Big John Greer Is Back!

Tracklist:

Side 1
01. Woman Is A Five Letter Word
02. Tell Me So
03. Got You On My Mind
04. Let Me Hold You
05. You Played On My Piano
06. Lonesome And Blue
07. I Need You
08. I'll Never Let You Go

Side 2
09. I'm The Fat Man
10. Beginning To Miss You
11. Rhythm In The Breeze
12. Drinkin' Fool
13. Getting Mighty Lonesome For You
14. Too Long
15. Come Back Maybelline
16. Night Crawlin'

Download from:

http://www10.zippyshare.com/v/OuBdX17M/file.html

In answer to a request here is a new link to the 1980s Official LP "R&B In New York City" starring former Lucky Millinder vocalist and sax player Big John Greer.

The Lucky  Millinder Orchestra begat three spin off small jump groups which in their earliest incarnations consisted mostly of musicians from Lucky's band. In chronological order of breakaway these were the groups led by Tab Smith, Bullmoose Jackson and Big John Greer. There are already 2 Bullmoose Jackson LPs on the blog and Tab Smith will be back on the blog soon. In the meantime here's Big John Greer and you can find his story in this post:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/big-john-greer-r-b-in-new-york-city.html

As you can read in the above post, Big John continued to record occasionally with the Millinder outfit while starring with his own Rhythm Rockers group. Here are three sides he recorded with Millinder for King in 1950:

Let It Roll Again:



The Jumpin' Jack:



Clap Your Hands:



"Let It Roll Again" was released on King 4379 in August 1950, "The Jumpin' Jack" was released on King 4436 in March 1951, and "Clap Your Hands" was released on King 4398 in September 1950.

Billboard August 1950

Joe Houston - Rockin' 'n' Boppin'

Tracklist:

Side 1

01. Rockin' 'n' Boppin'

02. Flying Home

03. Walking Home

04. Earthquake

05. Waycross Mama Blues

06. Moody

07. Hurricane

08. Go Joe Go

Side 2

01. Cornbread & Cabbage

02. Jay's Boogie

03. Doin' The Lindy Hop

04. Boogie Woogie Woman

05. Hog Maws Part 2

06. Dig It

07. Shtiggy Boom

08. Joe's Gone

09. The Hully

Download from here:

Joe Houston - Rockin' 'n' Boppin' (Mega)

Joe Houston - Rockin' 'n' Boppin' (Zippy)

Bought second hand. There is damage to the inner sleeve which renders a small part of the notes unreadable.

We continue our tribute to the late Joe Houston with a Saxophonograph LP which hasn't been on the blog before.

I was saddened to read in the March edition of "Blues & Rhythm" that Joe Houston had passed away last December after a long period of ill health. One of my favourite LPs of the 1980s R&B reissue craze was "Rockin' At The Drive In" on Ace. This was a reworking of an LP originally issued on Combo in 1956. The honking sax was awesome, relentless even, and as for the cover art, ye gods! There in the car park of a Googie architecture drive in restaurant was the man himself, blowing his sax to an admiring crowd of teens plus DJ Art Laboe and, artfully placed in the picture, a couple of open top cars each about the size of a small house (by UK standards). 1950s California seemed impossibly cool to somebody living in gloomy, rain soaked Glasgow in the 1980s.

"Rockin' 'n' Boppin'" provides a good overview of Joe's 1950s recording career. The gatefold sleeve contains notes by Ken Mills which at times could be called "fervent" as he preaches the glories of the Southern California R&B scene and Joe's contribution thereto. Included in the notes is a section on another LP already on this blog, "Earthquake," which was released by Pathe Marconi in the early 1980s. This was a compilation mainly consisting of sides originally recorded for Imperial. Unfortunately some of the tracks were wrongly titled and the original versions of "Hurricane" and "Earthquake" were not actually on that LP. However, they are here on "Rockin' 'n' Boppin'!" Read Ken Mills's notes for the full story.

