Rock & Roll

The mid-50s publicity photograph of Ivory Joe Hunter reveals a chubby and bespectacled middle-aged man with a cheesy grin. Hardly the stuff of greasy R&B and rock'n'roll idols. But at the time he was as hip and hot as the proverbial firecracker. All the ingredients of classic 1950s Atlantic R&B (with a hint of pop) are here. There are the oh-so-well-crafted songs, mostly written by Hunter - the blues ballads highlighted by Since I Met You Baby, the bluesy All About The Blues, the rocker Shooty Booty and even the Latin American rhythms of I Got To Learn To Do The Mambo. Then there is first-class vocal group backing on the earlier tracks by the Ivorytones (aka the Cues) and musical accompaniment by top New York session men (from Sam 'The Man' Taylor to Kenny Burrell and Billy Mure). All are supervised unerringly by Jerry Wexler, with impeccable engineering from Tom Dowd.