Sunday Morning Blues - Big Joe Turner, Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, T-Bone Walker, Jimmy Witherspoon

And we continue on, nearing the end of this adventure with Volumes 45 and 46...

Big Joe Turner
Joseph Vernon Turner, called Big Joe due to his stature of 6'3, was an early blues shouter. Starting in Kansas City in the 1920s and through the 30s, making a few recordings there. He moved to Los Angeles in 1939 and signed with several record companies through the 1940s, not producing many hits but still charting high enough to continue. It was the 1950s, as many bluesmen were seeing a decline, that Big Joe scored a few hits on the R&B charts. Though he did not stick to strictly blues music during that time. He returned to the blues in the mid 1960s, getting a few more hits. And continued on until his death in 1985.

Shouters had to sing over the band without the benefit of a microphone, as such early vocalists had powerful voices, and bands were fairly stripped down affairs. All of which are present here in this collection of earlier recordings.

Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
Called Cleanhead after his hair was ruin in an accident involving lye-tainted hair product. Born in Texas, he learned the saxophone and moved to New York. Eddie oscillated between blues and jazz freely and constantly. An important figure in the music scene of both, he's not quite a true bluesman in the sense most artists in this box set are. He gained some popularity when he moved to Los Angeles in the 50s, and again during the 70s when playing a jazz festival with Johnny Otis.

As expected from an artist who was in both Blues and Jazz, the selections here are heavily mixed with the two. I find his inclusion here a little odd, as comprehensive as the box set is, Eddie Vinson would be better placed in a jazz retrospective with the blues highlights and not a full blues set like this. Still, this is good clean saxophone and entirely enjoyable to listen to.

T-Bone Walker
Aaron Thibeaux Walker, one of the more influential and key bluesmen in history. Born in Dallas he left school by ten to perform with his family, and made his first recording by nineteen. While a multi-instrumentalist it was his guitar he was famous for. He was also the first blues artist to record using an electric guitar, pioneering electric blues, and jump blues, both with his style. While his career slowed down over time, his influence never slacked and the critics, at least, felt his output was consistently good.

A good collection of hits, some early recordings, and lesser known songs. It's not too hard to showcase T-Bone's guitar, and the set here does manage to push a little further into his other instrumentation. But not very far, it's still predominately electric blues guitar.

Jimmy Witherspoon
Originally from Arkansas, Jimmy's career didn't really start up until radio play to soldiers in World War 2 heard him playing with a band in Calcutta, India. He gained some success in the late 1940s, primarily as a Jump Blues singer, and maintained a career through the waning 50s. He continued to record and tour during the fifties and sixties, and enjoyed a minor resurgence in the 1970s.

Jimmy's jump blues, at least as presented here, is full of jazz rhythms, almost more so than blues rhythms. While still a good selection with a decent number of hits and some more obscure tracks, it's similar to Eddie Vinson's selection - being as much non-blues as it is blues.