‘Muddy Waters at Newport 1960’: the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll origins record
Listening to music is interesting, as despite it being such a world-renowned art form and an inspiration to people everywhere, it’s also something that many people commit to the background of their lives. A lot of listeners don’t put on music in the interest of wholly listening to it, and instead, it becomes a backing track as they cook, clean, exercise or work. That’s fine, each to their own, but some albums deserve a listener’s undivided attention, and the live album Muddy Waters at Newport 1960 is one of them.
Live albums don’t just have to be poor-quality recordings of gigs, but they can be a window into different moments of musical history. You get this with the Muddy Waters live recording at Newport Jazz Festival. This gig didn’t just mark a big show for the R&B guitarist; it was the prologue to an evolution in music he was partly responsible for.
Rhode Islands Newport Jazz Festival began in 1954, and a variety of excellent musical minds performed there, including Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, and Gene Krupa. The festival became so popular that it had to move venues to accommodate the increasing crowd sizes, which is a good job, given how much of a name Muddy Waters was making for himself at the time of performing.
This resonates throughout the record beautifully. The guitar playing shimmers through in a way that can only ever be described as inspirational, which is precisely the impact Muddy Waters had when he brought his show to the UK two years earlier. When he performed overseas, he didn’t just entertain audiences but lit the spark for what would be a rock revolution worldwide. As you listen to him perform in Newport, it’s worth considering what is happening in the UK due to his music.
Some of the people who had been at those UK Muddy Waters shows in 1958 were Alexis Korner and Cyril Davis. They would make history by forming the UK’s first-ever blues band, which included recognisable names such as Jack Bruce, Charlie Watts and the legendary frontman Mick Jagger. The band didn’t last long, but the members made their own careers once it disbanded.
Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts would progress to start The Rolling Stones. Meanwhile, Jack Bruce played a vital role in the rock band Cream. Both of these musical outfits would go on to shape a huge part of the UK rock scene, which would eventually take America by storm and cause a cultural shift in music as a whole.
The Muddy Waters live album doesn’t just give you a taste of good music; it gives you a taste of what inspired a musical revolution while said revolution was on the brink of happening. It’s transportive in that sense as you are no longer in whatever room you listen in and instead teeter on the verge of rock. When that crowd applaud, they do so unexpectedly, unaware of what is coming as a result of the impact of Waters.
The Live at Newport album is a representation of the beauty of live albums, dedicating the time to music that it deserves. You are subject not just to sound, not just to rhythm and melody, but to history itself.
