Wynonie Harris- Rockin' The BLues

 

Wynonie Harris - Rockin' the Blues - Proper

Along with Big Joe Turner and Jimmy Rushing, Wynonie Harris is generally regarded as the greatest of the blues shouters. Harris was one of the most popular and influential artists in the first years after World War II, scoring a number of hits. First emerging on record with Lucky Millender's Big Band, Harris' vocal Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well was a success for the Millender band. For several years, he recorded for various labels, including Philo/Aladdin, Apollo, Hamptone, and Bullet, before signing with King in July 1947. With King, he enjoyed his greatest success. A singer with a booming voice and an extravagant stage presence, The British Proper label has put together a four-disc box, Rockin the Blues, which contains 81 recordings through 1950. 

It is handy to have all of Harris Philo/Aladdin and Apollo recordings, along with the rarities from Hamptone and Bullett and his first thirty-seven recordings for King. Included are classic recordings like Wynonie's Blues, Somebody Changed the Lock on My Door, In the Evenin' Blues, Mr. Blues Jumped the Rabbit, and the two-part Battle of the Blues with Big Joe Turner. Other recordings reissued in this set include: Good Morning Mr. Blues, Good Rockin' Tonight (his version eclipsed Roy Brown's original), Grandma Plays the Numbers, I Feel That Old Age Coming On, I Like My Baby's Pudding, Rock Mr. Blues, and Good Morning Judge (a version of a country hit). 

Harris was accompanied by bands that included some of the finest jazz players of the postwar era. Among the accompanists are Howard McGhee, Teddy Edwards, Illinois Jacquet, Charles Mingus, Jack McVea, Gene Phillips, Arnett Cobb, and Milt Buckner. Sun Ra is credited as pianist on the four sides recorded for Bullett in Nashville in March/April 1946. Other notable musicians who played on his recordings include Tab Smith, Bill Doggett, Hot Lips Page, Hal Cornbread Singer, Tom Archia, Buddy Tate, Sonny Thompson, and Cat Anderson. This is quite a roster of musicians, and they provide Harris with terrific support. 

It has been over thirty years since Harris died, and, thus, he never was able to enjoy the type of career revival that Big Joe Turner enjoyed in the seventies and eighties. The level of the music on these is consistently first-rate. Wynonie Harris may have been a bit of a bragger when he called himself Mr. Blues, but few shouted the blues with the power and skill that he did. 

I purchased this. I wrote this review in mid-2001, and it likely appeared in the DC Blues Society newsletter at the time. I do not know if it still is in print, but it should be available on Amazon, eBay, and other sources. Here is his classic rendition of "Good Rockin' Tonight."

Percy Mayfield Lost Love: The Singles As & Bs 1947-1962

Percy Mayfield
Lost Love: The Singles As & Bs 1947-1962
Jasmine (UK)

Another English public domain reissue of vintage rhythm and blues brings us Percy Mayfield's first 27 singles (whether 78s or 45s) and a previously unissued couple of tracks. While Mayfield's Specialty recordings were subject of classic reissues some time ago, they may hard to find. Furthermore, here are his recordings for Gru-Tone and Supreme that predate his joining Specialty, and also are recordings Checker, Cash, Imperial, 7 Arts, and Tangerine.

The album opens with the two part jump and jive "Jack You Ain't Nowhere," and then his first recording of "Two Years of Torture," both with an unidentified band although his vocal is under-recorded on the latter two. When he signed with Supreme he had a pair of singles including a remake of "Two Years of Torture," with a band that included Maxwell Davis, Marshall Royal, and Chuck Norris and much better recorded presaging the time with Specialty. His first record for Specialty, with a band that included Maxwell Davis as well as Jack McVea, Gene Phillips, Red Callender and Lee Young, had the classics "Please Send Me Someone To Love," and "Strange Things Happening." So many classics are here including "Lost Love (Baby Please Come Back to Me)," "The Hunt Is One," "The River's Invitation," "The Bachelor Blues," "My Heart Is Crying," with Maxwell Davis being a constant on these. Besides his tenor saxophonist, I suspect Davis was responsible for the arrangements and leading the studio band.

 While Davis is not present on the recordings for Cash and Checker, those sides produced gems like "No.43 (My Story About A Woman)," with a choice Fred Clark tenor saxophone solo, and the moody "The Bluest Blues." "Please Believe Me" is an unusual ballad recording with a sweeter sound than earlier selections, while he produced a urban blues gem "My Heart is a Prisoner," with the guitar more prominent in the backing along with some tough tenor sax. One of his last Specialty singles was the jazzy cocktail ballad, "When Did You Leave Heaven" while for 7 Arts he recorded "Ha Ha In The Daytime, Boo Hoo At Night," a tune he would remake a bit more emphatically later. A Tangerine coupling included Ray Charles, Hank Crawford, Teddy Edwards and Chuck Norris include the hard swinging big band groove of "Never No More," which would also be on his LPs that he recorded for Ray Charles' label. Mayfield would continue to make strong music beyond the singles documented here including albums for Brunswick and RCA Victor along with a single for Atlantic.

Besides one of the great songwriters of the blues leading him to be called "The Poet Laureate of the Blues," Percy Mayfield was a suave, sophisticated singer and a major touring attraction until his face was heavily disfigured in an automobile accident. While his career as a star was over, the music here shows that his music remained original and distinctive. Some of the material (the non-Specialty recordings) on this is rare and even those having the Specialty reissues might want this to fill-in gaps in their collection of his recordings. There is a discography of the songs here and astute notes from Dave Penny. For those not having much by him, this does present the core of his recorded legacy.

I purchased this. Here is a later recording than that on this collection of "The River's Invitation."