I’ve tried to distinguish between blues and blues rock.
Wikipedia defines blues as:
“Blues is a genre and musical form that originated in African-American communities in the ‘Deep South’ of the United States around the end of the 19th century. The genre is a fusion of traditional African music and European folk music spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads.
The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll, is characterized by the call-and-response pattern and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common.”
In contrast, blues rock as it developed in the 1960s and 1970s emphasises instrumental improvisations and a stronger beat but inevitably there is a crossover between the two genres.
To help understand the development, I’ve a post on the history of the blues through the birth, deaths and careers of the major blues artists.
Lonnie Brooks Live at Pepper’s 1968
Albert Collins Live At The Fillmore West 1969
Albert Collins Alive & Cool 1969
Albert Collins Deep Freeze 1969 1973
Reverend Gary Davis Live at Newport 1965
John Lee Hooker Live At Newport 1960 & 1963
John Lee Hooker Concert At Newport 1964
John Lee Hooker Live At The Café Au Go-Go 1966 & 1972
Lightnin’ Hopkins Blues Hoot 1961
Lightnin’ Hopkins The Swarthmore Concert 1964
Howlin’ Wolf Live in Europe 1964
Howlin’ Wolf Rockin’ The Blues Live In Germany 1964
Howlin’ Wolf Smokestack Lightning Live in Germany 1964
Howlin’ Wolf Killing Floor Live 1964 1973
Howlin’ Wolf Live in Cambridge Ma 1966
Albert King Live Wire Blues Power 1968
Albert King Wednesday Night In San Francisco 1968
Albert King Thursday Night In San Francisco 1968
Albert King Live 69
BB King Live at the Regal 1964
BB King Blues Is King 1966
BB King Live & Well 1969
Freddie King Live and Loud 1968
JB Lenoir Sunnyland Slim & Friends Live in 63
Mance Lipscomb Clifton Chenier Lightning Hopkins Live At The 1966 Berkeley Blues Festival
Magic Sam Live in Ann Arbor & Chicago 1963 – 1969
John Mayall Plays John Mayall Live At Klooks Kleek 1964
John Mayall Live At The BBC 1965 to 1967
John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers Live In ’67
John Mayall The Diary of a Band 1967
John Mayall The Turning Point 1969
John Mayall Live At The Marquee 1969
John Mayall Live 1969
Muddy Waters At Newport 1960
Muddy Waters Authorized Bootleg Live at the Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco Nov 04-06 1966
Muddy Waters Fathers And Sons 1969
Robert Nighthawk Live On Maxwell Street 1964
Robert Nighthawk And This Is Maxwell Street 1964
Son House Live At The Gaslight Cafe Jan 3rd 1965
Son House Oberlin College Concert 1965
Otis Spann Live The Life 1964 to 1969
Junior Wells It’s My Life Baby 1966
Sonny Boy Williamson & The Yardbirds Live In London 1963
You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk
What Are The All Time Best Live Blues Albums?
I don’t have a readers poll to find the vest blues live albums of the decade but I do have an all-time poll which will help to guide you.
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Blues Live Albums By Decade – 1960s – 1970s – 1980s – 1990s – 2000s – 2010s
Blues Rock By Decade – 1960s – 1970s – 1980s – 1990s – 2000s – 2010s
Team Rock The 20 Greatest British Blues Albums: 1960 – 1966
http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-07-12/the-20-greatest-british-blues-albums-1960-1966
Live At Newport is a live album by John Lee Hooker which collects together his performances at the Newport Folk Festival from 1960 and 1963.
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And This Is Maxwell Street is a live album of blues performers playing in Maxwell Street in Chicago in 1964. It was filed by Mike Shea and released as And This Is Free.
While Robert Nighthawk is the most famous and heavily featured blues artist on the album, it all includes Johnny Young, Big John Wrencher, Carey Bell, Arvella Gray, Fannie Brewer and a brief appearance by Mike Bloomfield.
Highlights from the album are on the classic album Robert Nighthawk Live On Maxwell Street.
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Live On Maxwell Street is a live album by Robert Nighthawk.
It was recorded in the street in Chicago on September 24th, 1964.
Cheating And Lying Blues – 5:00
Juke Medley – 1:37
The Time Have Come – 5:13
Honey Hush – 3:37
I Need Love So Bad – 5:25
Take It Easy Baby – 4:09
Annie Lee/Sweet Black Angel – 6:57
Big World Blues – 3:08
Maxwell Street Jam – 2:21
I Got News For You – 4:23
All I Want For Breakfast/Them Kind Of People – 4:10
Mama Talk To Your Daughter – 6:06
The Real McCoy – 3:21
Interview – 13:32
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It is available from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk
These links will help you get to the albums quickly and easily but I recommend that you still search for the best deal.
Is this a great live album?
Please vote in the poll to find the best live blues albums.
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You can see the complete list of readers polls at Live Album Polls
John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers Live In ’67 is an archive released live album that was only released in 2015.
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The Turning Point is a live album by John Mayall.
It was recorded at the Fillmore East in New York on July 12, 1969.
What would you do if you nurtured the superb guitar talents of Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor and they left you for Cream, Fleetwood Mac and The Rolling Stones?
Well John Mayall broke up the Bluesbreakers and, instead of a dominant electric guitar based sound with drums, he turned to acoustic guitars, flutes and saxophones. He started on a journey towards jazz/blues fusion and created an extraordinary live album.
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Live In London is a live album by Sonny Boy Williamson with The Yardbirds acting as his backing group.
It was recorded at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, Surrey on December 8, 1963. (Richmond became a borough of London in 1965 so the album title is right now but wrong when it was recorded.)
Continue reading Sonny Boy Williamson & The Yardbirds Live In London 1963
Live & Well is a part live and part studio recorded album by BB King.
It was released in 1969.
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Live At The Cafe Au Go-Go (And Soledad Prison) is a live compilation album by John Lee Hooker.
The first eight songs are recorded at the Cafe Au Go-Go in Greenwich Village, New York in 1966. The last five songs are from a concert at Soledad Prison in California in 1972.
With some effort you can buy these two recordings separately and you’ll get two extra songs from the Soledad concert with John Lee Hooker Jr. singing.
Muddy Waters At Newport 1960 is a live album by blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters.
It was recorded at Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island on July 3, 1960 and was released in November 1960.
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Thursday Night in San Francisco is a live album by Albert King. These are the leftover tracks from the concerts that first produce Live Wire / Blues Power.
There is also Wednesday Night In San Francisco which also comes from the same concerts.
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Continue reading Albert King Thursday Night In San Francisco 1968