$18 includes shipping. Send Money Order to Springing the Blues Productions; P. O. Box 51348; Jacksonville Beach, Florida 32240

This new release by Crown Price Waterford will come as quite a shock to those familiar with this singer's rich musical past, and, particularly, his more recent calling as the Reverend Solomon Charles Waterford. for the uninitiated, Waterford is one of the few survivors of the blues shouting style first popularized by Big Joe Turner and Wynonie Harris over a half century ago. He began his musical career in 1936, and continued to perform over the next 3 decades, all the while easily straddling the blues and jazz divide. during that time Waterford worked with such noted musicians as Charlie Christian, Mary Lou Williams, Jay McShann, and Pete Johnson, to name just a few. Although never becoming a major hit-maker, he recorded prolifically, with a number of excellent sides appearing on Philo, Aladdin, Capitol, King and Excello. Then, in 1965, a life long dream of Waterford's was fulfilled when he became a preacher. building several churches in northern Florida, he served the ministry for over 30 years. Although he had long since abandoned his secular musical career, he continued to sing in church, recording a gospel album on the Envy label entitled The Reverend Waterford Sings. In recent years Waterford's blues legacy has been well represented on the reissue market with releases on both the Westside (shared with one of his mentors Walter Brown) and the Classics labels. However, efforts to interview Waterford have been mostly met with a reluctance to discuss his days as a blues singer. So how did this surprising re-emergence come about?

Now retired from the church and with spare time on his hands Waterford became aware of the annual Springing the Blues' festival in his home of Jacksonville, Florida. Realizing that he hadn't lost his love to perform he contacted the festival's producer, Sam Veal, about the possibility of securing a spot on the festival, and more importantly helping him to find an appropriate backing band. Fortuitously an excellent local jump blues group called The After Hours Band was available, and after meeting with pianist Jim McKaba, Waterford began rehearsing with the band. Then, in April of 2002 Waterford, with the After Hours Band in support, played the festival to an enthusiastic response, and the following month they went into the studio together to record the material found on this wonderful CD.

All Over But The Shoutin is the type of recording that comes around only once in a very long while. Never sounding dated, the music is still very much crafted in the best of the jump blues tradition. In spite of his late 80's age, Waterfordıs voice sounds both amazingly vital and resilient. In fact there is now an appealing richness to his timbre that was absent from his previous recordings. The playlist strikes a nice balance between Waterford's own vintage compositions and blues standards. Although difficult to pick out highlights, I particularly enjoyed the salacious "Merry Go Round Blues" and the far too short "Time To Blow" absolutely rocks! Waterford delivers "Move Your Hand Baby" with a sly wink and a grin, and "Garfield Avenue Blues" is a beautiful personalized blues. Waterford pays tribute to several of his musical peers with Pete Johnson's "Roll 'em Pete", Joe Turnerıs "Piney Brown Blues", and Walter Brown is represented with both "Confessinı The Blues" and the lessor known "Lonely Boy Blues". completing the 10-track blues shouterıs menu are the evergreen "How Long Blues" and "Worried Life Blues". Some may be wary of a track listing peppered with a large does of familiar material. They need not worry. Waterford provides ample evidence that great blues singing is timeless and the band provides just the right amount of spice to hold the listeners attention.Although the spotlight is justifiably on the Crown Prince's vocals, the band is given sufficient solo space to make their own sympathetic contributions on piano, saxophone and guitar. My only reservation is that the playing time is rather short at just over 30 minutes. But how can one possibly complain? We should be extremely grateful that Waterford had both the courage and strength to sing once again. Who would have thought that his inspiration would have lead to such an enjoyable result?

I'm extremely disappointed to report that Charles Waterford's health took a turn for the worst not long after this recording. It seems highly unlikely that further performances, or the in-depth interview I had hoped to get, will be forthcoming. This is all the more reason to treasure this gem of a release. In addition to the marvelous music, the liner notes nicely summarize the Crown Princeıs story and are generously illustrated with photographs, posters and newspaper clippings from Waterfordıs personal collection. Unreservedly recommended.