Let The Good Times Roll

African-born British jazz drummer and singer Ray Ellington formed his Ray Ellington Quartet in the late '40s, and the group attracted the U.K. public's attention while appearing weekly on the BBC radio series The Goon Show beginning in 1951. Providing musical relief from the comedy skits on the show (bandmembers were frequently part of the skits as well), the quartet soon carved out a little novelty niche for itself with a series of upbeat, humorous, and jazzy jump blues hits like "The Three Bears" and the wacky "The Maharajah of Magador" (in which the title character is decidedly rhumba-challenged; Ellington's band, it should be noted, is decidedly not so afflicted), which kept things light and moving. This generous double-disc 40-track set includes both of those hits, as well as similar fare like "Gone for Tea," which features Ellington's highly effective scat singing; a zippy, skipping rendition of "Ol' Man River"; and the sentimental "My Mother's Eyes," which shows that Ellington might have carved out a spot for himself as a mainstream singer had he so chosen. Precious little of Ellington's output is currently available on CD, so for the time being this compilation is clearly the one to get. ~ Steve Leggett|