Otis Rush

Otis Rush Jr.是美國藍調吉他手和創(chuàng)作歌手。他獨特的吉他風格具有緩慢燃燒的聲音和長彎曲的音符。隨著類似款式的其他藝術家的20世紀50年代魔術薩姆和Buddy Guy的素質，他的聲音成為被稱為西城芝加哥布魯斯，是許多音樂家，包括邁克爾·布盧姆菲爾德，彼得·格林和埃里克·克萊普頓的影響。 
生于： 1935 年 4 月 29 日，密西西比州費拉德爾菲亞
逝世于： 2018 年 9 月 29 日，伊利諾伊州芝加哥

by Bill Dahl
Breaking into the R&B Top Ten his very first time out in 1956 with the startlingly intense slow blues I Cant Quit You Baby, southpaw guitarist Otis Rush subsequently established himself as one of the premier bluesmen on the Chicago circuit. He remains so today.
Rush is often credited with being one of the architects of the West side guitar style, along with Magic Sam and Buddy Guy. Its a nebulous honor, since Otis Rush played clubs on Chicagos South side just as frequently during the sounds late-50s incubation period. Nevertheless, his esteemed status as a prime Chicago innovator is eternally assured by the ringing, vibrato-enhanced guitar work that remains his stock-in-trade and a tortured, super-intense vocal delivery that can force the hairs on the back of your neck upwards in silent salute.
If talent alone were the formula for widespread success, Rush would currently be Chicagos leading blues artist. But fate, luck, and the guitarists own idiosyncrasies have conspired to hold him back on several occasions when opportunity was virtually begging to be accepted.
Rush came to Chicago in 1948, met Muddy Waters, and knew instantly what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. The omnipresent Willie Dixon caught Rushs act and signed him to Eli Toscanos Cobra Records in 1956. The frighteningly intense I Cant Quit You Baby was the maiden effort for both artist and label, streaking to number six on Billboards R&B chart.
His 1956-58 Cobra legacy is a magnificent one, distinguished by the Dixon-produced minor-key masterpieces Double Trouble and My Love Will Never Die, the nails-tough Three Times a Fool and Keep on Loving Me Baby, and the rhumba-rocking classic All Your Love (I Miss Loving). Rush apparently dashed off the latter tune in the car en route to Cobras West Roosevelt Road studios, where he would cut it with the nucleus of Ike Turners combo.
After Cobra closed up shop, Rushs recording fortunes mostly floundered. He followed Dixon over to Chess in 1960, cutting another classic (the stunning So Many Roads, So Many Trains) before moving on to Duke (one solitary single, 1962s Homework), Vanguard, and Cotillion (there he cut the underrated Mike Bloomfield-Nick Gravenites-produced 1969 album Mourning in the Morning, with yeoman help from the house rhythm section in Muscle Shoals).
Typical of Rushs horrendous luck was the unnerving saga of his Right Place, Wrong Time album. Laid down in 1971 for Capitol Records, the giant label inexplicably took a pass on the project despite its obvious excellence. It took another five years for the set to emerge on the tiny Bullfrog label, blunting Rushs momentum once again (the album is now available on HighTone).
An uneven but worthwhile 1975 set for Delmark, Cold Day in Hell, and a host of solid live albums that mostly sound very similar kept Rushs gilt-edged name in the marketplace to some extent during the 1970s and 80s, a troubling period for the legendary southpaw.
In 1986, he walked out on an expensive session for Rooster Blues (Louis Myers, Lucky Peterson, and Casey Jones were among the assembled sidemen), complaining that his amplifier didnt sound right and thereby scuttling the entire project. Alligator picked up the rights to an album he had done overseas for Sonet originally called Troubles, Troubles. It turned out to be a prophetic title: much to Rushs chagrin, the firm overdubbed keyboardist Lucky Peterson and chopped out some masterful guitar work when it reissued the set as Lost in the Blues in 1991.
Finally, in 1994, the career of this Chicago blues legend began traveling in the right direction. Aint Enough Comin In, his first studio album in 16 years, was released on Mercury and ended up topping many blues critics year-end lists. Produced spotlessly by John Porter with a skin-tight band, Rush roared a set of nothing but covers — but did them all his way, his blistering guitar consistently to the fore.
Once again, a series of personal problems threatened to end Rushs long-overdue return to national prominence before it got off the ground. But hes been in top-notch form in recent years, fronting a tight band thats entirely sympathetic to the guitarists sizzling approach. Rush signed with the House of Blues fledgling record label, instantly granting that company a large dose of credibility and setting himself up for another career push. It still may not be too late for Otis Rush to assume his rightful throne as Chicagos blues king.