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Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Junior Mance: Buddy and the Juniors

Hip-O

Before the music even begins, Buddy Guy lays out what’s about to happen in this unjustly forgotten gem recorded in 1969: “This is Junior Wells along with Junior Mance and myself. We doesn’t have a drummer or a bass player and we just felt like playin’.” And that’s what they do—acoustically, harpist Wells and pianist Mance mix it up impromptu-style with the now-iconic blues guitarist. To call the session informal would be an understatement: the trio takes its time laying out tunes, occasionally tossing in a laugh or two or even a brief repartee. But make no mistake, the music cooks. Being the virtuosos they were, Guy—rarely heard unplugged at that time—and the two Juniors prove that they didn’t need rehearsal to blow spectacular blues. On “A Motif Is Just a Riff,” Guy sets up a repeating pattern on guitar that Wells quickly picks up on—together they ride the train-like rhythm till they simply feel like going someplace else. And Mance, primarily a jazz player who certainly knew his blues as well, doesn’t appear on all tracks but when he does, on tracks such as “Hoochie Coochie Man” and “Five Long Years,” his rocking barrelhouse riffs bring the jam to another level of intensity.