Al King, Warren Lucky and Haywood Henry - Thunderbolt!

                         

Side A
1. Warren Lucky - Paradise Rock
2. Warren Lucky - Thunderbolt
3. Warren Lucky - Paradise Roll
4. Warren Lucky - Fish Bait
5. Al King - Jay Bird
6. Al King - Melancholy Horn
7. Al King - Strollin' Out

Side B
1. Al King - Flyin' With The King
2. Al King - A King Is Blue
3. Al King - Big Wind
4. Al King - Royal Crown Blues
5. Haywood Henry - Sweet Georgia Brown
6. Al King - Easy Ridin'
7. Al King - Joy Ride

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from:

Thunderbolt! (Mega)

or

Thunderbolt! (Zippy)

This is a re-up of an LP I posted back in March 2008. I've added new front and back cover scans along with label scans. Back when I originally posted this album I hadn't worked out how to scan a complete LP cover so here, very belatedly, is a properly reproduced set of covers.

I recently reread the John A. Jackson biography of Alan Freed, "Big Beat Heat" which is one of my favourite R&B / rock 'n' roll books. It has rekindled my interest in the sax driven band sound that Freed used for his live rock 'n' roll shows, starting with Paul Williams at the infamous Moondog Coronation Ball in Cleveland in 1952. Later he had the Buddy Johnson band and even the Count Basie band provide accompaniment for his theater and studio shows. He also organised his own Alan Freed Big Rock 'n' Roll band in which at various times prominent New York based sax players such as Freddie Mitchell, Sam "The Man" Taylor, Buddy Lucas, Red Prysock and Big Al Sears served.

So fired up by all this Big Beat sax action, I'll be embarking on a series of posts of the finest NYC rockin' instrumental sounds of the mid 1950s. The bad news is that most of them are re-ups, but there will be new stuff mixed in there too. Re-ups will all feature upgraded cover and label scans and revised tagging so that they can be downloaded straight to your rockin' media player.

There is of course another reason for so many recent re-ups. Although existing Rapidshare links on the blog still appear to be working, I don't expect this to last much longer. After a drastic and mistaken change to their pricing policy which now includes the cessation of its free upload service, I expect that Rapidshare will soon disappear. I am therefore trying to transfer stuff over to zippyshare and I am also taking the opportunity to upgrade posts from the early days of the blog.

This LP features rockin' sax instros from the Joe Davis group of labels. I've added information I've found on the the release of these sides along with some Billboard reviews I found online. These reviews tend to be pretty unflattering, but the music contained herein is still more than worthy of your rockin' attention. Depend upon it, honk fans!

The tracks:

1. Warren Lucky - Paradise Rock
2. Warren Lucky - Thunderbolt
3. Warren Lucky - Paradise Roll
4. Warren Lucky - Fish Bait
5. Al King - Jay Bird
6. Al King - Melancholy Horn
7. Al King - Strollin' Out
8. Al King - Flyin' With The King
9. Al King - A King Is Blue
10. Al King - Big Wind
11. Al King - Royal Crown Blues
12. Haywood Henry - Sweet Georgia Brown
13. Al King - Easy Ridin'
14. Al King - Joy Ride

Session Details:

8. Al King - Flyin' With The King
9. Al King - A King Is Blue
10. Al King - Big Wind
11. Al King - Royal Crown Blues

Recorded as by Al (Tenor Sax) King and His Royal Crowns, NYC, December 4th 1952.
Personnel: Al King (tenor sax); Harry Van Walls (piano); Johnny Saunders (guitar); Thomas Barney (bass); Ernie Heyward (drums)

Big Wind / Royal Crown Blues released on MGM 11430, January / February 1953

Flyin' With The King / A King Is Blue released on MGM 11508, June 1953
"Okay instrumental honker of wider musical than commercial interest." / "More of the same stuff, tho this is a slow mood blues." - Billboard

5. Al King - Jay Bird
6. Al King - Melancholy Horn
7. Al King - Strollin' Out
13. Al King - Easy Ridin'
14. Al King - Joy Ride

Recorded as by Al King and His Kingsmen, NYC, February 15th 1956
Personnel: Al King (tenor sax); Solomon Moore (baritone sax); James Sigler (piano / organ); Eddie McFadden (guitar); Thomas Barney (bass); Francisco De Silva (drums)

Joy Ride / Melancholy Horn released on Davis 448, June 1956
"An instrumental side with tenor sax setting a mad pace for the band. The blowing, for all its sound and fury has no clear aim. Even as dance music it is poorly conceived." / "Tenor and baritone saxes kick a simple riff back and forth without seeming to know what to do with it. The basic idea is repetitious and unimaginative." - Billboard (ouch!)

Remainder of this session unreleased.

1. Warren Lucky - Paradise Rock
2. Warren Lucky - Thunderbolt
3. Warren Lucky - Paradise Roll
4. Warren Lucky - Fish Bait

Recorded as by Warren (Tenor Sax) Luckey and Combo, NYC March 3rd 1955
Personnel: Warren Lucky (tenor sax); Haywood Henry (baritone sax); Ernest Hayes (piano); Mickey Baker (guitar); Peck Morrison (bass); Specs Bailey (drums)

Paradise Rock / Paradise Roll released on Jay-Dee 809, March 1956
Thunderbolt / Fish Bait released on Beacon 105, ? 1955

12. Haywood Henry - Sweet Georgia Brown

Recorded NYC July 7th 1955
Personnel: Haywood Henry (baritone sax); Al Williams (piano); Everett Barksdale (guitar); Bill Pemberton (bass); Bobby Donaldson (drums)

Sweet Georgia Brown / Tenderly released on Hudco, 1955.