Although generally best known to the masses for his 1958 hit with the Bo Diddley beat, "Willie and the Hand Jive,"
Johnny Otis has had a remarkable career. For more than 50 years, Otis has been a drummer, vibraphonist, bandleader, record producer, talent scout, label owner, nightclub impresario, disc jockey, TV variety-show host, author, rock & roll star, painter, and entrepreneur in the health-food business. Born in Northern California in 1921 to Greek-American parents (his real name is John Veliotes), Otis felt more comfortable with the African-American culture that surrounded him in his formative years and adopted it as his own.
The Complete Savoy Recordings is a 3-CD compilation that stylishly presents his beginnings as a bandleader and talent scout. As amply displayed here, Otis deserves his place in the upper tier of rhythm & blues pioneers. Through his work with and discoveries of such renowned talent as Jimmy Rushing, Little Esther Philips, the Robins (some of whom went on to form the Coasters), Mel Walker, Marilyn Scott, Linda Hopkins, Bill Doggett, and Jay McNeely, Otis has had a profound influence on American music.
Legend
would have it that Rock'N'Roll was born in Memphis in 1954 when a
young truck-driver by the name Elvis Presley opted to sing "Black
Blues" his way. A legend that drastically over-simplifies reality,
however, for the roots of Rock'N'Roll are already to be found in the
early recordings of Blues, Jazz and Country music of the mid-1920. This
collection, created by Gérard Herzhaft, shows that the Rock 'n' Roll
was not born with Bill Haley and Elvis Presley but before, the fusion
of Rhythm and Blues, Western Swing, Country, Gospel - or the whole of
popular music from the early twentieth century. This collection has
become indispensable, because the history of interbreeding reveals the
crystallization and the formation of gender identity as the history of
amplified music...