Original release info plus reviews culled from the pages of Billboard:

01. Rockin' 'n' Boppin' - Cash 1018, late 1955.

02. Flying Home - Cash 1013, c September 1955.

03. Walking Home - Cash 1013, c September 1955.

Billboard, 1st October 1955

04. Earthquake - Imperial 5201, 1952.

05. Waycross Mama Blues - Freedom 1526, late 1949 /early 1950.

06. Moody - Bayou 004, May 1953. "Houston is the honking tenor type as he and the ork read off a riff-built instrumental for a good side."

07. Hurricane - Imperial 5196, July 1952. "The ork under Houston drives hard on a rhythm instrumental cleffed by the leader. Results are adequate."

08. Go Joe Go - Lucky 004, May 1954.

09. Cornbread & Cabbage - Hollywood 423, May 1953. "Houston shows a lot of sax on this side, a dynamic riff effort."

10. Jay's Boogie - Hollywood 423, May 1953. "More sax work with abandon by Houston, this time to a boogie beat by the ork."

11. Doin' The Lindy Hop - Modern 863, April 1952

12. Boogie Woogie Woman - Modern 879, August 1952. "A jump boogie gets a solid go from the ork and Lois Butler helps it along with her vocal. Material is not impressive."

13. Hog Maws Part 2 - Magnum 45-723, 1964.

14. Dig It - Modern 879, August 1952. "The ork enjoys itself jamming away on this riff item with lots of solo work featured thruout. Tune builds a bit, but not as much as it could. Jazz fanciers may like."

15. Shtiggy Boom - RPM 426, February 1955. "Swingy new rocker that has all the West Coast record firms excited is handed a driving reading by the Houston ork, with the sidemen on the vocal. Houston turns in some solid work on sax, and the side builds all the way. This could happen."

Scan from Joan K

16. Joe's Gone - RPM 426, February 1955. "And Joe Houston does go in this swinging instrumental side. Both jazz and blues fans will be interested in this wild cutting. Houston comes thru with excitement. Two potent juke sides."

17. The Hully - Combo 157, August 1959. "A blues-oriented instrumental with a rocking rhythm. Some good horn passages and interesting musical figures."

Recommended site:

http://www.colorradio.com/joe-houston.html

Now somebody get me a time machine. I gotta get back to 1950s LA!

Clubbing, Early 1950s Style

Sunday double of sides about nightlife. The way the youth of today (and I mean anyone under 40) go on about "clubbing" you'd think they'd invented all night dancing /drinking / socialising. Well here's a couple of early 1950s R&B tracks to demonstrate that there's nothing new under that lucky old sun. Oh, and by "R&B" I mean REAL R&B.

First up, Frank Culley and Harry Van Walls rap about the Rhumboogie Club in Columbus, Ohio. Recorded in late 1949, "Rumboogie Jive" was the B Side of "After Hours Session" (Atlantic 888) which reached number 10 in the R&B charts in February 1950.



The "Coffee Grinder" referred to was a dance. Wonder what it was like?

After boogieing our woogies for a few hours, it's time to move on to an after hours joint where we can chill out to some slinky sax and hear Jimmy Coe and his drummer Earl "Fox" Walker exchanging hip observations. The scene described on the record was inspired by Jimmy and the band's visits to an after hours joint called "The Royal Roost" in Indianapolis. "After Hour Joint" was released on States 118 in June 1953. There was a follow up a few months later, "Raid On The After Hours Joint." We're gonna split before that happens, but remember, if the cops grab you, don't give your real name.



As an aside, the excellent Ace CD "Let The Boogie Woogie Rock And Roll" has a totally different track under the title "Rhumboogie Jive." Does anyone know what that track really is?

Great article on Jimmy Coe on Red Saunders Research Foundation here:

http://myweb.clemson.edu/~campber/coe.html

Have a restful Sunday.

Joe Houston Special!

