01.	I'm In The Wrong Business
02.	I Can't Go On This Way
03.	Fast Food Annie
04.	This Little Voice	
05.	My Buddy Buddy Friends
06.	She's Fine
07.	These Blues Is Killing Me		play
08.	Miami Strut
09.	The Things I Want You To Do
10.	Don't Drive Drunk
11.	Hard Time		play
12.	Going To New York
13.	Moving Out Of The Ghetto

A.C. Reed (vocals, tenor saxophone); 
Bonnie Raitt (guitar, background vocals); 
Stevie Ray Vaughan, Maurice John Vaughan, Marvin Jackson, 
"Triple Horn," Steve Ditzell, Larry Burton, Phil Guy (guitar); 
Jimmy Markham (harmonica); 
"George" (piano); 
Freddie Dixon, Douglas Watson, Johnny B. Gayden, Nate Applewhite, Aron Burton (bass); 
Casey Jones (drums); 
Miranda Louise, Vicki Hardy (background vocals

A.C. Reed was the blues world's ultimate triple-threat. His soulfully elegant tenor sax playing supported artists like Albert Collins, the Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton. As a singer, A.C.'s gritty, straight-from-the-heart vocals were showcased on a variety of small label singles, as well as on his acclaimed four albums. As a gifted songwriter with a penchant for wryly humorous lyrics, his tunes were recorded by such artists as Magic Slim, Charlie Musselwhite and Eddie Shaw.

Born Aaron Corthen in Wardell, Missouri in 1926, A.C. was immediately attracted to music. "I've been around music all my life," he said. "I had one brother who made himself a bass out of a wash tub, and another brother who played the piano."

For A.C., though, neither bass nor piano would do. He had his heart set on playing the saxophone. Realizing that rural southeast Missouri offered limited opportunities, A.C. arrived in Chicago in 1942 at age 16. He quickly found work at a steel mill, and bought a saxophone at a pawnshop with his first paycheck.

A.C.'s first interest was in big band jazz. He studied at the Chicago Conservatory of Music for a couple of years, where he emulated his musical hero, tenorman Gene Ammons. While continuing to work at the mill during the daytime, A.C. began gigging on weekends with blues groups. At the same time he found a musical mentor in J.T. Brown, Elmore James' tenor saxophonist. It was Brown who personally showed him the differences between playing jazz and the blues. "The first thing he taught me," A.C. recalled, "was to play less notes, play simpler and try to tell a story with my solos."

After the end of World War II, A.C. found a steady gig with Willie Mabon, who snatched up the young tenorman as soon as he was old enough to work in Chicago's South Side nightclubs. Next was a stint with legendary guitarist Earl Hooker, followed by four years of touring the Southwest with bandleader Dennis Binder's Rhythm & Blues All Stars, playing exclusively for white audiences. "We were what they called rock 'n' roll," recalled A.C. "We were all playing the same thing--Little Richard, Fats Domino. They called it 'R&B' back then, but when Elvis Presley came along singing black music, they decided to call it 'rock 'n' roll."

By the early '60s, A.C. was back in Chicago, where he cut several singles as a leader for Age Records, backed by his old pal Hooker. He went on to cut singles for labels like Nike, USA and Cool throughout the '60s, while doing session work with Hooker, Muddy Waters, Ricky Allen and Lillian Offitt.

In 1967, at the start of the late '60s blues explosion, A.C. hooked up with guitar great Buddy Guy and blues harp giant Junior Wells. For ten years he backed Buddy and Junior, playing to a new audience of young, white blues fans all over the U.S. While working with Guy and Wells, A.C. also toured with the Rolling Stones and performed in Africa and Japan. He also appeared on a number of Guy and Wells' albums on the Vanguard, Delmark and Atco labels. Following his long association with Buddy and Junior, A.C. took some time off from the road to play local dates in Chicago. His retirement from the road was short-lived, however, as he joined Son Seals for a European tour in 1978. Next came a five-year gig with Albert Collins, appearing on five of the late Master of the Telecaster's Alligator albums. While playing with Collins' bands, the Icebreakers, A.C.'s gruff vocals were showcased on several tunes each night. His own “Jealous Man” was one of the highlights of Collins' Grammy-nominated Alligator album, Live In Japan. In 1980, A.C. contributed four songs to another Grammy-nominated Alligator album, Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 3. Three of those tunes appear as added bonus tracks on his Alligator release, I'M IN THE WRONG BUSINESS!

