Lou Rawls - The Best of Lou Rawls, The Capitol Jazz & Blues Sessions

This document of Lou Rawls’ decade with Capitol in the ‘60s celebrates the beginnings of the recently departed artist, one of the rare male vocalists with a big, beautiful sound who could sing his butt off. His professional beginnings were with the gospel group The Singing Travelers, and their 1962 recording of “Motherless Child” opens the disc. The essential enrichment provided by Eddie Beal (piano) and Rene Hall and Cliff White (guitars) is much more than mere accompaniment. Partnership is the special joy of this collection, which finds this fine singer in mutually appreciative settings with a lineup of first-rank musicians.

Les McCann’s piano provides the most sympathetic of intros to “God Bless the Child,” with Leroy Vinnegar (bass) and Ron Jefferson (drums). Rawls himself is in peak voice, showcasing his rolling thunder baritone, which always radiates an innate optimism, no matter what he sings. On Benny Carter’s jumpin’ arrangement of “Nobody But Me,” Al Porcino and Bobby Bryant’s trumpets provide sunny brass for days as Rawls delivers a jubilant tribute to a “genuine Venus from her head to her feet.”

A live performance of “Goin’ To Chicago Blues” is typical of what became a signature style for Rawls: a talking intro to blues songs. Well, not merely "talking," exactly, because the rhythms of his poetically spoken beats could almost be heard as an a capella ancestor of hip-hop. As if the pot needed any sweetening, three previously unreleased 1963 tracks with Curtis Amy’s sextet are included; the swinging take on “Fine and Mellow” is particularly choice.-By Andrew Velez

Personnel

Earl Palmer - drums
Herb Ellis
Lou Rawls - vocals
Jimmy Bond - bass instrument
Richard "Groove" Holmes - organ
Rene Hall - guitar
Pilgrim Travelers - background vocals
Cliff White
Eddie Beal - piano


01 Motherless Child – with The Pilgrim Travelers
02 God Bless The Child – with Les McCann Ltd
03 Nobody But Me – with orch arr by Benny Carter
04 Blues For The Weepers – with orch arr by Benny Carter
05 Goin' To Chicago Blues – with Onzy Matthews Octet
06 How Long How Long Blues – with orch arr by Onzy Matthews
07 Southside Blues/Tobacco Road (Medley) – with Tommy Strode Quartet
08 Something Stirring In My Soul – with Tommy Strode Quartet
09 Georgia On My Mind – with orch arr by Onzy Matthews
10 So Hard To Laugh So Easy To Cry – with orch arr by H.B. Barnum
11 Old Folks – with orch arr by H.B. Barnum
12 Somebody Have Mercy – with Muscle Shoals Fame Gang
13 Why (Do I Love You So) – with orch arr by H.B. Barnum
14 Street of Dreams – with orch arr by H.B. Barnum
15 I Wonder – with orch arr by Benny Golson
16 Let's Burn Down The Cornfield – with orch arr by H.B. Barnum
17 One For My Baby One More For The Road – with orch arr by H.B. Barnum
18 Mean Old World – with Curtis Amy Sextet
19 Long Gone Blues – with Curtis Amy Sextet
20 Fine And Mellow – with Curtis Amy Sextet