Otis Rush (born April 29, 1934 in Philadelphia, Mississippi) is a blues musician and guitarist. After moving to Chicago in the early 1950s, Rush made a name for himself playing in clubs on both the South Side and West side blues scenes. From 1956 to 1959, he recorded for the Cobra label and had hits with "All Your Love I Miss Lovin'" and Willie Dixon's "I Can't Quit You Baby" in 1957.
He recorded several singles on the Chess Records label in the early 1960s and began playing in other cities in the US and Europe. His distinctive guitar style features a slow burn sound and long bent notes achieved by pushing the strings across the neck to increase their tension and raise the pitch. With similar, yet unique qualities, to Luther Allison, Magic Sam, Buddy Guy and Albert King, his sound became known as West Side Chicago blues and became an influence on Michael Bloomfield, Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
In 1968, the album Mourning in the Morning was released on Atlantic Records and attracted attention. Signed to Mercury Records in 1976, he remained with the label for twenty years. Rush continued to produce quality recordings and perform live throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1999 Otis Rush earned a Grammy Award for best traditional blues album for his 1998 release, Any Place I'm Goin'.
The anticipation was running high for the appearance of the west side blues legend Otis Rush. Rush recorded some classic blues in the late 50's on Cobra Records that cemented his position in the pantheon of Chicago blues legends. He performed some of those classic songs this night at the HOB's including the haunting All Your Love. Born in 1934 in Mississippi, Rush moved to Chicago in 1948 where he was inspired by the electric Delta blues of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. He was self taught on the guitar, playing left handed with the guitar upside down without switching the strings. This gives him a very unique style and sound. The sound he gets from his guitar is just amazing, with the string bends, intense vibrato, and emotion laden leads, he plays with a passion. He was then influenced by the playing of B.B. King and Albert King. After hearing him play, Willie Dixon helped Rush get the recording contract with Cobra where they recorded the now classic I Can't Quit You Baby.
After the early Cobra recording successes, with songs like Double Trouble and Groaning The Blues, Rush's reputation as one of the great blues guitar players was firmly established. Unfortunately, a series of bad experiences soured Rush on the recording industry. His mistrust of record companies led him to limit his recording output and give up playing all together for a period of time. In 1994 he released his first studio recording in over 14 years with the acclaimed Ain't Enough Comin' In. There are a number of live recordings from shows during the past 25 years that are of mixed quality. What a loss to the blues world for this lack of recorded output over the past 35 years. Even more reason to applaud his recent recordings and to revel in his all to infrequent live shows.
The Otis Rush band is made up of some superb musicians. After the band opened with two numbers including Little School Girl, Otis walked on stage wearing his white cowboy hat and carrying his left handed guitar -- this one custom made for him. Just his presence on stage and his distinct guitar playing is awe inspiring. While some performers have to resort to showmanship tricks, all Otis Rush has to do to entertain is just stand there and play his guitar.
He played a torrid Cross Cut Saw that set the tone for an exceptional evening of blues. Next was the hauntingly beautiful All Your Love and the rest of the night was almost one long instrumental session with some moaning vocals interspersed. After a turbulent Stormy Monday closing Rush was called back on stage with a rousing ovation where he encored with Tore Up. This was definitely a night to remember!
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