@EasyAce I was once told that if I wanted an introduction to the blues, the place to start was with Robert Johnson.
@Machiavelli It's a great place to start for vintage real Delta blues.
For Chicago-style blues, the place to begin is Muddy Waters, I think. For Memphis-style electric blues, you might begin with B.B. King. For Texas blues,
you can start acoustically with Lightnin' Hopkins and electrically with T-Bone Walker, though Walker became more associated to what was considered
the West Coast style. That's if you're into hard categories. Those men are just great places to begin a blues education, as are Howlin' Wolf, Charlie
Patton, Sonny Boy Williamson, Son House, Bukka White, Albert King, Elmore James, Freddie King (especially his King/Federal recordings), Otis
Rush, Mississippi John Hurt, Buddy Guy, Little Walter, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, and the original Butterfield Blues Band, and even those are
just for openers.
For the jazzmen who never forgot the blues, I'd recommend Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Milt Jackson, John Coltrane (his
earlier recordings as a leader especially, things like
Blue Train,
Coltrane Plays the Blues,
Bags & Trane [with Milt Jackson], and
Traneing In), Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Smith, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, Lou Donaldson, Baby Face Willette,
Tiny Grimes, Jimmy Giuffre, and Brother Jack McDuff.
