J.T. Brown
had a long career as Chicago's preeminent blues tenor saxophonist with his unique "nanny goat" vibrato, and these sides collected in this 20-track collection spotlight his stays with the
United
,
JOB
and
Atomic H
labels spread out between 1951 to 1960.
Brown
wasn't a brilliant instrumentalist, but unique he certainly was, and even paint-by-the-numbers instrumental studio jams like
"Use That Spot,"
"Rock-em,"
"Windy City Boogie,"
"House Party Groove,"
"Blues for JOB"
all sparkle with his enthusiasm and a tone that cuts through just about anything. The presence on these tracks of
Little Brother Montgomery
Big Crawford
Lafayette Leake
Willie Dixon
Jody Williams
Fred Below
Jump Jackson
Sunnyland Slim
Matt "Guitar" Murphy
makes this early Chicago blues that skirts into jazzy territory from time to time but never leaves the alley. A nice, fairly complete collection of one of bluesdom's greatly unsung instrumentalists. ~ Cub Koda