Born in the hot string jam sessions that filled Chicago night-life in the waning years of the Depression, the Four Blazes brought vitality and showmanship to the early years of rhythm &blues. In 1937 Jelly Holt and guitarist James Bennett were playing the street corners with a quintet called the Five Rhythm Rocketeers. One of the admiring passers-by was impresario Joe Glaser, who had just opened his new Grand Terrace Ballroom on East 35th and Calumet. Glaser brought the Rocketeers into the Ballroom for a long-term engagement, during which they played with and around Earl Hines, Valaida Snow, and dancer-composer Shelton Brooks.
When Glaser moved into the booking field, he set up a European tour for Earl Heins, and the Five Rhythm Rocketeers went along. Upon their return in 1938, the group decided to break up. Jelly holt stayed in the mainstream of Chicago night-life, working with small combos and associating with the cream of the musical crop. As a result, by 1940, the Four Blazes were born. With their firm foundation in the Chicago night-life of the 1930s, their part in the development of R&B in the 1940s, and their distinctive "Chicago style," the Four Blazes made an indispensable contribution to American music.
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Mary Jo Not Any More Tears Raggedy Ride Mood Indigo Perfect Woman My Great Love Affair Rug Cutter Lovin' Man All Night Long Never Start Living Snag The Britches Please Send Her Back To Me Night Train Ella Louise Stop Boogie Woogie My Hat's On The Side Of My Head Perfect Woman Do The Do Drunken Blues She Needs To Be Loved Women, Women Did You Ever See A Monkey Play A Fiddle Done Got Over Don't Loose You Cool |
The Blazes were journeymen musicians, who had played in and around the Chicago club scene since 1940, though they didn't score a national hit until 1952, with "Mary Jo." Written by bassist/singer Tommy Braden, who didn't actually join the Blazes until 1950, it epitomized their blues-influenced jazz sound: walking bass, clean guitar tone, honking sax over blues progressions. However, it was a sound rooted in an earlier era, and was swept away by the tides of rock 'n roll, in spite of the superior musicianship of professionals such as the Blazes. Still, these 24 songs show why the idioms of blues and jazz are universal, and any of them could be performed today. Highlight: an original arrangement of "Mood Indigo," a summer breeze wafting by on a sultry July evening.
| 6261 CD $14.98 |
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