ALBUM RELEASE NEWS

File this one under, “Reborn under a good sign.” Craft Recordings recently announced a Deluxe Edition release of In Session, the legendary December 1983 collaboration between the late, decidedly great blues guitar icons Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, as an expanded 180g 3LP set on October 18, 2024 — as in, tomorrow! This historically important live performance — culled from King and SRV’s early-1980s joint TV appearance together in Canada — will be available in its entirety in various formats, but the best way to cue this one up is most definitely on vinyl.

You know the facts about this vital recording, don’t you? Well, if not, let me briefly recap. Recorded live for TV broadcast at CHCH-TV studios in Hamilton, Ontario, on December 6, 1983, this performance is said to be the only known professional recording of King and Vaughan playing together. The 180g 3LP reissue from Craft Recordings includes the debut audio-only release of three tracks from the show that were not previously available on vinyl — “Born Under a Bad Sign” (LP1, Side A, Track 2), “Texas Flood” (LP1, Side B, Track 1), and “I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town” (LP3, Side F, Track 1). Until now, these three tracks were only available on video together on both the expanded In Session CD/DVD set and the standalone DVD released by Stax in September 2010.

A few more stats here now. The lacquers were cut by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl, and newly remastered by Paul Blakemore (though the hype sticker, as shown above, IDs the latter credit only as being “mastered by”). Original credits show the set was remixed by Stephen Hart at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California, with “audio supervision” by Chris Clough, “original recordings” produced by Ian Anderson (the Canadian producer, that is, and not the Jethro Tull mastermind), and “original release” produced by Bill Belmont. Each LP in the new triple-gatefold Craft collection comes in an anti-static plastic inner sleeve (and hallelujah to that decision). The gatefold also reproduces the original liner notes by Bill Belmont, Dan Forte, and Lee Hildebrant from the initial August 1999 In Session release on Stax, as well as Samuel Charters’ newer liners that appeared in the 2010 Stax reissue. The SRP is an admittedly eye-opening $75.99 — but, remember, that’s for three 180g LPs — and you can order this collection via the Music Direct link graphic at the end of this story. If In Session is currently sold out and/or out of stock at MD, you can also get it via this link, which will take you directly to Craft Recordings’ official store.

A few more facts first about this performance and these two titular guitar titans, before I add my two-plus listening cents. When Vaughan and King hit that Hamilton stage on the aforementioned date of December 6, 1983, they were backed by pianist/organist Tony Llorens, bassist Gus Thornton, and drummer Michael Llorens. Stevie Ray was a rising star at the time, as his debut Epic LP, June 1983’s Texas Flood, continued to make waves. Meanwhile, the then 60-year-old Albert King was embracing a new phase of his career, by acting as a mentor.

The duo’s relationship began a decade earlier in Vaughan’s adopted hometown of Austin, Texas, where — according to Billboard, and as retold in the official In Session press release — King was playing a show at one of the city’s legendary blues clubs, Antone’s, and was hesitant about having a “skinny white kid” join him onstage. Vaughan’s older brother, Jimmie Vaughan, recalled the fateful event as follows: “When Stevie was 19, we were at Antone’s, and Albert King was playing. [Club owner Clifford Antone] says to Albert, ‘You’ve got to let this kid play, because he’s (amazing).’”

Continued Jimmie, “Now Albert had heard it all, but he got Stevie up there, and Stevie commenced doing Albert King licks. There was silence at first. Everyone stood there with their mouths open. They couldn’t believe it. But Albert loved it. He put his arm around him, and from then on, it was Albert and Stevie. Everybody went, ‘Whew, that was scary.’ I would never have tried that, but you’ve got to admire the audacity.”

In Session captures a (in the PR’s words now, for the rest of this graf) “striking musical dialogue between the two, with Vaughan introducing King’s classic licks and expanding them in his one-of-a-kind style. [. . .] The Ontario performance has since become one of the most celebrated live shows in blues history. This heralded and exceedingly rare collection is a defining statement that celebrates the prowess of these two blues giants. On In Session, Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan [. . .] redefined the art of improvisational blues.”

