Of all the Chicago blues stars populating the Chess Records roster in 1953-Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter-none were any more commercially potent than Willie Mabon. The piano man held down the top spot on the R&B hit parade for a good portion of the year with his sly, streetwise "I Don't Know" and its ominous followup "I'm Mad." A decade later, Mabon had cooled off bigtime. His Chess reign ended during the mid-'50s, and the labels he recorded for after that were for the most part considerably less prestigious. But when he landed at Paul Glass' U.S.A. Records in 1963, the firm issued eight of his singles, the most he'd had out anywhere since Chess. Every one of them was a quality effort. This is the first CD compilation of Willie's U.S.A. & FORMAL sides............The last 5 recordings are live performances in Germany in 1974......
