Even among the most successful blues artists, versatility has never been especially common. Some in the 50s, like harmonica player Little Walter and the still-active guitarist Louis Myers, honed a style that allowed them to play a classic Delta-influenced Chicago blues and swinging, jazzy styles with equal facility. In a similar fashion certain contemporary artists, such as Cicero Blake, Clarence Carter, and Otis Clay, have successfully fused a slick, uptown blues style with soulful funk.
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We notice, then, when a young bluesman demonstrates a wide range of performing styles. Guitarist Johnny B. Moore spent his early days scuffling around the west side of Chicago and had a brief mid-70s tenure with Koko Taylor, and now, as an increasingly influential bandleader, he has put together a most remarkable repertoire. His knowledge of traditional blues and contemporary pop alike seems boundless; in both his conversation and his music, he consistently demonstrates his knowledge of the blues tradition, from folk artists like Sleepy John Estes to contemporary soul musicians like Otis Clay and Tyrone Davis. He brings an equal personal involvement and enthusiasm to everything he plays, and apparently he never stops learning. Longtime followers of Moore, who’ve seen him perform hundreds of times all over Chicago during the past several years, are astounded that nearly every performance includes a song they’ve never heard him do before.
In the predominantly white clubs of the north side, Moore concentrates on the kind of up-tempo, boogie blues most accessible to the audience, but he also digs deep into his roots. Country blues, old novelty numbers, soul and R & B standards of the 60s, and even the occasional country-western song combine with the usual B.B. King and Muddy Waters tunes to make his performances some of the most unpredictable and musically diverse to be found anywhere on the scene.
Lee is exemplary on more standard blues as well. She gives a war-horse like “Wonder Why” fresh exuberance, as the horn section riffs soulfully behind her and Moore overlays everything with a delicate, crystalline slide pattern, laying down a rhythm behind his own solo, gradually building up the energy from a moody whisper to a piercing wail. His playing on a song like this evokes the Delta tradition even as it burns and screams its testimony to the postrock necessities of 80s blues.
Even Moore’s stubborn insistence on using material that’s not really suited to his voice, such as Otis Clay’s “Messing With My Mind,” indicates a determination to expand into new areas and not to be typecast as “just” a bluesman or “just” a guitar player. Moore will never become an accompanist, as others with limited vocal ability, such as Matt Murphy, have. With a little more vocal development, a bit of fine-tuning in the rhythm section, and a few lucky breaks, there are no limits to what Johnny B. Moore can accomplish.