Side A:
01. Thunder Storm *
02. Trouble, Trouble, Trouble
03. Hurricane **
04. Tough Enough
05. Windy City Hop
06. Earthquake ***

Side B
01. Jump The Blues
02. Guided Missile
03. Good-Bye Little Girl
04. Wee, Wee Hours
05. Bobby Sox Ramble

* this is the 78rpm version of "Hurricane."
** this track is not "Hurricane" but is in fact an alternate take of "Bobby Sox Ramble."
*** this track is "Atom Bomb." (Imperial 5213)

As can be seen above, a number of errors were made in the attribution of titles to the above tracks. This was due to a number of factors, some dating back to the original issues on Imperial. There is a full explanation in the sleevenotes by Ken Mills to the Saxophonograph LP "Rockin' 'N' Boppin'." It should also be noted that some Joe Houston Imperial tracks were subsequently released on Bayou with different titles.

Download "Earthquake" from here:

Joe Houston - Earthquake (Mega)

"Earthquake" was posted on 4th October 2010 as part of an extensive post on Joe Houston which can be found here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/joe-houston-earthquake.html

Side 1:

01. Doin' The Twist

02. Twisting The Twist

03. Crazy Twist

04. White House Twist

05. Chitlun's Twist

Side 2:

01. Rocking The Twist

02. Roy's Twist

03. Joe's Twist

04. Texas Twist

05. Casino Twist

Download "Doin' The Twist" from here:

http://www119.zippyshare.com/v/Bbu9BKQf/file.html

 "Doin' The Twist" was posted on 12th November 2010 . It was donated by El Enmascarado and the original post contains a description of his setup for converting vinyl and shellac to digital files. The post is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/joe-houston-doin-twist-crown-clp-5246.html

Side One:

01. Off Beat

02. Rock That Boogie

03. No Name Rock

04. Goofin'

05. Joe's Rock

06. Tall Gal Blues

Side Two:

01. All Night Long

02. Movin' And Groovin'

03. Corn Bread  And Cabbage Greens

04. I Woke Up This Morning

05. Flying Home

06. Teen-Age Boogie

Download "Rock And Roll With Joe Houston" from here:

http://www19.zippyshare.com/v/gYgbJ2HH/file.html

"Rock And Roll With Joe Houston" was posted on the 5th July 2008. It was donated by an anonymous sax fan. The post contains information on the background of this budget LP and on the Tops label. That post is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/rock-and-roll-with-joe-houston-tops_6826.html

Sadly, Joe Houston passed away on the 28th December 2015. Another of the originals has left us.

Creepin' & Peepin' / Just Before Sunrise - Jesse Price / Buddy Floyd (Miltone 5250)

In response to a request on the Brown Gal post by "sunman" for "the two tracks Buddy Floyd recorded under his own name" I can only come up with one track - "Just Before Sunrise." This was released on the B side of Miltone 5250 in June 1949, advance notice of the release being listed in the June 18th 1949 issue of Billboard.

The A side was "Creepin' & Peepin'" by Jesse Price and His Jump Jivers. "Just Before Sunrise" was credited to Buddy Floyd with Maxwell Davis and the Miltone Orchestra.

And for those of you who are wondering who Buddy Floyd was, he was the tenor saxman in Roy Milton's Solid Senders. See "Brown Gal" and various other Roy Milton posts on the blog.

This disc was re-released on Gotham 236 in 1950 credited to "Jesse Price and The Jump Jivers."

Now can anyone help with any further recordings by Buddy under his own name? All info, and / or sound samples would be gratefully received.

Anyway, on with the show. "Creepin' & Peepin'' and "Just Before Sunrise" make an excellent instrumental pairing. Both sides are moody slow blues and excellent late night listening.

Creepin' & Peepin' :



Just Before Sunrise:



Click on the little down arrows on the players to download. Enjoy the rest of Sunday, moovers 'n' groovers!

Brown Gal

Side A

01. R.M. Blues - Roy Milton

02. Groovy Blues - Roy Milton (vocal - Camille Howard)

03. When I Grow Too Old To Dream - Roy Milton

04. Sometimes I'm Happy - Jimmy Grissom

05. Mr Fine - Roy Milton (vocal - Camille Howard)

06. If I Had You - Dorothy Donegan

07. Milton's Boogie - Roy Milton

Side B

01. Rock It - Lil Armstrong

02. The Piano Player's Blues - Dorothy Donegan

03. Brown Gal - Lil Armstrong

04. Joogie Boogie - Lil Armstrong

05. Baby Daddy - Lil Armstrong

06. Baby Daddy (alt take) - Lil Armstrong

07. Rock It (alt take) - Lil Armstrong

Download from here:

