Jimmy Coe - After Hours Joint

Side A:
01. After Hour Joint
02. Baby I'm Gone
03. What Will I Tell My Heart
04. Organ Grinder
05. Empty Bed
06. How Deep Is The Ocean
07. Fast Blues

Side B:
01. Run Jodie Run
02. He's All Right
03. A Fool Was I
04. Lady Take Two
05. Raid On The After Hour Joint

After Hours Joint (Mega)

After Hours Joint (Zippy)

Apologies to regular  readers of the blog. My temporary break became much longer than I thought it would due to illness (the dreaded lurgie: coughing, wheezing, the sweats and the shivers and it was NOT a hangover) but the blog returns despite it all. There's a backlog of stuff to get through - my own LP rips, contributions from Marv, and a new volume of Joan Selects. I propose to write a lot less and just post the music and some basic info over the next few months, but that's easier said then done!

I'm going to kick off with an LP which I bought some months ago on eBay after  a request came in for Jimmy Coe, an alto and tenor sax player and bandleader whose "After Hour Joint" was a minor R&B hit in 1953. I think this 1989 Delmark LP may well be the only collection of his tracks to ever be issued. It's not a comprehensive career survey but a compilation of the material he recorded for the Chicago based States label. Jimmy only had three singles on the label so the LP is "padded out" with unissued tracks.

There's a Boogiewoody bonus for you sax-starved Be Bop Winos. One of the unissued tracks is a longish version of "Lady Be Good" titled "Lady Take Two" which features an extended Stephane Grapelli type jazz violin solo. I've produced an edited version without the violin which I've called "Jimmy Be Good (tenor sax edit)" and it's backed by "Cole Tater" which I grabbed off YouTube (my thanks to the original uploader). This was a track Jimmy released on King under the name "Jimmy Cole", so I hope you folks enjoy the Be Bop Wino pirate single which is included in the download.

The go-to website for information on any States / United artist is of course the Red Saunders Research Foundation website.

Scroll down the front page here as far as "J" and you'll find an introduction to Jimmy Coe. Click on the "Jimmy Coe" link in that entry and you find yourself on The Jimmy Coe Discography page which is a marvellous biography plus comprehensive discography of his releases on a multiplicity of labels from 1942 to 2000.

Be Bop Wino fans will note that his first recordings were with the Jay McShann Orchestra in 1942, with Charlie Parker also in the lineup. His next recordings were for King in January 1952, backing vocalist Flo Garvin as well as recording two band instrumentals under the name Jimmy Cole. He was billed as Jimmy Cole when he recorded again for King in February 1952, playing alto sax on a Tiny Bradshaw session.

When King failed to listen to Coe's comic vignette "After Hour Joint" he went to the States label where he recorded it in February 1953. His second and last session for States was in October 1953 when he recorded a follow up to "After Hour Joint", "Raid On The After Hour Joint".

For full details of all these sessions and Jimmy Coe's subsequent lengthy career get yourself over to the Red Saunders Research Foundation website. As for me, having clued you in to these hep sounds, I am now retiring to my sick bed.

Jimmy Coe singles on States:

S-118 - After Hour Joint / Baby I'm Gone - Jimmy Coe and his Gay Cats of Rhythm - June 1953

S-129 - He's Alright With Me (vocal: Helen Fox) / Raid On The After Hour Joint - Jimmy Coe and his Gay Cats of Rhythm - December 1953

S-155 - Run Jody Run (vocal: Max "Blues" Bailey) / The Jet - Jimmy Coe and his Gay Cats of Rhythm - March 1956

Note - "The Jet" is retitled "Fast Blues" on this LP. All other tracks unreleased until this LP in 1989.