Latest articles by Denny Ilett
9 must-hear albums that fueled the British blues guitar boom
The essential records that chart blues music’s epic journey – from its Delta roots through to the masterpiece that launched the heavy rock movement
The history of the ’60s British blues boom – the movement that carried a tidal wave of guitar heroes across the Atlantic
With the death of John Mayall in July, we lost one of the architects of the '60s blues boom that transformed Britain’s music scene and restored America’s blues guitar pioneers to their rightful place. Here's how a grassroots scene changed the world
The life and times of Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, the true guitar original who inspired everyone from Hendrix, Zappa and SRV to Ice Cube, Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige
From urban blues maverick to ‘Superfly’ funkster, Watson’s 40-plus-year career saw him negotiate his way through the most explosive period in musical history and, unlike so many, he managed to keep his ear to the ground and his music relevant to the times
“He showed complete mastery of the bebop jazz language – a language invented on horns”: Celebrating Joe Pass, jazz guitar’s great re-inventor – and a player who had the rare ability to nail sax lines on a six-string
Bona-fide jazz legend Joe Pass had it all. Here we celebrate the life and career of on of jazz guitar's most fluid and fluent players
“I don’t want the old blues to die – if they do, I’ll be dead, too”: John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Ronnie Wood all followed in the footsteps of Big Bill Broonzy, the blues pioneer with a guitar style that’s impossible to copy
William ‘Big Bill’ Broonzy picked up a guitar in Chicago around 1920, and became the first of the original blues masters to tour Europe. His powerful voice and unique country-blues guitar style would shape the future of the genre in the US and the UK
“I was in my sixth year as a studio guitarist when one day the bass player didn’t show up. The producer asked me...” How Carol Kaye became a session bass icon
If you’ve ever wondered what connects Frank Zappa to Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach to The Beach Boys, the answer is Carol Kaye. The session legend tells the story behind her career and legendary bass recordings
