Ida Cox was one of the most talented of the classic blues singers of the 1920s. This Black Swan CD has 20 of her first 32 recordings and, although one regrets that it is not a "complete" series (hopefully the dozen other titles will be reissued by Black Swan eventually), the music is consistently enjoyable and timeless. In fact, quite a few of the lyrics (many of which were written by
Cox) were later permanently "borrowed" by
Jimmy Rushing and
Joe Williams; the first stanza of "Goin' to Chicago" was taken from "Chicago Monkey Man Blues" and "Bear-Mash Blues" has a couple of
Williams' best lines. When one considers that the music on this CD is taken from 1923-24, it can certainly be considered ahead of its time! Most of the musicians backing
Ida Cox are excellent, particularly pianist
Lovie Austin and (on five numbers) cornetist
Tommy Ladnier and clarinetist
Jimmy O'Bryant. The recording quality (even with some surface noise) has been greatly cleaned up for this reissue and
Cox's singing is very easy to understand. Although uncrowned,
Ida Cox (who after retiring in 1945 came back for a final recording in 1961) can still communicate to today's listeners, something than can be said about very few other singers from 1923. ~ Scott Yanow
