Cecil Gant
Bullet Boogie
CD
"Cecil Gant was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1913 and was playing on radio and in nightclubs around that town by the mid 1930s. His early musical influences were Nashville pianist Leroy Carr (who had some major hits for Vocallion Records in the thirties) and Boogie Woogie pianists Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis. It seems he then spent some time in Cleveland, Ohio before being drafted into the Army during the Second World War. He was released from the service on the West Coast and was first noticed by the music community there when performing in uniform at a war bond rally in Los Angeles. In the spring of 1944 he showed up at Leroy Hurte’s recording studio to audition. The result was the record 'I Wonder', released on Hurte’s Gilt Edge label that summer. The record was very much influenced by Nat King Cole in particular and the whole California Cocktail Blues sound in general. The record went through the roof, and when it was discovered that Gant was not under contract to Gilt Edge, he re-recorded the song for Bronze Records, also in Los Angeles. When the dust finally settled in early 1945, it was estimated that the record had sold over a million copies between the two releases. 'I Wonder' is considered by many music historians to be the first major, modern Rhythm & Blues hit record. He would re-record the song several more times throughout the course of his recording career. Now billed as Pvt. Cecil Gant 'The G.I. Sing-Sation', he became a very popular nightclub performer in L.A., particularly in the clubs along Central Avenue in Watts. He recorded so prolifically for Bronze that most of the label's 1945-1946 releases were by Gant, and they were still releasing his recordings long after he'd left the company. He began working with booking agent Harold Oxley, who also booked Wynonie Harris, and Oxley put both artists with the newly formed Bullet Records of Nashville, Tennessee in 1946. Cecil took this opportunity to move back home and recorded Bullet’s first R&B release with 'Nashville Jumps'. The record did well and Bullet went on to continued success with Cecil and many other great R&B artists for the next several years. He became a regular at the Club Zanzibar on Jefferson Street and was Bullet's best selling artist, with sales in excess of 100,000 on every release (16 records between 1946 and 1949). Years of heavy drinking and fast living had taken its toll and he died aged 37 in February 1951."
The remastered recordings on this CD are from the Bullet years.
Tracklisting
1. Nashville Jumps
2. Loose As A Goose
3. Boogie Woogie Baby
4. Anna Mae
5. Nineth Street Jive
6. Every Minute Of Every Hour
7. Boozie Boogie
8. My My My
9. I Believe I'll Go Back Home
10. Three Little Girls
11. Another Day Another Dollar
12. I'm A Good Man But A Poor Man
13. Cecil's Jam Session
14. I Ain't Gonna Cry No More
15. Screwy Boogie
16. My Little Baby Boy
17. I'm Singing The Blues Today
18. Rose Room
19. What's The Matter
20. You Can't Do Me Right
21. So Tired
22. Bullet Boogie
23. Take And Get
LRP £9.99 - discounted to...
