Hi there !
JLH has SO many great periods in his recording career. LOTS to discover.
He has to be one of the COOLEST blues musicians who ever walked this planet !
It all started with this great tune, Boogie Chillun :
And other cool ones from his early period :
JLH could drive a full band too though, even early on :
Totally LOVE this song :
Then he moved to Vee-Jay label, and lots of great stuff on that label :
(also, was used in the Blues Brothers film as background music)
Frisco Blues (with, I think, the Vandellas doing backing vocals) :
JLH in deep, dark, bluesy mood - and solo - on video :
JLH plays "Boom, Boom" solo with no chord changes
Early JLH :
Of course, THIS appearance on film is when many would have been introduced to John Lee Hooker (from the Blues Brother's film) :
JLH live at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival, backed by Muddy Water's band (including Otis Spann in FINE form on piano) :
Late 1960's I think : Love this phase of JLH - totally laid back, slow grooves :
Lots of great stuff from his mid-late career (not to everyone's taste) with bands taking over more of the music, with him adding in cool riffs here & there :
Can totally recommend the 1970's albums : Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive, "Endless Boogie", and "Free Beer & Chicken"
With Van Morrison :
With Earl Hooker :
With Joe Cocker (and maybe Charles Brown on piano ??) :
Then there are these cool two tunes on video that JLH did with Van Morrison (in a documentary film about Morrison) :
Starts 5mins into the video :
2nd track with JLH starts at 2min58sec.
I mean, how seriously cool is John Lee Hooker
:
A whole concert of "JLH and Friends", getting old, with all the blues stars of the day (Ry Cooder, John Hammond Jnr, Bonnie Raitte, Johnnie Johnson, Robert Cray etc) :
Some nice stuff, as an old man :
But unfortunately, there was some bad stuff, in his v late career - JLH has his own style and it won't always fit well into being shoe-horned into "standard" blues, like this tune (I hate it !), with cheesy stuff white-boy guitar turn-arounds :
and/or stuff put together after he had passed on, like this piece of crap cheesy nonesense :
I hope that helps you really discover lots of great stuff John Lee Hooker's music have to offer.