JIM JACKSON — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 1 • 1927-1928 | DOCD-5114 (1992) RM | FLAC (tracks), lossless

Whew. Any collection that opens up with both sides of "Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues" in its original October 1927 recording (predating RCA's recording of the same number by Jackson by three months) is asking for trouble, because how do you follow up the best double-sided solo blues single this side of Furry Lewis' "Casey Jones, Pts. 1 & 2"? Well, you put on a 1928 rendition of "He's in the Jailhouse Now" that's as soulful as any ever done, and a version of "Old Dog Blue" from January 1928 that could be the earliest blues incarnation of what later became the Bo Diddley beat. And somewhere in there you throw in Jackson's subsequent version of "Kansas City Blues" (the earlier one is better). And the stuff gets better from there on one of the finest solo artist compilations in the Document line, mostly with good sound, too. In contrast to Furry Lewis and almost any other blues great you'd care to name, Jackson's playing on the guitar was pretty basic (check out "Mobile-Central Blues," a great, bitter, topical song about the blues, that benefits from his repetitive playing), but the success of his work is proof that a smooth style matters more than technical skill, if the voice and the words are there. His playing fit his expressive voice, was not too obtrusive, and gave his voice just the little bit of accompaniment it needed, even embellishing the beat (as on "Old Dog Blue") when required. The sound is generally good, and it's hard to complain about the notes being a little sketchy, given the relatively little hard information known about Jackson. Seventy minutes of pure, sweet, golden acoustic blues, highlighted -- with Document's usual thoroughness -- by two different takes each of "I Heard the Voice of a Pork Chop," "Policy Blues," and "The Morning She Was Gone."  Bruce Eder
 
Abridged from this album’s booklet notes. Brought to Chicago from Memphis by J. Mayo Williams, then scouting black talent for Vocalion, Jim Jackson hit big with his very first release, the two-part Kansas City Blues. It sold well, spawned sequel discs, was covered by many singers, and stayed in the blues repertoire for many years. Although Kansas City Blues became closely identified with Jackson, as was no doubt intended (compare the full title of the record), it nevertheless came out of folk tradition; Robert Wilkins claimed Jackson got the song from him, and the Memphis Jug Band recorded their version slightly before Jackson. In later years, the text became more or less fixed, and the song lost its folk character as a vessel to be filled with lyrics; a process which is paralleled in Jackson’s own recording career, during which he made the transition from using traditional material to creating original blues expressly for recording. Jim Jackson usually strummed his guitar, although he had some pretty pattern picks at his disposal as well (compare Old Dog Blue and I Heard The Voice Of A Porkchop); he sang in a strong voice, with a heavy vibrato, one that would carry well in the streets and from the medicine show stage. As Paul Oliver has pointed out, “his total output is one of the richest stores of traditional songs”, often including verses collected by folklorists in the early years of the century; Old Dog Blue, for instance, was collected in 1909. Jim Jackson‘s records also preserve elements of composed songs from the turn of the century that appealed to black audiences: My Monday (Woman) Blues was based on the 1900 coon song “I’ve Got A Gal For Ev’ry Day In The Week”, with lyrics by the Irish-American Pat Rooney, and music by the German-American Harry von Tilzer. Jim Jackson was by no means the only one to record it; nor was he the only one to point out that his “Monday woman” was a prostitute, and give directions to where she could be found. I’m A Bad Bad Man, on the other hand, was partly based on an 1894 song by black composer Gussie Davis, “I’ve Been Hoodooed”, although its acceptance of stereotypes (“Give a colored man a white-handled razor, and a crap game he will find”) is as disturbing as its violence (“He’ll chop enough meat off his head, for to feed all the dogs in town”); strange that this song, and its equally violent flipside, should have appealed to that most amiable of men, John Jackson. In late January 1928, the enterprising Victor company sent a field recording unit to Memphis where, among others, they recorded Jim Jackson. (Kansas City Blues had only been released on 8th December 1927, so Victor wasted little time in stealing Vocalion’s hottest act.) Some of Jackson’s songs were remakes of Vocalion material, and he continued to use traditional and medicine show material like I’m Wild About My Lovin’; but from now on, he was also to record original, thematic songs like the witty Bootlegging Blues, and Policy Blues, with its advice to play “the black man and the trey, and 4 -11- 44”. Jackson returned to Vocalion in 1929 (see DOCD-5115), but all through 1928 he was with Victor. DOCD-5114
Tracklist :
1    Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues - Pt. 1    3:12
2    Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues - Pt. 2    3:17
3    He's In The Jailhouse Now    2:57
4    Old Dog Blue    2:55
5    My Monday Blues    3:00
6    Mobile-Central Blues    3:01
7    Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues - Pt. 3    2:57
8    Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues - Pt. 4    2:58
9    My Monday Blues    2:58
10    I'm A Bad Bad Man    3:05
11    I'm Gonna Start Me A Graveyard Of My Own    2:58
12    My Monday Woman Blues    3:05
13    I Heard The Voice Of A Pork Chop    2:57
14    I Heard The Voice Of A Pork Chop    2:50
15    My Monday Woman Blues    2:50
16    My Mobile Central Blues    2:57
17    Old Dog Blue    3:00
18    Bootlegging Blues    2:58
19    Policy Blues    3:20
20    Policy Blues    3:07
21    I'm Wild About My Lovin'    3:12
22    This Morning She Was Gone    3:11
23    This Morning She Was Gone    3:06

