On my birthday, May 18, 1978, my brother-in-law gave me a blues LP. I already had quite a few LPs, mostly jazz but also some blues. The latter category was severely underrepresented. I had a few old LPs from the bargain bin, such as B.B. King, once bought for ƒ 5.00. But personally, I was more fond of Old Style Jazz, Dixieland, and New Orleans Jazz. However, my brother-in-law and I often went to the former Vredenburg Theater to see concerts by blues and jazz musicians. Lionel Hampton, Buddy Tate, but also Fernest Arcenaux, Buddy Guy, and Junior Wells.
The birthday present turned out to be an LP by Luther Allison, Love Me Papa. Pure Chicago blues. My brother-in-law admitted that he had already recorded the LP on cassette tape before giving it to me. The next day, after the visitors had left, I put the LP on. Those first notes from Luther’s guitar, that first strum from Luther: Love Me Papa… I was sold. Goosebumps! Second song, the intro by Sid Winfield on piano. Third song, Luther’s guitar again on Last Night I Lost the Best Friend I Ever Had. And so on. What a work of art. I don’t think I’ve ever been so moved by an artist since.
I now have 32 of Luther’s albums and saw him perform 13 times before he passed away. Sadly, he died far too young on August 12, 1997. Five days later, on the 17th, he would have turned 59. On August 17, 1989, I was at his concert in Vredenburg, and that day he turned 50. Fortunately, I still have his albums.