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.
“There's a lot of guitar players out here that just play fast, they don't concentrate on soul,” comments King at the start of the clip. “But you got them both." For his part SRV is clearly humbled by the compliment. His response? “I've been trying...”
“What was that fast thing you were doing?” asks King. “Boy, that had a heck of a groove to it. Pride And Joy? Gimme some of that!”
What follows is the high point of a jam that would take in Pride And Joy, Call It Stormy Monday and Born Under A Bad Sign – the latter a popular King tune (written by Booker T. Jones and William Bell) that was famously covered by Cream.
The full session was released on DVD back in 2010 and has since surfaced on YouTube, meaning you can now enjoy the full set above.
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.
