20 BEAT CLASSICS

Georgie Fame's swinging, surprisingly credible blend of jazz and American R&B earned him a substantial following in his native U.K., where he scored three number one singles during the '60s. Fame played piano and organ in addition to singing, and was influenced by the likes of Mose Allison, Booker T. & the MG's, and Louis Jordan. Early in his career, he also peppered his repertoire with Jamaican ska and bluebeat tunes, helping to popularize that genre in England; during his later years, he was one of the few jazz singers of any stripe to take an interest in the vanishing art of vocalese, and earned much general respect from jazz critics on both sides of the Atlantic.

ThIs 20 Beat Classics is the best compilation of Fame's work, finding his R&B-jazz fusion at its most potent (and most commercially successful) on these 20 cuts from the mid-'60s (1964 - 1966). Like a Mose Allison for the British Invasion, Fame sings and plays with a soulful verve on this set of blue-eyed soul.