Callin' the Blues [Vinyl]

Tiny Grimes | Format: Vinyl

Product Details

• Vinyl (October 21, 1994)
• Label: Ojc
• ASIN: B000000YAN
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,440,077 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Callin' the Blues

2. Blue Tiny

3. Grimes' Times

4. Air Mail Special

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nothin' Tiny 'Bout "Callin' the Blues", November 16, 2008

By 

Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Callin the Blues (Audio CD)

Tiny Grimes' 1958 jam session "Callin' The Blues" was a real find. For those of you who don't know this guitarist (I sure didn't when I saw this in the cut-out bin), he was best known in the 40s as a big band player and sometimes leader, and he was given new life in the late 50s with a few records for Prestige and Swingville. Joining Tiny in "Callin' The Blues" are fellow swing era players trombonist J.C. Higginbotham, drummer Osie Johnson and bassist Wendell Marshall, along with pianist Ray Bryant and tenor saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, who both went on to even more successful careers with Prestige. Interested parties should call the blues soon as this disc's going out-of-print.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Swing Blues Classic, April 18, 2011

By 

Mike Flowerday "Bassdaddy" (England, UK) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Callin the Blues (Audio CD)

I've only recently sourced a CD copy of this album, having had the vinyl version (on the old UK "Esquire" imprint) for nearly 50 years. It remains a rare classic, and possibly the best "let-it-all-hang-out" recording that four-string guitar specialist Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes ever made. Recorded by Prestige in the late 50s, and with their characteristic echoing reverb much in evidence (had the engineers been listening to too many Gene Vincent 45s?), the album consists of only four long tracks, three of them straight blues, and the other a swing era riff piece.

Tiny is partnered here with an old stager in the shape of trombonist J C Higginbotham, who gets well into the prevailing blues groove with some pithy and swinging brass lines and never lets up. The somewhat more youthful Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis is the other horn, and plays out of his skin, with that bop-inflected swing attack and a great repertoire of blustering bluesy licks. His dramatic solo on the slow 12 bar "Blue Tiny" is worth the entry charge on its own. Ray Bryant on piano is miked up well, and contributes some beautiful playing, both in ensembles and in some excellent solo passages.

The rhythm section is what was something of a house duo at Prestige at the time, Wendell Marshall and Osie Johnson, and they play with direct energy and unfailing swing.

The leader is on great form. Very much a throwback to the late swing era and the jump blues years in his foursquare approach to phrasing, he fires off one attacking fleet guitar line after another, and in this period when many jazz artists were being encouraged to do exclusively blues-based albums (vide Herb Ellis, Sonny Stitt, &c) Tiny runs away with some kind of prize for one of the best efforts of the lot.

Fifty-odd years down the road, still a five-star jazz/blues album, and still a very rewarding listen.

5.0 out of 5 stars New bettered, in 55 years, December 4, 2011

By 

Lawrence Blackmore "LJB" (Monaco) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Callin the Blues (Audio CD)

My uncle worked for Esquire records back in the 50's and he got hold of the original hard LP version, which I first heard at that time when I was about 9. It has been with me ever since, through the vinyl issue and then CD. For me it is about as good a jam jazz/blues gets (maybe Gerry Mulligan comes equal?), and Blue Tiny is nothing short of magical.

All the players come together superbly, but the highlight is Lockjaw's sax lead on Blue Tiny. The raw emotion he gets into the final bars of his performance is hair tingling.

Give it a go - you won't regret it.