Freddie Slack was a boogie-woogie pianist and swing bandleader who started out with Jimmy Dorsey’s band in the 1930s and subsequently racked up a string of hits in the 1940s. He went on to work with the Will Bradley Orchestra, where he was known to bandmates as “Daddy Slack”, and he played the piano solo on Bradley’s recording of Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar, one of the early white boogie-woogie hits and a classic of the big band era. Slack would eventually lead his own band and perform with some of finest  singers of the day including Ella Mae Morse and Margaret Whiting.

This 49-track collection begins with his hits with the Will Bradley Orchestra on Columbia, and then comprises selected A- and B-sides from his releases on Decca and Capitol through to the time he left the label. It features all his chart entries with Will Bradley, including the Top 10 hits Beat Me Daddy Eight To The Bar, Down The Road Apiece, Scrub Me Mama With A Boogie Beat and There I Go. Also included are the pop and R&B hits he scored with his own band: the Top 10 successes Cow-Cow Boogie, Mister Five By Five, That Old Black Magic, Riffette and The House Of Blue Lights. Hits performed with Ella Mae Morse, Margaret Whiting, Liza Morrow and  Johnny Mercer also appear across this 2CD compilation. Other featured vocalists are David Street and Charlotte Blackburn, and there are also notable recordings accompanying blues singers Big Joe Turner and T-Bone Walker.

It’s a highly entertaining showcase for the range of his music, especially his renowned boogie-woogie piano.

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