Saunders King - Cool Blues, Jumps & Shuffles (1999)

Tracklist

01. S K Blues Pt. 1 AKA New S K Blues (Pt. 1)
02. Swingin'
03. Write Me a Letter Blues
04. Lazy Woman Blues AKA Lazy Women
05. I'd Climb the Highest Mountain
06. S K Jumps Pt. 1 (Summertime Boogie Pt. 1)
07. Stay Gone Blues
08. 2: 00 Am Hop
09. Empty Bedroom Blues
10. Imagination
11. S K Jumps Pt. 2 (Summertime Boogie Pt. 2)
12. Something's Worrying Me
13. Read the Good Book
14. Danny Boy
15. Going Mad
16. My Close Friend
17. Quit Hangin' Around Me
18. Long Long Time
19. Summertime
20. Get Yourself Another Fool
21. When I Got Home This Morning AKA I'm so Worried
22. Auf Wiedersehn, My Dear
23. Empty Bedroom Blues (Previously Unissued)
24. What's Your Story Morning Glory
25. S K Blues Pt. 2 AKA New S K Blues

The accurately titled Cool Blues, Jumps & Shuffles is a good overview of Saunders King's career containing 25 tracks from 1942-1954, though it's slightly flawed in that it draws exclusively from his Rhythm and Modern recordings. Those do comprise the bulk of his sessions, but this doesn't include anything from the sides he cut for a few other companies. Still, it does have both parts of his 1942 hit "S.K. Blues," as well as his pair of 1949 R&B hits, "Empty Bedroom Blues" and "Stay Gone Blues." As a whole, the disc shows King to be an underrated, somewhat forgotten period in swing jazz's crossover to the jump blues and guitar R&B that got into vogue just after World War II. There's less of his Charlie Christian-like electric guitar (though he was bluesier than Christian) than you might expect. Indeed, most of the solos are taken by horns rather than the guitar, and "Swingin'" gets closer to bop jazz than R&B or blues. Too, much of the material (largely written by King himself) stuck to similar basic blues chord progressions on mid-tempo numbers and ballads. He was nonetheless a pleasing, smooth blues-jazz vocalist, fronting groups of solid players, though one wishes he got to stretch out more as a guitar soloist, as he does on "SK Jumps Pt. 2."

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