Walter Brown - Blues & Rhythm Series Classics 5038: The Chronological Walter Brown 1947-1951

Size: 151 MB
Time: 59:25
File: FLAC
Released: 2002
Styles: Blues
Art: Full

01. W.B. Blues (2:30)
02. Sloppy Drunk (2:45)
03. Lovin' A Beggar (2:53)
04. Just Thinkin' (2:52)
05. Play The Blues (2:39)
06. What Evil Have I Done (3:04)
07. Gonna Play With Your Woman (2:08)
08. Work Don't Bother Me (2:39)
09. Inform Me Baby (2:58)
10. Lyin' Woman Blues (2:30)
11. Supressin' The Blues (2:20)
12. Hello And Goodbye (2:09)
13. You Better Leave My Woman Alone (2:43)
14. You, Cindy Lou (2:48)
15. Squabblin' Woman (2:54)
16. I'm Gonna Get Married (2:22)
17. New Style Baby (2:37)
18. Let's Love Awhile (2:59)
19. Nasty Attitude (2:55)
20. Slow Down Baby (2:56)
21. The Search (2:44)
22. A B C Blues (2:47)

Blues singer Walter Brown had a vocal delivery somewhere between Rubberlegs Williams and Joe Turner. Although his alcoholism and addiction to both narcotics and amphetamines resulted in a break with Jay McShann in 1943, by 1947 Brown was back in the recording studio accompanied by the Jay McShann Quartet -- with Seeward Evans on tenor sax, bassist Percy Gabriel, and legendary Kansas City drummer Jesse Price -- waxing four sides for the Mercury label in Houston, TX. Interestingly, Brown's comparatively sensitive voicings on "Just Thinkin'" sound a lot like McShann's own beautiful vocal style that was destined to flourish decades later. Brown's next four sessions took place in Kansas City, where Dave Dexter of Capitol Records sought to cash in on the developing demand for blues-based dance music. Eight sides recorded in April of 1949 feature tasty solos by tenor saxophonist Freddy Culliver and smooth lines from Jimmy Walker's electric guitar. Incredibly, both the humorous "Work Don't Bother Me" and the Wynonie Harris-styled "Play the Blues" were rejected by Capitol. "Supressin' the Blues" is a sequel to Brown's original hit of 1941, "Confessin' the Blues," on the heels of a second version recorded for Queen Records in 1946. The plot thickens as Brown's next recording date -- Halloween 1949 -- found him backed by Jay McShann's Kaycee Stompers, with John Jackson blowing alto sax, Harold Ashby on tenor, and Bob Williams holding down the baritone. This is great R&B-inflected jazz, full of Walter Brown's own brand of musical mustard and vinegar. McShann stuck with Brown right through to the end of this singer's rocky recording career. The pianist anchored a quintet on Brown's last date for Capitol -- November 1, 1949 -- with the formidable tenor saxophonist Ben Webster strutting his stuff. Walter Brown's last two recordings were made in Houston sometime during the year 1951 and issued on the Peacock label. There are plenty of anecdotes about this singer's turbulent life after he stopped making records, including getting busted in New Orleans with a sizeable load of reefer in his station wagon, and later running his own nightclub in Lawton, OK. Walter Brown passed away in June of 1956, just weeks short of his 40th birthday, a victim of alcohol, heroin, and Benzedrine. ~arwulf arwulf

The Chronological Walter Brown 1947-1951

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Walter Brown - Blues & Rhythm Series Classics 5010: The Chronological Walter Brown 1945-1947

Size: 139 MB
Time: 56:09
File: FLAC
Released: 2001
Styles: Blues, R&B
Art: Full

01. I'm Glad To Be Back (2:15)
02. Mean Old World (2:36)
03. I'm A Liar If Say I Don't (2:45)
04. It's A Good Deal Mama (2:39)
05. Susie May (2:32)
06. Mary B (2:19)
07. Blues Everywhere (2:35)
08. Confessin' The Blues (2:41)
09. I've Got To Get Back To Get You (2:58)
10. Fine Brown Lady (3:02)
11. My Baby's Boogie Woogie (3:10)
12. Gonna Open Up A Business (2:56)
13. Stop Light (3:06)
14. What Did You Do Last Night (2:47)
15. New Four Day Rider (3:00)
16. I'm Through Confessin' The Blues (2:59)
17. Open The Door, Richard (3:05)
18. My Second Best Woman (3:03)
19. Let's Get Some Understandin' (2:44)
20. I'm Living For You (2:46)

Less than a week after Walter Brown began singing with Jay McShann's orchestra, the band traveled from Kansas City to a recording studio in Brown's hometown of Dallas, TX, where McShann and his rhythm section backed the singer on "Confessin' the Blues." It became one of the best-selling records of 1941 and would ultimately define Brown's entire career while inadvertently exerting a circumstantial influence upon the development of modern jazz. Here's how it all happened: In 1941 and 1942 Dave Kapp, owner of Decca Records, had convinced himself that Kansas City big band instrumentals wouldn't sell. He pressured McShann into recording lots of accessible blues numbers with vocals by Walter Brown or Al Hibbler. It was largely money from these popular recordings that enabled McShann to bring his band to New York in 1942, placing Charlie Parker at the center of the jazz scene and thereby accelerating the music's evolution. Meanwhile Walter Brown, addicted like Parker to alcohol, amphetamine, and narcotics, worked only intermittently with McShann during 1942-1943, and by 1944 was pursuing a career as a solo act. This compilation contains the first recordings he made under his own name, in New York City on December 19 and 20, 1945. They originally appeared on the Queen label, a subsidiary of King Records. Still banking on his initial success, the singer was billed as "Walter (Confessin' the Blues) Brown" and was backed by a 16-piece band led by pianist Archie "Skip" Hall. Brown's next (and last) session for Queen occurred in Cincinnati in July of 1946, with excellent support provided by an octet with a frontline of trumpet, trombone, and two tenor saxes. None of these records represent any earthshaking artistic innovations. That's not what Walter Brown was about. This was good-time music, fast becoming known as "rhythm and blues," meaning that it was based in blues and good for dancing. From a jazz head's perspective, the most exciting material in this package features the Tiny Grimes Sextet -- with John Hardee blowing tenor sax -- backing Walter Brown on four sides recorded in 1947 for Bob Thiele's tiny Signature label. "I'm Living for You" is in fact more of a jazz ballad, representing a rare departure from Brown's customary blues formula. ~arwulf arwulf

The Chronological Walter Brown 1945-1947

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