5.0 out of 5 stars
Spoon on Modern: Classic West Coast R&B, May 25, 2006
This review is from: 1950-1951 (Audio CD)
This is the third volume in the Classics series of Jimmy Witherspoon's complete recorded output in chronological order. It covers the years 1950-51, and all the sides were done originally for the Modern label.
Spoonie was a powerful blues shouter, though there was a plaintive touch to everything he sang, even the quickest of numbers. He is best on slow, downhome blues, where he milks the tunes emotionally for everything they're worth: HARD WORKIN' BLUES, the two-part I'M JUST WONDERIN', IT'S RAINING OUTSIDE, and THE WIND IS BLOWIN' (which charted out at #7) are good examples. Tenorsax man Ben Webster is featured prominently on one session, and I'M JUST A COUNTRY BOY from that date is a real standout. Other outstanding accompanists include altosax player Jackie Kelso (AIN'T NOBODY'S BUSINESS) and tenorman Maxwell Davis (I'M JUST WONDERIN'). A number of the selections seem to be recorded before live audiences, and they really get into Jimmy's vocals, which often lend themselves to just that sort of response anyway. If the blues is a call-and-response type of music, Witherspoon knows better than most how to elicit that response from the audience. Jimmy was a great blues singer out of the Big Joe Turner school of blues belters, and this CD continues the superb reissue series of his early work on Classics.
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