Search - Jimmy Rogers :: Chicago Bound

****1/2. Jimmy Rogers' finest hour

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 02/08/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Well, you have to pay import price for it, but the very best introduction to singer/guitarist Jimmy Rogers is finally back in print.



The last surviving member of the original Muddy Waters band, Rogers died in 1997, just before the release of the enjoyable "Blues, Blues, Blues" which included re-recordings of several of his best songs. But this 1976 album remains the best collection of Jimmy Rogers' classic Chess sides, and the list of sidemen reads like a who's who of 50s Chicago blues:

Muddy Waters, Fred Below, Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, Little Walter, and of course Big Walter Horton, whose reputation as the eternally unequalled King of the blues harmonica is only enforced by his mind-altering 24-bar solo on "Walking By Myself".



Almost all of Jimmy Rogers' best Chess sides are here: the driving "Sloppy Drunk", a killer track which joins a long list of great blues numbers concerning the inebriated. The oft-covered "That's All Right" (nothing to do with the Arthur Crudup-song that Elvis covered). The easy, loping shuffle "Luedella". The swaggering "You're The One". And of course the aforementioned hit single "Walking My Myself" (based on a T-Bone Walker song called "Why Not", and covered by Gary Moore, Johnny Winter and several others).

Jimmy Rogers was a fine singer, somewhat more laid-back than Muddy or Elmore James or the Wolf, and here he is backed by some of the best musicians the blues had to offer...several sides benefit enormously from the exquisite harmonica playing by one or the other Walter, and Rogers himself plays a couple of excellent single-string solos.

This is one tremendous slab of 50s blues, one which should not be missing from any blues lover's collection."

Pricy but nigh-essential! Criminally over-looked it seems...

Campbell Roark | from under the floorboards and through the woods.. | 02/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"14 songs for 25 bucks? Huh? Is it worth it? Is this rerelease a true blues classic or just mainly over-priced filler?



It's beyond worth it. This is the cream and the butta, ladies and germs. Rogers (a guitarist's bluesman, every note is choice) was usually in the shadows of the vocalists with whom he worked. NOT HERE. Damn. These 14 tracks are bar none the best of Rogers early 50's output. The cornerstone of a Rogers collection and best (albeit most expensive) introduction to this particular bluesman.



The players are all the Chess badasses we know and love: Otis Spann on piano. Fred below on drums and Willie Dixon on bass. Blue Ribbon sidemen who feel locked into elemental blues. Every song has all the intensity and precision one could ask for. Nothing ostentatious. Not a note is wasted in the solos. I couldn't believe how jaw-droppingly good this is. I couldn't believe no one had told me. Even bandleader and blues-demigod Muddy waters slings on a guitar for a couple of tracks...



Then there's the matter of harmonica: Harp-wise, this is So. Unbelievably. Under-appreciated. Little Walter and Big Walter Horton, what they play on these tunes could do to your speakers what the country yodelling does to the Martian Brains in Mars Attacks! Unassailable.



Honestly people, this is one of the best (and possibly my favorite) Chess Blues rereleases, and that is saying something. I acn't begin to say enough about this. Track a copy down. and then dig up some more by Rogers. The posthumous album 'Blues, Blues, Blues,' features him working alongside Taj Mahal, Jimmy page and Robert Plant, Mick and Keith (you know who), Clapton, Stephen stills, Lonnie Johnson, carey bell, and Jeff Healey, among others. The import CD "That's Alright" also has some grand stuff (24 tracks no less), as does the Chess Bluesmasters" album devoted to Rogers... Jump in!"

Why is this CD out of print?!

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 08/26/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How is it possible that this album is out of print? This 1976 album is the best collection of Jimmy Rogers' classic Chess sides, and the list of sidemen reads like a who's who of 50s Chicago blues:

Muddy Waters, Fred Below, Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, Little Walter, and of course Big Walter Horton, whose reputation as the eternally unequalled King of the blues harmonica is only enforced by his mind-altering 24-bar solo on "Walking By Myself".



Almost all of Jimmy Rogers' best Chess sides are here: the driving "Sloppy Drunk", a killer track which joins a long list of great blues numbers concerning the inebriated. The oft-covered "That's All Right" (nothing to do with the Arthur Crudup-song that Elvis covered). The easy, loping shuffle "Luedella". The swaggering "You're The One". And of course the aforementioned hit single "Walking My Myself" (based on a T-Bone Walker song called "Why Not", and covered by Gary Moore, Johnny Winter and several others).

Jimmy Rogers was a fine singer, somewhat more laid-back than Muddy or Elmore James or the Wolf, and here he is backed by some of the best musicians the blues had to offer...several sides benefit enormously from the exquisite harmonica playing by one or the other Walter, and Rogers himself plays a couple of excellent single-string solos.



You can get most (not all) of this material on MCA's current Jimmy Rogers-compilation "His Best". But this CD was just so good...!"