JIM JACKSON — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 2 • 1928-1930 | DOCD-5115 (1992) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This second volume in Document's project to reissue the complete recorded works of Jim Jackson in chronological order isn't quite as necessary as the first, since that volume contains what are arguably his most important and interesting songs ("Kansas City Blues," "He's in the Jailhouse Now," "Old Dog Blue'," "I'm Wild About My Lovin'"). True, there are some worthwhile tracks here as well, including "What a Time," "Traveling Man," "Hesitation Blues," and a particularly impassioned version of W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues," but Jackson wasn't a striking enough guitarist or singer to overcome mediocre and cliché-ridden material, and there's plenty of that here, too. Document has also issued both of these volumes in a double-disc set, which may be preferable to collectors and blues scholars, but until someone issues a decent single-disc overview of Jackson's recordings, casual listeners should probably stick with the first volume. Steve Leggett
 
Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Jim Jackson‘s seemingly innocuous medicine show songs often combine subversion of white stereotypes with an apparent acceptance of them. Consider What A Time, with its references to gluttony, chicken stealing and laziness; so far, so submissive. Then comes the final verse:

“There stand a man, standin’ over there, With a blue coat on and lookin’ pretty fair, Got his collar all round his throat, I bet he smells like a billy goat.”

It never seems to have occurred to supremacists that black songs carried a meaning, and no doubt the white policeman referred to by this verse enjoyed the music just as much as the black audience he was supervising. Traveling Mart, too, has its points to make about the foolishness of the powerful. Most telling of all, perhaps, are the calmly resigned lines in Bye Bye Policeman, about the aftermath of a crap game (more stereotypical activity):

“He said, “Stop there boys, I’m the law, I’ll shoot to kill!” I turned around and looked at him, said “Reckon you will”.

