From New York to London

• Artist: Josh White
• Rating:
• Release Date: September 03, 2002
• Type: Compilation (best of)
• Genre: Blues

Review

Josh White had a remarkable talent for self-reinvention, and his career -- which began in the 1920s and stretched essentially uninterrupted all the way into the '60s -- is an amazing story of adaptability and survival. Slick, sly, and fiercely intelligent, White became a sort of pre-Harry Belafonte black sex idol, complete with a leftist social and political agenda, during his so-called cabaret blues period in the late '40s, and when the McCarthy era led to his blacklisting, he rebounded into the folk revival period with several carefully assembled albums for Jac Holzman's Elektra label that recast him as a folk balladeer. Although some folk purists were aghast, doubting White's authenticity as a folk-blues performer (perhaps unaware of White's solid Piedmont blues background and his fine run of vintage blues 78s in the '30s), the fact remains that White was an excellent acoustic guitar player and a subtle and versatile singer who carefully selected his material, well aware of how it made him appear. This double-disc, 42-track set is drawn from White's cabaret period and features recordings he made in New York between 1944 and 1947 (disc one) and in London in 1950 and 1951 (disc two). The range of styles here is telling, as White rolls all manner of songs, from light gospel to small-combo jazz and blues, into a kind of folky high art. Among the highlights are a stark reading of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" and White's small-combo jazz take on Casey Bill Weldon's classic "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town." Fiercely independent, and always in control of his own image in an era when black performers were seldom afforded that luxury, White helped pave the way for Belafonte, who followed the same sort of template to international stardom a mere half-dozen years after these recordings were made. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

Tracks

CD 1

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out	James Cox	Josh White	(3:05)
Sometime		Josh White, Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry	(2:52)
John Henry	Traditional	Josh White	(3:17)
Back Water Blues	Bessie Smith	Josh White	(2:52)
Watercress	Traditional	Josh White	(2:47)
Josh and Bill Blues	Josh White	Josh White, Bill White	(3:23)
Dip His Finger in the Water	Traditional	Josh White, Bill White	(3:01)
Frankie and Johnny	Traditional	Josh White	(2:58)
Jelly, Jelly	Josh White	Josh White	(3:21)
Green Grass Growing All Around	Traditional	Josh White, Bill White	(2:48)
The Lass with the Delicate Air	Thomas Augustine Arne	Josh White	(3:18)
Waltzing Matilda	Marie Cowan	Josh White	(2:52)
Evil Hearted Man		Josh White	(3:03)
I Gave My Love a Cherry	Traditional	Josh White	(2:37)
Lord Randall, My Son	Traditional	Josh White	(3:13)
Molly Malone	Traditional	Josh White	(3:09)
The House of the Risin' Sun	Traditional	Josh White	(3:23)
Strange Fruit	Lewis Allan	Josh White	(3:14)
Jim Crow	Pete Seeger, Lee Hays	Josh White, Bill White	(2:50)
Good Morning Blues [*]	Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing, Eddie Durham	Josh White, Libby Holman	(2:42)
When the Sun Goes Down [*]	Leroy Carr	Josh White, Libby Holman	(3:06)

CD 2

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town	Will Weldon, Roy Jacobs	Josh White	(3:11)
Take a Gal Like You	Jacques Wolfe	Josh White	(2:56)
Like a Natural Man	Josh White	Josh White	(2:54)
Hard Time Blues	Josh White, Waring Cuney	Josh White	(3:02)
The Foggy Dew	Traditional	Josh White	(3:15)
The Lass with the Delicate Air	Thomas Augustine Arne	Josh White	(3:09)
I Want You and I Need You		Josh White	(2:33)
Free and Equal Blues, Pts. 1 & 2	Earl Robinson, E.Y. "Yip" Harburg	Josh White	(4:28)
T. B. Blues		Josh White	(2:46)
On Top of Old Smokey	Traditional	Josh White	(2:24)
Barbara Allen	Traditional	Josh White	(3:13)
Lonesome Road	Gene Austin, Nat Shilkret	Josh White	(2:49)
Waltzing Matilda	Marie Cowan	Josh White	(3:00)
Apples, Peaches and Cherries	Allen Lewis	Josh White	(3:10)
Call Me Darling	Traditional	Josh White	(2:15)
Molly Malone	Traditional	Josh White	(3:02)
Wanderings	Carl Sandburg	Josh White	(3:18)
He Never Said a Mumblin' Word	Traditional	Josh White	(2:52)
Black Girl	Traditional	Josh White	(3:02)
The Butterfly Song	Josh White	Josh White	(3:29)
I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues	Duke Ellington, Don George	Josh White, Beverly White	(3:05)

Credits

Josh White (Guitar), Josh White (Vocals), Stargazers (Vocals), Norrie Paramor (Orchestra Leader), Brownie McGhee (Guitar), Jack Fallon (Bass), J.C. Heard (Drums), John Simmons (Bass), Sonny Terry (Harmonica), Elijah Wald (Liner Notes), Elijah Wald (Annotation), Bill White (Drums), Fitzroy Coleman (Guitar), Paul Pelletier (Coordination), Paul Pelletier (Compilation), Paul Pelletier (Project Supervisor), Hill Bowen (Arranger), Tall Order (Digital Processing), Mick (Graphic Design), Norman Burns (Drums), Steve Race (Piano), Steve Race (Celeste), Chick Laval (Guitar)