Muddy Waters at Newport 1960

Muddy Waters is the grand master of Chicago blues, and his recording from Newport Jazz 1960 shows him at his best. Every track is strong, the arrangements are mature, Mr. Waters is completely confident in his performance, and even the recording is technically good (for its time). An album can't really get much better than this, at least not from the mainstream perspective of this project. If you also like Chicago blues (like me), then this album leaves nothing to be desired.

Het blijft een stijl waarin elk nummer ongeveer hetzelfde is, maar goed, deze nummers komen ook wel uit de jaren 50. Deze opname is verder echt waanzinnig. Wat een band.

I'm a white guy evaluating the blues, so take this with a grain of salt ...

I love the blues and this isn't really the style I go for. I don't typically prefer full band, electric blues for a few reasons that aren't worth digging into. That being said, MW does it better than basically anyone ever on this record. I appreciate how each band member has their own groove and feel. And if I were a square folky in 1960 I would have lost my mind at this gig (you can hear the crowd going berserk in some songs, which is pretty great). So overall, not my favorite flavor but I still enjoyed it and I can't deny the craft.

An electric performance - so thrilling a delivery of what has become the most tired sound in music that it still stands out and demands attention. It's hard to hear this as anything other than the tempalte, the generic form, the seed from which rock and roll boomed, the sound a billion guitar guys have been riffing on and ripping off, iterating and paying homage to over for the next 65 years with huge degrees of creative success. His guitar playing is solid but not as great as some of the other blues-rock transitional figures, the vocals are really the most amazing bit: rich, emotive, drawing on a deep resonance to power through, breaking engagingly, wraping the voice around the phrases, pushing out the lines and wails. The band sounds great too - the jazzy piano tinkling especially.

it is blues. it is live.

I’ve never been a huge blues/jazz fan, but this kinda slapped! I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this album.

This felt a little tamer than I was hoping. Not bad at all, but not as bad ass as I wanted.

Eh. Fine for what it is.

Great blues album . Surprising that it’s live .

Only down side is that it’s a bit Samey but that’s the blues .

I am not a blues appreciator, but this one is pretty good.

Blues isn’t really my thing and for the first few tracks I was not feeling this whatsoever. Then I got to I Feel So Good which I really enjoyed and I liked the album from then on. I’ll see later on with my second listen if the first part of the album hits differently knowing that I like the second half.

Top Track - I Feel So Good

Blues artist went to a jazz festival.

3.0

I like Muddy Waters, but I don't like most live albums. This one is pretty good though, and he plays the blues like nothing else matters.

OK, with a lot of the "influential" picks on this list, I don't really hear it. With this - you can easily see the thread that becomes the base "the 60s" is built on. It's still not really my genre, but the genres I do love owe it a debt of gratitude.

It’s called the blues but it makes me feel so good

A great album. I enjoy listening to it again. 4/5

There’s something both heavy and effortless about this set — Muddy in total command, backed by a band that swings like a hammer and smiles while doing it. You can hear the roots of so much that came after in every riff and groove. A landmark performance that feels as alive today as it must have in 1960.

Nice! Might be first proper blues album, def first Chicago blues one, very nice solid live muddy waters record, probably 4 stars, perhaps revisit?

What is left to be said about Muddy- he’s the greatest. One of the foundations of every rock album that came after him. The guttural soul of his music can’t be and never will be matched.