Chicago jazz vocalist
Elijah Levi
makes his recording debut,
Finally Elijah
, on the city's
Southport
label. After stints with
the Inkspots
and blues/swing/jazz guitarist
Floyd McDaniel
(to whom he posthumously dedicates
"St. Louis Blues"
),
Levi
makes his mark on this engaging, energetic acoustic jazz set with the able backing of
the Tatsu Aoki Quartet
. The standard
"Sweet Home Chicago"
is given a crisp vocal reading by
with spidery guitar by
Sugar Blue
sideman
Moto Makino
. Lively multi-octave vocal runs enliven
"Bye Bye Blackbird."
A cover of
Little Willie John
's
"Fever"
has slick-cat two-note basslines by
Aoki
and a poppin' percussive break by
Dave Pavkovic
with
skimming in and out on light vocals.
makes the
Nat "King" Cole
"Route 66"
definite highway music with an underlying solid bed of spicy percussion.
"I Want a Little Girl"
is not about the wishes of an expectant father but
's plaintive cry for love ("She may not look like all those girls in the Playboy books/But if she can cook well that would fit me to a t") with nice sax interplay between
Makino
and saxophonist
Tim O'Dell
. With a collection of classic standards with fresh arrangements, and the tight backing of
, the world gets to finally hear
and what they've been missing out on. ~ Ed Hogan