Percy Mayfield
Percy Mayfield (Specialty) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) 1/2
Percy Mayfield`s was one of the great lost careers in popular music. He was most renowned as a songwriter-”Please Send Me Someone to Love” and ”Hit the Road, Jack” are his best-known tunes-and some of his others approach the quality of these. As a ballad and blues singer, he was far more consistent, with a ripe baritone voice and a style that recalls both Jack Teagarden and latter-day, say 1957, Hoagy Carmichael. Mayfield`s long, rising bent notes and his Louisiana drawl are inimitable; indeed, the intimacy of his singing was an art of artlessness. Unfortunately, he was marketed as a rhythm-and-blues performer, and he didn`t record the standards that were so suited to his style. Worse, a 1952 car wreck left him severely disfigured, though his career languished into three more decades. This reissue of his early `50s gems captures the peak of his career, including hits like ”Please Send Me,”
”Lost Mind,” ”Strange Things Happening” and the wonderful ”You Don`t Exist Any More.” As in most of his recordings, a plodding band and hack period arrangements surround him with musical mud (only Ray Charles` mid-`60s accompaniments showed him any sensitivity). So Mayfield`s singing and songs are the only merit here-but they are unquestionably enough.
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