February
23, 1944 – July 16, 2014
I
started playing guitar in the mid-eighties, in a time when the guitar hero
thing that started in the 70's was in full blown and, as every kid with six
strings and a dream, I was in awe with all the virtuoso players I could get my
ears on; from jazz-fusion wild pickers like Al DiMeola and John McLaughlin, to
mad metal shredders like Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert, it was an electric
guitar Christmas from outer space.
Johnny
Winter was in a league of his own, from the tattooed outlaw albino image to the
dazzling, incendiary fretwork assault; since i was moving my first steps on the
instrument, I couldn't figure much out of all those turmoils of notes and
guitar histrionics but, at the same time, I was deeply fascinated.
Even
if, through the years, I mastered some of those iconic players' tricks and
their virtuosity was no more a language from another planet, Johnny Winter's
fluid blues phrasing is still a damn mystery to me to this very day; how he was
able to fuse impressive technical mastery and burning intensity was beyond
belief for anyone that knew a little about guitar playing, and he was revered
by legions of world famous colleagues, and rightly so.
If
I had to choose some records from his rich catalogue for the ones that came to
earth in these last days and still know little about the greatest Texan bluesman
that will ever exist, I’d pick of his early two solo albums, "Johnny
Winter" and "Second Winter"; the first simply because is one of
the best blues guitar albums ever recorded, the second because is fundamental
in bringing the blues into the rock era. Needless to say they both sound fresh
and inspired as they had been recorded yesterday.
Johnny
Winter had just recorded a new album, "Step Back", full of important
guests paying homage, just in time at this point, to the blues Maestro who
sadly passed away today, leaving a mark on the history of this humanity that
nothing will ever erase and no one will ever forget.
“The best artists are gone now.” –
Johnny Winter
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