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Albert CollinsGuitar player
Date of Birth: 03.10.1933
Country:  USA |
Content:
- Biography of Albert Collins
- Early Career and Influences
- Breakthrough and Success
- Later Career and Legacy
Biography of Albert Collins
Early Life and Musical InfluencesAlbert Collins was an American guitarist and singer, and a prominent figure in electric blues. He was born on October 3, 1932, in Leon, Texas, about a hundred miles from Houston. He was the second cousin of the legendary guitarist Lightning Hopkins on his mother's side. Despite his aristocratic guitar lineage, Collins first passion was the piano, which he began playing at six years old. He turned to the guitar because it was difficult to find a piano teacher. He started learning the instrument from another cousin with an open tuning, but his true inspiration came when he heard John Lee Hooker's 1948 record "Boogie Chillun". Collins strained his fingers trying to play the hypnotic boogie riff on an acoustic guitar and quickly switched to an electric guitar (a hollow-bodied Epiphone).
Early Career and Influences
If you played in Texas in the 1940s, you either tried to sound like T-Bone Walker or worked twice as hard to not sound like him, such was his influence. Albert chose the latter path because he preferred a different sound, which he achieved by combining open tuning with fingerpicking. He soon began listening to two young followers of Walker, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones. While they were heavily influenced by T-Bone, they played pure rock and roll. Additionally, they were among the first to explore the potential of the new solid-body Fender guitars that were starting to appear. These instruments not only could be played at high volumes without feedback, but their smaller size allowed for acrobatic tricks - a necessary part of any self-respecting Southern blues guitarist's show. Brown also introduced Collins to the capo, allowing him to transpose the open tuning to any key.
Collins was not only influenced by guitarists but also admired the sound of jazz-blues organ pioneers Jimmy McGriff and Jimmy Smith. He also incorporated the phrasing and vocalization of the horn section, such as that heard in B.B. King's music. As a teenager, Collins began playing Hopkins' songs in a trio with guitar, piano, and drums, and a few years later, after purchasing a 1952 Fender Esquire, he formed his own 10-piece ensemble, the Rhythm Rockers. In the early 1950s, he collaborated with singer Piney Brown and then returned to Houston to further refine his own sound. His live performances began to attract attention when he started using a 100-foot cable, allowing him to walk around the venue while playing.
Breakthrough and Success
In 1958, Collins released his first album "The Freeze" with the support of the "Collins Shuffle" on the Kangaroo label. He collaborated with saxophonist and teacher Henry Hayes, who taught him jazz, horn arrangements, and phrasing. The album established his image as a "cool" guitarist, which stayed with him throughout his life - an idea that came after he named two of his instrumentals after the settings on his car's air conditioning unit. The album achieved local success and led to Collins performing alongside giants like T-Bone Walker, "Gatemouth" Brown, and Guitar Slim. Soon, he became well-known in the region. In 1960, Collins released several instrumental singles on producer Bill Hall's Hall-Way label, solidifying his reputation as a unique guitar stylist. "Defrost," "Sno-Cone," and "Don't Lose Your Cool" were strong tracks, but his signature melody became "Frosty" in 1962, which showcased his phrasing and dynamics in full. Released during the height of the surf music craze, the fast shuffle record sold millions of copies. Collins continued to perform in Texas clubs, gaining a cult legend status and influencing people like Johnny Winter, Jimi Hendrix, and even Janis Joplin.
Later Career and Legacy
In 1964, his singles from the "Hall-Way" label were collected into one album and released on the "TFC" label as "The Cool Sound of Albert Collins" (reissued on "Blue Thumb" in 1969 as "Truckin' with Albert Collins"). He was still living in Houston in 1968 when Bob Hite, the lead vocalist of the popular Los Angeles blues-rock collective Canned Heat and a legendary record collector, came to the "Ponderosa" club where Albert was performing. Familiar with Collins' history, Hite convinced him to move to Los Angeles, where he signed with Imperial Records, giving him his first chance to become nationally known. Three albums were released, but they failed commercially, and Albert continued his career with live performances on the West Coast.
In 1972, after recording an album for the Tumbleweed label, which soon went bankrupt, his career hit a dead end. The blues-rock boom had already passed. Everything changed in 1978 when Bruce Iglauer, the president of Alligator Records, signed him. The success of his first Alligator record, "Ice Pickin'," led to invitations to festivals and tours across the United States, Europe, and Japan. His subsequent recordings in the 1980s solidified his position as an influential blues guitarist and talented vocalist. Furthermore, brothers Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan spread his evangelism around the world, and his 1985 album "Showdown," on which he recorded with his old Houston friend Johnny Copeland and the young follower Robert Cray, won a Grammy. Collins essentially lived on the road, traveling in his personal bus from one concert to another, impressing audiences with his tireless energy. In 1989, he started recording for Pointblank, and his first recording, "Iceman," released in 1991, showcased a more polished sound. In 1992, rumors circulated about Collins' health being in danger, and it soon became known that he was suffering from an inoperable form of cancer.
He bravely endured his illness, continuing to work until the end, and passed away on November 24, 1993, at the age of 61. Collins created a sound of unmatched brightness and range. The essence of his individuality largely lay in his own voice. Collins sang his phrases into the microphone, giving them a "breathing" quality. Additionally, he found inspiration in everyday sounds, portraying a car trying to start on a frosty morning, the clucking of a chicken in the backyard, or the rhythmic patterns of a domestic argument with his guitar. Despite attempts by Freddie King and others to "retrain" him to use a simple pick or thumb pick, Collins maintained his finger attack with his right hand. Like legendary guitarist Wes Montgomery, who also played with his bare thumb, Albert valued sound over speed, and his sound was instantly recognizable. The calluses on his thumb and index finger were as rigid as picks, and by using his fingers, he could quickly transition from low strings to high and vice versa.
He briefly experimented with standard tuning early in his career but then returned to the tuning that Willow Young taught him. Unlike most slide tunings, his was based on a minor triad from D, E, or F, always maintaining equal intervals between strings (e.g., from low to high: E B E G B E). Using a capo, Collins could transpose the tuning to any key. Figure 1 - Collins' signature phrase in D, played in open F minor tuning (from low to high: F C F Ab C F) with a capo on the 9th fret. Notice how skillfully he uses an ascending motion with his index finger for the 16th-note arpeggio.
If you don't have a capo, simply place your index finger on the 9th fret of the guitar. The same example can also be played in open E minor tuning, by shifting each note up one fret, or in standard tuning as shown below. In the good old Texas tradition, Albert made his first guitar out of a cigar box. He then followed it up with an instrument made by a local carpenter, reportedly with rattlesnake rattles to enhance resonance. After the Epiphone with the hollow body, Collins found his signature sound with a 1952 Fender Esquire, the precursor to the Telecaster. He played on it until it was stolen during a trip to Los Angeles in the late '60s.
He replaced the instrument with a 1961 Telecaster with a humbucker near the neck, although Collins preferred to use the sound from the bridge pickup or both simultaneously. He played this instrument until his death. His amplifier of choice was the Fender Quad Reverb, a beast that pumped out 300 watts through a 4x12 speaker cabinet. He cranked the volume and treble to 10, bass to 0, and turned up the reverb.
Apart from a brief flirtation with a wah-wah effect, Collins believed that effects were irrelevant to his tone; the sound was in his hands.
