Wake Up and Live!

There was a time when swing-oriented jazz, R&B and blues overlapped to form an accessible yet intelligent style of music. In the late '40s Louis Jordan, Charles Brown and Amos Milburn were popular figures and Floyd Dixon (although a bit in their shadow) was not far behind. When rock & roll suddenly took over pop music in the mid-'50s, the middle-aged black performers were tossed off the charts in favor of their younger white imitators and work began to become scarce. Fortunately Floyd Dixon survived the lean years and, as with Charles Brown, he made a "comeback." This CD is a definitive Floyd Dixon release, mixing together older hits (including his signature tune "Hey, Bartender") with newer originals; all 16 selections were written or co-composed by Dixon. Joined by a jumping band that features a liberal amount of solo space for guitarist Port Barlow, tenor saxophonist Eddie Synigal and the old-time styled trombone of Danny Weinstein (plus a couple of spots for Charles Owens' baritone), Dixon sounds in excellent shape. His voice had not aged much, his enthusiasm is very much intact and his piano playing (whether on slow blues, medium-tempo novelties or the closing instrumental blues "Gettin' Ready") is quite jazz-oriented. Chip Deffaa's liner notes are an added plus. Highly recommended.