Liner notes to the album "Shuckin' And Jivin'" - Slim Gaillard

Rap started out as a dance fad "combining (as Donald Clarke's authoritative 'Penguin Encyclopedia Of Popular Music has it) disco beat with breakdancing, graffiti art and rap. When MCs added rapping over the music (chanted street poetry which was improvised at first, from trendy '60s words for conversation) it became rap". Two forerunners of rap and the street-wise quality now associated with temporary popular music are to be heard here, a couple of unique characters who left their marks on music in no uncertain fashion.

For years jazz enthusiasts have tried to put musicians into categories (on paper, at least) but there was never a pigeonhole large enough to contain the late Bulee 'Slim' Gaillard. Born in Detroit on 4th January, 1916 Slim spent his school holidays travelling with his father, a steward on board a passenger liner. During one such trip he was accidentally left behind on the island of Crete, where he remained for six months. Back home in Detroit he went into show business while still in his late teens, playing guitar and tap-dancing simultaneously as a solo variety act. By the time he was 21 he was in New York, frequenting clubs such as the Onyx and making his first records with trumpeter Frankie Newton. Less than a year later Slim had achieved success with a nonsense song which caught the public's imagination, "Flat feet floogie", which was first recorded for the Vocalion label and took off like a rocket. A long-running radio series on New York station WNEW gave Slim, and his partner Slam Stewart, even greater publicity and the duo worked together up to the time Gaillard went into the US Army Air Corps in 1943.

Slim came out of the army in 1944 and had an early hit with a children's song, Down by the station. He appeared at Hollywood clubs frequented by film people and was soon back on the screen himself. (He had made his debut in the 1942 film "Hellzapoppin" before his army service.) This compact disc contains, for the first time ever, all the titles Slim made for Queen about this time, one of the subsidiary labels of King, a record company formed by Sidney Nathan in Cincinnatti in 1943. The titles are thought to have been recorded in Hollywood at four sessions and are usually dated "circa September, 1945". The titles show that Slim's good humour generated a relaxed atmosphere and his choice of supporting musicians was exemplary. Trumpeter Karl George was in Los Angeles with Count Basis at that time while trombonist Vic Dickenson was with EddieHeywood's little band. Howard McGhee, Teddy Edwards, Lucky Thompson and the Texas-born Wild Bill Moore were important members of the peripatetic group of musicians moving from club to club within the Los Angeles city limits. Tiny 'Bam' Brown was Slim's constant companion as was the unique Leo Watson at that time. Pianist Fletcher Smith was a blues specialist who had played with Cootie Williams. On the band titles the alto and trombone solos need no identification while all the tenor solos but one are the work of Lucky Thompson. (I believe it is Moore who plays the first tenor obbligato on "Travelin' blues" with Lucky obviously the second.) George is the only trumpet soloist on "Voot orenee" and McGhee the only trumpet soloist on "Tutti frutti." On both "Slim Gaillard's boogie" and "Travelin' blues" George is the first (muted) player with McGhee second (and open). But the central figure remains Slim himself, playing guitar in a style close to that of Charlie Christian and fundamental but very effective piano. (One of his party tricks was to play blues piano with both hands palms up.) On some titles he, and sometimes Fletcher Smith, played "doctored" piano, a harpsichord-like sound which may have been achieved by slipping a sheet of paper behind their strings. His recitative approach to "Travelin' blues" and "Sightseeing boogie" epitomised the word "cool" long before its later use.

After the King sessions Slim went on to even greater fame and fortune. During the 1980's he based himself in London where he became a much-loved figure. He was one of the most entertaining people I ever met with a wealth of stories and an extremely accurate memory. He was always very good company but was a much more astute and business-like person than his songs may have prepared you for. His death, in London, on 26th. February, 1991 robbed us all of a very lovable character.