Search - Jimmy Rushing :: Cat Meets Chick / Jazz Odyssey James Rushing Esq

* Two 1950s Era Rushing LPs *

Jasper | New England | 01/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Jimmy Rushing made some amazing music in the 1950s...music to rival and even surpass some of his 30s & 40s work with Count Basie. Here we have two 50s LPs on one cd; "Cat Meets Chick: A Story In Jazz" from 1956, and "The Jazz Odyssey of James Rushing Esq.," from the same year. Both LPs featured Buck Clayton and his band, and "Cat Meets Chick" features vocalist Ada Moore on several numbers. "Cat Meets Chick" is an interesting if largely disjointed experiment in which Buck Clayton and Jimmy Rushing are proposed to be competing for the affections of Ada Moore. This is an interesting premise, but not much of a compelling narrative emerges, and the listener is left wanting for a more cohesive listening experience. While "Cat Meets Chick" is by no means bad, it is a bit disorienting, and not nearly as effectively executed as the narrative of the latter LP in this set. "Jazz Odyssey" again features Clayton's band, but this time every track is a Jimmy Rushing vocal number, and the narrative is much simpler and more enjoyable. Buck Clayton's band shape-shifts as Mister Five-By-Five takes us on a guided tour of every major era and locale of jazz music up to that point. Of course we begin in New Orleans, and a special treat is Rushing's first recorded piano spot, featuring Jimmy singing and playing a bawdy tune which his uncle (who inspired Jimmy by bringing home fistfuls of cash from playing in "sporting houses") had taught him. As the recording proceeds, we travel with Jimmy through Kansas City, Chicago, and New York, and the Clayton band does a great job recreating the sounds of each place and time. "Jazz Odyssey" is one of the LPs that Will Friedwald, in his book "Jazz Singing" recommends as being cause for Edison to have built the phonograph, and it's a charming set for sure.



Whilst Jimmy's artistry in the 1950s is best represented on his John Hammond produced Vanguard sides (available on the cds "Every Day" and "Oh Love"), Rushing fans will eventually want to pick up this set, along with "Rushing Lullabies/Little Jimmy Rushing and the Big Brass."



Happy listening."