Impulse Records, more so than any other major jazz related label - and definitely more than Blue Note - found that experimenting with new sounds and giving folks a chance that perhaps didn't have the biggest name in the field as of yet ended up helping out the label. Albert Ayler and Coltrane both found a home there for a time. But while the sounds of Mel Brown weren't nearly as aggressive or abrasive, what he did with blues and jazz was important to the genre as any one else.

By the late '60s there was no shortage of blues shredding on records across the States and even in Europe. The blues was augmented by any number of other genres - rock, jazz, soul or anything else that a people could figure out. Mel Brown, however, was from a background so rooted in traditional blues, that to play in other settings, initially at least, must have been odd.

Having a father who at one point backed up Tommy Johnson must have, to a certain extent made some sort of impression upon the young guitarist. But seeing as the elder Brown wasn't able in the end to make a go of music as a career, could have spurred on the young guitarist.

First making an impact on blues, Brown joined Sonny Boy Williamson for a bit simply as a supporting guitarist. Subsequent to that, Brown found himself in the company of the west coast's Johnny Otis - Shuggie's father - for a few years and eventually alongside Etta James. A bit of time would go by, though, before Brown earned the opportunity to work under his own name, assemble a group and record a few dates.

That first chance came in the middle of 1967. The album, Chicken Fat, had its fair share of notable moments. But it also sported Herb Ellis as support for Brown's guitar. The approach to his instrument - chording as opposed to constant soloing - made Brown stand out from the then current crop of guitarists and even differentiated himself from Ellis. But in including a jazz stalwart into a blues recording set the tone for the rest of his catalog.

While that first effort had more than just a bit of funky backing, Brown's follow up the next year, The Wizard, ratcheted up the grit quotient. "Chunk-a-Funk" alone is ample proof of this slight shift in sound. But the bassy brass section coupled with the metered drumming works in creating some enormous moments of groove. It isn't to say that this disc surpasses the Meters first few efforts, but none of those discs ever sported guitar work as intricate as this. Even as there wasn't a name like Herb Ellis attached to this date, The Wizard is every part of its predecessors match.

Brown would continue recording for the duration of the '70s and '80s, although, there was a brief break in there. But Brown would soldier on, working with everyone from Buddy Guy to some Canadians that he assembled as a band before his untimely death this past March.