Ike

Ike Quebec was something like Ben Webster in his ability to play lush ballads or to scream like a smokestack when the band was cooking. After working for Roy Eldridge and Frankie Newton, Quebec became Cab Calloway's star tenor man in 1944, making everyone sit up and take notice when he wailed over Cab's band in a wonderfully raspy tone utilizing the instrument's extremities for maximum effect. Each of Quebec's sessions as a leader produced staggeringly potent records. J.C. Heard is the drummer on all 20 tracks - check him out on "Indiana" - and for bassists you have Milt Hinton, Grachan Moncur II, or Oscar Pettiford. While Roger Ramirez was an excellent pianist, it is a gas hearing Johnny Guarnieri on the Savoy session. Guest horn players are Buck Clayton, Keg Johnson, Jonah Jones, and Tyree Glenn. Guitarist Tiny Grimes is present on three of these dates…

With most classic R&B acts, we feel lucky to get one genuine live recording – in the case of Ike & Tina Turner, by contrast, we have an embarrassment of riches in the way of concert recordings from the early- to mid-1960s, and it started with this Kent Records release. Issued in 1964, soon after they left Kent, it captured 35 minutes of their live act, from the Club Imperial and the Harlem Club in St, Louis. In addition to Tina Turner in an extended rap attached to "Please, Please, Please," we also get Jimmy Thomas in a rousing version of "Feel So Good," Venetta Fields' mournful, magnificent "The Love of My Man," Bobby John on the smooth, soulful, soaring "Think," Stacy Johnson doing "Drown in My Own Tears," Robbie Montgomery's "I Love the Way You Love," and Vernon Guy singing "Your Precious Love".