Vizztone Label Group has unveiled Early Blues Sessions, a remarkable compilation of recordings from Bob Corritore’s decades-long work capturing the real-deal blues. Spanning 1984 to 2007, the album brings together definitive recordings – remixed and unreleased – featuring artists whose work etched the very sound of the blues.
Many of the performers on these sessions are no longer with us. Yet through Corritore’s foresight—booking them at his Phoenix nightclub, the Rhythm Room, and bringing them into the studio— their music has been preserved for new generations of blues fans.
When he opened the Rhythm Room in 1991, he recognized a steady stream of extraordinary artists passing through. He made sure their time in the Rhythm Room extended beyond the stage and into the studio. With Corritore’s harmonica and meticulous production woven throughout, Early Blues Sessions offers a rich chronicle of old-school blues brilliance.
ICYMI: Little Milton Collaboration
Ahead of the album, Corritore shared the previously unreleased 2002 studio track “I Want To Be The One” with Little Milton. Featuring Corritore on harmonica and a stellar studio band including Henry Gray and Chico Chism, the track finds Milton at the height of his artistry.
Corritore recalled, “Milton wrote this beautiful song specifically for our session. It feels like this song is the perfect link between his Mississippi roots and his later blues/soul style. If this came out as a 45 in the mid 1970s, I can imagine that it would be on all of the jukeboxes at all the Chicago blues bars.”
