receive credit for 12 of the 21 tracks on this compilation, but the disc -- and, indeed, themselves -- seem like something of an umbrella name for musicians associated with 's club in East St. Louis. Listeners get not only sides by , who had a fluid lineup, but also , , and himself, the club owner who was the overseer of sorts for the band, venue, and labels on which this material appeared. Even though some of the same guys appear on numerous tracks (by and otherwise), it's a kind of stylistically inconsistent roundup of musicians in the early- to mid-'60s St. Louis R&B/jazz scene, almost to the point of being a grab bag rather than a single-artist anthology. By far the most attractive items to collectors will be the four tracks by (one of them a remake of his 1962 single ), as these aren't too easy to find on their original 45 releases or reissues. The sides aren't great, but they're solid enough representations of his blues/soul crossover sound shortly before he recorded his most popular work for ; 's also heard on the instrumental that kicks off this CD. The cuts actually credited to vary between sock-it-out instrumental club jazzy R&B ( ) and some pretty hot soul-jazz, particularly when organist comes to the fore, as he does on a two-part adaptation of Of the other artists, manages a pretty good imitation on though 's 1963 single sounds a bit like a vanity project in its -cum-R&B sound. Jazz fans might want to note the presence of a young (later in ) on some of the tracks, though overall this release falls on the fringes of what serious collectors of either jazz or R&B might want or need. ~ Richie Unterberger