Turn on Your Love Light: The Duke Recordings, Vol. 2

Recorded between 1960 & 1964. Includes liner notes by Bob Merlis.
Personnel: Bobby "Blue" Bland (vocals); Wayne Bennett (guitar); Jimmy Beck, Johnny Board (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Clifford Scott (alto saxophone); L.A. Hill, Bobby Forte (tenor saxophone); Rayfield Davers (baritone saxophone); Pluma Davis (trombone); Skippy Brooks, Teddy Reynolds (piano); John Starks (drums).
Audio Remasterer: Erick Labson.
Liner Note Author: Bob Merlis.
Recording information: Chicago, IL (1960-1964); Hollywood, CA (1960-1964); L.A., CA (1960-1964); Nashville, TN (1960-1964); New Orleans, LA (1960-1964).
Photographer: Geary Chansley.
Arranger: Joe Scott .
TURN ON YOUR LOVE LIGHT, recorded between 1960 and 1964, when Bland was at the height of his powers, finds the great bluesman occasionally experimenting with other styles. Here, for example, he does credible versions of two pop standards, Rodgers and Harts "Blue Moon" and Arlen and Mercer's "Blues in the Night." On the Billy Eckstine/Earl Hines classic "Jelly Jelly Jelly," which features backing that could be the Count Basie band, the singer is as urbane and cosmopolitan-sounding as Joe Williams.
Don't worry, though. There's plenty of real lowdown stuff here. Check out the barn-burning "Stormy Monday Blues," featuring what amounts to a veritable how-to manual of slow-blues guitar licks from unsung hero Wayne Bennett. And the title song, a rousing call-and-response number, became one of Bland's signature tunes and later gave the Grateful Dead artistic license to jam for hours on end.