Take These Blues And Shove 'Em, his long-awaited debut album, was finally released in 1982 on the Ice Cube label. Featuring such tongue-in-cheek observations of the musician's lot as “I Am Fed Up With This Music” and the title track, the album received unanimous praise. “I Am Fed Up With This Music” even received a Blues Music Award nomination for "Blues Single Of The Year."

With A.C.'s Alligator release, I'M IN THE WRONG BUSINESS!, he put it all together, resulting in a winning combination of top-notch material and inspired playing and singing that put him firmly in the musical spotlight. The album featured guest appearances by long-time A.C. Reed fans such as the late Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bonnie Raitt, as well as by members of his Chicago-based touring band, the Spark Plugs.

Following his Alligator release, A.C. and the Spark Plugs hit the road and became a fixture on the national blues club and festival scene, establishing him as one of the premier “old school” artists of Chicago blues and a flamboyant entertainer. Albums on Delmark and Black & Blue followed. A.C. continued to perform and tour through 2003. He died of cancer on February 24, 2004. ---amazon.com

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1. Boogie All Night - 5:27
2. Help Me Spending My Gold - 6:05
3. My Buddy Buddy Friend - 4:11
4. This Little Voice - 3:42
5. Big Boss Man - 5:45
6. Mojo Hand - 4:30
7. Everything I Do Got to Be Funky - 5:57
8. I Got Money - 5:38                    play
9. Computer Took My Job - 6:21           play
10. Mojo On Me - 3:01

A.C. Reed - Tenor Saxophone, Vocals tr.1-5
Maurice John Vaughn - Guitar, Vocals tr.6-10
Douglas Watson - Bass; 
Julian Vaughn – Drums

Aaron Corthen moved from Missouri to Chicago in his teens. He changed his name and became a fulltime musician in the early '50s, recording a number of singles from 1960 onwards. Reed was a sideman with Earl Hooker, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Son Seals and others as well as leading his own band and operating the Ice Cube label. Whether or not they were half-brothers, as A.C. sometimes claimed, he was a longtime occasional borrower of Jimmy Reed's drawl and his loping rhythms. The other distinguishing features of A.C.'s music are the skinny rasp of his sax and the singing of blues about how the singing of blues doesn't pay. The joke wears thin with repetition, but it's symptomatic of a talent for original, often witty lyrics that get away from the standard topics. The band is tight on this album, A native Chicagoan, Vaughn played drums and saxophone in his teens, adding the guitar some years latter. He worked for spells with Professor Eddie Lusk, Phil Guy, Son Seals and A.C.Reed, whom he has accompanied on several albums; he has also recorded with Zora Young and Detroit Jr., and produced albums by several artists for Italian Appaloosa label. This album was made in France while Vaughn was touring with A.C.Reed, (who sings on five of the album's ten tracks), offers 'Computer Took My Job' and also 'Mojo On Me'.

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01. A. C. Reed - I Ain't Doin' Too Bad (3:35)
02. A. C. Reed - I Got The Blues (5:02)
03. A. C. Reed - I'm A Jealous Man (3:59)
04. Big Wheeler - Good Lover (5:21)
05. A. C. Reed - Last Time Around (3:33)         play
06. Big Wheeler - Crazy 'Bout You Baby (3:05)    play
07. A. C. Reed - Honey Where You Goin' (4:05)
08. Big Wheeler - Last Night (7:40)
09. Big Wheeler - What's On Your Mind (5:36)

A.C. Reed (vocals, tenor saxophone); 
Big Wheeler (vocals, harmonica); 
Billy Edd Wheeler (vocals, harmonica); 
John Primer (guitar, acoustic ... Full Descriptionguitar); 
Luther "Slim" Adams (guitar).

