Bill Doggett - Gon' Doggett

Side One:
01. Honky Tonk Part 1
02. Honky Tonk Part 2
03. Big Boy
04. Slidin'
05. Buttered Popcorn
06. Backwoods
07. Slow Walk

Side Two:
08. Quaker City
09. Night Train
10. Ram-Bunk-Shush
11. Peacock Alley
12. Hold It
13. Rainbow Riot Parts 1 & 2

Download here

I thought I'd keep the organ combo vibe going with this LP which I recently picked up second hand in a shop in Glasgow's newest hipster quarter, Strathbungo. Over the years I've acquired a few Bill Doggett albums on vinyl and CD and I have to say that I've usually had mixed feelings about Bill's music having found some of it a bit too "poppy" not to say downright schmalzy, especially the tracks that featured a flute. However, I'm absolutely delighted with this LP. The compiler, Danny Adler, has done a stand up job on this collection which is a fine selection of red hot organ / sax / guitar combo rhythm 'n' blues.

On these tracks Bill's organ stays mainly in the background, working with drummer Shep Shepherd and bassist Edwyn Conley to provide great backing to the outstanding Clifford Scott and Billy Butler on tenor sax and electric guitar respectively.The tracks were recorded for King Records over a period of almost five years, so there is some variation in personnel. Full details of who was on what track plus original release details are listed below.

It's all killer, no filler. Download for that authentic funky R&B club experience.

Recording and original release details:

"Quaker City", recorded in Cincinnati on March 23rd 1955. Personnel: Frank Heppinstall (tenor sax); Bill Doggett (organ); Billy Butler (guitar); Al Lucas (bass); Shep Shepherd (drums)

First released as single King 4808 (b/w "True Blue") in June 1955.

"Honky Tonk Parts 1 & 2" was recorded in NYC on June 16th 1956. Personnel: Clifford Scott (tenor sax); Bill Doggett (organ); Billy Butler (guitar); Carl Pruitt (bass); Shep Shepherd (drums)

First released as a two parter on single King 4950 in July 1956.

"Peacock Alley", recorded in Cincinnati on October 12th 1956. Personnel: Clifford Scott (tenor sax); Bill Doggett (organ); Billy Butler (guitar); John Faire (guitar); Edwyn Conley (bass); Shep Shepherd (drums)

First released as single King 5001 (B Side of "Honky Tonk Vocal Version") in December 1956.

"Big Boy" and "Slow Walk", recorded in Cincinnati on October 29th 1956. Personnel as on "Peacock Alley" plus Tommy Brown (maracas, claves)

"Slow Walk" released as single King 5000 (b/w "Hand In Hand") in November 1956.

"Big Boy" released as single King 5339 (b/w "Smoochie") in April 1960.

"Ram-Bunk-Shush", recorded in Cincinnati on December 21st 1956. Personnel: Clifford Scott (tenor sax); Bill Doggett (organ); Billy Butler (guitar); Edwyn Conley (bass); Shep Shepherd (drums)

First released as single King 5020 (b/w "Blue Largo") in January 1957.

"Hold It", recorded in Cincinnati on June 17th 1958. Personnel: Lawrence "Tricky" Lofton (trombone); Clifford Scott (tenor sax); Floyd "Candy" Johnson (tenors and baritone saxes); Bill Doggett (organ); Billy Butler (guitar); Edwyn Conley (bass); Shep Shepherd (drums)

First released as single King 5149 (b/w "Birdie") in September 1958.

"Rainbow Riot", recorded in NYC on September 23rd, 1958. Personnel as on "Hold It" except Carl Pruitt replaces Edwyn Conley on bass.

First released as a two parter on single King 5159 in November 1958.

"Backwoods", recorded in Cincinnati on April 10th 1959. Personnel: Glenn Childers (trombone); Clifford Scott (tenor sax); Floyd "Candy" Johnson (baritone sax); Ray Felder (tenor sax); Bill Doggett (organ); Billy Butler (guitar); Edwyn Conley (bass); Calvin Shields (drums)

A six minute version was released in 1959 on King LP 667 "On Tour." The track was called "Backwards" on the front and back covers, but "Backwoods" on the disc label. A three minute version was released on the single King 5319 (B Side of "Raw Turkey") in February 1960. Title on single was "Back Woods."

"Slidin'" was recorded in Cincinnati on August 19th 1959. Personnel as for "Backwoods" but trombone out.

"Slidin'" was released on single King 5419 (B Side of "Afternoon Jump") in November 1960.

"Buttered Popcorn" was recorded in Cincinnati on May 24th 1960. Personnel: Clifford Scott, Ray Felder (tenor saxes); Floyd "Candy" Johnson (baritone sax); Bill Doggett (organ);
Billy Butler (guitar); Bill Wills (bass) Alvin Johnson (drums)

"Buttered Popcorn" was released on single King 5364 (B Side of "The Slush") in June 1960.

