Latest CD release reviewed

BIG BILL BROONZY
Amsterdam Live Concerts 1953 Munich ***

Big Bill Broonzy was a key figure in the 1930s Chicago blues ferment, having moved there from Mississippi. He was among the first to adopt the electric guitar; later, seduced by the folk-blues movement of Leadbelly et al, he took up the acoustic guitar and travelled to Europe to help spread the word. In 1953, a young movie producer named Louis Van Gasteren recorded a number of Broonzy concerts, and now, 53 years later, they are finally available for all to hear as part of this impressive two-CD package, with extensive liner notes and photographs. At this stage Broonzy had only five years to go before dying of cancer, but in his skilled storytelling and playing he sounds relaxed. Strangely, there are few enough of his own songs, but he does include Black Brown and White and Mindin' My Own Business, along with a couple of dazzling instrumentals. www.munichrecords.com  Joe Breen