Rollee McGill "Rhythm' Rockin' Blues" 1954-1965

This is one hot CD, and it's everything that one would expect from the man who recorded (and spontaneously devised) the sax break on the Silhouettes' "Get a Job." There are ballads here, to be sure, and they're sung well enough by McGill, but his real forte is hard R&B and digressions into blues, which are brilliantly represented here. From his one chart hit, "There Goes That Train," cut in 1954, through a pair of 1965 sides, McGill's complete known output of his own sides is featured. One wishes there was session information available on who besides McGill was playing -- one longs to know the name of the guitarist responsible for the hard, jangling solo on "I'll Forgive You Baby," or the names of the pianist and guitarist on the slow blues "Goin' Down South" -- but otherwise, all of this material is prime R&B representing the dominant styles from the hot, rhythm-driven mid-'50s through the more lyrical, ballad-oriented mid-'60s. One track, "Cry for Happy," a piece of Oriental ersatz, was likely unfinished and is a bizarre digression, but most of the rest is fine listening in its own right. Some of the early '60s stuff does have a slightly retro feel -- "Introduce Yourself" could just as easily have been cut five year earlier than it was, but the man's talent was sufficient to allow him to move with the times. (Bruce Eder, Allmusic)Virtually nothing is known of the life and full career of this Philadelphia-based saxman and vocalist. What is known is that he cut some sizzling rhythm & blues between 1954 and 1965 (and maybe beyond, for all anyone can tell) and played one of the most famous and familiar breaks in the history of '50s rock & roll, the sax solo on the Silhouettes' 1958 smash "Get a Job" -- this puts Rollee McGill right up there with Jimmy Wright and his work at Gee Records, Gone Records, and the like, and with Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers et al., as a star sideman, except that McGill also sang and cut sides on his own. As a singer, he was similar to Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and he also wrote most of his own material. Yet this brilliant tenor sax player, commanding vocalist -- who was as impressive on the ballads as the jump numbers -- and prodigious composer only had one hit of his own, "There Goes That Train." Originally cut for Piney Records in Philadelphia, this record became a local hit and was picked up by Mercury Records for national distribution, who enjoyed a number ten R&B hit in the summer of 1955. And then nothing. McGill undoubtedly played lots of sessions, including the Silhouettes date that yielded "Get a Job," but he never charted another record nationally. He cut searing singles like "Rhythm Rockin' Blues" and slow blues numbers like "Come on In (both originals), featuring players like Mercury resident pianist Ernie Freeman, that went unbought during the heyday of the R&B explosion of the mid-'50s, and later recorded ballads and jump numbers for the Kaiser, Junior, Chelsea, and Riff labels, into the mid-'60s, and apparently was working well into the '80s, playing locally and on various sessions by other artists. In 1999, Bear Family Records of Germany finally gave long-delayed acknowledgment to this lost legend of the R&B by releasing a CD of his known recordings. A year later, on November 1, 2000, McGill died at the age of 68.(Allmusic)

trax:
01 There Goes That Train 02 You Left Me Here To Cry 03 Helena Mambo 04 The Rocker's Shuffle 05 Blue Melody Moon 06 There's Madness In My Heart 07 In My Neighborhood 08 Rhythm Rockin' Blues 09 I'm Not Your Square 10 A Moment Of Love 11 Come On In 12 Oncoming Train 13 The Rocker's Shuffle (Alt) 14 People Are Talking, Pt. 1 15 People Are Talking, Pt. 2 16 Let's Go 17 I'll Forgive You Baby 18 Go On Little Girl 19 Ain't Going Steady Anymore 20 That's My Girl 21 Night After Night 22 Cry For Happy 23 Table For Two 24 Introduce Yourself 25 Goin' Down South 26 Someday 27 Come Home 28 You Can't Keep It 29 Fire 'Er 30 Wild Play Girl
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