by Cub KodaJ.T. Brown had a long career as Chicago's preeminent blues tenor saxophonist with his unique "nanny goat" vibrato, and these sides collected in this 20-track collection spotlight his stays with the United, JOB and Atomic H labels spread out between 1951 to 1960. Brown wasn't a brilliant instrumentalist, but unique he certainly was, and even paint-by-the-numbers instrumental studio jams like "Use That Spot," "Rock-em," "Windy City Boogie," "House Party Groove," "Blues for JOB" all sparkle with his enthusiasm and a tone that cuts through just about anything. The presence on these tracks of Little Brother Montgomery, Big Crawford, Lafayette Leake, Willie Dixon, Jody Williams, Fred Below, Jump Jackson, Sunnyland Slim and Matt "Guitar" Murphy makes this early Chicago blues that skirts into jazzy territory from time to time but never leaves the alley. A nice, fairly complete collection of one of bluesdom's greatly unsung instrumentalists.