John Lee Hooker - Essential Works 1956-1962

John Lee Hooker is still probably the most striking blues figure of the 20th century. The power and originality in the voice of John Lee Hooker, combined with his distinctive guitar, earned him a huge reputation in the Forties and Fifties. Beginning in Detroit, he conquered the audience the first time he walked on stage with just a guitar, before he moved on to every stage beyond his native Michigan. Between 1948 and 1954 he would record Sally Mae, Boogie Chillun, Hobo Blues, Crawling King Snake or I’m In The Mood … with his music appearing on many different labels, among them King, Modern, Regent, Acorn and Chance. That period is the subject of the John Lee Hooker album in the “BDBlues” series (BDBL182). Hooker started his career with the VeeJay label in 1955, and those recordings sealed his reputation as an essential blues voice. His later work with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and Canned Heat (Hooker’n Heat), plus many other European or American artists, allowed him to widen his audience and become an international star with a blues, jazz and rock following. In the Sixties and Seventies, Hooker became a household blues name, with bestselling records regularly listed in the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The 27 VeeJay titles that are included on this album are at the heart of the John Lee Hooker style, and every one of them is a blue diamond.