Luther & Bernard Allison: Blues legacy
Wednesday 06 December @ 16:07:01 |
  by DWIGHT HOBBES
There are times when the term genius is an understatement. Witness late blues great Luther Allison. Fiery vocals. Allison galvanized audiences with brilliantly emotive guitar work and fiery vocals. He remains, to this day, a singular presence.
He first broke in on the blues scene back in the ’50s, backing historic cats like Chester “Howlin’ Wolf” Burnett and James Cotton, before Muddy Waters invited Allison on stage to show what he could do front and center. That started him playing Chicago clubs and, eventually, recording for the Delmark label, an association that lasted from the late ’60s into the early ’70s. Like a lot of black artists, Allison banged around here and there for ages, missing out on the brass ring. After being frustrated for long enough, he packed up and left for Europe. There, he was treated like a king and by the mid-’70s was rewarded with the hard earned stardom that other premiere performers like Eric Clapton and Jonny Lang enjoy by virtue of their birthday suits. After that, there wasn’t much point wasting energy in the States. He’d come back every now and again, but, indeed, had found a most welcoming home away from home. In fact, in 1994, his manager and European agent, Thomas Ruf, founded Ruf Records in Germany for the very purpose of having Allison on the label. The first album was hallmark release Bad Love, issued in the U.S. on Alligator Records as Soul Fixin’ Man, which won four WC Handy Awards. This led to extensive touring in the U.S. and Canada, but that was nothing like the success he continued to see in Europe right up until his death in 1997. Ruf reminisces, “I started Ruf Records because of this exceptional artist. I still feel very connected to him today, and the close friendship we had set the standard for all my artist relationships.”
 Luther Allison’s legacy is sustained on the label by nearly a dozen CDs, including still-in-print United States releases Reckless (the last album while he was still alive) and 2002’s Pay It Forward, a compilation from the archives featuring a slew of guest artists, not the least being his son, Bernard Allison. Reckless is smoldering vintage fare, an excellent introduction to anyone just now finding out about Luther Allison. You get the searing, stratospheric guitar that influenced giants like Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix, who, during his all too brief tenure, didn’t do badly in the genius department himself. And those galvanizing vocals—he sounds like his guts have been gored on barbed wire. “You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide,” “Living in the House of the Blues” and “Cancel My Check” raise enough hell to wake the dead. The mournful ballad, “You’re Gonna Make Me Cry” will take you to church. And the funky shuffle “Low Down And Dirty,” penned by Bernard, serves up some hateful slide against a boogie beat that won’t quit, all while Luther sings a scalding, down-home holler, bragging about generally being up to no damned good. This is quintessential, house-rocking blues at its best. Among the cuts on Pay It Forward, “I Wanna Be With You” is a hands-down stand-out. Allison segues into old-school soul, pulling back on guitar, holding forth with impassioned vocalizing on the order of Sam Cooke, Johnnie Taylor or Lloyd Price. He also does Otis Reddding’s “Dock of the Bay” live at the Montreux Jazz Festival with the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and, with guitarist Kenn Lending and Jorgen Lang blowing harp, resurrects Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man,” strutting as tough as hard times. A true find, here: his tasty duo with Patrick Verbeke on an acoustic, rural blues rendition of “Nobody But You” (which showed up on Bad Love as a blistering, burn-down-the-house shouter),
 Bernard Allison doesn’t mind having such a tough act to follow. In fact, as he readily states, speaking by phone from his home in Apple Valley, “It’s great. Ever since a little boy, I always wanted to do the things my dad did, which is travel around the world and share his music. Not only blues lovers, but to turn people on to the Allison music.” He doesn’t look at it in terms of actually walking in Luther’s footsteps or carrying a torch. “I prefer to say that I’m keeping our family name out there. At the beginning it was tough. Many people came to do a comparison. The first time through, people see a lot of him in me, which is natural. At the same time they can definitely see the difference.” Sure enough, Bernard has a leaner, more laidback sound, but that tight, swaggering style is clearly in his blood.
Like Luther, Bernard has spent a great deal of time overseas. “I exclusively toured Europe for 12 years, from ‘89 til my return. Things are going good.” Like his father, Bernard is a strong writer, as shown by such cuts as “I’ve Learned My Lesson,” “Too Cool” and “New Life I’m In” off his studio album, Higher Power. He also has a fine hand with tradition, doing funky justice to the timeless staple “It’s A Man Down There,” as well as on his father’s material, “Raggedy And Dirty” and “Into My Life”. He stretches out on the live, 2-CD album, Energized: Live in Europe, getting in several instrumental cuts that air the band’s chops (Mike Vlahakis on keys, Jassen Wilber on bass guitar and Andrew Thomas on drums).
Ruf Records will be releasing a double DVD next summer—a documentary on Luther Allison’s life and a disc of live performances. Fitting tribute to a true genius and his legacy. ||
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