Jack Newman (1938)

On May 26 1938, a handful of musicians showed up at a recording studio in Chicago, performed two-dozen songs in front of the microphone, and went their separate ways, never to record again. Six titles were assigned to each of four singers, and of those four, only Jack Newman played an instrument. A rather introverted guitarist, he also accompanied himself on the piano. The only Jack Newman album ever likely to materialize was a product of Document's massive reissuing campaign which began in the early '90s. True to form, the producers of this compilation arranged the tracks according to the order in which they appeared in the Vocalion catalog. Although whoever was in charge at Vocalion systematically rejected two of each singer's recordings, these sides were preserved and Document's Jack Newman album contains all of the complete takes recorded on that spring day in 1938. The first singer to be featured was James Hall, whose "West Helena Blues" may point to Arkansas as his original stamping ground. He was backed by pianist Jesse Coleman (who made his own records under the name of Monkey Joe), an unidentified string bassist, and Jack Newman. This same unit, with the addition of blues mandolinist Charlie McCoy, assisted a woman by the name of Frankie Jones in creating the gutsiest, most entertaining records of the entire session. She is at her best during the upbeat "Bring Your Mud and Let's Dob." Newman's records feature his voice backed by piano, bass, and guitar. Like most blues singers of his generation, he sang about wine, women, skin color, firearms, and prison. This intriguing album closes with a mixture of blues and folk tunes sung by Black Bottom McPhail, who recorded with guitarist Scrapper Blackwell back in 1932.