Heady blues-weather words indeed — but there is no doubt this performance is indeed an important meeting of the minds, hearts, souls, and fingers of two of the blues genre’s most important and creative fretboard ambassadors. Naturally, I bought both Stax LP versions of In Session — which gets a 9 from me for the Music content for many obvious (and perhaps some not-so-obvious) reasons and an 7.5 for Sound — as they were released. I also obtained the 180g 45rpm 2LP Analogue Productions limited-edition set in 2015 (later re-released in January 2022), the Music remaining a 9 and the latter AP pressing(s) of which get an upgraded Sound rating of 9.5, given the TV-studio-tracked source material but due to just how well those lacquers were cut and mastered by both Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman. (The 2LP AP edition is currently on back order at Acoustic Sounds and sports an SRP of $60. As of this posting, there are but a few copies of it available domestically on Discogs, starting at $75 for VG+, and $85 for M, albeit both sans shipping.)

As to the new Craft Recordings 3LP edition, the Music rating remains, of course, a 9, and the Sound is a solid 8.5. Spread across a trio of 180g LPs, the music comprising In Session breathes as it should, and getting the three new-to-vinyl tracks that now complete the performance integrity seal the deal. Here’s how they did it.

First, “Born Under a Bad Sign” (LP1, Side A, Track 2), Albert King’s signature song that he originally cut in Memphis in 1967, is an undeniable showcase for the unmistakable soloing tones of both artists — who trade off searing, “cutting heads” leads all throughout the track — not to mention their underrated comping/support skills. True, Thornton’s bass is perhaps a bit too upfront in the mix at the outset, but given how the performance was being dialed in to be recorded for TV and knowing/respecting the inherent sultry grit of the low end’s importance to the bed of this song, I’m essentially okay with it (though it does contribute to the loss of 0.5 in the Sound rating). King’s real-time adjustment suggestions after the song ends and SRV’s “hah-hah!” exclamation are priceless postscripts.

Next, “Texas Flood” (LP1, Side B, Track 1), the title track to SRV’s above-noted debut LP, is all we get on the flipside — and, whew, does it slow-roll things just right before the killer solo tradeoffs take over. The opening, and ongoing, verbal dialogue between King and SRV carry the duo (and the listener!) down their meet-blues memory lane, and they concurrently play off each other respectfully, reverently, and succinctly — but also note Stevie’s nods to Lonnie Mack’s guitar style halfway through the song before he commences his lead vocal ahead of the brilliant King/SRV axe-choppin’ and volume-swellin’ histrionics. I’ll also give extra kudos to Llorens’ organ fills throughout, which evince a slightly different character than the way Reese Wynans added his own keyboard flourishes to the live version of this song once he joined SRV’s band a few years later.

Finally, “I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town” (LP3, Side F, Track 1), a Casey Bill Weldon blues standard that King definitively cut live himself in San Francisco in 1968, eases into the groove with a simple query: “You wanna play some blues?” “Sure.” The opening section is mostly a lower-volume feel-out that, in King’s own words, “show[s] ’em what it’s all about.” King’s mastery of the form is in full effect here as the track progresses and gets louder and more forceful, with SRV mirroring his mentorship’s awareness level with his own instinctual-beyond-his-years contributions — a truly classy way to close out this In Session panorama of the blues if ever there was. “Yessir!”

If you don’t have Albert King With Stevie Ray Vaughan’s In Session on vinyl in any incarnation, you owe it to yourself to invest in and (pre)order this Craft Recordings 3LP version of it now, to hear the entirety of this mentor/mentee blues axis the way it’s truly meant to be heard.

ALBERT KING WITH STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN
IN SESSION
180g 3LP (Stax/Craft Recordings)

LP1, Side A
1. Introduction
2. Born Under A Bad Sign

LP1, Side B
1. Texas Flood

LP2, Side C
1. Call It Stormy Monday
2. Old Times
3. Pride And Joy
4. Ask Me No Questions

LP2, Side D
1. Pep Talk
2. Blues At Sunrise
3. Turn It Over
4. Overall Junction

LP3, Side E
1. Match Box Blues
2. Who Is Stevie?
3. Don’t Lie To Me

LP3, Side F
1. I’m Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town
2. Outro