Little Willie Littlefield - Kat On The Keys '2013

Tracks list

Tracklist
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01. Aint A Better Story Told
02. Life Of Trouble
03. You Never Miss A Good Woman Till Shes Gone
04. Nakite Stomp (Inst)
05. Cheerful Baby
06. Happy Pay Day (The Blacksmith Blues)
07. Ive Been Lost
08. Love Me Tonight
09. Trouble Around Me
10. Money Hustlin Woman
11. Real Fine Mama
12. Too Late For Me
13. Mean Mean Woman
14. Lump In My Throat (Tears In My Eyes)
15. I Like It
16. Your Love Wasnt So
17. Rockin Chair Mama
18. The Nights Are So Long
19. Hit The Road
20. Train Whistle Blues (aka Train Whistle Blowing)
21. The Sun Is Shining In Your Front Door
22. Long About Midnight
23. Til We Meet Again
24. Trouble Around Me
25. Its Midnight (No Place To Go)

This is a 25-song compilation drawn from Littlefields output for Modern between
1949 and 1952, including the sole hit he scored for that label, Its Midnight (No
Place to Go). Littlefield is somewhat more obscure than many other artists
mining a similar blues/R&B crossover field in Los Angeles studios in the early
1950s, such as Charles Brown, Amos Milburn, and Floyd Dixon. On the basis of the
music here, Littlefield deserves to be in the same echelon as the aforementioned
performers. He was a fine pianist who was skilled in the boogie woogie style and
tempered for the times with a modern R&B influence. His use of triplets,
according to the liner notes, influenced Fats Domino. He was also more versatile
than some piano bluesmen of the era, and was comfortable with slow and
melancholy-tinged ballads as well as jumping uptempo R&B tunes (the boasting I
Like It is a standout). His singing was more easygoing than distinctive, but
still had a relaxed charm. Many of the sides here were cut with some of the Los
Angeles studio musicians - horn player Maxwell Davis, guitarist Johnny Moore,
and others - that were instrumental in setting the paces for the jazzy, urbane
R&B music of the early 1950s in L.A. The sound is very good, and is mastered
from the original acetate lacquers, with only occasional (and slight) surface
noise peeping through. The disc includes five previously unissued cuts (three of
which are alternate takes). A second volume of Littlefields Modern sides was in
the works from Ace as of the 1999 issue of this collection.

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