“I’m just trying to throw Mr. Lockwood a nice birthday party,” said Jim DePaul, owner of the Savannah Bar & Grille in Westlake.

Consider this your invitation, then. Cleveland’s most eminent blues artist turns 91 this month, and – as he has for the past several years – Robert Lockwood Jr. and his All Stars band mark the occasion with a public performance at the Savannah. It happens this Sunday starting at 8 p.m.

“I would recommend for anyone who is a student of the blues, or they have children who want to see a living legend — just come and see him,” said DePaul.

Lockwood was born March 27, 1915, in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, and is a direct link to the generation of great American bluesmen who include Muddy Waters, Rice Miller, Johnny shines, Willie Dixon, "Little Walter" Jacobs, Memphis Slim, Johnny Shines, Honeyboy Edwards and Robert Johnson.

Lockwood, as a boy, received guitar lessons from Johnson. Lockwood is the only known student of the much-mythologized blues giant and popularizer of the slide-guitar style, whose tumultuous life would end at 27 in 1938.

By contrast, Lockwood, who settled in Cleveland in 1960 (and maintains a healthy diet of Amish-country meat, poultry and dairy, without factory growth hormones), continues to perform on a weekly basis. Following Sunday’s birthday party he and the All Stars have a full list of engagements, including blues festivals in Oklahoma, Georgia, Minnesota and Great Britain.

“Anyone who follows the blues, the history of the blues, knows what a link he is,’ said DePaul.

Robert Lockwood first started recording in 1941, when he laid down tracks of what have become his signature melodies, “Little Boy Blue” and “Take a Walk With Me.” Co-hosting a groundbreaking blues radio show broadcast in Illinois. Living and playing in Chicago and Memphis, Lockwood spread the sound of southern blues, music that was the direct forerunner of the rock-and-roll explosion of the 1950s.

Rock’s enormous commercial success eclipsed the bluesmen (and women) of the old school for a time, but by the 1970s musicologists were rediscovering the great blues artists of yesteryear. Lockwood’s recordings have been preserved and re-issued, and Lockwood himself was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1989. In 1995 he received a National Heritage Fellowship Award, presented by Hilary Clinton, and in 1996 Cleveland Mayor Michael White proclaimed February 3 as "Robert Lockwood Day." The next year a downtown Cleveland street was named  Robert Lockwood, Jr. Way.

“The amazing thing about him is he is such an approachable man,” said DePaul. “…He is a very humble man, and a very simple man. And very proud.”

So what does Lockwood want for his birthday present? “He wants for nothing,” said DePaul (what, not even an iPod?). But it would show great respect if the audience at the Savannah on Sunday night refrained from smoking. Dancing and having a good time are perfectly okay.

“He will do some of his stuff solo. When his band goes on break he’ll do three, four, eight tunes that are just him, maybe with his bassist or drummer.”

Expect many fellow musicians in the crowd as well. While the vast majority of the shows at the Savannah are free of charge, this special occasion calls for an admission price, $10. It still might sell out, so the house advises you show up good and early or make reservations in advance. Chef Marty will have special menu items in addition to the Savannah’s fine tradition of southern and Cajun-style cuisine.

Robert Lockwood CDs, such as “Delta Crossroads,” “The Legend Live” and the aptly-named “Steady Rollin’ Man” will be on the bill of fare as well.

The Savannah is located at 30676 Detroit Road in Westlake; phone (440) 892-266. For a 91-year-old Robert Lockwood has an up-to-date homepage (the “links” section is especially good) at www.robertlockwood.com.