Since I Met You Baby

by Ivory Joe Hunter

Overview

A skilled songwriter and nimble pianist, and possessing an emotive, velvet voice that prefigured Nat King Cole and other such crooners, Ivory Joe Hunter was instrumental in bringing R&B to an uptown audience in the late '40s. He almost repeated the trick in the mid-'50s for the then-emerging rock & roll style (although it took uptown audiences a good long while to catch on) when he signed with Atlantic Records and released a series of rock & roll-leaning sides for the label between 1954 and 1957, including the majestic "Since I Met You Baby" in 1956. A year later, Hunter's "Empty Arms" neatly welded R&B and straight country together, complete with a bed of soulful gospel organ. Hunter was so skilled at combining strains of blues, gospel, country, jazz, R&B, and nascent rock & roll into smooth and elegant packages that few at the time realized how innovative he was actually being. This set of his Atlantic sides is extremely brief (it struggles to top 25 minutes in length), but even at such a short running time, it still manages to be amazingly varied. Both "Since I Met You Baby" and "Empty Arms" are included, along with the kinetic sax and handclap-led "Shooty Booty" and the amazingly wise and prescient "You Can't Stop This Rocking and Rolling," which contains lines like "It's been here for years and years/It's just history repeating." There are lengthier and more complete collections of Hunter's work available, but this one, even as short as it is, provides an elegant introduction (but only that -- there's really so much more) to this wonderful musician. ~ Steve Leggett

Product Details

Release Date:	03/18/2022
Label:	Acrobat / Acrobat Music
UPC:	0824046341329
Rank:	97077

Tracks

Disc 1

1. I Almost Lost My Mind
2. If I Give You My Love
3. Why Fool Yourself
4. S.P. Blues
5. I Need You So
6. Leave Her Alone
7. Let Me Dream
8. Gimme a Pound of Ground Round
9. Living a Lie
10. It's a Sin
11. You Thrill Me
12. I Ain't Got No Gal No More
13. I Can't Resist You
14. I Can't Get You Off My Mind
15. Wrong Woman Blues
16. Blue Moon
17. U Name It
18. Laugh (Though You Feel You Want to Cry)
19. Where Shall I Go
20. I'm Sorry for You My Friend
21. I Will Be True
22. Rockin' Chair Boogie
23. Music Before Dawn
24. I Had a Girl

Disc 2

25. Don't Make Me Cry
26. I Got to Learn to Do the Mambo
27. I Must Be Talking to Myself
28. I Feel So Good
29. It May Sound Silly
30. Heaven Came Down to Earth
31. I Need Somebody
32. I Need You by My Side
33. A Tear Fell
34. That's Why I Dream
35. You Mean Everything to Me
36. You Can't Stop This Rocking and Rolling
37. Since I Met You Baby
38. Empty Arms
39. Love Is a Hurting Game
40. Everytime I Hear That Song
41. She's Gone
42. All About the Blues
43. You're on My Mind
44. I'm So Glad I Found You
45. Yes I Want You
46. You Flip Me Baby
47. I Just Want to Love You
48. City Lights
49. Stolen Moments
50. A Cottage for Sale
51. Did You Mean It

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Ivory Joe Hunter   Primary Artist,Vocals,Piano
Ray Ellis   Choir/Chorus,Orchestra
Milton Rogers   Choir/Chorus

Technical Credits

Richard Rodgers   Composer
Ivory Joe Hunter   Composer
Willard Robison   Composer
Hank Williams   Composer
Brook Benton   Composer
Jerry Samuels   Composer
Lorenz Hart   Composer
Edna Harris   Composer
Fred Rose   Composer
Dorian Burton   Composer
Clyde Otis   Composer
Larry Conley   Composer
William Grishaw   Composer
Larry Douglas   Composer
Bill Anderson   Composer
Allen Feiler   Composer
Paul Feiler   Composer
Sid Wyche   Composer
Milton Rogers   Orchestra Contractor
Eugene Randolph   Composer
Herbert Leventhal   Composer