Rockin' This House [Box]

Performer: Various Artists/Memphis Slim
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Personnel: Memphis Slim (vocals, piano); Eddie Boyd, Roosevelt Sykes (vocals, piano); Willie Dixon, Terry Timmons (vocals); Sam Casimir, Lee Cooper, L.G. McKinley, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Willie James Lacey (guitar); Ernest Cotton (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Howard Dixon, Sax Mallard, Alex Atkins (alto saxophone); Cozy Eggleston, Neil Green, Percell Brockenborough, Nelson Berry, Bill Casimir, Timothy Overton (tenor saxophone); James Clark (piano); Otho Allen, Oscar Larkin, Leon Hooper, Percy Walker, Booker T. Washington , Jump Jackson (drums). Liner Note Author: Neil Slaven. Recording information: Chicago, IL (1946-1953); Houston (1946-1953); Los Angeles, CA (1946-1953). This four-disc box set presents an impressive overview of three Chicago blues piano greats--Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, and Eddie Boyd. Culling tracks from the late 1940s to the early '50s, ROCKIN' THIS HOUSE focuses primarily on the plaintive vocals and pounding piano lines of Memphis Slim (see the rollicking "Midnight Jump" and the winsome "Love at First Sight"), but it also makes time for the latter two artists, and reveals the trio's connections to early rock & roll. Once again the U.K.'s JSP reissue label offers a massive chunk of historical material in a low-priced four-CD compilation, this time culled from the heart of the postwar Chicago blues scene. Memphis Slim, who first blew in from Arkansas and Tennessee in 1937, is heard on 64 tracks recorded between 1946 and 1954. This is the fundamental core of Slim's postwar period. Bolstered by a series of upright bassists (Willie Dixon plays and sings on one of the dates), the occasional drummer, and a regular stable of tenor and alto saxophonists, the pianist sings about interpersonal relationships, working, partying, and hitting the road. This is rough-and-tumble entertainment. Slim's early Chicago background as a tough-as-nails landlord and peddler of bootleg liquor is tangibly present. While his powerful voice is an essential ingredient, the instrumentals are fascinating. "Jumping Bean" taps into New Orleans rhumba territory and even contains a quote from the Xavier Cugat hit "Brazil." The fourth disc features pianist Eddie Boyd, a bittersweet to bitchy pianist and singer who cut his teeth working with Johnny Shines and Sonny Boy Williamson. Boyd's inclusion in this four-CD box makes it one hell of a dose of unfiltered, undiluted Chicago blues. ~ arwulf arwulf

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