Roy Milton - Rocks [CD]

Roy Milton - Rocks / A brimful CD compilation dedicated to the important R&B pioneer Roy Milton in the continuously updated 'Rocks' series on Bear Family Recordsr. -Milton is considered one of the originators of the jump blues genre on the U.S. West Coast. -The album features his rockin'est, fast numbers recorded with his great band between 1946 and '63 for such record labels as Specialty, DooTone, King, Warwick, Cenco and Thunderbird. -Musical highlights include Red Light, Milton's Boogie, Hop, Skip And Jump, Junior Jives, You Got Me Reeling And Rocking and Rocking Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu. -His 1955 Specialty single What Can I Do is reissued here for the first time on CD. -Johnny 'Junior' Rogers, Roy Gaines and Roy Montrell are three of the outstanding guitarists. -Expertly narrated by Bill Dahl, plus lots of photos and illustrations in the substantial booklet and recordings carefully remastered for this edition. Any comprehensive list of postwar rhythm and blues pioneers has to position Roy Milton and his band, The Solid Senders, right near it's top. The Los Angeles-based Milton was a rock-solid drummer whose rich, full-bodied vocals were perfect for the swinging stormers that comprise Bear Family's 'Roy Milton Rocks.' His combo, anchored by Camille Howard's rippling boogie piano and accentuated by a punchy small horn section (and as time went by, Johnny 'Junior' Rogers' dazzling guitar work), helped define the jump blues genre, which in turn provided an indelible blueprint for the first wave of rock and roll. This compilation spans the band's incredible career from their early days of recording in L.A. with the madly jumping Red Light to their hitmaking heyday on Specialty Records (Milton's Boogie, Hop, Skip, And Jump, Oh Babe!, and the jaw-dropping Rogers-led instrumentals Junior Jives and Junior Jumps are among the highlights) through his mid-'50s hookups with DooTone, a.m.o.