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

Jump & Jive On 78 - Volume 3

It's time to gather together the latest selection of El Enmascarado's 78 rpm rips in downloadable form. We proudly present Volume 3 of our series of "Jump & Jive On 78" virtual LPs. If you dig your R&B on the jazzy side, then this is the collection for you.

Click on the artist names in the labels section to find out more about these tracks. The download includes a folder of label scans.

Download from here:

http://www24.zippyshare.com/v/28763255/file.html

No password

Track list:

1 Calvin Boze - Slippin' and Slidin'
2 Big John Greer - Hey Bruz
3 Gene Ammons - Dues In Blues
4 Tiny Bradshaw - Walking The Chalk Line
5 Red Saunders - Blow Mr Low Blow
6 Russell Jacquet - Lion's Roar
7 Sonny Thompson - Backyard Affair
8 Joe Liggins - How Come
9 Calvin Boze - Baby You're Tops With Me
10 Gene Ammons - Odd-En-Ow
11 Tiny Bradshaw - Bradshaw Boogie
12 Russell Jacquet - Suede Jacket
13 Big John Greer - Tonight's The Night
14 Tiny Grimes - Flying Home Part 1
15 Tiny Grimes - Flying Home Part 2
16 Red Saunders - Lyin' Girl Blues
17 Joe Liggins - Worried
18 Sonny Thompson - Dreaming Again

Collect 'em all!

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/jump-jive-on-78-volume-2.html

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/jump-jive-on-78-volume-1.html

With thanks, as ever, to El Enmascarado.

Big John Greer - R & B In New York City

Side 1

1 Woman Is A Five Letter Word

2 Tell Me So

3 Got You On My Mind

4 Let Me Hold You

5 You Played On My Piano

6 Lonesome And Blue

7 I Need You

8 I'll Never Let You Go

Side 2

1 I'm The Fat Man

2 Beginning To Miss You

3 Rhythm In The Breeze

4 Drinkin' Fool

5 Getting Mighty Lonesome For You

6 Too Long

7 Come Back Maybelline

8 Night Crawlin'

This LP was originally uploaded to Be Bop Wino about 5 years ago. Ye gods, we’ve passed our 5th anniversary – 5 years of online rhythm ’n’ bluesin’ – doesn’t time fly? Back then I hadn’t worked out how to scan complete LP covers, so the accompanying scans were pretty poor. The previous post of El Enmascarado’s Big John Greer disc on Sittin’ In With gives me a good excuse to re-up this collection with all new Be Bop Wino standard cover scans and present them for your pleasure. Plus I can also include a little more info on Mr Greer. It’s still the same sound files though …

Tenor sax man and vocalist John Greer arrived in New York to join the Lucky Millinder Orchestra in 1948, on the recommendation of his former school bandmate Henry Glover. As we saw in the previous post he recorded four sides for Bobby Shad’s Sittin’ In With label before his first session on RCA Victor with Millinder which came in January 1949. Possessor of a pleasant singing voice, able to handle sweet ballads and more raucous jump material as well as being more than handy on the tenor sax, he was a natural replacement for Bull Moose Jackson, who had left the Millinder outfit to embark on a very successful solo career.

Greer’s career path closely followed that of Jackson – recording simultaneously with the Millinder band and with his own Rhythm Rockers. When Millinder left RCA in 1950, Greer continued to record for the label and its Groove R&B subsidiary until 1955. Many of his releases were ballads but they failed to bring the success that Bull Moose enjoyed with similar material in the late 1940s and early 50s. In the meantime, Greer continued to record with the Millinder band through 1950 after they had moved to King, most noticeably at a May 1950 session where he was the featured vocalist on several sides including "Let It Roll Again."

