AMG Review of Philadelphia Boogie

Tim Sendra
All Music Guide

Collectables' Philadelphia Boogie has nothing to do with the city; rather, the title comes from one of the songs contained within. The tracks on the collection are by artists from all over the U.S. and were released during the '40s and '50s by labels like Roy Milton's Milltone and Ivin Ballen's Gotham subsidiary, 20th Century. The tracks are a nice mix of jump-jazz swingers and laid-back blues ballads. None of the songs are lost classics or even all that original, but the 38 minutes you spend listening to the disc will fly by pleasantly. The tracks that stand out are Lee Brown's rollicking "Bobbie Town Boogie," James Carter's narcoleptic piano blues "Let Me Be Your Coalman," Duke Groner's easy take on the Dinah Washington classic "New Blowtop Blues," Jesse Price's "Just Before Sunrise" (which features some greasy tenor work by Buddy Floyd), and Great Gates' ramshackle "Come Back Home" (on which the guitar player can barely be contained before breaking out with a wonderfully slurred solo). Philadelphia Boogie is hardly the place to start building a jump blues or pre-rock & roll boogie collection; it is a nice but nonessential addition to an already well-appointed collection, however.