What happens if relaxation and blues combine? It will turn out to be JJ Cale. The style of his music is difficult to classify. In a review of his first album, released in 1970, critics wrote: "A unique blend of blues, folk and jazz with relaxing grooves." Both Cale's voice and manner of singing are unique.
The songs written and performed by Cale were covered by many musicians. Eric Clapton's first solo album hit the top twenty with a cover version of Cale's song After Midnight. Cale's 1976 song Cocaine, sung by Clapton, has been critically acclaimed as an "immortal hit." The songs Call Me the Breeze and I Got the Same Old Blues, performed by the group Lynyrd Skynyrd, went no less glory.
After the death of JJ Cale, Clapton recruited Mark Knopfler and other famous musicians to record a special album The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale in his memory:
JJ Cale's main profession is a sound engineer. Until the end of his life, his passion was buying new guitars and pumping their sound. He also treated his voice as a finely tuned instrument, therefore, having heard once, it is difficult not to recognize him the next time.
JJ Cale has released 27 albums, and his importance in modern blues and rock music can hardly be overestimated. Cale avoided drawing attention to his person and, despite this, is called the stars of the first magnitude among those who had a strong influence on their work. Mark Knopfler referred to JJ Cale as his teacher. Neil Young (far from the last in the world rankings of guitarists) once said in an interview: "The best electric guitar players I have ever heard were Hendrix and JJ Cale."
Many Russian musicians were also influenced by his music. Sergei Chigrakov (Chizh), telling the story of writing his hit “Crossroads”, said: “And the music is a specific zakos under J. J. Cale'a, I was sticking on it then, and I just mowed under it. " Kirill Komarov calls him his teacher. The Kalinov Most band performs their cover version of Keil's famous Sensitive Kind called "Summer Girl".
The name of the most famous, probably Keil's composition - Cocaine - is somewhat symbolic. Unobtrusive and relaxing intonations in his songs, simple and, at the same time, mesmerizing rhythmic patterns act like a drug. I want to listen to him for a long time and rest - more and more …
