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By the time that December 1983 rolled around, guitarist Albert King was already a bona fide blues music legend with better than three decades of experience under his belt. Fresh from his studio work with David Bowie, fellow Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan had just released his acclaimed debut album Texas Flood. When the two came together in the studios of an independent Canadian television station that month, the result was musical magic.

In Session is a live document of the musical collaboration between the veteran bluesman and the young guitarslinger, taken from that 1983 TV broadcast. Digitally remastered, with new liner notes from Stax Records’ Bill Belmont, and music journalists Lee Hildebrand and Dan Forte, In Session was originally released on CD in 1999 and would subsequently hit #1 on the Billboard magazine blues chart, selling better than 300,000 copies before being lost in the shuffle of record label legalese.

Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan In Session

The guitarists kick off the fun with the T-Bone Walker standard "Call It Stormy Monday," a true blues treasure if there ever was one. King's elegant guitar tone dominates the beginning of the song, but about a third of the way in the two talents begin swapping notes in what can only be called a beautiful interplay of old and new, master and student. It's a wonderful thing, really, and an encouraging way to start In Session.

After a little humorous studio chatter about their first meeting, King and Vaughan jump into a red-hot version of the latter's signature tune, "Pride And Joy." It's the only song that Vaughan sings during the session, delivering the lyrics with his typical soulful twang.

It is the guitars that speak the loudest here, though, and Stevie Ray's slash-n-burn shuffle is met by a thunderstorm of notes from King's Flying-V guitar. Pianist Tony Llorens throws in a few tasty notes here and there, but this is definitely a six-string showcase and both men shine.

Blues At Sunrise

King's "Blues At Sunrise" has become a standard in its own right, and although not usually identified as one of the guitarist's better-known songs, it is certainly one of his best. Starting off with a slow groove, fueled in part by Llorens' chiming keyboards and Michael Llorens' shuffling drumbeats, King lays down a few trembling notes below his spoken-word intro to the song. As the fever builds, King let Vaughan know that he has "to play the Jimi Hendrix licks," a task for which Vaughan obliges with a lightning-bolt solo. King uses the song to reminisce about Jimi and Janis Joplin and the Fillmore during between-verse breaks, each memory punctuated by a flurry of notes from one guitar or another.

King and Vaughan deliver a head-shakin', earth-quaking cover of Tampa Red's Chicago blues gem "Don't Lie To Me," an up-tempo rave-up that is re-purposed here as an extended blues jam. With King's soulful vocals, ice-cold keyboard fills, blustery drumbeats, and short shocks of flamethrower guitar, "Don't Lie To Me" is the sort of show-closing barn-burner that gets the crowd on its feet whoopin' and hollerin' for an encore. It serves the same purpose here, leaving the listener hungry for more of the clashing, crashing guitarwork cranked out by these two masters of the craft.

The Reverend's Bottom Line

With In Session, these two incendiary guitarists would deliver an explosive, exciting performance, the younger artist often deferring to the elder statesman of the blues, but both displaying the kind of raging fretwork that was already King's calling card, and would later become Vaughan's trademark sound. Although King often chides the younger guitarist throughout the session, stating that "this should be easy for you," it seems to be done more out of affection than competition.

After their performance together, King would continue to tour and record until his death in 1992; tragically, Vaughan died in a helicopter crash in 1990. In Session is the only know recording of the two blues giants playing together, and it's well worth a place on your shelf if you enjoy the work of either of these great blues guitarists. (Stax Records, released June 30, 2009)