It's really a shame that this fine French compilation isn't available anymore. It covers Big Bill Broonzy's seminal Chicago sides, recorded between 1935 and 1941, and most of these can't be found on the otherwise excellent JSP box set "The Classic Early Recordings 1928-1937".

Big Bill Broonzy was originally a country blues guitarist, as is well known, but when he moved to Chicago during the depression, he started playing with various small combos, developing a tougher, more muscular sound which would greatly inspire younger artists like Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, and Jimmy Rogers.
This is some of the earliest and most influential Chicago blues, and "Chicago Calling" includes a number of Big Bill's very best songs, "All By Myself", "When I Been Drinking", "Married Life Is A Pain", "Just A Dream (On My Mind)", "Baby I Done Got Wise", and "The Night Time Is The Right Time" among them. And on the 1939 recording of "The Night Time", Big Bill is joined by guitarist George Barnes, who plays great electric fills, some of the first electric lead guitar ever recorded in Chicago.

The arrangements usually feature piano and bass, and Big Bill himself on guitar, as well as the occational sax and/or clarinet, and these sides should come as something of a revelation to those who think of Big Bill Broonzy only as a solo performer.
It's easy to see why Muddy Waters so admired Big Bill that he went on to record an entire album of Broonzy's songs, something which Broonzy's one-time piano player Memphis Slim also did with his "Tribute To Big Bill Broonzy" (1961). Muddy's is called "Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill Broonzy", and came out on Chess the year before.

The sound quality is pretty good for 78 era recordings. Some of the material is a bit scratchy, but digital remastering has filtered out a lot of the pops, ticks and hisses, and "Chicago Calling" is a great collection of some of the most influential blues music you'll ever hear.
Highly recommended.