Well Oh Well / I Hate You - Tiny Bradshaw (King 4357)

"Well Oh Well" was recorded in Cincinnati on February 8th, 1950. "I Hate You" was recorded in Cincinnati on November 30th 1949. For personnel see below.

Listen to "Well Oh Well"

Listen to "I Hate You"

Call it synchronicity or coincidence or karma or fate or whatever, but there was your old Be Bop Wino wending his weary way home of a Friday afternoon after a hard week at the grindstone when a last minute decision to pop into one of Glasgow's few remaining second hand record shops resulted in the triumphant purchase of a used copy of the Proper 2CD Tiny Bradshaw set, "Breaking Up the House," for the very reasonable price of £4. OK, I already have most of the tracks on the second CD which deals with his first year or so at King Records, but I'm looking forward to listening to the first CD which goes way back to his first recordings for Decca in 1934.

And coincidentally I was already mulling over a post based around El Enmascarado's YouTube videos of "Well Oh Well" / "I Hate You" so it's time to pay another visit to that record room with its piles of 78 rpm shellac discs and its vintage Sparton radio / record player console.

So it's a big thank you to El Enmascarado for the label scans and rips from the original 78 rpm disc. The sound quality is surprisingly good and punchy considering that the record is well over 60 years old. As a bonus we have some scans of a 45 rpm EP supplied by Joan K. The downside is supplied by my interminable ramblings, so let's get to the point.

"Well Oh Well" was recorded in Cincinnnati on February 8th, 1950. Tiny Bradshaw had inked a pact with the King diskery in late 1949 and his hard blowing combo was ideally suited to the rise of rocking R&B which was elbowing aside the more subtle forms of jump blues at that time. Blaring sax histrionics were perpetrated by Rufus Gore and Orrington Hall, the dynamite rhythm section of Calvin "Eagle Eye" Shields (drums), Clarence Mack (bass), Leroy Harris (guitar) and Jimmy Robinson (piano) supplied the propulsive beat, the trumpet of Leslie Ayres is in there somewhere, and holding the whole thing together is a magnificent blues shouting vocal by the captain of the side, the leader of the pack, the great showman himself, Tiny Bradshaw.

"Well Oh Well" made it to number two in the R&B chart in May 1950 and has featured in just about every Bradshaw compilation since then. Let us pause to weep with pleasure over Joan's scans of a 1950s King EP which not only has "Well Oh Well," but presents other Bradshaw greats "Soft" (with Red Prysock), "Heavy Juice," (ditto) and future rock and roll classic "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" (more Red and a stonkingly good vocal from Tiny.)

All EP scans by Joan K

Thanks to El Enmascarado we can hear the B Side of "Well Oh Well" - "I Hate You" which hasn't been included in any Tiny Bradshaw compilation that I've come across. It's a nice little ballad which gives Tiny a chance to show a pleasant light singing voice which is very different form his usual blues bawling and squalling. "I Hate You" was recorded at Tiny's first session for King.

Mo' Tiny -

On the blog:

A Tribute To The Late Tiny Bradshaw, The Great Composer has a full account of his career.

Stomping Room Only is an excellent mix of blues shouting vocals and jazzy instros

Recommended purchases:

Breaking Up the House (Proper PVCD101) - the 2CD set charting his career from the big band days of the 1930s to the first year of his spell with King Records.

Heavy Juice - The King Recordings 1950-55 on Rev-Ola. Wild and wooly, jazzy and bluesy.

The EP Collection (See For Miles) is long out of print. If you see it going second hand, grab it. Twenty-nine King tracks from 1950 - 1955 in superlative sound quality.

Postscript: This post has been adapted from the original which featured videos from the now defunct Youtubeseventyeight channel. The 1930s Decca tracks on the Proper 2CD set turned out to be repetitive and not very good sub Cab Calloway stylings. The Savoy tracks were good, though. I just love "Take The Hands Off The Clock." It turned out that I already had a copy of that Proper set. Now I've got two. My memory ain't what it was.

I Ain’t Mad At You

Gatemouth Moore - before he saw the light

Recently I came across the Jesse Price version of “I Ain’t Mad At You” and it immediately went straight into my all time top ten favourite R&B discs. Well, make that top thirty. It’s a beautifully relaxed and subtle performance of what I thought was the classic song by blues shouter Dwight “Gatemouth” Moore, a track which has been lurking in my collection for about two and a half decades.