"Night Train" was recorded in Cincinnati on December 12th 1959. Personnel: Clifford Scott (tenor sax); Candy "Floyd" Johnson (baritone sax); Ray Felder (tenor sax); Bill Doggett (organ ); Billy Butler (guitar); David Horine (bass); Calvin Shields (drums)

"Night Train" was recorded as a two parter, with both parts featuring on the 1960 LP "Back Again With More Bill Doggett" (King LP 723) and on the similarly titled 1960 King EP (King KSS-7-723).

A two parter single "Night Train Parts 1 and 2" was released on King 5878 in April 1964.

Elsewhere on the blog:

"Hot Doggett" LP donated by anonymous donor. Posted here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/bill-doggett-lp-re-upped-hot-doggett.html

Some Bill Dogget CD covers, including 2 which reproduce original 50s artwork:

Mo' King Records reissue vinyl in the pipeline. Stay tuned, you rockin' rhythm fans.

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - Eddie Davis ... Uptown

Side One:
01. Mean To Me
02. All God's Chillun Got Rhythm
03. This Can't Be Love
04. All Of You
05. If I Were A Bell

Side Two:
01. Night And Day
02. Together
03. Smooth-Ride
04. Yesterdays
05. There's A Small Hotel
06. The Happy Whistler

Eddie Davis ... Uptown

Originally released as King LP 606 in November 1958.

The return of Be Bop Wino after a much longer than anticipated absence! My apologies for such a long hiatus in posting - I guess I've managed to miss out the whole summer. When I last posted the summer solstice was upon us, the days were long and I was looking forward to a trip to Hamburg. Mission accomplished and a big shout out to two local bars - The Holsten Schwemme in St. Pauli and the Bergkate Gaststätte in Altona. Real pubs, friendly barflies, and not a tourist in sight (apart from my good self and my mates). Scots and Germans definitely make for a good drinking combination, especially if it involves Glaswegians and Hamburgers.

Now autumn is upon us and as we say in Glasgow "the nights are fair drawin' in," so what better way to spend some of the long dark nights than spreading the word on the bop to all and sundry. And let us also note in passing that this post marks the TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF BE BOP WINO.

So enough gabbin' and let's get down to business with this 1980s Swingtime reissue of another Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis album from King, "Uptown" from 1958. It's a seamless continuation of my previous post "Modern Jazz Expressions" which was originally issued in 1956, as "Uptown" contains tracks from the same 1955 sessions as well as from a later 1958 session on which Shirley Scott was the featured organist.

All tracks on Side A were recorded in June 1958 by The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Quartet (Eddie Davis on tenor sax, Shirley Scott on organ, Bill Pemberton on bass, Arthur Edgehill on drums) and these tracks were first issued on King LP 606.

The tracks on Side B were recorded by The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Trio in 1955 and 1956. Original issue of tracks recorded by first lineup of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Trio (Eddie Davis on tenor sax, Doc Bagby on organ and Charlie Rice on drums) in April and August 1955:

"Smooth-Ride," Yesterdays," "There's A Small Hotel," "Night And Day" were first issued on King LP 606. "Together" was issued on King 4863 b/w "Foggy Day" in December 1955.

"The Happy Whistler" which was recorded in July 1956 with Shirley Scott replacing Doc Bagby was issued on King 4966 b/w "Teach Me Tonight" in September 1956.

The arrival of Shirley Scott as featured organist in the Eddie Davis group was the beginning of a successful partnership which lasted until 1960. The group expanded to a quintet for further King sessions in January and February 1957. In the autumn of 1957 Eddie rejoined the Count Basie Orchestra and played on what has been described as "the last great Count Basie album" - "The Atomic Mr. Basie" on Roulette. Two contrasting performances by Eddie on the Atomic album are well worth catching on YouTube - the uptempo "Whirly-Bird" and the slow, moody "After Supper."

In December 1957 Eddie reunited with Shirley Scott for the Roulette LP "Count Basie Presents Eddie Davis Trio + Joe Newman." In early 1958 the Eddie Davis group recorded more sides for Roulette and Roost. On June 14th 1958 they were back at King for the sides featured on Side One of "Downtown" and shortly afterwards (June 20th) the group started their fruitful spell at Prestige with the classic soul jazz LP "The Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis Cookbook" which was subsequently reissued as the "The Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis Cookbook Vol. 1" when 2 additional volumes appeared.

The Davis / Scott group's last recordings for Prestige were held on April 12th 1960. Eddie then formed a quintet with fellow "tough tenor" Johnny Griffin which had LPs on Prestige, Milestone and Jazzland.

And so with "Lockjaw" an established soul jazz legend, and bearing in mind that on this blog the 1960s haven't happened yet, Be Bop Wino leaves its readers to investigate for themselves the rest of his career which included another spell with Basie and a long recording career both as leader and sideman which lasted until 1985. Eddie Davis passed away in 1986.