Jimmy Witherspoon With Dick Morrissey Quartet (CD, Rhythm and Blues Records)

If there existed a common thread binding the music of London together in 1966 it was the blues. Whether you were an R&B fan or a modern jazz follower, this was a sound that continued to constitute the bedrock of your taste. And there was no individual better suited to allying these superficially disparate camps than the veteran American blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon who spent an extended stay in the capital that year, performing with contemporary jazzmen and R&B combos alike. Dick Morrissey’s quartet (with Harry South, Phil Seamen and Phil Bates) provides the backing on these live recordings, many of which are previously unissued. For anyone wanting to know just how the Sixties ‘swung’, this album is a must! 16 page booklet by Simon Spillett.