Finally the complete recordings Rushing did for Vanguard...
a | 06/20/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This excellent CD Jimmy Rushing & Friends "Oh Love" contains 12 of the 24 sides Mr. Five By Five recorded for his 3 vangaurd LP's in the mid to late 50's, before he switched to Columbia Records. These sides are some of the best of his entire career. Here Rushing is featured with some all star jazzmen including boogie woogie pianist Pete Johnson, he gives his backup musicians plenty of solos time. A couple of highlights from this session are "Boogie Woogie," "I Want A Little Girl," "Pennies From heaven" and "Dinah." To make this set complete however you must also purchase Jimmy Rushing & Friends "Everyday" which features the other 12 songs missing from this CD."
* Luminous, Majestic, and Low-Down Blue; Rushing's Greatest
Jasper | New England | 01/25/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is the perfect divine mixture of blues and jazz soul; crystalline, multifaceted, and sublime. Chicken-shack rhythm and Chicago swagger. Heart and sophistication in equal measure. Passion and control, divided perfectly. Through the dusky lens of time, this gem emerges, as immediate, visceral, and gleaming as the day it was recorded. Rushing and cohorts manage to recall the entire birth of jazz and the blues, from way down on the Mississippi Delta, to Memphis, to the Texas hill country, up through Kansas City, Chicago and New York City.
Along with Jimmy Rushing's 30s & 40s work with the Count Basie Orchestra, these Vanguard sessions, including the companion CD "Every Day," are THE essential Jimmy Rushing recordings. THIS WAS HIS PEAK.
Equally bluesy, majestic, and elegant, these recordings contain not only the jazz sophistication of a John Hammond session, but also the insurmountable blues power of this perfectly plucked contingency of musicians. It is amazing how big these musicians can sound. When they swing down on the top of the verse, it's as though they've cracked open the entire history of the blues and it is pouring forth like the buttery yolk of an egg. When Jimmy Rushing comes looming over this mountain of sound, and wails his ancient plea, "How Long? How long, has that evenin' train been gone?" You will be transported.
We have giant, majestic blues grooves where not a high hat hiss, nor a trumpet phrase is imperfect, we have up-tempo boogie woogie that jumps effortlessly...profoundly, and we have glorious, pure, sparkling jazz of this timeless golden era. Magic.
TRACKS 6,7 & 10 - "If This Ain't The Blues" LP, 1956
Emmett Berry: trumpet
Vic Disckenson: trombone
Buddy Tate: tenor sax
Roy Gaines: guitar (pretty fantastic, ads that real blues flavour)
Aaron Bell: bass
Marlowe Morris: organ
Charlie Johnson: piano
Jo Jones: drums
TRACKS: 1-3, 5, 11 & 12 - "Goin' To Chicago" LP, 1958
Henderson Chambers: trombone
P. Jenkins: trumpet
B. Richardson: clarinet
Buddy Tate: tenor sax
Walter Page: bass
Jo Jones: drums
Sam Price: piano
(Track four, from 1956's "Listen To The Blues" LP, features some players from both of these sessions, and some additional players.)
This is an amazing disc and, I recommend it to you with the utmost conviction.
Enjoy."