Customer Reviews

Slim Gaillard Rides Again

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One of Slim's best, and great to have it on CD, as I've almost worn out the last vinyl reissue on MCA. Terrific guitar playing, and yes, he even played Count Basie piano with the backs of his hands...and wrote songs in about eight languages. I'd recommend buying the "Opera in Vout" compilation, as well as all the live "Hep" material as well. I met him in 1989, and reminded him of one of my favorite records of his. "Oh yeah...Yep Roc Heresy o-roonie," he said...

It's here!!! Finally, the least-hyped record in Slim's canon makes it to CD in a classy lp-style repackage. THIS IS THE RECORD with Slim's UNBELIEVABLE version of "How High the Moon," in which our hero abandons all pretense to the original lyrics by the 4th bar of the tune!

Slim's music is always swingin' and spot-on, and this record is no exception, but it's in the SINGING that this one takes the cake! Slim relies less on Vout (as the language that consists of suffixes like "o'rooney," "o'reenie-moe," "vounty," "vouty," and sundry others is known) here than he does on a whacked-out mind.

Slim's "How High The Moon" is a MASTERPIECE, and it does not seem outlandish to say that with few exceptions, very little of his previously-easily-available output can truly compare. His off-the-cuff lyrical improvisations are genuinely the product of a bent mind, especially on this tune, where Slim's surreal tour of the solar system predates Jimi Hendrix' "The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice" by 8 years!

Slim's vocal impression of Billy Eckstine on "Ghost of a Chance" is sublime.
Slim's imitation of the Basie piano style is evident on "Slim's Cee," as it is in the more readily available "Opera in Vout" on the Verve disc.

I had this on VINYL (if you can dig that) and have lamented for years it's unavailability on CD.
Now, I can die peacefully.

"To Slim Gaillard, the world was one big 'o'roonie.'"

--Jack Kerouac, On The Road

This man is truly funny and so real. His silly sense of humor with a little vout (jazz babble) produces great new versions of these classic song selections. (Where does a grown man get the balls to sing Chicken Rhythm??) He shines when he reaches way down for that startlingly smooth and velvety deep voice. Thunderbird, go, go, go!!!

slim was the best!!! the police would come knocking at the door every fri nite cause we were blasting "chicken rhythm" out my bleeker st window. you could catch slim MCing the weekend central park summer concerts back then. he would throw the conga in the air & play it on the way down...& dont miss his "guest" appearance in the harlem globe trotters film "go man go". hes the cat playing the piano with his hands upside down. and how about the steve allen, al jazzbo collins LP where slim repeats all of allens "bop fairy tales" in spanish. hey i loved slim...he was the best. get this CD...& ride it again & again! it might be his best! PS,i wore out my LP too.