Article contributed by Doug Bygrave.In this, the first of a series of articles looking back at the lives and careers of often overlooked blues men, who else could we start with other than Magic Sam.
With a devilishly raunchy guitar grinding out the hard boogle “Looking Good” in front of a stripped-down sweaty band, those at the 1969 Ann Arbor Blues Festival must have been wondering which planet this monster called Magic Sam had come from.
Sadly, within two months, Magic Sam had died of a heart attack on the eve of commercial success, an irony reserved particularly for outstanding bluesman.
Sam was one of a trinity of young blues guitarists to emerge from Chicago’s West Side during the 1950’s, the other two being Otis Rush and Buddy Guy.
Together these three forged what was to become the “West Side Sound”, a new type of blues with a meaner, tougher edge, far removed from the Delta traditions which had until then been an integral part of the city’s sound.
These guitarists introduced a number of innovations, including slow, gospel-tinged blues sung in minor keys, and the use of the new electric bass on blues records.
Although Rush’s and Guy’s contributions to blues are now legendary, Sam’s influence is often neglected.
Born Samuel Maghett on Valentine’s Day 1937 in Grenada, Mississippi, and Sam shifted to Chicago in 1950.
After a stint with the Morning View Special gospel group, he soon fell under the spell of Muddy Waters and Little Walter, becoming a member of the Homesick James Blues band before forming his own band in 1955.
The name “Magic Sam” was the product of a brainstorming session – he had recorded a demo of a song, and to release it he needed a “professional” name, instead of the one he was using (Good Rocking Sam), which was already in use by another artist.
Someone suggested “Sad Sam”, but Sam objected – “that was old time” – similarly with “Singing Sam”.
“Magic Sam” was finally derived after an approximation of Maghett Sam.
He then eloquently underlined the new attitude when he said, “I don’t want to be Sad Sam, Poor Sam, Black Sam, Dark Sam, Blind Sam or what have you – I’m Magic Sam”.
His new name was quickly established with “All Your Love", a line slow blues with a sinuous groove and shimmering tremolo riffing sparkling alongside his pleading vocal.
The song became the foundation of many of his subsequent recordings, such as “Easy Baby”, defining a new urban blues style perfect for small combos working in tiny bars.
Throughout the “50’s” Sam held residence at many of the key Chicago clubs, working the same circuit as Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Junior Wells etc, and his records sold well until the army interrupted his career and he was drafted in 1959.
Out again seven months later after one month of service and six months in jail for desertion, Sam found it difficult to pick up the pieces of his shattered musical career – although he was certainly as hot as ever as evidenced by the Delmark recording of one of his 1964 gigs at the Alex Club.
With a band playing like its payday, Sam is in stunning form both vocally and instrumentally, burning his way through a varied set like napalm, his dynamite picking pushing his equipment to near-detonation.
It was no until 1967 and the release of his landmark “West Side Soul” (not to be confused with the recent Charity reissue of his 50’s Cobra recordings under the same title) that he finally received due recognition.
Regarded as a “desert island disc” by blues aficionados worldwide, the album is timeless, a superb and satiating showcase of everything hat was magical about Magic Sam.
He was to record only one more album, 1969’s Black Magic” (considered by modest Sam to be his best record he’d ever heard) before his untimely death at 32.
Though Sam was a true original, his genius was in synithesising the Delta-based Chicago blues with the West Coast sounds of Ray Charles, Lowell Fulsom and Jimmy McCracklin.
To everything he did, he brought honking down home rhythms, sputtering staccato solos and above all, one of the most intense and soul-searching voices the blues has ever known.
Fortunately, a growing number of Magic Sam recordings have become available over recent years (with varying sound quality) including two mesmerizing live sets (“Magic Touch” and “Magic Sam Live at the Alex Club and the Ann Arbor Blues Festival”), a fabulous selection of out-takes (“The Magic Sam Legacy”), and “Give me Time” which is a gem of a set of insightful, beautifully loose recordings made by Sam alone in his own living room – (you can even hear his kids in the background and his wife setting out the cutlery for one of his famous barbecues!!!).
“West Side Soul” remains the quintessential Magic Sam album however.
As with all such artists who meet early deaths, one can always ponder “what could have been…?
One thing is certain; his sound had a profound impact on blues, the world over, from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Magic Sam, Anson Funderburgh to Luther Johnson, Aykroyd and Belushi to Eddie Campbell.
Buddy Guy said it right when he said “he was the Magic Sam”.
