The blues had never been absent in Lucky Millinder's brand of jazz, but toward the end of his recording career, the R&B flavor of his records became much more pronounced. This compilation -- mostly of vocal numbers, with a few instrumentals thrown in -- assembles 29 such tracks from the late 1940s through the mid-'50s, employing an assortment of featured singers. Occasionally Millinder even landed an R&B hit with these kind of sides, and there are a few chart items on this collection, including "Little Girl Cry," "D Natural ...
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The blues had never been absent in Lucky Millinder's brand of jazz, but toward the end of his recording career, the R&B flavor of his records became much more pronounced. This compilation -- mostly of vocal numbers, with a few instrumentals thrown in -- assembles 29 such tracks from the late 1940s through the mid-'50s, employing an assortment of featured singers. Occasionally Millinder even landed an R&B hit with these kind of sides, and there are a few chart items on this collection, including "Little Girl Cry," "D Natural Blues," "I'll Never Be Free," "Oh Babe!," and "I'm Just Waiting for You." The link between swing-jazz and R&B (and, indirectly, hence the link between swing-jazz and rock & roll) is generally underestimated, and this anthology is a fine illustration of how the connections between the forms were stronger than is usually acknowledged. The material does swing hard, but it has its fair share of bluesy grit as well, due both to the arrangements and the earthy vocals, provided by singers both fairly famous to R&B collectors (Wynonie Harris, Annisteen Allen, Henry Glover, Big John Greer) and damned obscure to anyone (Myra Johnson, John Carol, Pigmeat Peterson, Heywood Jackson, Melvin Moore). It's true that swing-jazz purists will probably prefer Millinder's earlier, and jazzier, recordings. But regardless of specialty, almost any listener will enjoy the infectious verve, humor, and rhythms of these performances. They occasionally sound like Louis Prima in a more R&B mood; they occasionally test the bounds of the risqué content allowable on the records of the day (especially on "Baby, You've Been Wrong," with its boast "I can ball baby if you ball, I can ball all night long"); and, in one case here, a song ("I'm Waiting Just for You") was covered for a pop hit by Pat Boone later in the '50s. While it's unfortunate that original release date info is not supplied in the track listings, this is otherwise a well-annotated, good-value package of relatively forgotten music that's both fun and important. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi
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Add this copy of Let It Roll Again 1949-1955 to cart. $11.49, like new condition, Sold by Streetlight_Records rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Cruz, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Rev-Ola Bandstand.
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