Recorded in 1964 on ABC-Paramount, 'Wow!' has recently been re-issued on Verve's imprimatur, and it's still considered the bluesiest opus from the legendary Bill Doggett Twenty-three years earlier, Doggett was anchoring the piano chair in Lucky Millinder's band, which also happened to feature a young singer by the name of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Following years would find Doggett recording, touring, or arranging for the Ink Spots, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Willis Jackson, and Louis Jordan.
But it would be those spectacular early fifties sessions with Ella Fitzgerald that convinced Doggett to hit the road full-time and start recording under his own name. Still, nobody could have predicted the impact of that recording session of June 16, 1956. Honky Tonk--a 2-part single--would help usher in the rock 'n' roll era, along with such seminal recordings as "Rocket 88" and "Rock Around The Clock". Saxophonist Clifford Scott (who had left the band just prior to 'Wow!') and guitarist Billy Butler laid down a series of such intoxicating grooves, that to this day, Honky Tonk's phrases have been incorporated into the basic vocabulary of any respectable saxophonist or guitarist.
A brilliantly conceived and multi-varied work, 'Wow!' succeeded on so many levels. Doggett was always closely attuned to changing musical winds (but not fickle public tastes), so while all the disparate elements that defined the classic Doggett sound are in evident abundance--that cool juxtaposition of the elegant and the gritty, the sophisticated and the primitive, the secular and the sacred---he was also drawing nourishment from the rising tide of gospel and soul.
Doggett's music is impossible to pigeonhole, although he aptly described 'Wow!' as being "down the middle between jazz and rock 'n' roll." And such tracks as "Fatso" and "Oo-da" prove conclusively that they could co-exist magnificently. There are also two cool re-workings of Doggett hits from the Honky Tonk era: "Ram-Bunk-Shush" and "Slow Walk". But the rest of 'Wow!' is very much tuned into an equally adventurous future.
The exclamatory title track is as refreshing as a waterfall on a humid summer day, the result primarily of Doggett's ebullient liquid organ tones. "Oo-da" is upbeat, but etched by more reflective shadings, and with Butler's impeccable blues runs in full splendor; it hints that something sublime is near at hand. 'Ol' Mose Blues' is that realization, a soulful masterpiece, a gloriously searing exposition of the close linkage between blues and gospel, and a stunning eight-minute tour-de-force of the best in modern and traditional sounds. It struck such an immediate response with its lazy, drifting ambience and "way-down-south" groove. And it drew further sustenance from some downright righteous alto sax from Elvin Sheppard. "Mudcat" has a similar vibe, and serves as a reminder that Doggett, along with Wild Bill Davis, is generally considered the father of the organ and sax combo within a jazz setting.
On "Happy Soul Time", the hallelujahs mingle with happy-times sax and bouncy organ. "The Kicker" has a melody that is immediately identifiable, almost as if it was plunked out of thin air. Which says a whole lot about Doggett's craftsmanship: while the parts therein may be intricate and detailed, the whole comes off sounding unforced, intriguing---and eminently accessible.
If you're looking for the definition of a tight and funky band, look no further than Bill Doggett. 'Wow!' should also satisfy the hunger pangs of any jazz, big band, rhythm and blues, or blues fan, while simultaneously uncovering a crucial chapter of the Bill Doggett legacy.
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