Various Artists – Chicago Blues From C.J. Records – Volume 1 – Wolf Records 120.281 CD 

C.J. Records was a Chicago-based label owned by Carl Jones that began operations in 1955.  Jones was a singer-songwriter who recorded for the Mercury Records label in the mid-1940s with the great bluesman Lonnie Johnson accompanying him on certain of his output.  The C.J. Records label recorded a variety of musical styles including blues, gospel, doo wop, and other vital forms of music that held Jones’ immediate interests.

Artists and collaborations recorded by C.J. Records and profiled on this commendable release include (verbatim from the track listings) Big Moose Walker With Lefty Dizz & His Blues Hounds, Hound Dog Taylor, Little Mac Simmons and James Cotton, Little Mac Simons, Eddie Shaw, Freddie Hall, Betty Everett with Al Perkins Band (more on this cut later), Al Perkins & Band, Ike Perkins & Band, The Daffodils with Ike Perkins’ Band, and Lady Jean & Her Swinging Cats.  The tunes here appear to be from the late 1950s-1966 time frame.

During the course of its operations, C.J. Records also recorded Earl Hooker, Homesick James, Lee Jackson, Harold Tidwell, William Carter, Bobby Davis, Morris Jones, Willie Milan, The Gospel Keys, Lorenzo Smith And His Swinging Changes, The Daylighters, Slim Willis, Rudy Robinson, Jimmy Rogers, the Windy City Symphony, Sonny Von, Detroit Jr., the Elder Daniels Singers, and Charles Gully & The Coda’s, among many other acts, though they are not the focus here.

The Big Moose Walker and Lefty Dizz cuts display the powerful nature of which Walker was known throughout his celebrated career, the Hound Dog Taylor sides simply satisfy with their urgent frantic delivery and harken what would come for him years later on Alligator Records, the Little Mac Simmons/James Cotton tune excites with dueling chromatic and diatonic harmonicas, the Little Mac Simmons’ selections find him in great vocal form accompanied by his economical yet stupendous harmonica output, and Eddie Shaw’s workouts teem with his tough and muscular saxophone backed by Magic Sam on guitar.

Freddie Hall impresses with soaring vocals that make one wonder why he didn’t achieve greater heights of success, and in what is supposed to be a Betty Everett selection with the Al Perkins Band, she is not heard; rather, it is a male vocalist (quite possibly Al Perkins) who nonetheless makes the cut compellingly attractive.

The Al Perkins & Band tune moves with its insistence and drive, the Ike Perkins & Band song unleashes great musical boogie mayhem and a honking saxophone, while The Daffodils with Ike Perkins’ Band is superb harmony vocal pleasure, and the Lady Jean & Her Swinging Cats contribution sends chills down the spine with her robust vocals, backing male singer harmonies, and blaring saxophone support.

This is not all blues across the landscape of this collection, but any aspiring or learned blues fan will greatly appreciate and thrill to the submissions provided by this worthy compilation.            

Highly-recommended without qualification!