Also on King, Greer recorded with Wynonie Harris (“Oh Babe!” “Teardrops From My Eyes” and “Bloodshot Eyes”), Bull Moose Jackson (“Nosey Joe” and “Bearcat Blues”), and Annisteen Allen. His only substantial hit on RCA was “Got You On My Mind” which reached number two on the Billboard R&B chart in the spring of 1952. His contract with RCA / Groove was not renewed in 1955, and he had two sessions for King in 1956 before his recording career was brought to a premature end by what are euphemistically called “lifestyle issues” aka booze.

“R&B In New York City” was released in 1988. As well as the big hit “Got You On My Mind,” there are a few good rockers such as the raunchy “You Played On My Piano” (with Dolores Brown), “I’m The Fat Man” and “Come Back Maybelline” – a fine answer record to Chuck Berry’s “Maybelline.” Ballads predominate on this collection, but they aren’t too sickly sweet and in fact make for pleasantly relaxed listening.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

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

Recommended purchase – “I’m The Fat Man” (Rev-ola CR Band 17)

This thirty track collection compiled by Dave Penny concentrates on the swinging, jumping and rocking side of Big John Greer’s music. It includes four tracks recorded with The Du Droppers and comes with very informative notes. An excellent purchase for rockin’ R&B fans.

Tonight’s The Night / Hey Bruz – Big John Greer and his Quartet (Sittin’ In With 518)

Both sides recorded in New York City in the second half of 1948. Exact recording date, personnel and date of release are unknown.

This one-off session for Bobby Shad’s Sittin’ In With label marked the recording debut of Big John Greer. Two singles resulted from the session – “Rockin’ With Big John” / “Wine-ola” (Sittin’ In With 510) plus the featured platter on this post which we can all enjoy thanks to El Enmascarado’s work in ripping these sides from the original 78 rpm shellac disc.

Listen to "Tonight's The Night"

Listen to "Hey Bruz"

The Sittin’ In With date was something of a moonlight session for tenor sax player and vocalist Big John Greer who had arrived in New York City to join Lucky Millinder’s Orchestra as a replacement for Bull Moose Jackson who had embarked on a solo career. The Millinder outfit was under contract to RCA Victor and Greer’s first recording session with the band took place in January 1949. He sang on “Little Girl Don’t Cry” which was a number fifteen R&B hit, although it was heavily outsold by the Bull Moose Jackson version which reached number two in the charts.

Greer’s career followed a parallel path to that of his fellow saxophonist / vocalist Bull Moose Jackson when he started recording as leader of a small group called The Rhythm Rockers, which consisted of Millinder band members, in April 1949 for RCA Victor. When the Millinder band moved to King in 1950, Greer continued to record for Victor and subsequently its R&B subsidiary Groove until the mid 1950s. He recorded as a sideman for King, being on the Lucky Millinder / Wynonie Harris session which produced a storming version of Louis Prima’s “Oh Babe!” He was also on Bull Moose Jackson’s epic double entendre rocker “Nosey Joe” and recorded several sessions with fellow former Millinder vocalist Annisteen Allen.

We’ll be taking a look at Big John Greer’s output for Victor and Groove in an upcoming updated post of the “R&B In New York City” LP.

Thanks again to El Enmascarado for these rips which are in remarkably good sound quality.

Big John Greer - R&B In New York City

Big band veteran tenor sax man John Greer issued a series of sides for RCA Victor subsidiaries Vic and Groove which were an odd mixture of rocking R&B and sickly sweet ballads. Despite his prowess as a horn player, on most of these sides Greer confined himself to vocalising while the rocking sax breaks were left to Budd Johnson, Big Al Sears and Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor.

Sides on this comp recorded between 1951 and 1955. The only substantial hit was “Got You On My Mind” which was a blatant Ivory Joe Hunter rip-off.

Ripped from the 1988 Official LP at 320 kbps.

Download link here:

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


More detailed Big John Greer post here:

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


1. Woman Is A Five Letter Word
2. Tell Me So
3. Got You On My Mind
4. Let Me Hold You
5. You Played On My Piano
6. Lonesome And Blue
7. I Need You
8. I'll Never Let You Go
9. 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'