Guilty! is a concept album: it’s about getting released from prison, dealing with the survivor’s guilt of being out, and the very real fear of getting hauled in front of an unmerciful judge for something as minor as a traffic violation. Burdon and Witherspoon share the vulnerabilities of victimhood: cops are prejudiced against both the hippies and the blacks. Every track is intense, honest, and gripping. The sometimes-graphic lyrics pull no punches.
The horns are out of tune. The mix is iffy. But damn, when the guitars come in already smoking on “Have Mercy Judge,” you can hear the sweat and anguish. The music doesn’t rock so much as it lurches with a kind of slow-drag funk. Burdon and John Sterling (extraordinary guitarist on the session) wrote “Soledad,” a searing portrait of the ironic suffering that comes with freedom…

Jays Blues is a fine collection of early-'50s jump blues sides that Jimmy Witherspoon cut for Federal Records. This 23-track collection offers a good retrospective of one of Witherspoon's most neglected – and admittedly, uneven – periods.

One of the many unfairly overlooked albums from Witherspoon's early career, Hey Mrs. Jones is a marvelous discovery, although its lack of stylistic unity, whilst showing Witherspoon's versatility, also accounts for a occasionally confusing listening experience. The best cuts on the album are priceless Witherspoon - "The Masquerade Is Over" contains one of Witherspoon's most emotional and desperate performances, while "Have Faith" is a great gospel song, sung with genuine fervor. The album is marred slightly by a few novelty numbers, and it's hard to see anyone listening to "Pink Champagne" or "Lovey Dovey" many times, but this is a slight criticism of an album which is still one of Witherspoon's greatest.

Jimmy Witherspoon was one of the smoothest blues singers to come along in the late 1940s, and his earthy yet elegant style was versatile enough for him to "cross over" into jazz and even rock (in 1971, he co-led an album with the great British blues-rock singer Eric Burdon). The Blues, The Whole Blues And Nothing But The Blues was recorded in England and originally released in 1992.

This album is a literal encyclopedia, and apprenticeship for the blues guitarist! There is no date listed as to when this was recorded, but Robben shows who he is this night and one can only guess what an illustrious carrer he has awaiting him. He shows the importance of the minor 6th scale, and his Mike Bloomfield influence shows strongly. Jimmy Witherspoon a man who needs no introduction, and is missed sadly today by many, displays his usual, dazzling charm, and stage presence.

This CD finds Jimmy Witherspoon at age 65 on one of his last fairly strong records before his voice began to really shrink and fade. Spoon, assisted on this live set by tenor saxophonist Teddy Edwards, pianist Gerald Wiggins, bassist John Clayton, and drummer Paul Humphrey, revives some of his hits, performs a pair of medleys, and emphasizes swinging blues and ballads. Highlights include "Sweet Lotus Blossom" (a standard whose authorship should not have been credited to Witherspoon), "Stormy Monday," and "I Want a Little Girl." Easily recommended to Jimmy Witherspoon fans.

This CD includes the high point of singer Jimmy Witherspoon's career. On October 2, 1959, he appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival and created such a sensation that it caused his career to go through a renaissance. Heard at the peak of his powers, Witherspoon holds his own with a mighty group of veterans (trumpeter Roy Eldridge, both Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins on tenors, clarinetist Woody Herman, pianist Earl Hines, bassist Vernon Alley, and drummer Mel Lewis). Although the five-song set only lasted 25 minutes, Witherspoon's performance was the hit of the festival. The other half of this CD features Witherspoon romping through ten mostly traditional blues songs two months later with Ben Webster, baritonist Gerry Mulligan, pianist Jimmy Rowles, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Mel Lewis; the performance is equally exciting. This CD is the one truly essential Jimmy Witherspoon release.

Despite the title, this actually leans considerably further to the jazz side of Witherspoon's muse than the blues one, with backing by Pepper Adams on baritone sax, Roger Kellaway on piano, Bill Watrous on trombone, Richard Davis on bass, and Mel Lewis on drums. The songs, too, are much more in the jazz/pop vein than the blues/jazz one, heavy on standards by the likes of Johnny Mercer, the Gershwins, and Ellington. Witherspoon's one of the masters of closing-time bluesy jazz, and he doesn't let anyone down on that account on this relaxed (but not sleepy) session.

A good, relaxed (but not laid-back) session, and one of his bluesier ones, with organ, Clifford Scott (who played on Bill Doggett's "Honky Tonk") on sax, and T-Bone Walker on guitar. Nothing too adventurous about the song selection, including well-traveled items like "Good Rockin' Tonight" and "Kansas City," but Witherspoon sings them with ingratiating soul, reaching his peaks on his cover of "Don't Let Go" (perhaps better than the hit version by Roy Hamilton) and the late-night ambience of the title track. The CD reissue adds previously unissued alternate takes of four of the songs.

When Willie Dixon left his native Mississippi and traveled north to Chicago, he almost single-handedly dragged the blues with him into the modern era, giving the country blues a hard, new sheen with his deft songwriting, sturdy bass playing, and his considerable talents as a producer and arranger. This two-disc, 47-track set catches Dixon wearing all of his hats, with the first disc featuring him in the studio and in concert (including several live tracks with Johnny Winter) and the second spotlighting his bass playing and production work with the likes of Robert Nighthawk, Eddie Boyd, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Lowell Fulson, Bo Diddley, Willie Mabon, and Howlin' Wolf. What emerges is a well-rounded portrait and introduction to one of the major architects of the modern blues sound.

Jimmy Witherspoon is accompanied by a large orchestra arranged by Benny Golson for a set emphasizing slow tempos (even on "And the Angels Sing" and "Who's Sorry Now"), ballads and blues. Nothing all that memorable occurs, but the singer is in strong voice, and his fans will want to pick up this interesting CD reissue.

Veteran singer Jimmy Witherspoon (who bridges the gap between jazz and blues) mostly sticks to the latter on this spirited set. His backup group (organist Paul Griffin, guitarist Lord Westbrook, bassist Leonard Gaskin and drummer Herbie Lovelle) is fine in support, but the spotlight is almost entirely on Witherspoon throughout these ten concise performances, only one of which exceeds four minutes. Highlights include "No Rollin' Blues," "S.K. Blues" and "Around the Clock." Witherspoon is in fine voice and, even if nothing all that memorable occurs, the music is enjoyable.