Personnel: Gene Phillips (vocals, guitar); Pee Wee Wiley, Cee Pee Johnson (vocals); Tiny Webb, Lefty Bates (guitar); Julian Dash, Paul Bascomb, W. Johnson (saxophone); Walter Cox (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Paul Williams (alto saxophone, baritone saxophone); David Graham, Marshall Royal (alto saxophone); Jim Wynn (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Clifford Scott, Eddie Chamblee, Freddie Simon, Dickie G. Davis, Johnny Griffin, Big Jay McNeely, Buddy Banks (tenor saxophone); Bob McNeely, Ernie Sheppard, Gene Porter, Bill McLemore (baritone saxophone); Erskine Hawkins, Stanley Casey, John Anderson , J. Harris, Joe Morris , Sammy Lowe (trumpet); Matthew Gee (trombone); Jimmie O'Brien, Elmo Hope, Fletcher Smith, Earl Knight, James Craig, Jay McShann, Lloyd Glenn, Sonny Thompson , T.J. Fowler, Avery Parrish, Teddy Buckner (piano); Chuck Williams, Clarence Stamp, Bill Street, Leonard "Tight" Hardiman, Robert Sims, Philly Joe Jones, Jim Morrison , Buddy Smith, Jesse Sailes (drums).
Liner Note Author: Neil Slaven.
Recording information: Chicago, IL (06/10/1940-04/??/1949); Detroit, MI (06/10/1940-04/??/1949); Los Angeles, CA (06/10/1940-04/??/1949); New York, NY (06/10/1940-04/??/1949).
Here are 20 tracks of pure honking, shouting, bar walking, burning Kansas City blues and R&B from the great bandleaders of the late 1940s and early '50s. Big Jay McNeely, Joe Morris, Jay McShann, Buddy Banks, Eddie Chamblee and Cee Pee Johnson are here, just to name a few. The sound on this bad boy is more than adequate and the music is pure intense hedonism form a golden era in jazz that is not represented as well as it should be on compact disc. Acrobat does a fine job with sequencing, representation and track by track info. This is one not to miss. ~ Thom Jurek
