Johnny Moore's Three Blazers have a notable place in the history of early R&B as the group with whom Charles Brown first rose to prominence. This odd compilation, however, gathers material from some years after Brown's departure for a solo career in the late 1940s (though he'd occasionally return to Moore's group in subsequent times). Moore ran through a lot of vocalists after Brown left (including Floyd Dixon), and this particular anthology focuses on 25 sides the group cut from 1952 through 1954 featuring either his ...
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Johnny Moore's Three Blazers have a notable place in the history of early R&B as the group with whom Charles Brown first rose to prominence. This odd compilation, however, gathers material from some years after Brown's departure for a solo career in the late 1940s (though he'd occasionally return to Moore's group in subsequent times). Moore ran through a lot of vocalists after Brown left (including Floyd Dixon), and this particular anthology focuses on 25 sides the group cut from 1952 through 1954 featuring either his girlfriend Mari Jones or Frankie Ervin as lead singer. It wasn't a period that found Johnny Moore's Three Blazers at either their commercial or artistic peak, and not only because Brown couldn't be replaced with a talent of equal skill. Jones and Ervin were only adequate, and the pop-jazz-R&B crossover music the group was playing -- which was something like a watered-down version of Nat King Cole's early style -- was itself passing out of style as tougher R&B, doo wop, and early rock & roll picked up steam. What's more, some of the tracks they laid down during this period were remakes of songs originally recorded in the '40s with Brown on lead. Consequently, this anthology is neither the group or the early-'50s smooth R&B genre itself at its best, though it does include one R&B hit (the 1953 cash-in "Dragnet Blues"), and benefits from Ace's usual scrupulously detailed liner notes and packaging. It's more for the small market of die-hard genre enthusiasts and Moore collectors, and includes nine previously unreleased cuts and alternate mixes. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi
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