Photo: Jeff Lowenthal
Peter Green during the legendary Fleetwood Mac Chess Blues session in Chicago, 1969It happened more than fifty years ago, a memorable recording session at the the Chess Records Studio that brought together an English blues band and some of the best Chicago blues musicians. The music captured during the nine hour session was released as two volumes entitled Blues Jam In Chicago, on Blue Horizon Records in December, 1969.The classic line-up for Fleetwood Mac included the phenomenal Peter Green on guitar and vocals. He was a true master of the blues, playing with enormous amounts of taste and emotion. The band also featured two other guitarists, the slide guitar whiz Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan, who managed to get one of the finest vibrato tones from his guitar without any electronic enhancements. The rhythm section was comprised of Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass, who would later achieve even greater fame with another version of the band.Jeff Lowenthal was the proverbial “fly on the wall” that day, the lone photographer invited to be part of the session. Some of his photos were included on the original LP albums, as well as subsequent re-releases in a variety of formats.When Mick Fleetwood authored his book Play On, he recalled the reaction when the band got to Chicago.“None of them had ever seen or heard of us before and when they got a look at us I could tell that they thought we were another loud, over-distorted, acid rock blues band from Europe, the type who turned it up to mask their fairly basic skills, But we showed them otherwise.”In a footnote to history, one will note that Buddy Guy is not credited on the album. Due to a contract issue, he appears as “Guitar Buddy.” Music fans will delight in his recollection to Schaffner of meeting Green at a Chicago concert many years later. “I went to see him and asked if he’d remembered me at those sessions and he said no,” prompting Guy to have a hearty laugh.
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