna, is a rapper. His son, Greg, also plays blues guitar.
He married Joan Guy in 1959. They have six children together; Charlotte (1961), Carlise (1963), Cauline (1965), George, Gregory, and Jeffrey.
He was married to Jennifer Guy from 1975 to 2002.
They have two children together; Reshawna and Michael. The marriage ended in divorce.
The first time I met the blues
People, you know I was walkin', I was walkin' down through the woods
Yes, the first time, the first time I met you, blues
Blues you know I was walkin', I was walkin' down through the woods
Yes, I've watched my house burnin' blues
Blues, you know you done me, you done me all the harm that you could
People, you know I was walkin', I was walkin' down through the woods
Yes, the first time, the first time I met you, blues
Blues you know I was walkin', I was walkin' down through the woods
Yes, I've watched my house burnin' blues
Blues, you know you done me, you done me all the harm that you could
The blues got after me
People, you know they ran me from tree to tree
Yes, the blues got after me
Blues, you know you ran me, ran me from tree to tree
Yes, you should-a heard me beg ya, blues
Ah, blues, don't murder me
People, you know they ran me from tree to tree
Yes, the blues got after me
Blues, you know you ran me, ran me from tree to tree
Yes, you should-a heard me beg ya, blues
Ah, blues, don't murder me
Yes, good mornin', blues
Blues, I wonder, I wonder what you're doin' here so soon
Yes, good mornin', good mornin', good mornin', mister blues
Blues, I wonder, I keep wonderin' what you're doin' here so soon
Yes, you know you'll be with me every mornin', blues
Every night and every noon
Oh, yeah
Blues, I wonder, I wonder what you're doin' here so soon
Yes, good mornin', good mornin', good mornin', mister blues
Blues, I wonder, I keep wonderin' what you're doin' here so soon
Yes, you know you'll be with me every mornin', blues
Every night and every noon
Oh, yeah
Written by Eurreal Montgomery • Copyright © BMG Rights Management US, LLC
Buddy Guy "Damn Right, I've Got the Blues" on Guitar Center Sessions ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU5xA6ty0a4
26 ott 2010 - Caricato da Guitar Center
Here's an exclusive clip of Buddy Guy's incredible performance of "Damn Right, I'
Mustang Sally, guess you better slow your mustang down
Mustang Sally , baby, I guess you better slow your mustang down
You been a runnin' all over town, I guess I'll better put your big feet on the ground, oh yes, I will
Mustang Sally , baby, I guess you better slow your mustang down
You been a runnin' all over town, I guess I'll better put your big feet on the ground, oh yes, I will
All you want to do is ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
All you want to do is ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
All you want to do is ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
All you want to do is ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
All you want to do is ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
All you want to do is ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
All you want to do is ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
One of these early mornings,
you gonna be wipin' your weepin' eyes, yes you will
I bought you a vintage mustang,
of nineteen sixty-five
Now you comin' right signifyin' woman, no,
you don't want to let me ride
you gonna be wipin' your weepin' eyes, yes you will
I bought you a vintage mustang,
of nineteen sixty-five
Now you comin' right signifyin' woman, no,
you don't want to let me ride
Mustang Sally, baby, yeah,
I guess you better slow your mustang down, yes you will darling, I hope you will
Going around running' all over town,
I'm gonna put your big fat feet on the ground, oh yes Sally, well, look at here
I guess you better slow your mustang down, yes you will darling, I hope you will
Going around running' all over town,
I'm gonna put your big fat feet on the ground, oh yes Sally, well, look at here
All you want to do is ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
All you want to do is just ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
All you want to do is just ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
All you want to do is ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
One of these early mornings
You gonna put your bad bad feet on the ground, oh yes I will, Sally
All you want to do is just ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
All you want to do is just ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
All you want to do is ride around, Sally (ride Sally ride)
One of these early mornings
You gonna put your bad bad feet on the ground, oh yes I will, Sally
Sally (ride Sally ride)
Sally (ride Sally ride)
(ride Sally ride)
(ride Sally ride)
(ride Sally ride)
(ride Sally ride)
Sally (ride Sally ride)
(ride Sally ride)
(ride Sally ride)
(ride Sally ride)
(ride Sally ride)
Written by Bonny Rice • Copyright © Springtime Music Inc
Down here the river, meets the sea
And in the sticky heat I feel ya' open up to me
Love comes out of nowhere baby, just like a hurricane
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain
And in the sticky heat I feel ya' open up to me
Love comes out of nowhere baby, just like a hurricane
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain
Lying here, underneath the stars right next to you
And I'm wondering who you are and
How do you do?
How do you do, baby?
The clouds roll in across the moon
And the wind howls out your name
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain
And I'm wondering who you are and
How do you do?
How do you do, baby?
The clouds roll in across the moon
And the wind howls out your name
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain
We never going to make that bridge tonight baby
Across lake Ponchartrain
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain
Across lake Ponchartrain
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain
So batten down the hatch baby
And leave your heart up your sleeve
It looks like we're in for stormy weather,
That ain't no cause for us to leave
Just lay here, in my arms
Let it wash away the pain
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain
And leave your heart up your sleeve
It looks like we're in for stormy weather,
That ain't no cause for us to leave
Just lay here, in my arms
Let it wash away the pain
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain
Written by John Hiatt • Copyright © Universal Music Publishing Group
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