After a search through the vinyl cupboard I retrieved Gatemouth’s track on my beat up copy of the double LP “The Shouters,” which was part of the “Roots of Rock ‘N’ Roll” series on Savoy Jazz. The Gatemouth Moore track which dates from 1945 is not the same song which became a modest hit for Jesse Price in 1947. The full title of the Gatemouth song is “I Ain’t Mad at You, Pretty Baby.” However there are similarities between the two, particularly around the shared refrain of “I ain’t mad at you!”

Price’s “I Ain’t Mad At You” was in its turn covered by Count Basie but that version is wildly different from the Price disc as you can now hear by clicking on the playlist. To round off our little wander along the back roads of early rhythm & blues, I’ve added an unreleased version by The Jones Boys which they recorded for Gotham at an unknown date. This frantic version is very different from anything else on the playlist, so despite the shared song title (well, almost) there are four very different performances.

Click on the playlist widget below for some Sunday afternoon rhythm’n’ bluesin’:



Track 1 – “I Ain’t Mad At You, Pretty Baby” (National 6001) by Dwight “Gatemouth” Moore with Dallas Bartley and his Small Town Boys. Recorded in Chicago on May 10th, 1945.

Kill 'em Gatemouth!

Gatemouth Moore is a performer whom we must investigate further here on Be Bop Wino. Like Jesse Price he had deep jazz roots in Memphis and Kansas City. While singing with Walter Barnes and his Royal Creoles he survived the appalling Natchez Rhythm Club inferno of April 23rd, 1940 which killed some 200 dance hall patrons as well as most of Gatemouth’s bandmates. In 1949 he had an onstage religious experience and immediately gave up screechin’ for preachin’.

Track 2 – “I Ain’t Mad at You” (Capitol 348) by Jesse Price. Recorded in Los Angeles on October 17th, 1946.

This is the track that got me searching through the vinyl vault. It's a nicely relaxed performance from a small studio jump group led by drummer and singer Jesse Price who is another performer whom we must revisit on Be Bop Wino. He was part of the booming Kansas City jazz scene of the 1930s – being drummer in the Benny Moten band and, after Moten’s death, in the Count Basie led version of that aggregation.

When Basie and the boys left KC for greater things, Price opted to stay on in the wide open city and ceded the drum chair to his friend Jo Jones. In 1939 the booming KC music scene came to an end with the arrest of mayor Pendergast and Price left with Harlan Leonard’s Rockets, one of the last bands to leave the now cleaned up, reformed and God fearing former Sodom of the plains. A brief spell as drummer in the Ella Fitzgerald led Chick Webb Orchestra (Chick having shuffled off this mortal coil) brought Jesse to Los Angeles, the Gomorrah of the Coast, where he settled down to take part in countless R&B and jazz sessions across the ensuing decades.

Track 3 – “I Ain’t Mad At You” (RCA Victor 20-2314) by Count Basie and his Orchestra. Vocal by Taps Miller. Recorded in New York on May 22nd, 1947.


This is an almost unrecognizable version of the Jesse Price disc. Taps Miller provides a scat vocal over the ensemble vocals and big band arrangement. The band includes Preston Love on alto sax, while the tenor saxes are wielded by Paul Gonsalves and Buddy Tate. A Google image search uncovers an unfortunate run in with the drugs squad for singer / dancer Taps Miller. But he was young and foolish back then. Try it for yourselves. The search, not the drugs.

Track 4 – “I Ain’t Mad At You” (Gotham, unreleased) by The Jones Boys. Unknown date – possibly around 1952 - 1953.

Who let 'em loose on this? It's a howling, blasting deconstruction of the Jesse Price opus, or maybe of the Gatemouth Moore song, it’s hard to tell. I don’t know anything about the Jones Boys. There was a vocal / jive group of the same name in the 1930s and early 1940s. There was also a loose mid 1950s jazz aggregation whose members shared the surname Jones. Quincy Jones, Eddie Jones and Jo Jones were in that group.

I have no idea if either of these groups is related in any way to the performers on this track. All I know is that whoever the Gotham Jones Boys may be, they carried out a similar assault on “Night Train.”

