Cake Walkin': The Modern Reccordings 1947-1948

Personnel: Duke Henderson (vocals).
Liner Note Author: Tony Rounce.
Little is known about Al Wichard, even by R&B researchers. But he did issue a few singles on the Modern label in the late '40s as the leader of small groups. It took some doing to get an entire 24-track CD together for Cake Walkin', as no less than two-thirds of it is previously unreleased, with a handful of issued singles getting fleshed out with a passel of outtakes and alternate takes. Wichard's Modern recordings are less notable for the drummer himself than the featured singers and some of the sidemen, as Jimmy Witherspoon takes lead vocals on about half the sides, and pianist Jay McShann and guitarist Pee Wee Crayton are sometimes heard in the band. As Wichard himself doesn't sing and uses different musicians, there isn't as much stylistic unity to the tracks (a few of which are instrumental) as there could be. But they do hang together, as all of them are pretty typical examples of just-post-war West Coast R&B, with the R&B still possessing many lingering elements of swing jazz. It's solid stuff, but not material that sticks out within its genre as something special or exceptional, even as regards the contributions of Witherspoon, McShann, and Crayton. The 1949 instrumental single "Boogie Woogie Basement"/"Boogie Woogie Upstairs" is certainly the one that looks forward most strongly to the leaner and more cutting style of 1950s R&B, in large part due to the presence of Crayton on hard electric blues guitar. Considering how often Witherspoon is featured on vocals, the CD might be of more particular interest to fans of the singer than to general R&B collectors. ~ Richie Unterberger