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The pianist and singer Jay McShann was one of the mainstays of the musical scene in Kansas City, where a form of swing jazz developed in the thirties that had its roots firmly in the blues tradition. His band is also famous for numbering Charlie Parker, the inaugurator of the bebop aesthetic, as well as tenor saxophonist Ben Webster and the singer Walter Brown among its musicians. The latter was the archetypal blues shouter. He recorded “Confessin’ the Blues” with Jay McShann’s band in Dallas, Texas, on April 30, 1941, and this went on to become one of the great blues standards.
For their recording of “Confessin’ the Blues” at Chess Studios, the Rolling Stones took their inspiration not so much from the original version by Jay McShann and Walter Brown, or even from Chuck Berry’s version, as from Little Walter’s 1958 recording of the song for the Checker label (a subsidiary of Chess). The British group have slowed the tempo considerably, resulting in a wonderful blues number whose impact has been augmented by the talented Ron Malo, the sound engineer who provided the Stones with access to the sound of their idols. The two guitars launch straight in. The sound is raucous, with Keith, on lead, carving out weighty phrases on his Epiphone while Brian provides a steady rhythm on his Gretsch.
As well as singing, Mick also (almost certainly) plays the harmonica, the true heart of the song, his playing skillfully bathed in reverb by Ron Malo. This time, Stu plays an excellent boogie-woogie piano that has perhaps been mixed down a little too much. With this cover of “Confessin’ the Blues,” which they had been playing since the early days, the Stones manage to get close to the sound and caliber of all the great names that preceded them at this place. Chess was a key stage in the group’s development, and “Confessin’ the Blues” was included on the album 12×5, released in the United States in October 1964.
