Release Date: September 24, 2002.
Recording Time: 63 minutes.
Release Info: Studio Recording.
Recording Date: October 26, 1949 - July 30, 1954.
Styles: Early R&B, Bop, Electric Chicago Blues, Piano Blues, Regional Blues, Jazz Instrument, Jump Blues, Saxophone Jazz.
Before Jimmy Smith reinvented the organ -- before the explosion of soul-jazz in the late '50s and early '60s -- there were the honkers: big-toned, extroverted, hard-blowing swing/R&B tenor men who believed that instrumental jazz had a right to groove. It is no coincidence that Willis "Gator" Jackson, Wild Bill Moore, Jimmy Forrest, Arnett Cobb, and other honkers of the late '40s and early '50s went on to play soul-jazz in the '60s; honker music, like soul-jazz, swung relentlessly and did so in a very accessible, straightforward, groove-oriented fashion. Assembled in 2002, Honkers & Bar Walkers, Vol. 3 picks up where its two predecessors left off and spotlights some more recordings from the honker era. Not all of the 22 tracks on this compilation are instrumentals; several are examples of vocal-oriented jump blues. Nonetheless, swing-based instrumentals dominate this 64-minute CD, and ultimately, the spotlight belongs to tenor sax honkers like Eddie Chamblee, Jim Conley, and the abovementioned Wild Bill Moore. Spanning 1949-1954, these recordings came at a time when Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, and other bebop heavyweights were pointing jazz in a more intellectual, less groove-oriented direction. But the honkers didn't want to be abstract and ultra-complex; their roots were Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Jimmie Lunceford, and Louis Jordan, and they didn't believe that jazz was strictly for intellectuals in Sweden. Honkers valued accessibility, which is why instrumentals like Conley's "The Cat Creeps," Moore's "Dynaflow," and Chamblee's arrangement of Duke Ellington's "Caravan" are as straightforward and uncomplicated as they are. Honkers -- like Basie, Lunceford, and Hampton back in the '30s -- saw no reason why instrumental jazz couldn't be party music. Those who admired Delmark's two previous Honkers & Bar Walkers collections will be equally appreciative of Vol. 3. - Review by Alex Henderson.
Credits: Leonard Allen - supervisor; Otto Allen - drums; Bill Benjamin - drums; Walter Bishop, Jr. - piano; Leo Blevins - guitar; Gary Borremans - cover art; Tommy Braden - bass; Al Brandtner - design; Herbert Brown - bass; J.T. Brown - primary artist, sax (tenor); James Buxton - trombone; Bob Call - piano; Eddie Chamblee - composer, primary artist, sax (tenor), vocals; Charlie Christian - composer; Jimmy Conley - primary artist, sax (tenor); Walter Cox - sax (tenor); Ernest "Big" Crawford - bass; Robert "Sax" Crowder - sax (tenor); Duke Ellington - composer; The Four Blazes - primary artist; T.J. Fowler - composer, piano, primary artist; Joe Gayles - sax (tenor); Benny Goodman - composer; Eddy Grant - drums; Neil Green - sax (tenor); Philip Guilbeau - trumpet; William "Shorty" Hill - guitar; Paul Linsley "Jelly" Holt - drums; Armand Jump Jackson - drums; Larry Jackson - drums; Osie Johnson - drums; Jonah Jones - trumpet; Sax Kari - guitar; Ransom Knowling - bass; Robert G. Koester - producer; Oett "Sax" Mallard - primary artist, sax (alto); Dezie McCullers - trumpet; Floyd McDaniel - guitar; Floyd "Bubbles" McVay - drums; Memphis Slim - piano, primary artist; Fred Mendelsohn - supervisor; Irving Mills - composer; Wild Bill Moore - primary artist, sax (tenor); Curtis Mosley - bass; Jimmy Mundy - composer; Matt "Guitar" Murphy - guitar; Terry Pollard - piano; Joe Primrose - composer; Ivan Rolle - bass; Walter Scott - guitar; Ernie Shepherd - bass; Roosevelt Sykes - composer, piano, primary artist; Eugene Taylor - bass; Floyd Taylor - piano, primary artist; Frank Taylor - sax (alto); Juan Tizol - composer; Traditional - composer; Steve Wagner - producer; Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams - sax (baritone).
Tracks: 1) Spider Web (previously unissued) - Eddie Chamblee; 2) It Ain't Necessarily Blues (previously unissued) - Eddie Chamblee with The Four Blazes; 3) Lonesome Road - Eddie Chamblee; 4) Caravan (previously unissued) - Eddie Chamblee with The Four Blazes; 5) Come on In - Eddie Chamblee; 6) Take Off - T.J. Fowler; 7) Queen, The - T.J. Fowler; 8) Fine and Brown - Sax Mallard with Roosevelt Sykes (alternate take); 9) Cat Creeps, The (previously unissued) - Jimmy Conley with Memphis Slim; 10) Walking Home - J.T. Brown; 11) Rhapsody in Purple (previously unissued) - Eddie Chamblee; 12) St. James Infirmary (previously unissued) - Eddie Chamblee; 13) Air Mail Special (previously unissued) - Eddie Chamblee with The Four Blazes; 14) Walkin' Home - Eddie Chamblee; 15) La! La! La! Lady - Eddie Chamblee; 16) Dynaflow - Wild Bill Moore; 17) Blues at Dawn - Wild Bill Moore; 18) Wild Bill's Bounce - Wild Bill Moore; 19) Bar B Q - Floyd Taylor; 20) Loch Lomond - Floyd Taylor; 21) Baritone Boogie - Floyd Taylor; 22) Down for Debbie - Swinging Sax Kari.