Eddie Chamblee - The Rockin' And Walkin' Rhythm Of Eddie Chamblee

Side 1
1. Back Street
2. Last Call
3. Song Of India
4. Dureop pt 1
5. Dureop pt 2
6. Cradle Rock
7. Lazy Mood
8. Blue Steel
9. All Out

Side 2
1. Wooden Soldiers Swing
2. 6 String Boogie
3. Walkin' Home
4. Lonesome Road
5. Come On In
6. La! La! La! Lady
7. Goin' Long
8. Back Up


“Rockin’ rhythm is what Eddie (Long Gone) Chamblee and his combo call it … It combines blues, bop and swing in a manner fit for the most severe critic of present day music. A favourite on the juke box, Eddie has hit the top with his sax solos on “Long Gone” and “Late Freight” (quoted from The Chicago Defender on The Red Saunders Research Foundation Website.)

I guess the above quote neatly sums up my favourite kind of music – the sax led R&B or jazz of the 1940s and early 1950s when the boundary between the two kinds of music wasn’t as rigid as it would become as the ‘50s wore on. Eddie Chamblee was one of many musicians who were comfortable in both spheres. He played on some of the biggest R&B hits of the day and also played tenor sax in the Lionel Hampton big band in the mid 1950s.

He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1920 but grew up in Chicago. Although he had been playing tenor saxophone since the age of twelve, he really learned his chops while playing in Army bands during his war service from 1941 to 1946.

On his return to Chicago, Eddie started gigging around local clubs such as The Blue Heaven Lounge and was soon involved in sessions for a new label, Miracle, for whom he would record until 1950. In June 1946 he was in the Dick Davis Sextette session at which “Tenor-mental Moods” was recorded – an instrumental which boasted a triple tenor sax line up of Davis, Chamblee and Tommy “Madman” Jones.

In October 1947 Eddie was back at Miracle, this time recording a session under his own name, backed by a basic guitar, piano and bass trio. “Last Call,” a competent enough instrumental, dates from this session. The other side of the disc (Miracle 119) was “Certain Other Someone” a vocal performance featuring Browley Guy.

A month later Eddie joined Sonny Thompson and The Sharps and Flats to record the side which was to be his most successful – “Long Gone, Part 2.” Before the end of 1947 Eddie featured on more Sonny Thompson sides as Miracle stockpiled recordings in the face of the looming AFM recording ban. Among those sides was “Late Freight” which like “Long Gone” would be another huge hit in 1948.


Scan courtesy of El Enmascarado

Eddie’s second session for Miracle under his own name took place in July 1948. This time he was backed by a larger band which included baritone sax player Andrew “Goon” Gardiner who features prominently on the rollicking “Back Street.” The fiery version of “Song of India” also dates from the same session as do the two part jam session “Dureop” and the easy going “Cradle Rock.” The nice and bluesy “Lazy Mood” was recorded a month later at the tail end of a St. Louis Jimmy Oden session.

In 1949 Eddie was a big name thanks to his work on the Sonny Thompson hits “Long Gone” and “Late Freight.” Eddie was featured on another Sonny Thompson session in April 1949, laying down solos on “Still Gone, Part 3,” and “The Fish” aka “Jam, Sonny, Jam.”

1950 was the year that Miracle went bust. On January 25th, Eddie Chamblee was the leader at the second last recording session held by the doomed label, laying down “Blue Steel” and “All Out,” the latter featuring good interplay between Eddie and baritone sax player Charles Stewart.

In May 1950, Lee Egalnick, the founder of the failed Miracle label started a new label, Premium. In July 1950, Eddie recorded four sides for the label, with two being released on Premium 856 – “Sweet Lucy” and “Every Shut Eye Ain’t Sleep,” the latter featuring Danny Overbea on vocal. In early 1951 Eddie cut another couple of sides for Premium – “Laughing Boogie” and “This Is It.”

In the summer of 1951 Premium went the way of Miracle. One of the honchos at the latest failed label, Lew Simpkins (he had also been with Miracle) quickly helped to found a new Chicago diskery – United – which signed up several former Miracle and Premium acts, including Eddie Chamblee.

