One of the greatest Blues guitarists alive jams with one of the greatest Rock guitarists alive on one of the best known Blues standards ever – these are moments for which people who know and love music, live. Such collaborations are what get us drooling and salivating all over the floor!
Buddy Guy is a legend having been an inspiration to guitar virtuosos such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Angus Young. Clapton has gone on record saying that “Buddy Guy is by far and without a doubt the best guitar player alive…if you see him in person, the way he plays is beyond anyone. Total freedom of spirit, I guess… He really changed the course of rock and roll blues.” Hendrix was such a huge fan of Buddy that he sometimes cancelled his own concerts to attend Buddy Guy’s club shows. But Stevie Ray’s cryptic remark “Without Buddy Guy, there would be no Stevie Ray Vaughan” probably encapsulates best all of Buddy’s contribution to modern rock and blues.
Carlos Santana needs no introduction, and most definitely not from me! With a career spanning over forty years and myriad genres, he is a colossus in the field of Music. On July 12, 2004, at the Montreux Festival, Santana, as the musical director (and special guest guitarist) brought together three Blues legends – Bobby Parker, Clarence Gatemouth Brown and Buddy Guy in a tour-de-force of Blues. The video below is from that performance – Buddy Guy with Carlos Santana playing Stormy Monday.
This song was originally written by T-Bone Walker and has become a Blues legend, having been covered by blues and rock artists in equal measure and is one of my favourite slow Blues numbers.
Here’s a rendition of the original and some of the more famous covers. Look out for the unusual James Brown version and the Them version (Van Morrison’s band). This is followed by the video of Buddy Guy with Carlos Santana.
