George “Mojo” Buford – Mojo Buford’s Chicago Blues Summit

Okay, let’s start with this – before I saw this record in my favorite record store, Forever Changes here in Phoenixville, PA, I don’t believe I’d ever heard of Mojo Buford. That didn’t really matter – look at that cover! This screams “indie gem,” or “indie disaster.” Either way, of course I’m going to buy it.

Even a tiny bit of research revealed that Mojo played in Muddy Waters’s band over several periods, and got his nickname from his own cover of “Got My Mojo Workin’.” And while I was familiar with Little Walter, whom Mojo replaced in 1959, and James Cotton, whom he replaced in 1967, Mojo’s name was unfamiliar to me.

That set me to wondering about the many, many, many musicians who played in various iterations of Muddy’s band over the years. Having just written about John Mayall and all the contributions he made over the years, how many important musicians passed through his band, I thought I’d take a similar look at Muddy. But then I hit a problem.

For Mayall, contributors have made a really nice list and timeline of members of John Mayall’s bands, from 1963 to 2024 when Mayall died. Muddy had bands from 1944 until his death in 1983 – not Mayall’s 61-year run, but a still impressive 39 years, and Muddy’s band members are a who’s who of Chicago blues – Hubert Sumlin, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Luther Johnson, Jimmy Rogers, Otis Spann, and so many more. But when I go to Wikipedia, there is no really nice list and timeline of members of Muddy’s bands. Online, I can’t find one anywhere. I found one list, maybe partial, of guitarists who had played with him.

There may well be a good book with the information – but these days, if this kind of information isn’t available online, it isn’t likely to get used. And it’s incredible to me – and yet not incredible – that people have put in this kind of effort for Mayall, who definitely deserves the recognition, but not for Muddy Waters, who deserves it even more.

While lamenting that lack, I found that Sandra B. Tooze’s 1997 biography, “Muddy Waters: The Mojo Man,” includes a very thorough discography that credits all the sidemen (and they were all men, with the exception of some female vocalists) on Muddy’s recordings, and recordings of others he played on. But of course, recordings are only part of the story, as Muddy kept a vital live band (bands, really). So, for example, while George Buford had been playing on Muddy’s behalf in the “Muddy Waters Junior Band” as early as (perhaps) 1957, and was sometimes credited as Muddy Waters Junior, and got nicknamed “Mojo,” Buford doesn’t appear on the Muddy Waters discography until a set of sides in 1967, followed by a five-year gap.

My point is: here’s a guy who was clearly influenced by Muddy Waters, was good enough to play with (and for) Muddy Waters, who played with his own bands and others while dancing in and out of Muddy’s bands, and yet: I hadn’t really heard of him. by comparison, I’m aware of nearly all the principals and a lot of the lesser players for Mayall over the years, just by osmosis and the endless writing about the British blues scene. Have I just absorbed less about the Chicago scene, despite it being my favorite source of the blues? Or is it perhaps something else?

Anyway: this is only George Buford’s second album – his first was in 1963, and this came out in 1979, so that’s a sizeable gap. Like a lot of blues players of his era, he had a bit of a release renaissance in the ’90s, putting out six albums between 1989 and 2005.

As blues summits go, this one is great. It’s just what I expected it would be: hard working blues musicians having a good time and delivering some solid performances. It’s long been established that I’m down for just about any performance of St. James Infirmary – well, this one is truly just a little bit different from all the others, less plodding and dramatic.

The other players? Sammy Lawhorn: Muddy’s band. Pee Wee Madison: Muddy’s band. Sonny Rodgers (apparently misspelled on the album cover): Buford’s band. And then Muddy’s band. Little Smokey Smothers snuck in by way of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. But he may have played briefly with Muddy as well (there was a Big Smokey Smothers, so there can be some confusion). And, only credited on the back cover, the incredible Sam Lay and bassist Earnest Johnson.

Just a great record. If you see something weird, grab it, it could be awesome.

Apparently I’m filing this under “Mojo.”