Johnny Ace, sound-track for a time in history...
But his music lives on. The life of Johnny Ace was woefully too short, and such a tragic end. Growing up in England in the 1960s it seemed all the people fresh off the planes and boats from the Caribbean bought themselves a copy of the Johnny Ace album. Whenever I hear Johnny Ace, I think back to the style and the swagger of the grown-ups back then; smoke filled rooms at the end of the work week at someone's house to chill and relax, regardless of children like me running around. The black men in their tweed suits and fedoras, the women in their stilettos and flared skirts. Cold foggy nights, card games, lots of talk. . . and the timeless sound of Johnny Ace wending its way through a time when there was a lot of struggle, hardship and personal tragedy. I've returned to Johnny Ace time and again over the years and each time he still sounds fresh and still serves as a soundtrack of my thoughts of times passed, steeped in memories both bitter and sweet.
THE LATE GREAT JOHNNY ACE
Sometimes it's hard to seperate the artist from his tragic life/death. . Johnny Ace's suicide while playing russian roulette on Xmas Eve 1954 has become the stuff of legend. . . what is sometimes overlooked is what a fantasic singer the man was. . . if his music is remembered at all, it is for his posthumous hit "Pledging My Love". . . while that song deserves its classic status, give a listen to the other 11 cuts on MEMORIAL ALBUM. . . a fine fine soulful singer with a voice like black velvet and brandy. . . in this age of the great nothing, Johnny Ace is the real thing.
CLASSIC
But that album was genius. He made one album. Gave us songs that during the years everybody has tried to sing. Saving My Love For You, My Song, Pledging My Love. And it all started here. I guess there was nothing else Johnny needed to give us.
One Ace Missing From The Deck
Rather, it refers to the inexplicable exclusion from the compilation of Please Forgive Me which, with the backing of Johnny Otis & His Orchestra, he took to # 6 R&B in July that year. The caption to this review has nothing to do with the fact Ace blew his brains out at age 25 while playing Russian Roulette backstage at the City Auditorium in Houston on Christmas Eve 1954.
That, the fact that they did include some non-hits like So Lonely and Don't You Know - among his first cuts for Duke - and the lack of any informative liner notes, are the only things that prevent me from giving this CD five stars. What is included, however, easily rates four stars, beginning with his first # 1 R&B - My Song which remained on the charts for 20 weeks in 1952 - followed by Cross My Heart (# 3 R&B in February 1953) and The Clock, another # 1 that August. All were billed as Johnny Ace with The Beale Streeters, which included Bobby "Blue" Bland and drummer Earl Forest.
In fact, Ace was the piano player that same year on the Duke release Whoopin' And Hollerin', released as by Earl Forest with The Beale Streeters and which peaked at #7 R&B in April. Early in 1954 he was back on the charts with Saving My Love For You, a # 2 R&B hit that stayed around for 19 weeks. On this he was also backed by the Johnny Otis band. In the fall of 1954 he scored again with Never Let Me Go (# 9 R&B and backed by Johnny Board & His Orchestra]) and had just cut the immortal Pledging My Love with the same band when he played his stupid game.
When it peaked in February/March of 1955 it went to # 1 R&B and stayed at that position for ten of the 19 weeks it remained on the charts, also going to # 17 Billboard Pop Top 100, a spot he shared with the Teresa Brewer cover. On some issues of the Duke release the B-side was Anymore, but they soon re-released it as an A-side later in 1955, seeing it go to # 7 R&B b/w the raucous How Can You Be So Mean?
Johnny Ace, noticably lacking range and occasionally wandering off-key, was certainly no early-day Sam Cooke, but he did a credible enough job on the Washington-Robey-penned offerings like Pledging My Love and Anymore to suggest that he might well have become a fixture on the charts throughout the rest of the decade at least.
I recommend the CD as a valuable addition to any Fifties collection. .
THE GREAT JOHNNY ACE
R&B WAS JOHNNY'S MUSIC & STYLE IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THE BLUES WAS OR IF YOU NEVER HAD A CASE OF THE BLUES AFTER YOU HEARD JOHNNY SING YOU KNEW ALL ABOUT IT. HE WAS THE GREATEST R&B SINGER I EVER SAW PERFORM AND I HAVE SEEN THEM ALL. FOR MY WEDDING THE BAND I HAD PLAYED PLEDGING MY LOVE & I CROSS MY HEART FOR THE BRIDE AND GROOM'S SONG'S. JOHNNY IS IN HEAVEN NOW WITH THE GREATEST BAND IN HEAVEN. RIP JOHNNY ACE. DIAMONDHEAD DENNIS.
You can see a complete list of all Johnny Ace discography, or go back to the Johnny Ace tabs
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