Georgia-born and Detroit-raised pianist T.J. Fowler led a series of smart, jazzy R&B bands in Detroit during the late '40s and throughout the 1950s. This fascinating Classics chronological compilation lines up all of Fowler's first recordings as a leader. It opens with a couple of mood pieces issued on the Paradise label. While "Sultry Moon" has a wistful charm similar to Earl Bostic's ballad style, Freddie Johnson's pidgin West Indian vocal only cheapens "Mango Blues," a counterfeit Caribbean lament in rhumba time. Fowler's subsequent recordings, originally issued on the National and Sensation labels, provided the spark that ignited his career and led to his tenure with Savoy Records in 1952 and 1953. Teamed with bassist Henry Ivory and drummer Clarence Stamp behind a smoky front line of trumpeter John Lawton and saxophonists Walter Cox and Lee Gross, Fowler presented hot music for dancing and the occasional slow grind. Aside from a couple of Billy Eckstine imitations committed by an unidentified crooner, the only voices heard on the National and Sensation sides are group vocals with handclapping over jump blues based in boogie-woogie and swing. Adding singer and blues guitarist Calvin Frazier to his lineup, Fowler made his first sides for Savoy in Detroit on March 28, 1952. While the singalong rockers like "Oo-La-La" and "Yes I Know" were designed and presented as crowd-pleasers, the ominous slow groove called "Night Crawler" and the broiling "Fowler's Boogie," issued back to back as Savoy 843, stand among Fowler's most enduring achievements from this time period, along with "Back Biter," "Wine Cooler," "Gold Rush," and "Camel Walk." With gutsy solos by guitarist Calvin Frazier and saxophonist Walter Cox, this is early Detroit R&B at its fundamental best. This portion of the T.J. Fowler story ends with three of the only recordings he ever made outside of the Motor City. Recorded in Chicago and issued on the States record label, these tracks feature the pianist in the company of trumpeter Dezie McCullers, alto saxophonist and singer Frank Taylor, home boy tenor Walter Cox, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Floyd "Bubbles" McVay, who switches to congas on the two groovin' instrumentals, "The Queen" and "Take Off." ~ arwulf arwulf

Blues singer Walter Brown had a vocal delivery somewhere between Rubberlegs Williams and Joe Turner. Although his alcoholism and addiction to both narcotics and amphetamines resulted in a break with Jay McShann in 1943, by 1947 Brown was back in the recording studio accompanied by the Jay McShann Quartet -- with Seeward Evans on tenor sax, bassist Percy Gabriel, and legendary Kansas City drummer Jesse Price -- waxing four sides for the Mercury label in Houston, TX. Interestingly, Brown's comparatively sensitive voicings on "Just Thinkin'" sound a lot like McShann's own beautiful vocal style that was destined to flourish decades later. Brown's next four sessions took place in Kansas City, where Dave Dexter of Capitol Records sought to cash in on the developing demand for blues-based dance music. Eight sides recorded in April of 1949 feature tasty solos by tenor saxophonist Freddy Culliver and smooth lines from Jimmy Walker's electric guitar. Incredibly, both the humorous "Work Don't Bother Me" and the Wynonie Harris-styled "Play the Blues" were rejected by Capitol. "Supressin' the Blues" is a sequel to Brown's original hit of 1941, "Confessin' the Blues," on the heels of a second version recorded for Queen Records in 1946. The plot thickens as Brown's next recording date -- Halloween 1949 -- found him backed by Jay McShann's Kaycee Stompers, with John Jackson blowing alto sax, Harold Ashby on tenor, and Bob Williams holding down the baritone. This is great R&B-inflected jazz, full of Walter Brown's own brand of musical mustard and vinegar. McShann stuck with Brown right through to the end of this singer's rocky recording career. The pianist anchored a quintet on Brown's last date for Capitol -- November 1, 1949 -- with the formidable tenor saxophonist Ben Webster strutting his stuff. Walter Brown's last two recordings were made in Houston sometime during the year 1951 and issued on the Peacock label. There are plenty of anecdotes about this singer's turbulent life after he stopped making records, including getting busted in New Orleans with a sizeable load of reefer in his station wagon, and later running his own nightclub in Lawton, OK. Walter Brown passed away in June of 1956, just weeks short of his 40th birthday, a victim of alcohol, heroin, and Benzedrine. ~ arwulf arwulf