Although
Jimmy Rushing parted company with
Count Basie in 1950,
Basie's influence stayed with him right up until his death in 1972. Similarly,
Basie didn't forget about
Rushing either; the fact that
Joe Williams,
Basie's male vocalist from 1954-1961, was greatly influenced by
Rushing certainly wasn't lost on
the Count.
Basie's influence is impossible to miss on
Oh Love, a superb CD focusing on
Rushing's John Hammond-produced work for Vanguard in the 1950s. Spanning 1955-1958, this collection of Kansas City swing, jump blues, and jazz/blues draws on three of the singer's old Vanguard LPs (Listen to the Blues, If This Ain't the Blues, and Goin' to Chicago), and finds him joined by such hard-swinging improvisers as tenor saxman
Buddy Tate, trombonist
Lawrence Brown, pianist
Pete Johnson, and drummer
Jo Jones (not to be confused with
Philly Joe Jones).
Rushing revisits many classics from his
Basie years, including "Going to Chicago Blues," "Pennies From Heaven," "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You," and "Dinah," and he sings them with as much conviction as ever. These are essential recordings that have withstood the test of time quite nicely. ~ Alex Henderson