Critic's Review
arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide
While touring through Texas in 1945 with the Lucky Millinder Orchestra, Benjamin Clarence Jackson, Jr. was dubbed Bull Moose Jackson by drummer Panama Francis, who apparently exclaimed: "You look like a moose coming over the hill." Tall and powerful with a friendly expressive face, the bespectacled saxophonist was riding a tide of popular success by the time these recordings were cut for the King label between September 1947 and September 1950 in New York, NY; Linden, NJ; St. Louis, MO; and Cincinnati, OH. Bull Moose Jackson & His Buffalo Bearcats (the "Buffalo" was dropped beginning in 1950) were an all-purpose R&B jump band balancing upbeat novelty cookers with remarkably handsome ballads. The Bull Moose discography glistens occasionally with the names of jazz heroes like Count Basie's flute and saxman Frank Wess and Ellington trumpeter Harold "Money" Johnson. It's obvious why these records were popular in their day. The wide range of topics and textures is well represented here as titles like "Love Me Tonight" and "My Beloved" appear alongside "Fare Thee Well Deacon Jones" and "Big Fat Mamas Are Back in Style." Some of these songs were composed by King kingpins Syd Nathan and Henry Glover (with Nathan sometimes using the pseudonym Sally Nix), and Lucky Millinder's name appears in the composer credits as well. Other songs represent clearly discernible links with the country music market, as is the case with Wayne Raney's "Why Don't You Haul Off and Love Me," here given the robust handclapping treatment so typical of Bull Moose Jackson.
