Jimmy Rushing - I Want A Little Girl

 
Side 1:
01. My Baby's Business
02. Jimmy's Round The Clock Blues
03. Thursday Blues
04. Good Mornin' Blues
05. I've Got To Have You That's All
06. I Want A Little Girl
07. I'm So Lonely
08. Go Get Some More You Fool

Side 2:
01. Hi-Ho-Sylvester
02. The Way I Feel
03. In The Moonlight
04. She's Mine, She's Yours
05. Where Were You?
06. Somebody's Spoiling These Women
07. My Last Affair
08. Baby, Don't Tell On Me

I Want A Little Girl (Mega)

I Want A Little Girl (Zippy)

Jimmy Rushing was the first of the great male blues shouters and a big influence on all who followed in his footsteps, from Joe Turner to Wynonie Harris, from Jimmy Witherspoon to Gatemouth Moore.

He is associated with the roaring Kansas City big blues bands, starting with Walter Page's Blue Devils in the late 1920's and then of course with Bennie Moten and Count Basie. None of the sides on this compilation are with the Basie band (officially), although the first six tracks were recorded while Jimmy was still a member of the Basie outfit. "My Baby's Business" and Jimmy's Round The Clock Blues" were recorded at a Johnny Otis session in LA in 1945 for Excelsior. A year later Jimmy again recorded for Excelsior (tracks 3-6) with the backing band, which consisted mostly of Count Basie band members, going under Jimmy Mundy's name.

The Count Basie band broke up in 1950 and Jimmy kept going with a small group which often featured Dickie Wells, Buddy Tate and Walter Page. He recorded a couple of singles for Gotham in 1950 (not included) and then in 1951 - 1952 four singles for King Records. All of the King sides are on this comp. The remaining two sides here were released as a single on Okeh in 1957 by which time Jimmy was well established in the jazz LP market with releases on Vanguard and Columbia. A single recorded for Parrot in Chicago (Mr 5 x 5) in 1953 with the Frank Culley band is not included.

Full recording details are on the back cover along with an excellent essay by Alun Morgan. I hope you enjoy these sides aimed at the Race Records / R&B market rather than the jazz audience which sustained Jimmy's career through the second half of the 1950's, the 1960's and the early 1970's.

A belated Happy New Year to all followers of Be Bop Wino. We'll be rockin' through 2019!