Widely acclaimed as the Godfather of British blues, the late Alexis Korner boasts a reputation which is fully deserved.
As leader of Blues Incorporated, he was a pioneer of the genre, a Zelig-like presence and generous enabler who inspired a swathe of putative young blueshounds that included Brian Jones, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (as Richards once acknowledged, The Rolling Stones wouldn’t have existed without him), Eric Burdon and Eric Clapton.
But Korner was more than just a seismic influence, as Every Day I Have The Blues: The Sixties Anthology makes clear. Recorded in both a live and studio setting, this 3-CD set chronicles Korner’s musical activities throughout that most tumultuous of decades as he went from kick-starting the British blues boom to ending the Sixties in the company of a new generation of blues-rockers, thrilled to be enjoying the patronage of a much-loved elder statesman. Every Day I Have The Blues features tracks from such legendary British blues live documents as R&B From The Marquee and At The Cavern as well as a clutch of studio albums, with sensational lead vocal performances from the likes of Cyril Davies, Long John Baldry, Ronnie Jones, Herbie Goins, Duffy Power and Robert Plant, who was in the middle of recording an album with Korner when Led Zeppelin came calling.

20 Cuts. Rare and Re-discovered.

Alexis Korner passed away on January 1st, 1984, and June 5th of that year saw a small fraction of his friends and his band’s alumni pay homage to the godfather of British blues by staging a stellar performance in, of all places, Nottingham. Calling themselves ALEXIS LIGHT ORCHESTRA and led by Jimmy Page, the supergroup also featured such luminaries as Jack Bruce, Charlie Watts and Paul Jones whose mix of rhythm-and-blues and rock numbers was recorded for radio broadcast and well-bootlegged, yet never officially released.

The group is still called Blues Incorporated, but without Cyril Davies or Long John Baldry, who were present on the first record. Recording at Liverpool's Cavern Club was more a gimmick than anything else, and the music is not as well made or exciting as the group's first album. This record shows Alexis Korner's more big-band type blues work, favoring horns. At the Cavern was a good album, but not one that was going to make much noise amid the work of the Rolling Stones, the Animals, or the Yardbirds. Originally released in 1964, At the Cavern was reissued on CD in 2006 and includes bonus tracks.

Although his name may not be as instantly recognizable stateside as Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, or Led Zeppelin, Alexis Korner played an enormously large role in helping launch the British blues explosion of the '60s. After all, such soon-to-be household names as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ginger Baker, and Robert Plant either recorded with Korner, or credit the singer/guitarist as an early inspiration to follow their blues calling. The double-disc. 40-plus-track Kornerstoned: The Anthology 1954-1983 chronicles Korner's entire recording career, from Alexis Korner Skiffle Group in the early '50s, to fronting various bands later in the '50s and throughout the '60s (as Alex Korner's Blues Incorporated, Alex Korner's Blues All Stars, etc.), all of which are included here. Individual standouts include the recently unearthed "Steal Away," which features a 20-year-old Robert Plant..

CD pressing of this 1972 album from the British Blues great. Alexis Korner, along with John Mayall, could be called the "father of British Blues". Even though he himself is not necessarily a well known name, he helped launch the careers of many top Rock and Blues stars from the 1960s. Bootleg Him! is a 20 track collection of odds & ends from his early career. Musicians appearing with Alexis on this album include Robert Plant, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Charlie Watts, Graham Bond, Paul Rodgers, Andy Fraser, the list goes on and on.