Howlin' Wolf
The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions

Chester Arthur Burnett, universally known as HOWLIN' WOLF, was born in 1910 in West Point, Mississippi, singer, harmonica player, and guitarist, one of the best voices in the Blues.
According to historians, the nickname howlin' wolf was not given to him for his hoarse and wild voice, which will greatly influence people like Beefheart and Tom Waits, but by his grandfather for his not so crystal-clear vocal performances in which he engaged from a young age.

His first teacher was the great Charlie Patton, who took him under his protective wing and directed him to the devil's music. The good Patton saw in Wolf his worthy heir, taking him along to his shows, in dives and the most infamous places, until, at 23, Wolf, much improved on the guitar, began to fend for himself, until Sonny Boy Williamson II, one of the most aggressive and crazy figures in all of blues, a harmonica player already known at the time, convinced the wolf to follow him on a tour between Arkansas and Mississippi. It was during this period that Wolf cut his teeth, as he had the chance to play with people of the caliber of Robert Johnson and Baby Boy Warren, but he decided to disappear from a touring life filled with dives, prostitutes, and whiskey.

Wolf's name re-emerged in 1951, when, thanks to a meeting with Ike Turner, who put him in contact with Sam Phillips (Sun Record), he had the chance to enter a recording studio for the first time. He came out with two songs "Moanin At Midnight" and "How Many More Years". After two years, he decided to move to Chicago, where he met Willie Dixon. The union with the bassist, author, producer, and who knows what else would last several years and remain one of the hottest periods that blues has had.

In 1959, he hit it big with "Smokestack Lightnin" (is it the one by Soundgarden?). Later, the eponymous album better known as "The Rocking Chair LP" would be released. The lyrics and chords are almost entirely Dixon's, even on the double bass, along with guitarist Hubert Sumlin, but it is the interpretation of Howlin' Wolf in a state of Luciferian grace that makes the difference. It is high-class blues, the electricity of "Shake For Me", the slide guitar of "Red Rooster". Meanwhile, the tribal "Spoonful" and the wild voice on "Back Door Man" would be the bible for many English bands, primarily Cream, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Animals, but one could go on endlessly, Doors, and Led Zeppelin, so much so that English bands hailed him as the spiritual father.

In 1964, the Rolling Stones organized a television show in his honor on the ABC network, as well as recording an album of covers with their idol. A few years later, Wolf himself would record "The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions", welcoming to the party people like Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Ringo Starr, Stevie Winwood, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman, all overshadowed by the charisma and greatness of Howlin' Wolf, already with health problems. Inside are all his classics, with Clapton and Richards' guitar highlighted on "I Ain't Superstitious", "Sittin On Top Of The World", "Little Red Rooster". Notable are Ian Stewart's performances on piano and Winwood on organ. In 2003, the remastered version was released containing bonus tracks and alternate tracks for 32 pieces, which finally does justice to a historic album (not the best of Wolf for that you have to look at Chess) by an immense artist.