Imagine you are an Urdu poetry lover and you get hold of a recording of a literary conversation between Sahir Ludhiyanvi and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. That’s exactly how any blues lover will feel about this great recording session between the two guitar legends.

Little Stevie, as King addresses him in one of the chats between the songs here, grew up hero worshipping and imitating King. And here, in this recording he is like a worthy son to a very brilliant father, obediently following cues and directions.

The LP opens up with that brilliant T-Bone Walker standard ‘Call It Stormy Sunday’ wherein King’s guitar dominates throughout with beautiful interplay of the two talents in between. A cracker of a start.

After a little chatter, next in the groove is Vaughan’s signature tune, ‘Pride And Joy’ where the energy of Vaughan’s shuffle meet the thunder notes of King’s Gibson Flying V guitar. This is the only Vaughan’s track in the LP.

Side B opens with a cover of BB King’s racy ‘Ask Me No Questions’ with some crunchy piano notes thrown in. The side ends with the slow blues, Albert King’s standard, ‘Blues at Sunrise’. As the groove builds midway, King cues Vaughan to play Jimi Hendrix licks and Little Stevie obliges with a lightning bolt solo.

As insinuated earlier, blues jams are like conversations where ideas flow and phrases are shared, bettered and developed. And this particular blues session is certainly one of the best conversations ever. A rich and rare page in blues history.

Now, as the evening pours in through the window of my living room, I’m going to put this LP on the turntable yet again and try to imagine what all Sahir and Faiz would have talked about.

Genre: Blues

Length: 37:16

Label: Stax Records

Recorded: 1983,

Released on LP: 2010

Rating: 4.5/5

Reviewed by Meraj Hasan

Meraj Hasan is a Mumbai based communication professional (and an amateur poet/musician) with a passion for listening to music the vinyl way. His 25 year old Technics turntable along with a humble collection of LPs across genres like Classic rock, Classical, Blues and Jazz (amongst others) are his prized possessions.

He can be reached at +91 9833410791 or email: meraj.hasan@gmail.com