Side 1:
01. Boogie Cocktails - Maxwell Davis & His Orchestra
02. Bristol Drive - Maxwell Davis & His Orchestra
03. Flying Home - Gene Phillips & His Orchestra
04. Royal Boogie - Gene Phillips & His Rhythm Aces
05. Resistor - Maxwell Davis & His Orchestra
06. Belmont Special - Maxwell Davis & His Orchestra
07. Jumpin' With Lloyd - Lloyd Glen & His All Stars
Side 2:
01. Thunderbird - Maxwell Davis & His Rock'n'Roll Orchestra
02. Cool Diggin' - Maxwell Davis & His Orchestra
03. Bluesville - Maxwell Davis & His Rock'n'Roll Orchestra
04. Rocking With Maxie - Maxwell Davis & His Orchestra
05. Tempo Rock - Maxwell Davis & His Orchestra
06. Gene Jumps The Blues - Gene Phillips & His Rhythm Aces
07. Boogie Cocktails - Maxwell Davis & His Orchestra
Outstanding 1988 Ace LP of instros from the Modern / RPM stable presented in an attractive gatefold sleeve. This LP was originally posted on the blog in October 2009. For this re-up I've added label shots. The full gatefold which contains a very informative biographical article on Maxwell Davis by Ray Topping is included in the download.
It's now almost a cliche to say that Maxwell Davis is an unsung hero of rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll. He worked for a multiplicity of Los Angeles based record labels from the 1940's to 1970 in a variety of roles including tenor sax sideman' arranger, producer and bandleader. The gatefold sleeve includes a long list of the R&B hits to which he contributed including "Safronia B." by Calvin Boze, "Please Send Me Someone To Love" by Percy Mayfield, "I Got Loaded" by Peppermint Harris, "Call Operator 210" by Floyd Dixon, and a whole heap o' hits by B.B. King and Amos Milburn.
Fax On The Trax, Jack
Maxwell Davis & His Orchestra - Los Angeles, circa November 1950. Personnel: Jake Porter (trumpet); Jack McVea (alto sax); Maxwell Davis (tenor sax); Maurice Simon (baritone sax); Austin McCoy (piano); Chuck Norris (guitar); Red Callender (bass); Lee Young (drums):
Boogie Cocktail, Belmont Special, Resistor, Bristol Drive.
Boogie Cocktail / Belmont Special released on Modern 20-791 in January 1951.
Bristol Drive / Resistor released on Modern 20-805 in March 1951.
Maxwell Davis and his Rock and Roll Orchestra - Los Angeles , 1955. Personnel: Maxwell Davis (tenor sax); unknown others:
Thunderbird, Bluesville, Tempo Rock, Cool Diggin'.
Thunderbird / Bluesville released on RPM 449 in December 1955.
Above: The Cash Box, 17th December 1955
Tempo Rock / Cool Diggin' released on RPM 482 in December 1956.
Rocking With Maxie - unreleased mid 1950's track.
Gene Phillips And His Rhythm Aces - Los Angeles, 1948. Possible personnel: Gene Phillips (guitar); Jake Porter (trumpet); Marshall Royal (alto sax); Maxwell Davis (tenor sax); Lloyd Glenn (piano); Arthur Edwards (bass); William Streets (drums).
Gene Jumps The Blues, Flying Home, Royal Boogie.
Gene Jumps The Blues unreleased.
Royal Boogie / Stinkin' Drunk released on Modern 20-586 in June 1948.
Flying Home -Bruyninckx lists its release on Modern 20-614, possibly in October 1948. I can find no other mention of such a release. This is the same track which was released in November 1951 as "New Flying Home" (RPM 332x45) with overdubbed crowd noise and credited to the "Lloyd Glenn All Stars featuring Maxwell Davis."
The B Side of RPM 332x45 was "Jumpin' With Lloyd" which also had overdubbed crowd noise, as can be heard on this LP. There has also been a release of this disc with both sides credited simply to "Maxwell Davis." "Jumpin' With Lloyd" was originally an unreleased Gene Phillips recording from 1947 / 1948 which was "transformed" into the Lloyd Glenn / Maxwell Davis instro with the addition of crowd noise and some echo.
Elsewhere On The Blog:
Maxwell Davis And His Tenor Sax:
A 1980's reissue of a 1950's Maxwell Davis Aladdin LP. The original article with background information on Maxwell and on the evolution of this LP through various reissues can be found here:
The LP can be downloaded from here:
or here:
Recommended purchase:
Triple CD set on the Fantastic Voyage label. Compiled by Dave Penny, CD1 has 31 tracks issued on various labels (Aladdin, Modern, Pacific, Down Beat, Miltone, etc) under Maxwell Davis' name. CD2 and CD3 contain tracks from the '40's and '50's on which Maxwell played, including records by Helen Humes, Charles Mingus, Jimmy Witherspoon, Calvin Boze, Jimmy Nelson and Percy Mayfield. The collection deliberately avoids the big R&B hits on which he played, opting instead for lesser known sides. Very highly recommended, especially if like me you're into the more obscure areas of West Coast R&B. There's a review of this set on the blog here:
Happy Easter, music fans.
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3 comments:
It's not a cliché to say that Maxwell Davis is an unsung hero of rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll to me, B-Woody, because I’d never heard of him.
Great tracks and superb musicians.
I like to hear the small homage riffs in this era of R&B and there’s one in Gene Jumps The Blues with Dizzy’s Salt Peanuts.
Well, it was worth while blogging just to spread the word about the great Maxwell Davis. I used to wonder why I liked the sound of the early 1950's Aladdin records so much, no matter the named artist, whether it was Charles Brown, Calvin Boze, Amos Milburn or Floyd Dixon. Then I worked out it was mainly down to Maxwell.
BW
Boogiewoody,
thanks for both of the Maxwell Davis albums;
your recommendation was so convinsing that
I decided to check the sound of M.D.
All right !
- Jay from the North.
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