Upbeat has compiled a rather unusual release. The premise is that the 26 vintage recordings included on their Inspiring The Sixties CD (subtitled “The Musical Roots Of The Beat Generation”) helped lead to the Beatles, the British Invasion, and the British Blues Explosion of the 1960s. For example the Rolling Stones’ longtime drummer Charlie Watts loved Earl Bostic’s version of “Flamingo,” Paul McCartney liked Peggy Lee, Bob Dylan used to perform some Robert Johnson songs, and George Harrison was a fan of Eddie Lang.
Obviously there are a countless number of possible recordings that could have been included on this sampler and some of the connections between these songs and later events are rather skimpy and debatable. But this CD gives one an opportunity to sample some vintage jazz and blues dating from the 1920s through the 1950s along with some of the usual suspects.
Included are recordings by a Count Basie small group with Jimmy Rushing (“Boogie Woogie”), Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong & the Mills Brothers (”The Flat Foot Floogie”), the Boswell Sisters, two from Bing Crosby (included a hot jazz version of “Dinah” with the Mills Brothers), Robert Johnson, the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, Leroy Carr, Hoagy Carmichael, Josh White (“House Of The Rising Sun”), Amos Milburn (“Down The Road Apiece”), Slim Gaillard, Peggy Lee, Arthur Smith, early Ray Charles (sounding like Charles Brown on “How Long Blues”), Fats Domino, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Earl Bostic, Little Willie Littlefield, Leadbelly, Ken Colyer, Howlin’ Wolf and Chuck Berry.
While the microscopic liner notes (using a magnifying glass is advisable) are unfortunate, Inspiring The Sixties is an intriguing collection of worthwhile and often-classic music.
Inspiring The Sixties – The Musical Roots of the Beat Generation
Upbeat URCD 343
www.upbeatmailorder.co.uk
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
