Blues shouter Mildred Anderson is barely known today. The singer first gained visibility when she recorded Doin' the Boogie Woogie with pianist Albert Ammons for Mercury in April 1948. Singles with trumpeter Hot Lips Page followed in 1951 and with organist Bill Doggett for King in 1953. These latter sessions produced No More in Life, her biggest hit. [Photo above of Mildred Anderson]
Anderson grew up in Brooklyn and sang at the Antioch Baptist Church choir. After graduation from Girls High School in 1946, she worked at New York clubs, and her nearly three years with Doggett taught her everything she needed to know about organ combos and the blues. In the 1950s, she shuttled between clubs in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., as a single attraction.
In 1959, Prestige Records founder Bob Weinstock launched his Bluesville subsidiary. The fourth album recorded for the label a year later was Anderson's Person to Person. Producer Esmond Edwards had the brilliant vision to pair her with the most perfect quartet imaginable: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (ts), Shirley Scott (org), George Duvivier (b) and Arthur Edgehill (d).
All four of these artists were flavorful and tough blues players and, as you'll hear, completely at home on the session. The songs chosen were solid and little known: I'm Gettin' Long Alright, I'm Free, Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go), Anderson's own Hello Little Boy, Person to Person, Cool Kind of Poppa, Kidney Stew Blues and I Didn't Have a Chance.
Her vocal approach was all in, with soul, a touch of church and lots of authentic blues feel. Now add the rest: Lockjaw lays it on thick on solos, Scott's organ hammers out one groove after the next, and Duvivier's bass and Edgehill's drums stir it all up. A shame this group didn't record another bunch of albums. [Photo above of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis by Esmond Edwards, courtesy of CTSImages]
Other than No More in Life, an album Anderson recorded later that year for Bluesville backed by a group led by saxophonist Al Sears, she never recorded again, at least according to the Jazz Discography. What a shame. Person to Person remains one of my favorite jazz-blues albums. And now it will be one of yours. [Photo above of Shirley Scott]
JazzWax tracks: Mildred Anderson's Person to Person (Bluesville) can be found on a Fresh Sound release that combines this album and the Al Sears date here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Kidney Stew Blues. Dig the flavor Jaws and Scotty bring to this track, not to mention Duvivier...
And here's the blues ballad I Didn't Have a Chance...