А. С. REED was born Aaron Corthen in Wardell, Missouri on May 9, 1926. As a child he heard a Jay McShann record and the saxes in the reed section attracted A. C. 's attention. After a short stay in Carbondale, III. He moved to Chicago when he was fifteen. There he bought his first saxophone from the money he received out oi two paychecks from a foundry job. He attended the Chicago Conservatory of Music, conscientously studying and trying to copy every Gene Ammons note he heard. It was J. T. Brown, the great Chicago Blues saxplayer (who fronted Elmore James' backup band, the Broomdusters), that took young A. C. under his wing. With Brown's assistance he learned to play a much simpler style and to quote A. C. himself, to tell a story with the solos'. Brown's advice worked and A. C. won a gig with Willie Mabon at the Planet Lounge in 1948. During the 5os, A. C. quit his day job and joined Dennis Binder's band and toured Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona and Colorado. Upon A. C. s return to Chicago in 1960, his old friend Earl Hooker talked to him about cutting his first 45 for the Age label. That was the great composition " This Little Voice", on which A. C. pays tribute to his mentor Jimmy Reed (A. C. named himself after Reed, after relatives told him that they were half-brothers). Later he recorded for various companies including USA, Nike and Cool; he even had a hit with Talkin' Bout My Friends" and played on sessions by Ricky Allen, Earl Hooker and Muddy Waters. After a ten year stint with the Buddy Guy Band (that took A. C. around the world), ne joined first Son Seals, then Albert Collins and toured Europe and Japan, as well as the United States. Today, А. С Reed fronts his own band, the " Spark Plugs", and has recorded albums for Ice Cube, Blue Pheonix, Alligator and Austrian EMI, together with the Mojo Blues Band of Vienna. Austria. In 1988, А С was one of the highlights on the "Stars Of Boogie Woogie" package tour, traveling Austria and Germany. Besides being a very nice person, A. C. shines through his own humorous compositions, always performed with feeling and dedication, some of which you can hear on this compact disc.

BLUES PATH OF BIG WHEELER Place of birth: Beaconton. Georgia Date of Birth: December 16, 1929 "I got interrested in the blues in the mid 1930's. A local guy in the neighborhood would come by our house, play the guitar and sing the blues the music that made me feel good. I first started learning how to play the harmonica in the early 1950's. The person who directly influenced me was a guy by the name of Buster Brown. Buster was a Har¬monica player and singer, he would perform on one of the local radio stations. I was a cab driver at the time, that's how I met him. Buster would catch my cab if he was running late to the station. He would always play and sing while he rode. Buster would always try to get me interested in the harmonica, after listening to him for a while I decided to take his advice. The first Harmonica I bought was a OLD STAND BY in the key of G. In one weeks time I was able to play the song "THAT'S ALRIGHT" by Jimmy Rogers. I put my first band together in 1955, it consisted of two guitars, drums and harmonica. Since that time I have numerous bands playing at various places around the Chicago area and some out of state cities as New York. Cleveland, Ohio, Pelam. Georgia, Canton Mississippi. Michigan City, Indiana, Rockford, IL. Beloyd Wisconsin just to name a few. My favorite harmonica style is that of Little Walter's but I like the styles of Jimmy Reed, Junior Parker, Willie Mabon, Sonny Boy Williamson and Sonny Terry. I have performed with some of the best: to name a few: Little Walter, Hound Dog Taylor, Buster Benton, Jimmy Johnson, , James Cotton, Willie Mabon, Mad Dog Lester, Buddy Scott, Junior Wells, Magic Slim, Carey Bell, Pop Stapleton, Willie Kent, Casey Jones, Willie Buck. Joe Carter, Freddy King. Sunnyland Slim, Little Eddie King. Although I have performed with a host of musicians, I would have to say that I considered my self a part-time musician during this period from 1955 to 1987, however at the present I have devoted most of my time to the Blues..."

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