Five Feet of Soul

Jimmy Rushing boasted a big, strong timbre that became a blueprint for all vocalists to follow. During his younger years Rushing was a hardcore blues singer performing in small southern honky tonks from his hometown of Okalahoma City to Texas.

Upon joining the Count Basie Band, Rushing took to swinging his blues repertoire; the audience had the option of crying, singing or dancing along and such was the magical combination of Rushing and Basie.

While this recording does not include Basie's fabulous band it does capture much of the Basie sound with its arrangements by Al Cohen. This is the perfect setting for Rushing who offers a heavy dose of the blues colored in swinging rhythms and soulful harmonies.

Here he takes liberties by singing 'Tain't Nobody's Biz-Ness if I Do, made famous by Billie Holiday. The song became her signature and she did it so well that very few vocalists dared to enter it into their repertoire. Rushing, however, is a daring perfectionist, and his rendition is superb, a blues journey with soulful integrity. He brings a male perspective to this unforgettable song.

Rushing is the real leader here as his bold, bluesy voice brings a soulful texture to these ten gems that make up Five Feet of Soul.

-Ron Scott

Just about to turn 60, Jimmy Rushing recorded his only LP for Colpix in early 1963 with a large group packed with Basie alumni (Freddie Green, Gus Johnson, Joe Newman, Snooky Young, Budd Johnson, Milt Hinton) as well as alto heroes Phil & Quill (aka Phil Woods and Gene Quill) and a pair of tenor mainstays, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn (Cohn actually arranged the date). Despite a host of solo voices (and egos) inherent to the session, Rushing managed the date with his usual good feeling. The songs, most of them ones he had never recorded before, are nevertheless great candidates for the Five-by-Five treatment; "Just Because" and "Heartaches" are especially good, Rushing giving the first a quick, inertia-filled performance, the latter a more graceful lues reading. He also airs a few of his own songs ("Please Come Back" and "Did You Ever"), slides his way through the Bessie Smith/Billie Holiday standard "'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do," and reclaims Clarence Williams' lues standard "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" from the country audience that had latched onto it. Rushing does betray a sign of his age -- his power in holding lines is obviously diminished from his mid-'50s records with Columbia -- but his joyous sense of swing comes through clearly. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide