Some of the UK musicians who once backed Mr Witherspoon would not accuse the singer of being Mr Nice Guy, so it can only be a matter of speculation of what kind of interpersonal relationship he enjoyed with drummer Phil Seaman, who was certainly not backward in coming forward.

Witherspoon had come up the hard way, singing in dingy night clubs and Jim Crow bars in the 1940s, until he had a break with Jay McShann. In the 1950s, he made two classic albums Callin’ the Blues with Wibur DeParis in 1958, and Jimmy Witherspoon at Monterey in 1959, and it's hard not to consider these sessions – the 15 May tracks with Pete King and Harry South Trio recorded at the BBC, the 23 May with Dick Morrissey, and the South Trio on 23 May at the Bull's Head in Barnes (with one track recorded with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated on 28 April) – in the same breath. Witherspoon may have been a prickly character, but he knew his trade. In the blues hierarchy he might be said to be a descendent of Joe Turner, to whom he pays tribute with ‘I Gotta Girl (Roll ‘Em Pete)’, but he added a degree of harmonic sophistication that allowed his music to thrive in bebop surroundings. Like Turner, he took no prisoners, and, again like Turner, he could have the joint rocking in minutes if the mood took him; this album captures all you need to know.