Junior Wells

December 9, 1934 – January 15, 1998
Click image for larger view.

Junior Wells was one of the legends of Chicago Blues and the first of the Chicago bluesmen to record an album: "Hoodoo Man", with Delmark, in 1965, which immediately became a landmark recording.

This photo was taken at the Musicians' Exchange, in Delray Beach FL, in May of 1997. It was one of his last performances. He was being treated for lymphoma when he went into cardiac arrest in September, 1997, and fell into a coma from which he never awoke. He died on January 15, 1998. I felt devastated when I heard the news.

Wells' "Come on in This House", recorded in 1996, won the W.C. Handy Blues Award for traditional blues album. The record also was nominated for a traditional blues Grammy. For me, it is one of the best blues albums of all time. He is accompanied by some of the best blues guitarists around: Corey Harris, Alvin "Youngblood" Hart, Sonny Landreth, John Mooney, Derek Trucks, Tab Benoit Bob Margolin, and each one is in top form. Sonny blows me away on "Give Me One Reason" and "Why Are People Like That?".

This photo of Junior was taken by Julio Mateus, who has a whole portfolio of blues portraits taken in concert. He has so many killer shots, all in black and white, some of which have appeared on CD covers and in magazine articles. Unfortunately, he doesn't yet have a Web site or blog, but I'm hoping that will happen soon.

Julio is also a master black and white printer and has been for 25 years. He makes his own prints, of course. The photo above is not a digital print, nor is it a copy of another print. It's a custom silver print made from the original negative. Junior's signature at the bottom is a reproduction of the original signature on the print he signed (in May of 1997) and is indistinguishable from the original. The overall size of the paper is 11" x 14". The image size is 6" x 9".

If anyone is interested in buying one of Julio's blues prints, please email me at es45m-julio@yahoo.com for prices and info and a list of other blues artists that he's photographed.