Artist:Joe Williams
Song:Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You
Album:Four Classic Albums
Jazz singer Joe Williams is best known for singing with the Count Basie Orchestra in the 50s. He sang with other bands but you should check out his recordings with Basie first. He was born Joseph Goreed Dec. 12, 1918 in Cordele, GA and he grew up in Chicago. He sang in church and was a member of the gospel group The Jubilee Boys. He got into jazz after listening to Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. He started singing professionally in 1937. He toured with among others Jimmie Noone, Les Hite, Coleman Hawkins, Lionel Hampton, Red Saunders and Andy Kirk. After some time off the road due to illness, Williams returned to Red Saunders' band in 1950. And that's where Basie heard him. Williams was in the Basie band from 1954-61. Probably his best known song from that era was Every Day I Have the Blues. He first recorded it in 1955. Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You is from the 1959 album Everyday I Have the Blues on Roulette Records. This is a solo album with the Basie band backing Williams up. Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You was written by Andy Razaf and Don Redman and first recorded by Redman's band McKinney's Cotton Pickers in 1929. The song was popularized by Nat King Cole in 1943 on a session produced by Capitol owner Johnny Mercer. It's been a jazz standard since then. The album Everyday I Have the Blues is available on this budget comp of four classic Joe Williams albums from Avid. The other albums are A Night at Count Basie's (1955) which was recorded at Basie's nightclub but Basie isn't on it, A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry (1958) which is with strings led by Jimmy Mundy and Just the Blues (1960) with Basie. After leaving Basie, Williams led his own band and recorded for RCA. He continued to tour and record until he died on Mar. 29, 1999 at age 80. Here's Joe Williams with The Count Basie Orchestra performing Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You at Palais des Beaux Arts in Charleroi, France 1961.
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