The next session under Eddie’s name was in 1952 for Coral. Two excellent tracks from the session are on this LP – “Wooden Soldiers Swing” and “6 String Boogie” with the latter track being a showcase for some great guitar work by “Sir” Walter Scott. In the meantime Eddie was backing jive group The Four Blazes on United at several sessions between January 1952 and August 1953. Eddie was on the group’s biggest hit, “Mary Jo” which was recorded in January 1952 and reached number one in the R&B charts in August 1952.

United had a particularly strong roster of R&B leaning jazz artists, or should that be jazz leaning R&B artists? Eddie Chamblee, Tab Smith, Jimmy Forrest, Paul Bascomb, Cozy Eggleston, Jimmy Coe, Leo Parker, Gene Ammons and Tiny Grimes all recorded for United (or its States subsidiary) at one time or another. The label’s policy of aiming jazz oriented releases at the R&B market provided it with two massive hits – “Because of You” by former Lucky Millinder alto sax man Tab Smith and “Night Train” by Jimmy Forrest who adapted a riff he picked up while with Duke Ellington to fashion one of the all time great tenor sax instrumental numbers.

Tab Smith - "Because of You"

Jimmy Forrest - "Night Train"

Unfortunately there was to be no such success for Eddie Chamblee. His first recordings for United as the named artist came at the end of a Four Blazes session on August 17th, 1953. “Walkin’ Home” and “Lonesome Road” were released as United 160, with Eddie billed as “The Rockin’ and Walkin’ Rhythm of Eddie Chamblee.” Both are good performances with “Walkin’ Home” being a growler very much in the vein of “Long Gone” and “Lonesome Road” being a fine slow ballad.

Eddie’s next and last recordings for United came at the end of a session backing the Five C’s on July 30th 1954. “Come On In” and “La! La! La! Lady” were released as United 181. Both feature vocal performances by Eddie. “Come On In” is a good swinger with tasty guitar fills by Leo Blevins as well as the expected driving sax work from Eddie. “La! La! La! Lady” is another great combo performance - a sly, hip shuffler with Eddie in particularly good vocal form.

In 1955 Eddie did some band leading work for a new label, Club 51, and some session work for Chess. He then toured and recorded with the Lionel Hampton big band into 1956. The tour took the band to France, where a concert at The Paris Olympia was recorded, which you can find here.

In 1957 Eddie was back in Chicago and married to his former school friend Ruth Jones, better known as Dinah Washington, the queen of R&B. He joined his wife on the Mercury label, recording a session under his own name in New York on March 7th, 1957. “Goin’ Long” b/w “Back Up” was released as Mercury 71107. “Goin’ Long” was another “Long Gone” retread while “Back Up” was a more up-tempo swingin’ jazz instro.

In early October Eddie was busy at Mercury – backing Dinah Washington in a studio orchestra credited as the Ernie Wilkins Orchestra on October 1st and 2nd and on the 4th of October with a similar group of musicians billed as the Eddie Chamblee orchestra. The following day he recorded tracks for an LP with a small group of musicians from the big band, billed as the Eddie Chamblee Septet. The album appeared on EmArcy as “Chamblee Music.”

Eddie continued to back Dinah on Mercury on several more sessions in late 1957 and recorded two tracks under his own name, “One for Dinah” and “Body and Soul,” which remained unreleased. In January 1958 Eddie was back in the studio, recording tracks with his septet which would appear on the EmArcy LP “Doodlin’” and also backing Dinah. Her presence at the sessions allowed “Doodlin’” to be billed as by “Eddie Chamblee and Friend” with Dinah featuring on the front cover photo and also on the back cover.

Scans from anonymous donor - restored by "Brian with a B"

The marriage lasted two years and Dinah’s subsequent sessions for Mercury were without Eddie, and he moved to New York where he based himself for the rest of his life. In 1964 he recorded an LP with an organ combo for Prestige, “Rockin’ Tenor Sax,” but his next and last recordings as session leader were not until 1976 when he recorded the album “Twenty Years After” for the French Black and Blue label with Arnett Cobb, Milt Buckner and Panama Francis. He continued to make live appearances with a jazz combo in New York in the 1980s, eventually dying in a nursing home in the city in 1999.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

http://www18.zippyshare.com/v/ISfxYctJ/file.html

1. Back Street
2. Last Call
3. Song Of India
4. Dureop pt 1
5. Dureop pt 2
6. Cradle Rock
7. Lazy Mood
8. Blue Steel
9. All Out
10. Wooden Soldiers Swing
11. 6 String Boogie
12. Walkin' Home
13. Lonesome Road
14. Come On In
15. La! La! La! Lady
16. Goin' Long
17. Back Up