http://www19.zippyshare.com/v/oqipNxAB/file.html

Red hot and fine as wine jumpin' comp of Gotham sides released on Krazy Kat in 1986. Side A keeps our ongoing Roy Milton theme to the fore as all the sides except Dorothy Donegan's "If I Had You" were originally recorded for Roy's own labels - Roy Milton and Miltone. The discography of Roy Milton's early sides can be confusing as he recorded some of his big hits several times and there were multiple issues of these recordings.

Roy Milton & His Solid Senders first recorded for Lionel Hampton's Hamp-Tone label in September 1945. 4 sides were recorded which were issued on 2 singles: "I'll Always Be In Love With You" / "To Be Alone Blues" (Hamp-Tone 101) and the 2-parter "Burma Road, Parts 1 and 2" (Hamp-Tone 104). These singles were not released until June and July 1946, by which time Roy had recorded for Art Rupe's Juke Box label with great success and was in the midst of setting up his own label, Roy Milton Records.

Art Rupe signed Roy up to his Juke Box record company in November 1945. On the 11th December 1945 Roy recorded 4 tracks which remained unissued and then re-recorded the same tracks on the 22nd December. These were issued in early 1946 on 2 singles: "Milton's Boogie" / "Groovy Blues"(vocal- Camille Howard) on Juke Box 503, and "R.M. Blues" / "Rhythm Cocktail" on Juke Box 504. "Milton's Boogie" sold heavily but "R.M. Blues" was a massive hit, being the 5th best selling "race" record of 1946. In August 1946 Art Rupe decided to leave his Juke Box partners and before the year was out he had started Specialty Records which would become one of the top independent R&B labels in the U.S.

In the meantime Roy Milton had also decided to strike out on his own, going into partnership with Ben Waller and Forrest Perkins to set up Roy Milton Records in mid 1946. Roy re-recorded the tracks he had laid down for Juke Box for issue on his new eponymous label. At an unknown date in 1946 the following Solid Senders recorded sides for Roy Milton and its successor label Miltone: Hosea Sapp (trumpet), Caughey Roberts (alto sax), Buddy Floyd (tenor sax), Camille Howard (piano, vocals), David Robinson (bass), Roy Milton (drums, vocals).

All of which brings us to the tracks on Side A of "Brown Gal." The original issue of these tracks was as follows: "Mr. Fine" and "Milton's Boogie" were issued on Roy Milton 103. "R.M. Blues" and "Groovy Blues" were issued on Roy Milton 105. "When I Grow Too Old To Dream" was issued on Miltone 202, with a Jimmy Grissom number, "Do As I Say" on the B side. "Sometimes I'm Happy" is by Jimmy Grissom who recorded a couple of sessions for Miltone. He was backed by the Solid Senders on one session and by Maxwell Davis and His Blenders on the other session. I can't find which session this track is from.

Many issues on Roy Milton and Miltone featured featured hip cartoons by New York cartoonist William "Alex" Alexander as can be seen by the above examples. Roy himself went back to Art Rupe, signing for his Specialty label in March 1947. The Miltone label carried on, issuing material by Roy, Camille Howard, Jimmy Grissom, Maxwell Davis, Jesse Price and, through a deal with De Luxe Records, material recorded in New Orleans by Roy Brown, Paul Gayten, Annie Laurie and Chubby Newsome.

The original Roy Milton Juke Box masters had meanwhile been inherited by Specialty and it is possible that some Miltone masters also went with Roy to Specialty. His two Juke Box singles were reissued as Specialty singles, and further Specialty singles included titles originally issued on Roy Milton / Miltone. These may have been re-recordings or reissues of the original Roy Milton / Miltone masters. Roy continued to record for Specialty until 1953, achieving considerable success with hits such as "True Blues", "Everything I Do Is Wrong","Hop, Skip And Jump", "The Hucklebuck", "Information Blues", "Oh Babe" and "Best Wishes."

