Alexis Korner: Kornerstoned: The Alexis Korner Anthology 1954-1983

Korner, known as the Godfather of British Blues during his lifetime (1928-84), was a prodigious spotter of young talent, and many of the best known British R&B and jazz players of the '60s and '70s passed through his bands early in their careers.

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones all passed through the ranks, as did Brian Jones and his eventual replacement in the Stones, Ronnie Wood. So did Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton of Cream, Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, and several saxophonists—Korner loved saxophones, especially roaring, dirty, rutting tenors—including Tony Coe, Alan Skidmore, Dick Morrisey, Mel Collins, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Graham Bond, John Surman and Art Themen. Other players of note include trumpeters Kenny Wheeler and Henry Lowther, bassist Danny Thompson, and drummer Phil Seamen.

Many of these guys are featured on Kornerstoned, which is broken into two discs—The Early Years (1954-1969) and The Godfather Of British Blues (1970-1983)—together containing 44 chronologically programmed tracks, from Korner's first recording session (as a member of Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group) to his last (a live set recorded for the BBC just a few weeks before his death).

A charismatic bandleader and a strong if ultimately derivative guitarist, Korner's real talent was A&R—assembling a lineup, choosing the material, arranging it, booking a studio, getting a vibe going... and counting everyone in. Most of his source material started life on the US race records' lists, from which collective whammy his originals were also born, but Korner was never into mere re-enactments of little-known (in Britain) black American releases. He had the imagination and skills—and collaborators—to make everything he touched fresh and his own. His brave but successful re-arrangement of James Brown's iconic "Please, Please, Please" is one of many idiosyncratic covers here.

Most of the tunes on this mixture of instrumentals and vocals are upbeat blues—boogie, jump, Chicago and Delta—with hefty admixtures of bop, R&B and hard bop. (Korner had roots in the folk movement too, and the album includes a wonderful early duet with the folkie guitar hero and Neal Cassady figure Davy Graham, "3/4 A.D.," from 1961.)

Kornerstoned contains only a small proportion of Korner's prolific recorded output. Sanctuary plans to release several more original-format albums over the next few months.