Bye Bye Policeman, like a number of Jackson’s songs (eg. “Long Gone”), turns out to be a medley; it begins with a verse from Ernest Hogan’s “Pas Ma La”, published in 1895, cataloging then popular dances: the Bombashay, the World’s Fair, the Turkey Trot, and the Pas-a- ma-la itself. As well as preserving material from the songster era, like this and Going ‘Round The Mountain, Jim was also keeping up with fashion; Hey Mama – It’s Nice Like That, reworking material from What A Time. He was also still cutting sequels to his hit, Kansas City Blues; I’m Gonna Move To Louisiana was an obvious one, though he added a pretty guitar flourish to the basic tune. Ain’t You Sorry Mama? was a less blatant reworking, keeping only the tune, and abandoning the “moving away” theme in favour of largely traditional verses about a relationship in difficulties. On this song, Jackson was joined by a pianist, thought to have been Speckled Red (Rufus Perryman), who didn’t record under his own name until September 1929, but who credited Jim Jackson with getting him onto records. If Red was the pianist on this session, he was unlike his usual extrovert self, confining himself to restrained chording. The piano player on the 16 July date is rather more lively, especially on the pop-structured I Ain’t Gonna Turn Her Down; he clearly doesn’t know the song, waiting until Jackson has run through the song once before playing, but joins in with verve and assurance. None of the eight songs from this session was issued on 78, so the two musicians may not have blended as successfully on all titles; it’s a pity, for Dicty Blues sounds interesting, and Bring It On Home To Your Grandma may be the song recorded by the Mississippi Mud Mashers in 1935. Crazy ‘Bout Nancy Jane was recorded by the Famous Hokum Boys, but not until 1930, which may indicate that Georgia Tom Dorsey brought it along to both sessions, and so may help to identify the piano player on this date. Both Speckled Red and Georgia Tom were present on 14th October 1929, as was Tom’s partner Tampa Red, “the man with the gold guitar” (a gold plated National. See http://www.resonatorguitarguide.com/the-golden-guitar-of-tampa-red/ ). They assembled in Memphis to cut a promotional record, with Jackson’s name as the selling point, though Tom and Tampa were by now surely the bigger stars on race records. Georgia Tom narrated; as well as the inevitable It’s Tight Like That, Speckled Red contributed a roaring “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie”, and Tampa adapted his Chicago Moan into a version that Dan Pickett knew, and recalled on disc in 1949. Jim Jackson himself was heard only briefly, singing a verse of a twelve-bar blues. Prior to this session, Jackson had done some moonlighting at Columbia, accompanying the lively crosstalk act of Liza Brown and Ann Johnson. Their sparring, which evidently played on one of them being large and the other small, remains lively and spontaneous sounding; on Let’s Get It Straight, Jim Jackson joins the conversation as the bemused object of the women’s rivalry. Jackson’s last session was in February 1930, when he cut powerful versions of two of the best known songs adapted by W. C. Handy from folk traditions; they stand as a neat summation of Jim Jackson‘s own career, with its tensions between the preservation of folk material, and accommodation to the demands of mass culture. DOCD-5115
Tracklist :
1    Jim Jackson–    What A Time    3:23
2    Jim Jackson–    What A Time    3:22
3    Jim Jackson–    This Ain't No Place For Me    3:02
4    Jim Jackson–    I'm Gonna Move To Louisiana - Pt. 1    3:36
5    Jim Jackson–    I'm Gonna Move To Louisiana - Pt. 1    3:35
6    Jim Jackson–    I'm Gonna Move To Louisiana - Pt. 2    3:43
7    Jim Jackson–    Traveling Man    3:20
8    Jim Jackson–    Going 'Round The Mountain    3:14
9    Jim Jackson–    Bye, Bye, Policeman    3:02
10    Jim Jackson–    Long Gone    2:40
11    Jim Jackson–    Hey Mama - It's Nice Like That - Pt. I 3:02
Piano [Prob.] – Speckled Red
Vocals, Guitar – Jim Jackson
12    Jim Jackson–    Hey Mama - It's Nice Like That - Pt. II 2:57
Piano [Prob.] – Speckled Red
Vocals, Guitar – Jim Jackson
13    Jim Jackson–    Ain't You Sorry Mama? - Pt. 1 2:54
Piano [Prob.] – Speckled Red
Vocals, Guitar – Jim Jackson
14    Jim Jackson–    Ain't You Sorry Mama? - Pt. 2 3:13
Piano [Prob.] – Speckled Red
Vocals, Guitar – Jim Jackson
15    Jim Jackson–    Foot Achin' Blues 3:04
Piano [Prob.] – Speckled Red
Vocals, Guitar – Jim Jackson
16    Jim Jackson-    Love Sick Blues 2:51
Piano [Prob.] – Speckled Red
Vocals, Guitar – Jim Jackson
17    Jim Jackson–    Santa Fe Blues 3:06
Piano – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Guitar – Jim Jackson
18    Jim Jackson–    I Ain't Gonna Turn Her Down 2:37
Piano – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Guitar – Jim Jackson
19    Liza Brown And Ann Johnson–    Get On Out Of Here 3:15
Guitar – Jim Jackson
Piano – Unknown Artist
Vocals – Ann Johnson, Liza Brown
20    Liza Brown And Ann Johnson–    Let's Get It Straight 3:23
Piano – Unknown Artist
Vocals – Ann Johnson, Liza Brown
Vocals, Guitar – Jim Jackson
21    Jim Jackson–    Jim Jackson's Jamboree - Part I 3:11
Vocals – Jim Jackson
Vocals, Guitar – Tampa Red
Vocals, Piano – Speckled Red
Vocals, Piano, Speech [probably] – Georgia Tom Dorsey
22    Jim Jackson–    Jim Jackson's Jamboree - Part II 3:05
Vocals – Jim Jackson
Vocals, Guitar – Tampa Red
Vocals, Piano – Speckled Red
Vocals, Piano, Speech [probably] – Georgia Tom Dorsey
23    Jim Jackson–    Hesitation Blues (Oh! Baby, Must I Hesitate?)    3:21
24    Jim Jackson–    St. Louis Blues     2:43