Mo’ Eddie to buy:

Honkers and Bar Walkers Volume Three (Delmark DE-542) has ten tracks recorded for United by Eddie -the four that were released, plus some unreleased tracks and a couple of Four Blazes tracks. Also on the CD – T.J. Fowler, Floyd Taylor, J.T. Brown, Sax Mallard, Wild Bill Moore, Swinging Sax Kari, and Jim Conley.

The other two volumes in this series are highly recommended and a visit to the Delmark website is a must for those of you who like your R&B jazzy or your jazz with an R&B sensibility. They’ve got CDs by Tab Smith, Jimmy Forrest and J.T Brown. Well worth a look.

The Four Blazes – Mary Jo (Delmark DE-704) has lots of slinky sax fills by Eddie Chamblee, all in fantastic sound quality.

For those who like to dig deep:

Eddie Chamblee – The Complete Recordings 1947-1952 (Blue Moon)

Eddie Chamblee, Julian Dash, Joe Thomas – The Complete Recordings (Blue Moon) has Eddie’s sides from 1953-54.

Sources: The Red Saunders Research Foundation website; The Jazz Discography website; sleevenotes from “The Rockin’ and Walkin’ rhythm of Eddie Chamblee” – Dave Penny; The Bruyninckx Discography; sleevenotes from “Honkers and Bar Walkers, Volume Three” – Bob Porter; sleevenotes from “Mary Jo – The Four Blazes” – Peter Grendysa.

Jealousy / The Sidewalks Of New York - Tiny Grimes' Quintet (Atlantic 886)

Listen to "Jealousy"

Listen to "The Sidewalks Of New York"

Once more the Be Bop Army assembles in El Enmascarado's record room, where there are Joe Houston LP covers on the wall, several crates of 78 rpm discs, and a vintage Sparton radio / record player. The fridge is well stocked with beer and there's a disc on the turntable - and it sports a familiar red and black label. Yep, it's an early Atlantic record and oh joy, it's the Tiny Grimes band with Red Prysock on tenor sax.

These performances were recorded in New York on March 16th, 1949. The band consisted of: Tiny Grimes (guitar); Red Prysock (tenor sax); George Kelly (piano); Ike Isaacs (bass) and Sonny Payne (drums).

Tiny Grimes had been recording for Atlantic since the end of 1947, first with John Hardee on tenor sax and then in May 1948 with Wilbur "Red" Prysock taking over as axeman and occasional vocalist (in the style of his balladeer brother Arthur Prysock). The May 1948 session yielded a national R&B hit with "Midnight Special" which reached number 12 in November of that year.

Red Prysock and Tiny Grimes

Further releases on Atlantic failed to chart and in mid 1949 Tiny Grimes moved to the Gotham label. Around that time the band was kitted out in an approximation of Scottish highland dress and were billed as Tiny Grimes and his Rocking Highlanders.

The two sides on this disc predate that change of image. They are both "slow burners" - starting off as cool interpretations of old standards before the heated sax work of Red Prysock ups the ante.

With thanks to El Enmascarado for the rips from shellac and label scans.

Bull Moose Jackson - Moose On The Loose

Side A:
1. Chittlin' Switch (Lucky Millinder and his Orchestra)
2. Hold Him Joe
3. We Ain't Got Nothin'
4. Just In Case You Change Your Mind
5. Jammin' And Jumpin'
6. Bad Man Jackson, That's Me
7. Moose On The Loose
8. Sometimes I Wonder

Side B:
1. Houston Texas Gal
2. Moosey
3. We Can Talk Some Trash
4. Oh John
5. End This Misery
6. Bearcat Blues
7. Big Ten-Inch Record
8. Hodge-Podge

Back in September 2009 I posted the Route 66 LP “Big Fat Mamas Are Back In Style Again” which is a humdinger of a collection of jumpin’ and jivin’ rhythm and blues by singer and saxman Benjamin “Bull Moose” Jackson. Looking back in the blog I see that it attracted just one comment which is a bit depressing. But nil desperandum, and on we go with the second Bull Moose LP issued on the Mr R&B group of labels: “Moose on the Loose,” a 1985 helping of jumping instrumentals, bluesy vocalisations, and probably the best example of early 1950s double entendre R&B – “Big Ten Inch.”

