Boasting fellow Chicago blues dynamo
James Cotton on both harmonica and lead vocals,
The Blues Never Die! is one of
Otis Spann's most inspired albums. When this session was recorded for Prestige's Bluesville subsidiary in 1964,
Spann was still best known for playing acoustic piano in
Muddy Waters' band. But
The Blues Never Die! (which Fantasy reissued on CD in 1990 on its Original Blues Classics imprint) shows that he was as great a leader as he was a sideman. From
Willie Dixon's "I'm Ready" (a Chess gem
Spann had played numerous times with
Waters) and
Elmore James' "Dust My Broom" to
Cotton's spirited "Feelin' Good" and
Spann's dark-humored "Must Have Been the Devil,"
Spann and
Cotton enjoy a very strong rapport on this consistently rewarding date. ~ Alex Henderson