John Lee Hooker: The Standard School Broadcast Recordings (LP)

"The Standard School Broadcast Recordings," once considered a long-lost (and in most cases completely unknown) studio recording by John Lee Hooker, is the first commercial release of a rare, all-electric blues band recording from 1973. Recorded direct to tape at Coast Recorders in San Francisco, the session captures Hooker at a turbulent and deeply transformative time in his career, accompanied by his trusty rhythm section of bassist Gino Skaggs and drummer Ken Swank, as well as Hooker's son Robert, the pianist. The first edition omitted only a brief interview and song excerpts, but this collection features the entire recording session, including extensive liner notes by preeminent Hooker scholar Charles Shaar Murray. It is a tremendously intimate and incredibly beautiful collection of Hooker in his purest form - the blues as high art. "The Standard School Broadcast," launched in 1928, was a multi-award-winning educational radio series sponsored by Standard Oil (also known as Esso, later Exxon). Based in San Francisco, it specialized in music appreciation and American history. Copies of some of their shows were also distributed to schools on vinyl LPs. One such set of ten albums was dedicated to musical instruments, including the guitar. While other legendary guitarists were included: classical virtuoso George Sakellariou, jazz giants Herb Ellis and Joe Pass, and session journeyman Chuck Day, their final selection was the pure embodiment of the heart and soul of the blues guitar: John Lee Hooker.