The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions is an album by blues musician Howlin' Wolf, released in the summer of 1971 on Chess Records, catalogue CH 60008 (Rolling Stones Records in Britain). It was one of the first of the super session blues albums, setting a blues master among famous musicians from the second generation of rock and roll, in this case Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman. It peaked at #79 on the Billboard 200.
Backstage at the Fillmore Auditorium, after a concert by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Electric Flag, and Cream, Chess Records staff producer Norman Dayron spotted the guitar players of the latter two bands, Michael Bloomfield and Eric Clapton, talking and joking around. Dayron approached Clapton and, on impulse, asked "how would you like to do an album with Howlin' Wolf?" After confirming that the offer was legitimate, Clapton agreed, and Dayron set up sessions in London through the Chess organization to coordinate with Clapton's schedule.
Clapton secured the participation of the Rolling Stones rhythm section, pianist Ian Stewart, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts, while Dayron assembled further musicians, including 19-year-old harmonica prodigy Jeffrey Carp, who died shortly after these recordings. Initially, Marshall Chess did not want to pay the expense for flights and accommodations to send Wolf's long-serving guitarist Hubert Sumlin to England, but an ultimatum by Clapton mandated his presence. Sessions took place between May 2 and May 7, 1970, at Olympic Studios.
For the first day of May 2, Watts and Wyman were unavailable, and a call went out for immediate replacements. Many showed up, but only recordings featuring Klaus Voormann and Ringo Starr were released from that day. In the initial album credits, Starr is listed as "Ritchie," as Dayron was under the impression that, being a Beatle, his name could not be used directly.
Further overdubbing took place at the Chess studios in Chicago, with Chess regulars Lafayette Leake on piano and Phil Upchurch on bass, and horn players Jordan Sandke, Dennis Lansing, and Joe Miller of the 43rd Street Snipers, Carp's band. Ex-Blind Faith keyboardist Steve Winwood, on tour in the United States, contributed to the overdubbing sessions as well. Although he actually plays on only five tracks for the original album, his name is featured on the cover below the Wolf's, along with Clapton, Wyman, and Watts.
On March 4, 2003, the current owner of the Chess catalogue Universal Music Group released a two-disc Deluxe Edition of the London Sessions. Included as bonus tracks on the first disc were three performances initially released on Chess CH 60026 in February 1974, London Revisited. The second disc featured outtakes and different mixes.
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