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Rating: The review of this album is also a pretext to pay homage to what I define as the gray eminence of blues, the gigantic Willie Dixon, a composer and lyricist who wrote a plethora of splendid songs that have become classics of blues over time (and have even ventured into other (sub)genres). These pieces were often written for other musicians. What I can say is that Dixon didn't compose just with himself or the song in mind, but he wrote specifically for the musician at hand, choosing them based on the respect he had for them. For example, the pieces composed for Howlin' Wolf, starting from their very writing, are already songs that highlight the characteristics of rawness, ancestrality, and tribalism inherent in Wolf's way of playing, as can be heard in, to name two milestones, "Evil" or "Spoonful". Whereas when he composes for Muddy Waters, Dixon's writing becomes energetic, powerful, and solemn, as can be heard in (but who doesn't know it?) "Hoochie Coochie Man" or "I Just Want To Make Love To You", and one could continue like this with all the musicians for whom he wrote. A purely statistical curiosity, to close this brief musical portrait of Dixon, is that he composed over 500 songs (and nothing more).
In all this, we must not forget that Dixon is also an excellent and reliable bassist with a clear and round sound, characterized by his use of walking and slapping, and it is precisely as a sideman that he managed to sustain himself, working massively especially during the period when he was under contract with the Chess record label.
But now let's get to the album "The Blues Every Which Way" recorded for Verve in 1960, where Dixon joins forces with Memphis Slim, a singer and pianist with a personal style and a marked swing, but the lion's share is Willie’s: most of the songs are written and sung by him (in fact, I didn't understand the record company's choice to put his name second, maybe contractual reasons). Anyway, the two had already released the excellent "Willie's Blues" the previous year for Bluesville, which was also the first 33 rpm recorded by Dixon (of which you can find a nice review here on DeB). Unlike the previous quintet LP, this '60 release is a piano and double bass duo.
It starts immediately with a bang with a gem composed and sung by Slim: "Choo Choo", an onomatopoeic title on the train sound, with the lyrics indeed talking about a probable farewell at the station. Slim's deep and intense singing is penetrating, the piano highlights the nuances and unrest, and Dixon's sinuous and discreet bass accompanies it. The second piece "4 O'Clock Boogie" is an instrumental by Slim of a completely different flavor, with an overwhelming swing and a double bass that seems to urge and at times "dust" the way for the energetic boogie-woogie of the piano. "Rub My Root" by Willie is a beautiful slow tune with a nocturnal character. Another instrumental, by Dixon, is "C Rocker" which begins with an unstoppable boogieing blues from the piano and then, almost as a contrast, arrives at the very interesting staggering bass solo, which at times seems to tumble in an attempt not to let the entire musical structure fail, until the decisive return of the piano for the concluding coda.
The poignant "Home To Mamma" highlights the restless essentiality of Dixon's writing, here also emphasized by his dramatic and intense vocal performance, while the sighing bass and Slim's pulsating pianism do the rest. Passionate is "Shaky" in which Willie revives that stuttering singing already heard in "Nervous" (another Dixon classic), while Slim offers a successful solo at the piano.
Perhaps this album is not a masterpiece, but I find it splendid, and for me, it is essential in every respectable blues discography.
Besides, while I was finishing writing the review, it occurred to me, taking inspiration from the title of this LP, that "the blues every which way" could be a definition that fits Dixon's life perfectly, even though he himself would say, in an even more resounding way, "I am the blues".
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