The Miltone label continued for a few years under the "colourful" leadership of Forrest Perkins. It was a tale of lawsuits and a flight to the Phillipines to set up a recording plant. Much greater detail of the saga is available in an article by Louis Opal Nations in "Blues & Rhythm" Magazine no. 235, Christmas 2008.

In June 1950, Billboard announced that Ivan Ballen, head honcho of Gotham Records, had purchased 300 Miltone masters, including sides by Roy Milton, Camille Howard and Jimmy Grissom.  Sides were released on Gotham in 1950 as follows:

Gotham 258 - "Mr Fine" / "Milton's Boogie" ("Mr. Fine" was credited to Camille Howard, "Milton's Boogie" to Roy Milton & The Solid Senders);

Gotham 260 - "R.M. Blues" / "Groovy Blues" ("R.M. Blues" was credited to Roy Milton & The Solid Senders, "Groovy Blues" was credited to Camille Howard & The Solid Senders);

Gotham 261 - "When I Grow Too Old To Dream" / "Sometimes I'm Happy" both sides credited to Camille Howard despite the fact that Roy Milton sings on Side A and Jimmy Grissom sings on Side B.

Dorothy Donegan was a Chicago born jazz pianist who enjoyed a long recording career. Her early recordings (starting from 1942) included issues on Continental, Plymouth and Miltone. Her only release on Gotham, "Piano Player's Blues" / "If I Had You" was recorded in 1950 and issued on Gotham 257. She went on to record for labels such as Roulette, Jubilee, MGM and European labels Four Leaf Clover and Black & Blue. Her last recording was of a concert in the Caribbean on board the SS Norway in 1992. A stylish way to sign off!

Lil Armstrong was born Lil Hardin in Memphis. She joined King Oliver's band where she met and married Louis Armstrong. Although the marriage lasted only seven years she kept the name and continued to record with Louis as well as building a long and distinguished career in her own right. Of particular note is her stay at Decca from 1936 to 1940 where she recorded her best known song "Brown Gal" which was later adapted by Clarence Palmer as "Brown Boy" and later as "Bad Boy."

She had a session for Gotham, probably in 1950, which resulted in two singles, "Baby Daddy" / "Joogie Boogie" (Gotham 241) and "Rock It" / "Brown Gal" (Gotham 256). These are excellent recordings backed by a tight combo (personnel unknown) and featuring great blues and boogie piano and strong vocals from Ms Armstrong. "Baby Daddy" is a suggestive and salacious paen to a well built toy boy. "Rock It" is unmitigated filth which simply has to be heard to be believed.

Sources -

The Roy Milton and Miltone Record Labels by Opal Louis Nations, Blues & Rhythm magazine no. 235, Christmas 2008.

Global Dog Productions website, http://www.globaldogproductions.info/

Notes to "Brown Gal" LP, Krazy Kat LP 808, by Tony Buke, 1986.

Big Al Pavlow's The R&B Book, Music House, 1983.

For subscriptions / back issues, info, see:

http://www.bluesandrhythm.co.uk/

Jack McVea Special!

Tracklist:

Side 1:

01. Bartender Boogie

02. Tarrant Blues

03. O-Kay For Baby

04. We're Together Again

05. Ooh Mop

06. Don't Blame Me

07. Frisco Blues

08. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying

Side 2:

01. Open The Door Richard!

02. Wine-O

03. Inflation Blues

04. Groovin' Boogie

05. No, No, You Can't Do Dot Mon

06. Jack Frost

07. Mumblin' Blues

08. The Key's In The Mailbox

Download "Open The Door Richard!" from here:

http://www20.zippyshare.com/v/zWoIoeVl/file.html

Tracklist:

Side A:
01. My Business Is C.O.D.
02. Play It Over
03. Rainy Day Blues
04. F Minor Boogie
05. It Never Should Have Been This Way
06. Jack's Boogie
07. Baby Make Up Your Mind
08. Butch

Side B:
01. Two Timin' Baby Boogie
02. Evening
03. Fish For Supper
04. New Deal
05. Naggin' Woman Blues
06. You Can Come Back Home
07. Tatoe Pie
08. Carlos

