Mel Brown RIP

From Bob Corritore

March 20, 2009

• RIP Mel Brown 10/7/1939-3/20/2009: This note just in from Eric Thom: "Mel Brown has just passed - around 5pm tonight, but details are still pending. He was to open for Mavis Staples tonight, but has been in St. Mary’s Hospital in Kitchener fighting to get his breathing back without the use of a machine. This is a huge loss for the blues, and for the blues world in Canada, specifically". Mel Brown was one of the real treasures of blues guitar and piano. He had a long history of spectacular recordings for labels such as Impulse, Bluesway, Antone's, and in recent years, for his home base label of the Electro-Fi records. He also recorded as a sideman for some of the greatest of blues artists, including T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Albert Collins, Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Snooky Pryor, Jimmy McGriff, James Cotton, Doug Sahm, Earl Hooker, and Charles Brown (could a discography be any more fulfilled than that?) Yet another irreplaceable blues great has left us. For Mel Brown's complete bio, click here. To see a cool video of Mel Brown performing the swinging instrumental "Crosstown", click here.

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