Jimmy Witherspoon - Midnight Lady Called the Blues

Jimmy Witherspoon - Midnight Lady Called the Blues
Muse 5327, 1987

1. New York City Blues
2. The Barber
3. Blinded By Love
4. Happy Hard Times
5. Something Rotten In East St. Louis
6. Midnight Lady Called The Blues
7. Blues Hall Of Fame

Bass – Wilbur Bascomb
Drums – Bernard Purdie
Guitar – Calvin Newborn
Piano, Arranged By, Producer – Dr. John
Producer – Pomus*
Saxophone [Alto], Arranged By – Hank Crawford
Saxophone [Tenor] – David "Fathead" Newman
Trumpet – Charlie Miller
Vocals – Jimmy Witherspoon

WOW was this one ever a fabulous surprise! I bought this and a Shirley Scott at the same time and hit home runs on both. Not only is this a relatively unknown Spoon album but the band is mostly Mac's mid eighties aggregation that included Fathead Newman, Hank Crawford and Charlie Miller! Everything is produced, arranged and written by Doc Pomus (click for bio) and Doctor John. There is even a picture of the elusive Doc Pomus, certainly one of the two greatest white Blues and R&B songwriters ever! (see evidence here), the other guy would be Dan Penn.

If looking at those titles isn't enough to back me up on that statement take a look at the list of people who have recorded Doc Pomus songs here. Kind of staggering isn't it?

This is one terrific little jewel of an album and I'm quite pleased to be able to share it with y'all.