Download "New Deal" from here:

New Deal (Mega)

Original issue of "Open The Door Richard!" tracks, which were recorded in Los Angeles between August 1945 and December 1947:

01. Bartender Boogie aka B.B. Boogie - Black & White 750
02. Tarrant Blues - Apollo 370*
03. O-Kay For Baby - Apollo 761
04. We're Together Again - Apollo 366*
05. Ooh Mop - Black & White 750
06. Don't Blame Me - Apollo 761
07. Frisco Blues - Black & White 751
08. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying - Black & White 793
09. Open The Door Richard! - Black & White 792
10. Wine-O - Black & White 751
11. Inflation Blues - Exclusive 260
12. Groovin' Boogie - Black & White 810
13. No, No, You Can't Do Dot Mon - Exclusive 266
14. Jack Frost  - Exclusive 266
15. Mumblin' Blues - Exclusive 270
16. The Key's In The Mailbox - Black & White 828

* = credited to "Rabon Tarrant with Jack McVea's All Stars"

Original issue of "New Deal" tracks, which were recorded in Los Angeles between August 1945 and late 1948, except for "Rainy Day Blues" which was recorded in San Francisco in 1944.

01. My Business Is C.O.D. - Black & White 762
02. Play It Over - Black & White 762
03. Rainy Day Blues - Rhythm 502/509
04. F Minor Boogie - Black & White 767
05. It Never Should Have Been This Way - Apollo 370*
06. Jack's Boogie - Black & White 767
07. Baby Make Up Your Mind - Black & White 763
08. Butch - Black & White 842
09. Two Timin' Baby Boogie - Black & White 842
10. Evening - Exclusive 70X
11. Fish For Supper - Exclusive 70X
12. New Deal - Melodisc 110
13. Naggin' Woman Blues - Apollo 365*
14. You Can Come Back Home - Modern 20-756**
15. Tatoe Pie - Exclusive 270
16. Carlos - Exclusive 48X

* = credited to "Rabon Tarrant with Jack McVea's All Stars."
** = credited to "Gene Phillips with Jack McVea & His Orchestra." The song title was "You Can't Come Back Home."

As requested by a cool cat (by your re-up requests shall ye be judged), here's Jack McVea on a couple of Jukebox Lil LPs. We know what that means - occasional dodgy sound quality as the tracks were mastered from original 78 rpm records coupled with superb background research and notes. Jonas Bernholm's reissue labels really set the standard back in the 1980s.

The excellent "Blues And Rhythm" magazine has recently completed a 3 part series on Jonas and his work entitled "The Mr R&B Interviews." There is also a Label Listing of every release on every Jonas Bernholm label. These labels were: Route 66, Mr R&B, Stockholm, Blues Boy, Crown Prince, Saxophonograph, Jukebox Lil, Whiskey, Women, And ... , Dr. Horse, Earth Angel, Gospel Jubilee, Jazz Information, and Clanka Lanka. Scream and shout, check it out!

LPS from the Mr R&B group of labels can still be purchased at North American distributor www.cityhallrecords.com and also at Norton Records. In Europe they can be purchased at Bear Family Records, Germany.

And so to Jack McVea. My original post on "Open The Door Richard!" had a summary of his career. Here's the link:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/jack-mcvea-his-all-stars-open-door.html

The original "New Deal" post is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/jack-mcvea-his-all-stars-new-deal_06.html

He was an important figure in the development of West Coast R&B. After quitting the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, he formed a small jump group in 1943 which was very much modeled on the successful Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five. Mid to late 1940s Los Angeles hosted a thriving jump 'n' jive small group scene with bands led by McVea, Roy Milton, Joe Liggins, Luke Jones, Buddy Banks, Joe Lutcher, Jimmy Liggins, Johnny Otis, King Perry, Calvin Boze and others all playing in the jump blues style which dominated the nascent rhythm 'n' blues scene.

