On December 6, 1983, up-and-coming guitar god Stevie Ray Vaughan got together with blues legend Albert King at CHCH-TV studios in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The result was one hell of a jam...
On December 6, 1983, up-and-coming guitar god Stevie Ray Vaughan got together with blues legend Albert King at CHCH-TV studios in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The result was one hell of a jam session—that almost didn't even happen.
On December 6, 1983, up-and-coming guitar god Stevie Ray Vaughan got together with blues legend Albert King at CHCH-TV studios in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
The result was one hell of a jam session—that almost didn't even happen.
Initially, King wasn't going to do the show because he apparently didn't know who Vaughan was. As in, he didn't realize Vaughan was actually "Little Stevie," that skinny kid who used to sit in with King when he performed in Texas.
Of course, once he realized who Vaughan was, it was smiles all around.
The session, the first of two collaborations captured for TV, was recorded for one of a series of live TV sessions recording the performances of various artists. The show was called In Session, and the jam session was released on an album (also called In Session) in 1999.
Below, you can experience a small sampling of the album and DVD (which was finally released in 2010). There's "Pride and Joy," "Texas Flood," "Call It Stormy Monday" and "Born Under a Bad Sign," a popular King tune (written by Booker T. Jones and William Bell) that was famously covered by Cream in the Sixties. You can find the rest of this session on YouTube if you're interested.
You'll notice that King—the wise old pro—is clearly driving the proceedings, but he goes out of his way to feature the younger Vaughan wherever possible, which was nice of him—and awesome for us. Enjoy!