I’M WHAT YOU NEED
Little Johnny Christian
Bassist Willie Kent is a Chicago veteran. He worked locally in the early 60s with big names like Little Walter, and he’s led various aggregations of his own over the years. Recent overseas tours and festival performances have extended his reputation. I’m What You Need is his first American album under his own name.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Things kick off in fine fashion. “Boogie All Night Long” is a variation on John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie” theme, and “All My Life” is a blues love song delivered at an easy-rolling, sensual tempo. These two cuts, recorded a few years ago as 45s on the local Blue Soul label, feature harmonica player “Mad Dog” Lester Davenport. Drummer Chico Chism drives things along in an energetic shuffle-boogie, and over-the-top guitarists Johnny B. Moore and Jerry Welch add a keening edge to the solid blues foundation laid down by Kent and Chism.
Horns might seem appropriate for the title number, a soul ballad that finds Kent straining his voice to approximate the dusky sexiness necessary to put this kind of song across. But the horns are only intrusive. The raw-edged guitar solo, sounding more like music emanating from a west-side alley than a show lounge, accentuates the uncomfortable musical fit. This kind of setting isn’t the best showcase for Willie Kent’s talents–it would better fit someone like Buster Benton. As if this weren’t enough, the piano sounds out of tune as well.
If I’m What You Need is a workmanlike blues record made special by moments of inspiration and enthusiasm, then Little Johnny Christian’s Somebody Call My Baby is a well-played set reduced to mediocrity by an almost unbelievable lack of imagination. Although it will serve a newcomer well as an introduction to the kind of music being purveyed by contemporary soul-blues artists on the west and south sides, anyone even remotely familiar with the genre will be dismayed by the cliched nature of almost everything the band plays.
A dud follows a gem: another endless (five minutes plus) noodling-around jam on a previous cut, “All Because of Your Love.” There’s nothing happening that we haven’t heard earlier, and very little we haven’t heard elsewhere. This might make pleasant background music for conversation and dancing, but it doesn’t belong on a record.
