Lil Green - Blues & Rhythm Series 5131: The Chronological Lil Green 1947-1951 (2005)

This is the third and final volume in the complete recordings of Lil Green in chronological order as reissued by the Classics Blues & Rhythm Series. By 1947 Lil Green was beginning to sound more than a little like Ida Cox, even when handling songs from Tin Pan Alley rather than straight up out of the tried and true traditional blues repertoire. Comparisons could also be drawn between Lil Green and Nellie Lutcher or Julia Lee. While her "crossover" performances are worthwhile, there's nothing quite like hearing this woman savor the flavor of Bessie Smith hits like "Aggravatin' Papa," "Outside of That," and "You've Been a Good Old Wagon (But You Done Broke Down)." Green's own "Lonely Woman" has a powerful undercurrent running through it -- there is even a remote possibility that Ornette Coleman was inspired by this record when conceiving his own composition of the same title in 1959. Even if the link is purely coincidental, these melodies have something wonderful in common. Green's final recordings for the Victor label are strengthened by the presence of tenor saxophonists Budd Johnson, Lem Johnson, and David Young. "Them There Eyes," closely associated with Billie Holiday, gets the full-throttle Lil Green treatment, and her sanguine rendition of Big Bill Broonzy's "Rock Me Baby" is utterly delicious. Earlier in her career this tough little woman had cheerfully sung songs of unbridled hedonism, expressed most pointedly on her January 1941 recording "Knockin' Myself Out (Gradually by Degrees)." In December of 1947 Green recorded "I Got to Have It," which sounds at first like a hymn to cigarettes and nicotine but soon appears to be about addictions in general. Subsequently, her career sputtered and went out with a pair of sides for the Aladdin label in 1949 and two for Atlantic in 1951. These are very cool modern-sounding blues records, with electrically amplified guitar right out in front alongside the vocal on the Atlantic date. What sort of a comeback would this woman have staged if she had lived beyond the age of 34? One can only imagine. After contracting bronchial pneumonia, Lil Green died on April 14, 1954. ~arwulf arwulf