Bartholomew's 'Big Beat' unveils birth of driving rhythms

Our morning low temperature fell to 41 degrees, but it's hard to feel cold with Bobby Mitchell's "I'm Gonna be a Wheel Someday" pouring out of the stereo speakers.
Mitchell's 1957 R&B classic is included on "THE BIG BEAT OF DAVE BARTHOLOMEW: 20 OF HIS MILESTONE PRODUCTIONS," a collection of some of the greatest songs to emerge from the mashup of jazz and blues that occurred in NEW ORLEANS during the middle of the 20th century.
Bartholomew's paramount place in the development of popular music is described in Theo Cateforis' "The Rock History Reader:"
"Bartholomew was an important New Orleans songwriter, producer and bandleader whose ensembles were among the first to navigate the transition from jazz to rhythm and blues. It was most of all commercial considerations, as well as their encounters and musical interactions in the studio with dynamic young performers like Little Richard, that helped shape the driving rhythms that would come to define the rock 'n' roll big beat."
"The Big Beat of Dave Bartholomew" collects tracks by Chris Kenner, Smiley Lewis, Fats Domino and other Crescent City notables. Listening to it is a fantastic introduction to the musical ideas bursting out of New Orleans as genres blurred during the early and mid-1950s.
Hearing it is also a great way to stay warm on a chilly morning.