CD1
1-10: ‘Goin’ To Kansas City Blues’
1. Jumpin’ The Blues
2. Until The Real Thing Comes Along
3. Hootie Blues
4. Rain Is Such A Lonesome Sound
5. Confessin’ The Blues
6. Piney Brown Blues
7. Froggy Bottom
8. Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You
9. Blue Monday Blues
10. Ooo Wee, Then The Lights Go Out
11-21: ‘Witherspoon Mulligan Webster At The Renaissance’
11. Introduction
12. Time’s Gettin’ Tougher Than Tough
13. How Long
14. Corina-Corina
15. C. C. Rider
16. Roll ‘Em Pete
17. Every Day
18. Outskirts Of Town
19. Goin’ To Kansas City
20. Trouble In Mind
21. St. Louis Blues
22. Failing By Degrees from Modern Label Singles
23. New Orleans Woman from Modern Label Singles
24. Drinkin’ Beer from Modern Label Singles
CD2
1-5: ‘Jimmy Witherspoon At Monterey’
1. No Rollin’ Blues
2. Good Rockin’ Tonight
3. Big Fine Girl
4. T’Ain’t Nobody’s Business
5. When I Been Drinkin’
6-13: ‘In Person (Olympia Concert)’
6. I’ll Always Be In Love With You
7. Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You
8. See See Rider
9. I Make A Lot Of Money
10. Blowin’ The Blues
11. ‘Tain’t Nobody’s Business
12. Everything You Do Is Wrong
13. Roll ‘Em Pete
14. Take Me Back Baby from Modern Label Singles
15. When I Had My Money from Modern Label Singles
16. Hard Workin’ Blues from Modern Label Singles
17. Better Love Next Time from Modern Label Singles
18. Don’t Ever Move A Woman Into Your House from Modern Label Singles
19. I’m Just A Ladies Man from Modern Label Singles
20. Once There Lived A Fool from Modern Label Singles
Jimmy Witherspoon with Roy Eldridge, Buck Clayton, Dicky Wells, Woody Herman, Earle Warren, Buddy Tate, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Gerry Mulligan, Earl
Hines, Jay McShann, Sir Charles Thompson, Jimmy Rowles, Leroy Vinnegar, Mel Lewis, Oliver Jackson and others
Recorded 1949-61
AVID AMSC1114
[2 CDs: 79:59 + 79:34]
Classic Witherspoon comes from Avid in a full-to-the-brim twofer full of canonic performances. The first album is Goin’ to Kansas City Blues,
recorded in 1957 with Jay McShann and his band. It reunited Spoon with his erstwhile leader, whose band he had joined in 1944 at the age of twenty-one. The
singer remained grateful to the pianist-leader for the rest of his life largely crediting him for making him as a band Blues singer. The band’s soloists
include JC Higginbotham, altoist Hilton Jefferson, tenor player Sheldon Powell – and there’s Kenny Burrell on guitar whom we sense more than hear. Emmett
Berry replaces Ray Copeland on four tracks. Whether punchy up-tempo or slow loping Kansas blues the band’s sonority is rich and supportive, anchored by a
fine springy (Gene Ramey and Mousey Alexander are in there) rhythm section led by the splendid McShann, with bluesy solo licks or more sophisticated
comping harmonies. Jefferson evokes Hodges, Higginbotham whether muted or open is an inventive marvel, Spoon authoritative and sometimes affecting. The
second LP on this first disc is ‘Witherspoon Mulligan Webster At The Renaissance’, recorded in 1959. The sound here is more distant on this live date.
Spoon’s claps and egging on of the soloists, Webster in particular, seems to encourage them and we’re treated to some characteristic soloing virtues from
both sax players, supported by Mel Lewis, Leroy Vinnegar (outstanding on Roll ‘Em Pete) and Jimmy Rowles. Spoon dusts down Time’s Gettin’ Tougher Than Tough with flair and characteristic brio.
‘
Jimmy Witherspoon At Monterey’ sees the singer teamed with Eldridge, Herman, Hawk, Webster, and the rhythm team of Earl Hines – no less - Vernon Alley and
Mel Lewis. The audience in October ’59 was in especially raucous form, and Spoon gets them going in masterly fashion. Highlights are legion but I would
cite Hines’ intro to and Webster’s beautifully delicate playing on Tain’t Nobody’s Business. Eldridge blows high, hard, and handsome on Big Fine Girl. The last LP is ‘In Person’, in other words the Olympia Concert in Paris in April 1961. I remember reading in Buck Clayton’s
autobiography that this European tour by his band, with Spoon, witnessed a spectacular falling out when Emmett Berry picked up his trumpet and tried to
brain Witherspoon with it. Before that happened – in Switzerland, from memory - the band recorded a fine swinging set in Paris. You generally knew what
you’d get with Spoon and the band plays well. Dickie Wells’s burry trombone tone is, as ever, inimitable, Clayton plays muted often, and Earle Warren takes
an excellent solo on I’ll Always Be In Love With You.
The remainder of Avid’s twofer is given over to singles Spoon made in 1949 and ’50 often with Buddy Floyd’s band. Some of these tracks are reminiscent of
Louis Jordan, only rougher, and some none-too-subtle; unusually Once There Lived A Fool is a ballad. Elsewhere you’ll find repertoire reprised in
different contexts with different bands.
I am a complete Spoon fan and love Kansas City probably as much as any when it comes to Jazz cities, so for me this is 160 minutes of delight. A small
caveat is that the sound can be a little variable in this release, but it didn’t impair enjoyment.
Jonathan Woolf
CD Reviews
AVID AMSC1114
