Fast Fingers in Bloomington, MN

First released in 1969, after guitarist
Jimmy Dawkins
had served a long apprenticeship as a sideman in the Chicago
electric blues
scene,
Fast Fingers
remains one of the finest pure
albums of its era.
Dawkins
proves to be a solid songwriter and an able singer, although the best moments on the album invariably come when he tears off a casually perfect, deeply soulful, but never showy electric solo. Highlights include the stomping instrumental
"Triple Trebles,"
featuring an outstanding
solo over a funky horn-driven rhythm, and the mellow, laid-back opener,
"It Serves Me Right to Suffer."
The album was finally reissued on CD in 1998 with a new cover and two fine outtakes from the original sessions,
"Sad and Blues"
(which features an exceptional extended solo by
) and
"Back Home Blues,"
which is a 1969 recording with a new (1998) vocal by
. ~ Stewart Mason