One of the best fads that ever took jazz by the storm, and I pray it never leaves, has to be the relentless eight to the bar beat of boogie woogie supplied by ten demonstrative digits on the piano. There have been hundreds of songs with the patented pulse, as well as tunes with the title, and one of the biggest progenitors of the genre has to be pianist Freddie Slack (1920-1965), with this two disc, 49 song collection guaranteed to get your feet hep to the jive.
The anthology rightfully begins with Slack as the pianist for trombonist Will Bradley’s Orchestra, particularly with drummer Ray McKinley supplying the driving beat on classic dance tunes like ‘Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar” and “Scrub Me Mama, With A Boogie Beat”. There are a handful of barroom boogies with Slack and blues shouter Joe Turner on earthy reads of “Rocks In My Bed” and “Goin’ To Chicago Blues”, and even guitarist T-Bone Walker teams up on his wirey strings with Slack for some gritty pieces like “I Got A Break, Baby” and “Mean Old World”.
With his own team, he brings in vocalist Ella Mae Morse on “Hey, Mr. Postman” and “The House Of Blue Lights” and he joins up well with the southern drawl of Johnny Mercer on “I Lost My Sugar In Salt Lake City” while his full fisted chords sear through pieces like “Rib Joint” and “Be-Bop Boogie”. Among the other classics are his driving version of “Strange Cargo” , the clippety cloppity “Cow Cow Boogie” and his title song “Mr. Five By Five”. Believe it or not, there was a time when jazz was FUN to listen to, and it made you smile instead of squirm. Take a ride on the charging locomotive!