VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Bluesville Years, Volume 12 (Prestige)
Reviewed by Eric Steiner

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I'm a big of fan of CD samplers, particularly of blues samplers. For blues fans, there are few CD collections out there that match The Bluesville Years, which chronicles the great 1950's Prestige Records catalogue. With Jump, Jumpin' The Blues, this 12th volume shows the gold that was mined by jazz enthusiast Bob Weinstock and his cohorts at Prestige. K.C. Douglas opens the set with "You've Got A Good Thing Now" and it's followed by a Sonny Terry doing "My Baby Done Gone" and "High Powered Woman." There's Memphis Slim blistering on a great "Frankie and Johnny Boogie," and Lightnin' Hopkins looking for some wine in "Wine Spodee-O-Dee," done up right just My favorites include Willie Dixon along with Memphis Slim on "Don't You Tell Nobody" and Billy Boy Arnold's "You Better Cut That Out." This collection has a great balance between guitar and keyboard blues, and whether you're into Homesick James or Sunnyland Slim, Jump Jumpin' The Blues has something fine. I'm not crazy about Jimmy Witherspoon's cuts here (they're too jazzy for this disc, in my opinion), but there's more than enough good stuff on Jump, Jumpin' The Blues for jazz and blues fans alike.

Track List:

You Got A Good Thing Now/K.C. Douglas * My Baby Done Gone/Sonny Terry * High Powered Woman/Sonny Terry * Good Potatoes/Memphis Willie B. * Wine Spodee-O-Dee/Lightin' Hopkins * Frankie and Johnny Boogie/Memphis Slim * Don't You Tell Nobody/Willie Dixon with Memphis Slim * Santa Fe/Little Brother Montgomery * Get Out of Here/Billy Boy Arnold * You Better Cut That Out/Billy Boy Arnold * Working With Homesick/Homesick James * Lightnin'/Otis Spann and James Cotton * It Won't Happen Again/Shakey Jake * Runnin' the Boogie/Roosevelt Sykes * Hey Big Momma/Roosevelt Sykes * Good Time Special/Curtis Jones * One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer/Jimmy Witherspoon * Kansas City/Jimmy Witherspoon * Drinking Beer/Jimmy Witherspoon * I'm Free/Mildred Anderson * Cool Kind of Poppa/Mildred Anderson * Slim's Shout/Sunnyland Silm

© 2000 - Eric Steiner