The Enticement of an Earl

The Tramp Records crew celebrates its 10th anniversary with one more fantastic release in the Story of series. Another wonderful musician which deserves to be (re-)discovered: Professor Earl Lett. Although his songs have been dance floor favourites of both soul and funk DJs all over Europe, this is the first-ever compilation of his funkiest 1960s/70s material. Earl Lett was born in 1945 and grew up in Monroeville, Alabama. His musical career started after his demobilization in 1961 when he went back to Massachusetts to go on tour with his first professional circuit band: Earl Lett & the Blendaires.

Although the liner notes to this 14-track blues collection are otherwise thorough, one not so insignificant element is missing: the original release and recording dates of the material. The common thread seems to be that they were all produced by Fred James, who also plays guitar on all of the cuts, one of which, the instrumental "Herb Stuffing," is credited to James himself. Though James also wrote the notes, the time frame of the tracks (four of which were previously unissued) is maddeningly unspecific, though it can be deduced that they were all done sometime in the 20 years prior to this 2010 release. At any rate, these are pretty average, workmanlike contemporary electric blues, not many of them by big names in the field, with Earl Gaines, Frank Frost, Sam Lay, and Johnny Jones being the biggest. Sometimes performances of particular strength cut through to get noticed, especially Gaines' ballad "I Believe in Your Love," which has a rich and moving vibrato vocal. James is a decent and versatile guitarist, too, but in part owing to the substandard documentation, it's not a notable compilation of 20th into 21st century blues.