ACE CANNON
Best Of - The Hi Records Years (Hi Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

---

Audiences who turned out for shows by Bill Black's Combo could easily be forgiven for their frequent belief that the saxman who fronted the shows was Bill Black himself. After 1962, bassist Black wasn't even there, having retired early from the touring grind. Besides, that sax sound was central to the Bill Black formula.

It was, of course, Ace Cannon who provided the blueprint for the sax sound that helped define Black's jukebox boogie sound. One of the definitive pioneers of Memphis rock, Cannon's recording career began in 1957, and as a member of Black's Combo or as the leader of his own band, he helped keep the jukebox market for instrumental arrangements of rock, pop and country standards tied up for a decade.

Listening to these tracks today summons up memories of the stereotypical "rock 'n roll" movie soundtracks or the soda shoppe scenes of countless TV shows. There wasn't any artistic pretense to the sound - it almost skeletal in its simplicity - but it provided everything a roomful of dancers could ask for. Cannon's work under his own name was likely to be a bit blusier than the Black sound, but his sax was so instrumental to each that the distinctions easily blur.

As the jukebox market faded, Hi Records would change direction, eventually becoming the proving ground for another Memphis legend, soul singer Al Green. This is a fine introduction to that earlier time in the label's history, though, and of a particular sound that will be forever associated with a particular time.

Track List:

Tuff * Sittin' Back * Looking Back * Kansas City * Empty Arms * The Prisoner's Song * Cottonfields * Sunday Blues * Searchin' * Blues Stay Away From Me * Heartbreak Hotel * I Walk The Line * Funny (How The Time Slips Away) * Soul For Sale * Memory * Moanin' * If I Had A Hammer * Drunk

© 2001 - Shaun Dale