PVT. CECIL GANT: Cecil Boogie (Gilt-Edge Records 500 CGI, 10” 78RPM 1944)

I’m cribbing notes from the internet, sorry. The story on this record is about the a-side, I Wonder, which to me, sounds like a Nat Cole knockoff, and I had no need to post it.

“Cecil Boogie”, is an excellent, driving, fast boogie woogie piano performance with Gant cutting loose on piano that made the The Billboard Most Played Juke Box Race Records chart for a single week on 21 April 1945 at #5.

“I Wonder” is a 1944 song written and originally performed by Pvt. Cecil Gant. The original version was released on the tiny black owned Bronze label, before Gant re-recorded it for the Gilt-Edge label in Los Angeles. The record made it to number one on the Juke Box Race Records chart and was Pvt. Gant’s most successful release. In February 1945, pianist, Roosevelt Sykes hit number one with his version of the song. The sentimental ballad “I Wonder”, is dominated by Gant’s piano on a slow to midtempo arrangement as he longs for the absent woman he loves, wondering if she thinks about him, but the performance is of no more than fair quality.

It was nevertheless a big hit in the black music market, entering The Billboard Harlem Hit Parade on 21 October 1944, reaching #1 on the inaugural week of the charmingly named Most Played Juke Box Race Records as The Billboard renamed its rhythm & blues chart the Harlem Hit Parade on 17 February 1945, staying at the summit for 2 weeks and on the listing for a total of 28 weeks. It was the first and by far the biggest of Gant’s seven R&B hits.

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