Additional information
Sub Rosa's Dr. Boogie (Walter de Paduwa) series is one that just keeps on giving. Dr. Boogie Presents Heavy Jelly: Essential Instrumentals is the 2009 entry in a series that has already delivered Dr. Boogie Presents Rarities from the Bob Hite Vaults; Oh, Run into Me, But Don't Hurt Me! Female Blue Singers -- Rarities 1923-1930; Dr. Boogie Presents Ethnic Authentic Electric: Shim Sham Shimmy; and Dr. Boogie Presents 26 Deranged and Smokin' Cool Cats. This fifth volume focuses on instrumental 45s cut between the 1950s and the middle of the `60s, when the 45 ruled the jukeboxes and, in most cases, the airwaves as well. None of these 21 tracks (16 on the vinyl version) was by any stretch of the imagination a "hit." Doesn't matter. What's here -- by established and obscure artists alike -- is all killer, no filler; almost all of it is driven by a Hammond B-3 or a saxophone as the lead instrument. Virtually every cut here is a dancefloor stomper, beginning with Steve Rowland's "Out Ridin'," on which he was backed by none other than the great Earl Bostic! An obscure Detroit group called the Mark III Trio offer a monster B-3 jam called "Good Grease," with syncopated handclaps and some intense rhythmic invention while remaining true to the organ trio format and keeping it in overdrive for the entire two and a half minutes. Also check "Backslop" by Baby Earl & the Trinidads for an early example of ska fused to Chicago blues. All of these cuts are wildly obscure, including "Red Pepper, Pt. 2" by Roosevelt Fountain, with its dual saxophone and organ lead, which takes the Frug craze as its inspiration. Jazz trombonist Ernie Fields contributes to this collection with "Things Ain't What They Used to Be," a flip side to his "Begin the Beguine," and so do "names" like saxophonist Big Jay McNeely and B-3 toughman Wild Bill Davis, with "Big Jay Shuffle" and "Blues for Barbara," respectively. There's even a French group called Les Drivers who offer a soundtrack-styled Hully Gully dancefloor boogie called "Gully Gully," with smokin' guitar, dual saxophones, and a Hammond! Anyway you slice it, this volume is among the most enjoyable in the Dr. Boogie series. This set is guaranteed to send the party into the stratosphere. ~ Thom Jurek
