Time: 44:28
Size: 101.8 MB
Styles: Chicago blues, R&B
Year: 1989/2009
Art: Front
[2:58] 1. Little Papa Joe - Moaning Blues (Groan My Blues Away)
[3:13] 2. Little Papa Joe - What A Fool I've Been (I Feel So All Alone)
[2:47] 3. Little Papa Joe - Easy Lovin'
[2:38] 4. Little Papa Joe - Looking For My Baby
[3:06] 5. L.C. Mckinley - Rosalie Blues
[2:54] 6. L.C. Mckinley - All Alone Blues
[3:10] 7. Curtis Jones - Wrong Blues
[2:54] 8. Curtis Jones - Cool Playing Blues
[2:47] 9. St. Louis Jimmy - Murder In The First Degree
[2:57] 10. St. Louis Jimmy - Going Down Slow
[2:37] 11. Jo-Jo Adams - Call My Baby
[2:47] 12. Jo-Jo Adams - Rebecca
[3:35] 13. Nature Boy Brown - I'm Wise
[2:57] 14. Nature Boy Brown - Lookout
[3:01] 15. Nature Boy Brown - Blue Blues Boogie
The 15 songs on this compilation were left behind by Parrot Records' Al Benson, all cut during the mid-1950s. The music could have passed muster at Parrot's better-known Chicago rival Chess -- Jody Williams may have been Parrot's answer to Muddy Waters (Willie Dixon is even playing the bass), although his style was closer to an amalgam of B.B. King and T-Bone Walker. In addition to some established sides, this CD features one outtake, "Groan My Blues Away," his only known workout on slide guitar. Guitarist L.C. McKinley ("All Alone Blues" -- worth it for the guitar-sax duet on the break) and pianist Curtis Jones are also featured in numbers cut under their respective names, and St. Louis Jimmy Oden has two tracks represented here, backed by the Red Saunders Band, including a sultry version of his classic "Goin' Down Slow." This and "Murder In the First Degree" are among the very last sides Oden is known to have recorded. Three obscure tracks by John T. "Nature Boy" Brown, a saxman and singer, close this extraordinary collection of little-known Chicago blues, which should impress any fan of Chess or Cobra Records (indeed, Parrot had a stronger roster than Cobra, based on what we hear here). The sound quality is generally very good, the only signifcant surface noise from a non-tape source coming up on the Oden sides, which still sound clean and very listenable. ~Bruce Eder
Cool Playing Blues Chicago Style mc
Cool Playing Blues Chicago Style zippy
