Jazz Me Blues - The Best of Jimmy Witherspoon (Remastered)

Album Review

Whether this is truly the "best" of Witherspoon is debatable — there's nothing predating 1956 — however, it's a good 20-track sampling of 1956-1966 material, favoring (but not limited to) his sessions for Prestige. Witherspoon puts his imprint on a lot of blues/R&B classics — "Good Rockin' Tonight," "Bad Bad Whiskey," "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer," "C.C. Rider," "Money's Gettin' Cheaper, "T'Ain't Nobody's Bizness" — and while not everyone will find these to be his definitive versions, they are all good ones. The roster of jazz luminaries heard at one point or another over the course of the disc is staggering, including Coleman Hawkins, Woody Herman, Gerry Mulligan, T-Bone Walker, Kenny Burrell, and Pepper Adams. Never do they overshadow the singer, and on the whole this is one of the better jazz/blues vocal collections available, displaying his skill in both small combos and big bands.