Albert Collins had a bright mile-wide tone that pierced the air, earning him nicknames like “The Ice Man” and “Mr. Freeze,” and inspiring a career-long series of instrumentals with chilly titles like “Ice Pick” and “Frosty.”
When Collins, who was born on October 1, 1932, was seven years old he moved from his native Leona, Texas, to Houston, where he learned guitar from his cousin Lightnin’ Hopkins. Although Hopkins typically played in standard tuning, Collins developed a fascination with open F-minor and open D-minor, which helped create his lacerating tone.
That, and plenty of volume. Collins loved to run his amps wide open so he could make sustained notes hang in the air on the cusp of feedback as long as he pleased. He also used a capo high up on his guitar’s neck, on the fifth, seventh, and ninth frets to make his notes slice.
When Collins died of cancer on November 24, 1993, at a youthful 61, he left behind 15 albums and an enduring influence that touched Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray, his former band members Debbie Davies and Coco Montoya, Frank Zappa, and many other guitarists. At least a half-dozen more albums, mostly live recordings, have followed after Collins’ death. Here’s a sampler of 10 of his literally “coolest” tunes:
1) “Frosty”: Collins had been slugging it out in roadhouses for 10 years before his flamethrower licks made this 1962 instrumental his first million-seller.
2) “The Freeze”: This funky 1958 shuffle was part of the trio of singles including “Sno-Cone” and “Frosty” that made Collins a household name — at least in urban African-American households in Texas.
3) “Sno-Cone (Parts I and II)”: Although this was his third early-career smash, mainstream success continued to elude the blues legend. That changed in the early ’70s after he played a series of shows with rock bands at San Francisco’s Fillmore West and Winterland, then signed with Alligator Records.
4) “Ice Pick”: Proof that even a nasty fingerpicking maniac doesn’t live by howl alone. This 1978 instrumental, which became a staple of his concerts, thrives on simple cascading melody lines that climb up and down scales.
5) “Don’t Lose Your Cool”: Collins reprised this early hit as the title track of a 1983 album, playing call-and-response with his band the Icebreakers, ducking out of the shuffling ensemble mix to let loose dagger sharp bursts of guitar.
6) “Defrost”: The Texas git-monster was just on his way to becoming the high minister of deep-blues funk when he cut this tune for the Great Scott label in the early’60s. It hews close to the jump blues that influenced him in the beginning.
7) “Snowed In”: By 1979, when this number appeared on Frostbite, Collins was adding lyrics to his winter-cool six-string blasts. This song, delivered in his laconic, talking style, chronicles one of Chicago’s hellish blizzards as Collins’ notes sting like windblown hail.
8) “Meltdown”: This track from the Alligator years teams Collins’ taut, repeated riffing with a tribal drum beat to create the master Tele blaster’s sexiest groove.
9) “Thaw Out”: This rambling shuffle punctuated by alternating improvised melodies was textbook Collins: play low, play high, play low, play high, and repeat. It was also a crowd-winning staple of his Fillmore and Winterland shows.
10) “Cool ’N Collins”: Mr. C. was already the chillest man in Texas blues when he tweaked his Tele with a chorus pedal and picked out this smooth groover for Imperial Records in 1970.