Chicago jazz vocalist Elijah Levi makes his recording debut, Finally Elijah, on the city’s Southport label. After stints with the Inkspots and blues/swing/jazz guitarist Floyd McDaniel (to whom he posthumously dedicates St. Louis Blues), Levi makes his mark on this engaging, energetic acoustic jazz set with the able backing of the Tatsu Aoki Quartet. The standard Sweet Home Chicago is given a crisp vocal reading by Levi with spidery guitar by {|Sugar Blue|} sideman Moto Makino. Lively multi-octave vocal runs enliven Bye Bye Blackbird. A cover of {|Little Willie John|}’s Fever has slick-cat two-note basslines by Aoki and a poppin’ percussive break by Dave Pavkovic with Levi skimming in and out on light vocals. Levi makes the Nat King Cole Route 66 definite highway music with an underlying solid bed of spicy percussion. I Want a Little Girl is not about the wishes of an expectant father but Levi’s plaintive cry for love (She may not look like all those girls in the Playboy books/But if she can cook well that would fit me to a t) with nice sax interplay between Makino and saxophonist {|Tim O’Dell|}. With a collection of classic standards with fresh arrangements, and the tight backing of the Tatsu Aoki Quartet, the world gets to finally hear Elijah Levi and what they’ve been missing out on.
