Big Beat Steve Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 On another side note, didn't anybody get some sort of "déjà vu" feeling when listening to track #2 - "I Ain't Got Nothing To Lose"? I did - and the melody of that refrain kept whizzing in my head, and then things fell into place: Listen to "A Man Could Be A Wonderful Thing" by the Buddy Rich Orchestra (rec. for MGM in 1947, cf. reissue on Hep CD 12) and compare the refrain melodies ... That Sy Oliver sure was a sly fellow when it came to reworking a catchy melody ... (I'd say lawsuits for copyright infringements have been brought about for lesser resemblances in the more recent history of pop music ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 Big John Greer is one of the tenors featured with Wynonie Harris on a number of Wynonie sessions. There is a 4CD Wynonie Harris Proper box that gathers many of the sessions. Superb box from a quite unique singer! The tenors taking part in the sessions include Eddie Davis, Teddy Edwards, Illinois Jacques, Jack McVea, Arnett Cobb, Allen Eager, Johnny Griffin, Hal Singer, John Hardee ... Big John Greer is heard in one of his best solos on 'Mr. Blues Is Coming to Town'. Strangely his classic solo on 'Bloodshot Eyes' is not in that box (I have it on a Harris compilation LP). I'll be looking for that Big John Greer reissue CD! Thanks for pointing it out If Proper had waited one more year, they could have included Bloodshot Eyes. It was 49 years old at the time of release. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 (edited) Edited October 24, 2007 by John L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 Bump. I was having a look through some old tapes the other day and found on which a friend had done for e from a bunch of his old 45s and 78s. And it includes both sides of Greer's Sittin' in with single "Wineola"/"Rockin' with Big John" (the original version). So I gave the two cuts a listen earlier today. Sound is fairly ropey but could be a hell of a lot worse on a 30-odd year old tape. "Wineola" is a pretty standard blues about a girl who drinks too much but is fine in other ways, it seems. Greer sings it well. "Rockin' with Big John" really IS a whole different ball game from the RCA Victor recording. For one thing, it's a small group; tenor, guitar (nice little solo) and rhythm. No band backing. And Greer's playing is not completely different from the way he plays on the RCA sides but enough different to make you think that he was a good bit more individual than he sounds on the later stuff. The tune is played slightly faster than on the RCA session, but more relaxed. And Greer's solo has all these fast Bebop licks laying alongside the straight ahead blowing; but those Bebop lines, which are really well executed, so often (but not always) culminate with an Illinois Jacquet shriek that one feels that THIS is the way Greer thought about it all. I haven't picked up anything like this in the RCA material. I played the Sittin' in with back to back with the RCA, to make sure. Really - and those who know me will realise this isn't disparaging at all - Greer sounds a quite lot like Willis Jackson on the RCA material. On Sittin' in with, I'm reminded of Leo Parker; not because he plays like him, but because he seems to take all the same elements and put them together in a personal thing. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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