Julia Lee - King Size Papa: The Julia Lee Collection 1927-52

Julia Lee - King Size Papa: The Julia Lee Collection 1927-52 / it is a thoroughly enjoyable showcase for her very personal brand of R&B. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1902, pianist and singer Julia Lee grew up singing and playing in the musical hotbed of that city's jazz scene in the '20s and '30s, developing a style that featured "the songs my mother taught me not to sing" - risqué material with unsubtle double entendres - and in 1944 signed to the fledgling, but already successful Capitol label. This great-value 72-track 3-CD collection comprises early recordings with the orchestra of her brother George Lee and then with Jay McShann, followed by most of her A & B sides with Her Boy Friends on Premier/Mercury and Capitol from this era. It features all her career hits, including her R&B No. 1s "Snatch It And Grab It" and "King Size Papa", and her Top 10 hits "Gotta Gimme Watcha Got", I'll Get Long Somehow", "Tell Me Daddy", "That's What I Like", "You Ain't Git It No More" and "I Didn't Like It The First Time". She was a highly distinctive performer, and hugely entertaining, and this collection, as well as being a substantial and reasonably comprehensive overview of the primary era of her recording career, is a thoroughly enjoyable showcase for her very personal brand of R&B.