The hottest of a bevy of guitarists to emerge from a veritable hotbed of blues guitar in Houston, Texas, Albert Collins was also the “coolest.” His searing, stinging guitar attack came to be marketed with icy images after the release of his first single, “The Freeze,” in 1958, was followed by “Defrost,” “Frosty,” “Thaw-Out,” and “Sno-Cone.” Born in Leona, Texas, on Oct. 1, 1932, Collins spent his adolescent years in Houiston’s Third Ward, which was home at times to Johnny Copeland, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and many others. Three albums for the Imperial label, recorded at the instigation of Canned Heat’s Bob Hite, raised Collins’ profile in the late 1960s when he was based in Los Angeles, but he hit full stride with a series of acclaimed albums for Alligator Records beginning in 1978. He began touring and recording with the Icebreakers, a unit of top Chicago blues sidemen that later expanded to include future stars Debbie Davies and Coco Montoya, and rose to the upper echelons of the blues world. Always a powerful, explosive instrumentalist, Collins (the “Master of the Telecaster”) also developed a more effective vocal style while at Alligator. But it was his good-humored showmanship that he is probably best remembered for. His specialty was strolling the audience and wandering outside with a 150-foot cord, still wailing away on his Telecaster while the Icebreakers never missed a beat. As Peter Watrous wrote in the New York Times: “His shows were often wild rides, intense performances that burst with his almost endless imagination. He was a master of the ecstatic moment, . . .” Collins died in Las Vegas on Nov, 24, 1993.
— Jim O’Neal
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