BUT for the current exploits of Kurt Elling and in particular, David Mahogany who continues to dazzle audiences at jazz festivals on account of his intimate link with the past, male jazz singing would have been forgotten by now. But despite the commendable efforts these men continue to demonstrate, they always remind us of those golden days when Jimmy Rushing sang jazz from the blues perspective. Indeed, Jimmy Rushing sang the blues, superbly. He was rather ‘more than a blues singer’, as he was customarily described. He was a remarkable, almost unique example of that very rare cat, the jazz singer!
In actual fact, Rushing was quite different from all those male pop singers who liked jazz and sang jazz songs, even though they did not really qualify. Oddly enough, the women seemed more vulnerable. Lou Rawls came along but the real singers could be found among the sub stratum of jazz musicians who doubled as singers, beginning with the greatest, Louis Armstrong and continuing with Jelly Roll Morton, George ‘Fathead’ Thomas, Fats Waller, The Lunceford vocalists, Joe Thomas, Sy Oliver, Jack Tea garden and Lips Page. Most of these men would merit what Irving Townshend said of Rushing in his superior notes to the Columbia set: “a jazz singer with an affinity for the blues,” a comment, which turned around, fits the disposition of his blues cohorts Joe Williams and Joe Turner who can be described as ‘blues singers with the affinity for jazz’.
A huge, striking artist with a massive frame, (that was fondly called ‘Mr. Five by Five’) Jimmy Rushing defined and transcended jazz- based blues shouting. His huge voice was dominating and intricately linked to the beat. Rushing could maintain his intonation regardless of volume and could sing sensitively one moment, and then bellow and yell in almost frightening fashion the next, making both styles sound convincing. He had a similarity with Joe Williams in terms of inflections and the intensity of the blues message, but their approaches were different. Joe Williams was possibly the last great big band singer following in the tradition of Jimmy Rushing, (whom he replaced in the Count Basie big band) carving out his own unique identity. The two sang within the context of the famous Count Basie Orchestra – at different times. While Rushing was known for redefining and shouting the blues, Williams was popular for giving adequate meaning to the blues whether it was an up - tempo or a ballad.
Some of his outstanding legacies include the Columbia disc which embraces two LPs, Little Jimmy Rushing and the Big Brass and Rushing Lullabies, the second of which has already been reissued as a single CD with one previously unreleased track, Travel the Road of Love.The first was made at three sessions with a big band that included several of the singer’s former Basie colleagues, namely Buck Clayton, Emmet Berry, Dicky Wells, Vick Dickenson, Earle Warren, Buddy Tate and Jo Jones, not to mention the influential saxophone player, Coleman
Hawkins.
The band roars through arrangements by Jimmy Mundy, Nat Pierce and Buck Clayton with hot authority as Rushing delivers a choice selection of blues and favourite songs from his enormous repertoire. Here, as it were, you have a survivor picturing a jazz singer, hollering fervently before a shouting band in a crowded dance hall of the pre-microphone era. That was where Rushing’s voice was tested and proven, and where his marvelous disposition enabled him to triumph over all kinds of trouble.
The second Columbia LP was made the following year, 1959, when the B-3 was booming, literally and figuratively. Played by Sir Charles Thompson on organ, with the great Ray Bryant on piano; Buddy Tate on tenor saxophone and Skeeter Best, Gene Ramey, and Jo Jones completing a masterly rhythm section, the groove is as exciting as ever with brilliant solos from tenor man Buddy Tate and pianist Ray Bryant.
Rushing’s most brilliant days as a jazz singer are easily traceable to his association with the Count Basie Orchestra where he made his mark, setting a standard that Joe Williams attempted to equal. But he later recorded a number of sides on his own with various musicians including co- members of the Count Basie Orchestra among them, The Essential Jimmy Rushing, Every day I have the blues (recorded in 1967 even though it was originally done for the Count Basie Orchestra by Williams long after Rushing had left the band) Gee Baby, aint I Good to you, Dave Brubeck and Jimmy Rushing (a superb collaboration with the late pianist).
Most of the recordings are deficient not because of Rushing’s vocal ability, but the obvious absence of big band instrumentation which had become his natural habitat. His powerful voice was already used to projecting within a large orchestra and so sounded a bit unequal to accompaniments by small groups with lean sounds. Even when he attempted to assemble a big band by bringing together fellow alumni of the Count Basie orchestra together with veterans of the famous series of Buck Clayton Jam Sessions, it still did not quite work: The band did not produce the coherent ‘swing’ associated with Rushing’s blues shouting. Apparently, the absence of Count Basie’s motivation was obvious; his influence had become a factor in the cohesiveness of Rushing’s blues singing. The solution was a specially configured big band; a regular outfit!
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