Customer Reviews

Good Time Tonight

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this because I am a big fan of Washboard Sam, and I found out that he had a half brother, Big Bill Broonzy. Well Washboard Sam and Broonzy's music is almsot the same sounding, both are good time blues singers, who really have a hard driving style, however Broonzy plays guitar and Sam plays washboard, other then that they have similar voices, that rock gently and roll with rhythm!

This cd is exellent and Big Bill sounds like he's ready to party. If you like this you should also check out any of Washboard Sam's recordings, he also recorded with small blues swing combos like the one Broonzy plays with here. Also they made a number of recordings together that can be found on the out of print cd of Washboard Sam called Rockin' My Blues away!

This is a real fun cd full of VERY EARLY r&b/jump blues, which at the time didn't have a "style name" other then good time music.

These are blues, with Big Bill's strong and appealing voice, and his shuffle guitar style, backed with usually washboard, and a few horns and a tight rhythm section. These recording from the mid to late 30's arre essential early pioneering blues, that would later influence r&b and rock'n'roll. Essential music, to play wheneber good times are in mind...

Big Bill Broonzy is a legendary bluesman, who not only is a great blues shouter and guitarist, but a pioneering artist who was singing r&b long before the term had ever been coined. Broonzy's brand of hard swingin' blues, not only swing, but at times rocked with hsi hard driving guitar and wailin' vocals, often backed by a horn or two, with heated swing combos.

Broonzy and his rockin' blues combos are featured on this cd very well, and his 30's recordings are highlighted here, and this cd should be acquired by all serious blues fans as well as r&b fans, and all those who want some good time party blues.

"Good Time Tonight" is not a career-spanning Big Bill Broonzy-compilation, and it doesn't claim to be, either.

What it is is a fine collection of some of Big Bill's best thirties waxings for ARC, Vocalion and Columbia, including the classic "I Can't Be Satisfied", and "Worrying You Off My Mind".
Modern sound restortion techniques have worked wonders on these seventy-year old recordings, and "Good Time Tonight" shows Big Bill Broonzy in different guises: As a solo performer, working as a duet with pianist "Blind" John Davis, and as the leader of a band which includes (at various times) bassist Ransom Knowling, clarinettist Odell Rand, saxists Bill Osborn and Joseph "Buster" Bennett, pianist Joshua Altheimer, trumpet player Ernest "Punch" Miller, and several others.

Most of Broonzy's blues were mid- or up-tempo numbers, often quite dance-friendly, but he and his strong, fluid guitar playing were equally great no matter what kind of material he performed.
The many highlights on this fine album includes "I Can't Be Satisfied" (a Broonzy original that became the basis for Muddy Waters' first hit), the jazzy "Horny Frog" and "Good Time Tonight", the swinging country blues "Goin' Back To Arkansas", the tounge-in-cheek "I Want My Hands On It", and "It's A Low Down Dirty Shame", which features the electric lead guitar of amplifying pioneer George Barnes.
But everything here is worth a listen. Big Bill Broonzy was one of the greatest and most influential bluesmen of the thirties, and this is an excellent collection.
4 1/2 stars.