Ivory Joe Hunter - 7th Street Boogie

Side 1:

01. 7th Street Boogie

02. Blues At Sunrise *

03. Boogin' In The Basement

04. Reconversion Blues

05. High Cost Low Pay Blues

06. Grieving Blues

07. Siesta With Sonny

08. Send Me Pretty Mama

Side 2:

01. I Quit My Pretty Mama

02. Woo Wee Blues

03. Don't Fall In Love With Me

04. What Did You Do To Me

05. I Got Your Water On

06. SP Blues

07. Leave Her Alone

08. Don't You Believe Her

*Ivory Joe Hunter with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers

Download from:

http://www60.zippyshare.com/v/DFYyq3Rt/file.html

Go West, young man! Ivory Joe Hunter ('twas his actual name) was one of a number of Texas pianists / singers who moved to California during and after World War Two and helped kick start the growth of R&B on the West Coast. Charles Brown, Amos Milburn, Floyd Dixon and Little Willie Littlefield all spring immediately to mind.

When Ivory Joe arrived in Oakland, California in 1942, he was already an experienced club pianist, deejay and bandleader. He formed a jump band while performing at Slim Jenkins' club on 7th Street in Oakland, but was unable to attract the attention of any of the new West Coast record labels that were springing up. His first record, "Blues At Sunrise" was therefore recorded for his own short lived label, Ivory. It became a hit when it was picked up by Exclusive, reaching number 3 in the R&B charts at the end of 1945. In 1946/7 Ivory Joe issued singles on Pacific, a label in which he was a co-owner.

Sales of the Pacific records were poor, so Joe sold his masters to 4 Star who re-issued some sides which had originally appeared on Pacific and also gave a first time issue to some of Joe's hitherto unreleased masters. It was a reissue, "Pretty Mama Blues" (Pacific 637, 4 Star 1254) which became Joe's biggest success so far, reaching number 1 on the R&B chart in September 1948. By this time Joe had been recording for King for a year. He stayed with them until August 1949, having hits with "Don't Fall In Love With Me", "What Did You Do To Me", "Guess Who" / "Landlord Blues", and "Jealous Heart."

In October 1949 Joe started recording for MGM and hit it big, reaching the number 1 R&B spot with "I Almost Lost My Mind." His next MGM disc, "S.P. Blues" was a top ten hit and he was back at number 1 again with "I Need You So." "It's A Sin" was a lesser hit but as all of these chart successes came in 1950, Ivory Joe Hunter was the 3rd top selling R&B artist of that year, ahead of such luminaries as Roy Brown, Dinah Washington and Louis Jordan. There were no more hits on MGM and in 1954 Ivory Joe signed with Atlantic Records where he recorded more hit material, most noticeably "Since I Met You Baby" which was an R&B and pop hit in 1957. In the same year he had another hit with "Empty Arms."

In 1959 he recorded for Dot without much success and the 1960s were spent label hopping but without achieving any significant sales. He did, however, have a more productive time as a songwriter in both the Soul and Country & Western fields. A successful appearance at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1970 led to recording sessions for Epic and Paramount, but in late 1973 he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Ivory Joe Hunter passed away in November 1974.

Most of the above info is from an article by Dik De Heer on rockabilly.nl. Additional information from Big Al Pavlow's "R & B Book" and Bill Millar's sleevenotes to this LP. There is an extended essay on Ivory Joe Hunter by Bill Millar in his excellent book "Let The Good Times Rock."

Article by Dik De Heer:

http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/ivory_joe_hunter.htm

Original release details:

01. 7th Street Boogie - Pacific 601

02. Blues At Sunrise - Originally on Ivory, then Exclusive 56

03. Boogin' In The Basement - Pacific 602

04. Reconversion Blues - Pacific 601

05. High Cost Low Pay Blues - Pacific 630

06. Grieving Blues - Pacific 634

07. Siesta With Sonny - King 4220

08. Send Me Pretty Mama - King 4424

09. I Quit My Pretty Mama - King 4326

10. Woo Wee Blues - King 4455

11. Don't Fall In Love With Me - King 4220

12. What Did You Do To Me - King 4232

13. I Got Your Water On - King 4347

14. SP Blues - MGM 10618

15. Leave Her Alone - MGM 10663

16. Don't You Believe Her - MGM 10818

Many of the Pacific sides were re-released on 4 Star.

Explore further with:

"Jukebox Hits 1945 - 1950" on Acrobat,

"Blues, Ballads & Rock 'N' Roll" - collection of Atlantic sides on Ace,

"Woo Wee!" - collection of King sides on Ace.

And, joy of joys, Bill Millar's book "Let The Good Times Rock" is still available at reasonable prices on Amazon marketplace. A rippingly good read.