PETE JOHNSON – 1947-1949 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1110 (2000) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Classics #1110 is the fourth installment chronicling 21 final key recordings of boogie woogie pianist Pete Johnson. 1947-1949 found Johnson leading three different quartets (the second with Al Mckibbon on bass and J.C. Heard on drums) for the Apollo, Modern, and French Jazz Selection labels, while the final session features a sextet on six tracks, blistering through the excellent "Rocket 88 Boogie, Parts 1 and 2" for the Down Beat/Swingtime label. These sessions have a common thread in the predominate use of guitar from Charles Norris, Carl Lynch, Johnny Rogers, and Herman Mitchell thoroughly featured alongside Johnson's piano throughout. Soon after these sessions Johnson left his West Coast home for Buffalo where he essentially retired, showing up occasionally at the odd live appearance or on other musicians' sessions. Al Campbell
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HELEN HUMES – 1948-1950 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1333 (2003) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The last two years of the '40s saw Helen Humes growing considerably as a performer. While still showing her mastery of classic blues ("Married Man Blues") and high-octane swing (a frenetic live version of her previous hit, "Be-Baba-Leba"), she continued refining the type of blue-and-sentimental ballads she'd made famous during her Count Basie years (also the type of song that would carry her through the '50s). "Time Out for Tears" and "Don't Fall in Love With Me" find Humes reaching out to the trad-pop audience, and her version of "Somebody Loves Me" shows her finding the blues even in a Gershwin standard. As if her range wasn't stunning already, 1948-1950 also includes a splendid one-shot, a title called "I Ain't in the Mood" that sounds like it came straight from the Sun studio. John Bush
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