If you’ve ever seen the classic film Jazz on a Summer’s Day, the unforgettable vision of watching Big Maybelle wail out the blues in a white dress with delicate gloves is something that you can never forget. That one scene alone makes you want more. Well, here’s a great place to start if you want the bona fide blues shouting from a woman who’s got more grit in her throat than a thousand modern day femme fatale posers.
This release finds her in vintage form with sessions ranging from 1956-59. The small groups from the NYC studios include a few ringers such as Jerome Richardson/ts, George Barrow/bs, Kenny Burrell/g and Mickey Baker/g, but most of these guys are obscure musicians who you wish did more stuff on their own. Maybelle , even at her glossiest on a piece like “Candy,” still makes you feel the polyps in her throat, and she makes you feel like you’re being sanded down with 40 Grade on material like”A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “I Ain’t Got Nobody.” Even her interpretation “Silent Night” would have the baby Jesus rock in His cradle! A ballad like Ellington’s “I Got It Bad” shows whatever tender side she might have, but she gets back into the juke joint with “Ring Dang Dilly,” so if you ever have a party and are tired of Big Joe Turner, give this lady a spin!
Savoy Jazz Records