Jack McVea's first recordings were made for the small Rhythm label of San Francisco in 1944  (see "Rainy Day Blues"). His first LA records were made for Melodisc in August 1945 (see "New Deal"). In the same month he recorded for Apollo, not only having discs issued in his own name, but also accompanying artists like Wynonie Harris and Big Duke Henderson. These sessions are covered in a Delmark CD, "McVoutie's Central Avenue Blues." A recommended purchase!

In October 1945 Jack signed up with Black & White Records, with whom he recorded until March 1947 when the company went bankrupt. It was Black & White which issued Jack's massive hit "Open The Door Richard!" but unfortunately almost all the royalties were diverted from the artist while coincidentally the label owner was suddenly able to indulge in a lavish lifestyle. Continuing creative accountancy practices drove Black & White to inevitable bankruptcy. In late 1947 Jack recorded sides for Exclusive but did not record again as a leader until he signed for Combo in 1953. By now Jack's band was totally different from the band which had enjoyed success in the 1940's. He continued to record for Combo until 1957 after which his recording career quickly faded.

The full story can be read on the sleevenotes to both the Jukebox Lil LPs. The period covered by these albums, 1944 - 47, is also comprehensively covered on a 4CD set issued on JSP.

More accurately, Jack's 1944 - 1947 recordings are contained on the first 3 CDs of this set while CD number 4 contains tracks by George Vann and Alton Redd, both of whom were drummer / vocalists with 1940s LA jump bands. George Vann is featured on tracks by The Sepia Tones, Joe Alexander's Highlanders, The Spirits of Rhythm, Four Joes And a Jane, Johnny Alston and Sylvester Scott. Early Jump Heaven!

The Combo masters are owned and reissued by UK Ace Records. There's some good Combo McVea tracks on the excellent compilation of Combo and Dootone sides "Honk! Honk! Honk!"

Also on Ace is a CD dedicated solely to Jack McVea on Combo, "Fortissimo!"

This CD includes quite a few alternate takes and even some rehearsal tracks. Worth investigating, but "Honk! Honk! Honk!" is a far better collection.

Buster Brown and B. Brown & His Rockin' McVouts - 45s

Tracklist:

01. Fannie Mae - Buster Brown

02. Lost In A Dream - Buster Brown

03. John Henry (The Steel Driving Man) - Buster Brown

04. The Madison Shuffle - Buster Brown

05. Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby - Buster Brown

06. Don't Dog Your Woman - Buster Brown

07. Doctor Brown - Buster Brown

08. Sincerely - Buster Brown

09. Sugar Babe - Buster Brown

10. I'm Going But I'll Be Back - Buster Brown

11. Hardworking Man - B. Brown & His Rockin' McVouts

12. My Baby Left Me - B. Brown & His Rockin' McVouts

13. Fannie Mae Is Back - B. Brown & His Rockin' McVouts

14. Candied Yams - B. Brown & His Rockin' McVouts

15. Rockin' With B - B. Brown & His Rockin' McVouts

Download from:

http://www111.zippyshare.com/v/YS3FDYxE/file.html

Time for a bit of fun with some crackly old records. This is an expanded version of a compilation originally got together by Joan K way way back in the early days of the blog. Back in the days when we were proud to post old records that had been scratched to heck. There's a few like that here. Indeed I remember wondering if Joan had been dancing on the records or perhaps just using them as beermats. Whatever, this is the way that the Good Lord intended for us to hear rock 'n' roll and this stuff rocks like crazy.

I've added a few more sides in more respectable condition to the originals that Joan sent in. Back when I originally posted on Buster and B. Brown there was some confusion as to whether or not they were the same artist. Despite some similarities they are completely different people, although one can't help but suspect that B. Daniel  Brown with "Fannie Mae Is Back", was trying to cash in on Buster's big hit "Fannie Mae."

All sides were recorded for Bobby and Danny Robinson owned labels between 1959 and 1962. Wild Jimmy Spruill is present on both artists' sides.

Jasmine Records have released a collection called "I'm Going But I'll Be Back" which has the complete Buster Brown and B. Brown output on the Robinson labels. 28 tracks in all, and a promise that the mystery of the Buster Brown / B. Brown relationship has been definitively solved.

Looks like it's worth buying! In the meantime have a Bebop Wino taster courtesy Joan K.