Muddy Waters - Muddy, Brass & The Blues (Chess Acoustic Sounds Series)

Muddy Waters swapped the juke joint for a horn section on Muddy, Brass & The Blues, presented here on 180-gram vinyl as part of the Chess Acoustic Sounds Series.

Recorded in Chicago in 1966 and produced by Gene Barge and Ralph Bass, the album found Chess pushing its biggest blues star towards the brassier, soul-inflected sound then filling the airwaves. Rather than leaning on his own Delta-rooted originals, Muddy tackled a set mostly made up of blues standards, from big-city jump tunes to songs long associated with other singers.

His band was formidable, with James Cotton on harmonica, Otis Spann on piano and Gene Barge's tenor saxophone leading the horns. Corine, Corina opens with easy confidence, while Piney Brown Blues and Trouble in Mind give Muddy room to stretch that huge, commanding voice over punchy brass punctuation. Sweet Little Angel slows the pace into a smouldering late-night blues.

Purists have long been divided on the experiment, but that tension is exactly what makes the record fascinating now. It captures a blues giant testing his voice against a bigger, brighter arrangement and, more often than not, coming out on top.

For collectors exploring the Chess catalogue beyond the essential singles, it is a rewarding detour into one of Muddy's most unusual sessions.