Scan courtesy Joan K

The career of Mr Jackson was briefly outlined in the “Big Fat Mamas” post. Suffice it to say that “Bull Moose Jackson and his Buffalo Bearcats” started out as a front for getting recordings by the Lucky Millinder Orchestra released on the Queen / King label as Millinder was under contract to Decca for most of the 1940s. This collection has one Millinder side, “Chittlin’ Switch” which features Bull Moose, who remained a member of the Millinder outfit until around 1948.

Another naughty scan from Joan  K

During 1948 and 1949 Bull Moose enjoyed huge record sales with a series of ballads such as “I Love You, Yes I Do” and “Little Girl Don’t Cry.” However on this LP it’s the jumping side of Bull Moose that is to the fore, with instrumentals such as “Hodge Podge,” “Moose on the Loose” and “Moosey.” Two easy swinging vocal efforts have long been among my favourite Bull Moose tracks: “We Ain’t Got Nothin’” and “We Can Talk Some Trash.”

“Big Ten Inch (Record)” is of course one of the all time favourites among fans of real R&B. Recorded with the Tiny Bradshaw band in 1952, it not only has wickedly salacious “leerics” but also equally brazen sax solos by Rufus Gore and Red Prysock.

As the 1950s wore on, Bull Moose’s fortunes faded and his King contract ended in 1955. Thereafter he had a few recordings issued on small labels, including a rerecording of “I Love You, Yes I Do” which had some modest sales in the early 1960s, but like so many of his R&B contemporaries he slipped into obscurity and a job outside music. However, when interest in 1940s jive and jump revived in the 1980s, Bull Moose was brought back from musical limbo for a series of festival appearances and new recordings. He died of lung cancer in July 1989.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

Moose On The Loose (Mega)

1. Chittlin' Switch – Lucky Millinder and his Orchestra (New York, February 26, 1946, Decca 18835)

2. Hold Him Joe (Cincinnati, August 1945, King 4100)

3. We Ain't Got Nothin' (Cincinnati, August 1945, King 4102)

4. Just In Case You Change Your Mind (New York, December 20, 1945, Queen / King 4109)

5. Jammin' And Jumpin' (New York, December 20, 1945, Queen / King 4107)

6. Bad Man Jackson, That's Me (New York, December 19, 1945, Queen / King 4116)

7. Moose On The Loose (New York, 1947, Super Disc 1056 / MGM 10234)

8. Sometimes I Wonder (Cincinnati, April 18, 1950, King 4373)

9. Houston Texas Gal (New York, August 1947, King 4305)

10. Moosey (St Louis, February 18, 1949, King 4288)

11. We Can Talk Some Trash (New York, September 15 or 17, 1947, King 4250)

12. Oh John (New York, September 15 or 17, 1947, King 4280)

13. End This Misery (New York, May 4, 1951, King 4462)

14. Bearcat Blues (New York, February 6, 1952, King 4551)

15. Big Ten-Inch Record (Cincinnati, October 6, 1952, King 4580)

16. Hodge-Podge (New York, May 27, 1953, King 4655)

Mo’ Bull Moose

On the blog:

“Big Fat Mamas Are Back In Style Again”

“Moosey / “Little Girl Don’t Cry”

Recommended Purchases:

“Bad Man Jackson That’s Me” has been around since 1990. The 1997 Nestshare issue of this 22 track comp of the best bluesers and jumpers by Bull Moose has very informative liner notes by Dave Penny.

More recently there was a similar comp in the Proper Introduction series – “Bad Man Jackson” with a few extra tracks.

Those of you who wish to immerse yourself in the waxings of Bull Moose can seek salvation in the Chronological Classics series. Three CDs cover his output from 1945 to 1953.

At the time of writing all of the above were available as CDs from Amazon.co.uk and some were available as mp3 downloads.