Lowell Fulson defined West Coast blues -- smoother than Chicago, more polished than the Delta, and sophisticated enough to cross over without selling out. Reconsider Baby was covered by Elvis Presley. Tramp became a Stax classic for Otis Redding and Carla Thomas. Fulson's guitar style was clean and jazz-inflected, and his songwriting gave Ray Charles, B.B. King, and a generation of soul singers material they turned into gold.

He was born on a Choctaw reservation in Oklahoma, learned guitar from a relative of Charlie Christian's, and served in the Navy during World War II. After the war he settled in Oakland and became the face of West Coast blues -- a sound that was urbane, relaxed, and rhythmically swinging. He recorded for Swing Time, Checker, Chess, and Kent, and his bands were a finishing school for young musicians -- Ray Charles played piano in his group before anyone knew his name.

His career spanned six decades. He kept recording and touring into the 1990s, his smooth guitar work and warm vocal delivery undiminished. The West Coast blues sound he pioneered influenced everyone from T-Bone Walker to B.B. King. Reconsider Baby is still the template for sophisticated blues in a sharkskin suit.

Lowell Fulson defined West Coast blues -- smooth, sophisticated. Reconsider Baby was covered by Elvis. Tramp became a Stax classic. Ray Charles played in his band.