Sweet paiN

This British ensemble drew together some of the nation’s foremost blues players for a solitary recording project. Dick Heckstall-Smith, whose saxophone work had already taken him through Blues Incorporated, the Graham Bond Organisation and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, helped establish Colosseum; concurrently, harmonica player John O’Leary and bassist Keith Tillman were active in the John Dummer Blues Band. Completing the Sweet Pain roster were guitarist Stuart Cowell, pianist Sam Crozier, drummer Junior Dunn and singers Annette Brox and Alan Greed. The album’s robust fusion of jazz-inflected R&B reflected the spontaneous interplay typical of impromptu jam sessions, after which the participants returned to their individual paths. Issued in the United States under the title England’s Heavy Blues Super Session, the recording stands as evidence of the brief collective vision that brought them together.