Otis Rush – All Your Love I Miss Loving

For a variety of reasons, ranging from producer/label interference to his own notorious mood swings, Otis Rush has probably made fewer great recordings than any indisputably great musician of his time. But with this one, recorded live at a Chicago club in 1976 and only now seeing the light of day, he shows his stuff as well as it can be shown. From his nail-spitting intro to the opening “Please Love Me”, his variant on Elmore James’ trademark lick, to his teeth-rattling romp through the finale of B3 master Jimmy Smith’s “Motoring Along”, Rush sings and plays his bristling west side blues with wide-ranging passion and astonishing technical mastery. Buoyed by the deep grooves of his regular band, which hardly ever appeared on his recordings live or otherwise, he’s so relaxed he can create effortless tension through his free-flowing solo work — insistent, assured, and free of botched cues or fall-back cliches — on workouts such as “You’re Breaking My Heart” and “Will My Woman Be Home Tonight”, or through his insinuating vocal phrasing on “Gambler’s Blues” and “Sweet Little Angel”. And yes, his zip-gun calling card “All Your Love (I Miss Loving)” is not only present as always, it sounds slinkier than ever.