2019 – Third Street Cigar
Records
By Phillip Smith; June 29, 2019
Third Street Cigar Records
has recently released a terrific twenty-track CD compiling the best of Ohio
bluesman Marshall “Big Jack” Reynolds. This deluxe package also includes a feature-length
documentary on DVD containing eighty minutes of rare footage, and interviews which
has gone unseen since the late Eighties. Although this was my first exposure to Big Jack Reynolds, I found the documentary to be very engrossing.
Reynolds’
earlier recordings were made during the Sixties in Detroit on the Fortune and MAH
labels. After moving on to Toledo around
1970, Reynolds set up his
home-base and continued performing for another twenty years, recording his last
songs in 1990, three years before he passed away. According to Third Street president
John Henry, “Big Jack wasn’t nationally famous, but he was our guy
and now we get to bring him to the world… Every local player wanted to perform with Jack. He was a ‘real-deal’
bluesman from somewhere down south, though it was never clear where”. With Reynolds
on vocals and harmonica, the majority of the cuts on this fascinating compilation
feature Larry Gold on guitar, Johnny “Hifi” Newmark on bass, Slim Tim Gahagan on drums, and Chad Smith on
piano.
The album opens with a sweet previously unreleased cover
of Jimmy Reed’s “Honest I Do”. Reynolds
also lays down a very nice cover of Slim Harpo’s “Scratch
My Back” as well. I love Gold’s ripping guitar performance on “You Better Leave That
Woman Alone”. Coupled with a
cracker-jack rhythm section and Reynold’s slightly
raspy vocals, this original sounds great. “Mean Old People” is about as real as it gets.
Here we get to hear Big Jack alone with his guitar. It is unadulterated raw blues at its purist.
The infectious and inescapable surf beat on his 1962
single “Made It Up in Your Mind” is a wonderful backdrop for Big Jack and his
harp. It’s dripping with cool. My favorite, an original called “Hot Potato” has
a stellar groove. Big Jack breaks out his guitar on this jamming
instrumental which concludes with him exclaiming “That’s a good way to get to
heaven!”. This gravitative track is such
a great listen.
This is one great retrospective collection which I
will enjoy for a long time.
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