When
Messin Around Blues is inserted into a person's CD player, one of the first things that comes to mind is how good the sound quality is. This collection of piano rolls was recorded in the late '20s and early '30s, but Delmark's digital remastering is so skillful that someone who doesn't know anything about
Jimmy Blythe's tragically short life could easily be fooled into thinking that
Messin Around Blues is a collection of '50s mono recordings (sonically, '50s mono was a major improvement over 78 rpm-era recording technology).
Blythe, however, did not live long enough to see the '50s or even the mid-'30s; he died of meningitis in 1931 at the young age of 30 not long after these recordings were made. This 58-minute CD contains 19 selections, all of them pleasing examples of
Blythe's approach to classic jazz and blues piano. The Kentucky native had plenty of work as an accompanist in his adopted home of Chicago, but on
Messin Around Blues,
Blythe is strictly heard as an unaccompanied solo pianist. The performances aren't ragtime, although ragtime is certainly an influence; nor are they the stride piano of the
James P. Johnson/
Fats Waller/ Willie "The Lion" Smith variety.
Blythe, rather, was one of the early architects of boogie-woogie piano (which was closely related to stride but not the same as stride), and anyone who has spent a lot of time listening to
Meade "Lux" Lewis,
Albert Ammons (
Gene Ammons' father), and
Pete Johnson will find a lot to enjoy about the lively performances heard on
Messin Around Blues.