Although a minor figure in blues history, Jazz Gillum recorded 100 selections during 1934-49 as a leader plus an album in 1961. Of those 100, the first two seem to be completely lost but the other 98 have all been reissued on four Document CDs. An expressive singer and an effective harmonica player, Gillum, holds his own with his better-known sidemen which on Vol. 2 include guitarist Big Bill Broonzy, pianist Joshua Altheimer, bassist Ransom Knowing, Washboard Sam and (on one session) a so-so tenor-saxophonist. Among the better selections from these performances covering the 1938-41 period are such numbers as "Get Away Old Woman," "Keyhole Blues," "Hard Drivin' Woman," "Key To The Highway" and "Is That A Monkey You Got?" Scott Yanow
Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. When Jazz Gillum made his first recordings the influence of his country background was still strong upon him. His dark but clear voice and piping high-register harp were redolent of the country juke joint or small town street corner. Gillum’s uncomplicated straight ahead style continued to sell records and attempts to render his image more hip by the use of an electric guitar seemed to have been modestly successful. For his recording date in May 1939 Gillum played his harmonica alongside a tenor-sax player who is tentatively identified as one John Cameron. This trend towards big city sophistication was general among the group of Chicago musicians of which Gillum was a member and would see its final fruition, after a fresh injection from the south, as the bar blues which dominated the post-war Chicago scene. In May of 1940 Gillum cut one of his most successful and at the same time controversial numbers; Key To The Highway was to become a blues standard and both Jazz Gillum and Big Bill Broonzy claimed authorship. Investigations over the years would seem to indicate that Gillum had the stronger case. Gillum himself was not above swiping a good tune, say that generally known as Dust My Broom (common property and used on the uptempo Against My Will), or a whole song (like everybody else he was to take a swing at Casey Bill Weldon‘s Outskirts of Town) or even a stylistic tag such as Peetie Wheatstraw‘s “Oh well, well”. His own compositions often tended to hark back to his days in the south. On Mule Blues from his December 1938 session Gillum had boasted that he could “look at forty acres of cotton and tell you every bale you’ll make” and this preoccupation with southern concerns continued with his hymn in praise of the Mississippi steam boat Big Katy Adams and his invocation of the folk-hero Stavin Chain. Strangely when he recorded I’m Still Walking The Hi-Way, to cash in on the success Key To The Highway, with which it shared the same tune, in March 1941 – a month before Big Bill Broonzy recorded the latter number – the writer credit was made out to … “Broonzy”! It was at Broonzy’s May 1941 session for Okeh, when his version of Key To The Highway was cut, that “Bill McKinley“, reappeared as Jazz Gillum took the opportunity to lay down a couple of, extracurricular, tracks himself, including the mildly salacious Is That A Monkey You Got?, which, possibly for contractual reasons, did not see release until the compact disc age of the 1990s. DOCD-5198
Tracklist :
1 Jazz Gillum And His Jazz Boys– Let Her Go 2:53
Double Bass [probably] – Ransom Knowling
Guitar [probably] – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
2 Jazz Gillum And His Jazz Boys– Get Away, Old Woman 2:50
Double Bass [probably] – Ransom Knowling
Guitar [probably], Speech [vocal responses, probably] – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
3 Jazz Gillum And His Jazz Boys– Stavin' Chain 2:27
Double Bass [probably] – Ransom Knowling
Guitar [probably] – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
4 Jazz Gillum And His Jazz Boys– She Won't Treat Me Kind 2:34
Double Bass [probably] – Ransom Knowling
Guitar [probably] – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
5 Jazz Gillum And His Jazz Boys– I'll Get Along Somehow 2:21
Double Bass [probably] – Ransom Knowling
Guitar [probably] – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
6 Jazz Gillum– Got To Reap What You Sow 3:01
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Tenor Saxophone [possibly] – John Cameron
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
7 Jazz Gillum– Big Katy Adams 2:57
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Tenor Saxophone [possibly] – John Cameron
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
8 Jazz Gillum– Against My Will 3:04
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Tenor Saxophone [possibly] – John Cameron
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
9 Jazz Gillum– Keyhole Blues 2:57
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Tenor Saxophone [possibly] – John Cameron
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
10 Jazz Gillum– Talking To Myself 2:48
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Tenor Saxophone [possibly] – John Cameron
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
11 Jazz Gillum– Hard Drivin' Woman 3:08
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Tenor Saxophone [possibly] – John Cameron
Vocals – Jazz Gillum
12 Jazz Gillum– Somebody Been Talking To You 3:03
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Tenor Saxophone [possibly] – John Cameron
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
13 Jazz Gillum– One Time Blues 2:58
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Joshua Altheimer
Tenor Saxophone [possibly] – John Cameron
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
14 Jazz Gillum– It Sure Had A Kick 2:27
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
Washtub Bass [possibly] – Al Collins
Washtub Bass [probably] – Alfred Elkins
15 Jazz Gillum– She Belongs To Me 2:52
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
Washtub Bass [possibly] – Al Collins
Washtub Bass [probably] – Alfred Elkins
16 Jazz Gillum– Longest Train Blues 2:27
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
Washtub Bass [possibly] – Al Collins
Washtub Bass [probably] – Alfred Elkins
17 Jazz Gillum– Key To The Highway 2:39
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
Washtub Bass [possibly] – Al Collins
Washtub Bass [probably] – Alfred Elkins
18 Jazz Gillum– I'm Still Walking The Hi-Way 2:54
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
Washboard – Washboard Sam
Washtub Bass [probably] – Alfred Elkins
19 Jazz Gillum– Get Your Business Straight 2:49
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
Washboard – Washboard Sam
Washtub Bass [probably] – Alfred Elkins
20 Jazz Gillum– Muddy Pond Blues 2:58
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
Washboard – Washboard Sam
Washtub Bass [probably] – Alfred Elkins
21 Jazz Gillum– Little Woman 2:59
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
Washboard – Washboard Sam
Washtub Bass [probably] – Alfred Elkins
22 Bill McKinley– Poor Boy Blues 2:53
Double Bass – Unknown Artist
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
Washboard – Washboard Sam
23 Bill McKinley– Is That A Monkey You Got? 2:43
Double Bass – Unknown Artist
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
Washboard – Washboard Sam
24 Jazz Gillum– Riley Springs Blues 3:08
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
Washboard – Amanda Sorter*
Washtub Bass [possibly] – Al Collins
Washtub Bass [probably] – Alfred Elkins
25 Jazz Gillum– That's What Worries Me 2:49
Guitar – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Harmonica – Jazz Gillum
Washboard – Amanda Sorter
Washtub Bass [possibly] – Al Collins
Washtub Bass [probably] – Alfred Elkins
