Tiny Bradshaw - Breaking Up The House

Side 1:
01) Breaking Up The House
02) Walk That Mess
03) The Train Kept A-Rollin'
04) T-99
05) Bradshaw Boogie
06) Walkin' The Chalk Line
07) Mailman's Sack
08) Snaggle Tooth Ruth

Side 2:
01) Rippin' And Runnin'
02) The Blues Came Pouring Down
03) Two Dry Bones On The Pantry Shelf
04) Brad's Blues
05) Boodie Green
06) Well Oh Well
07) Newspaper Boy Blues
08) One, Two, Three, Kick Blues

Breaking Up The House (Mega)

Breaking Up The House (Zippy)

A 1980s Charly comp which includes some (but not all) of Tiny Bradshaw's R&B hits from the early 1950s. The emphasis on this collection is on the vocal efforts of bandleader Bradshaw who was a fine blues shouter, plus sides featuring vocalists Tiny Kennedy and Dorena Deane.

In an earlier post of the LP "A Tribute To The Late Tiny Bradshaw" there is an overview of Bradshaw's career detailing his evolution from 1930s big band front man, through small group swing in the mid 1940s, to leader of a stomping R&B jump band when he joined King Records in late 1949. His raucous brand of hard rocking jump blues sold well in the early 1950s with "Well Oh Well" reaching number 2 in the R&B charts in May 1950 while "I'm Going To Have Myself A Ball" was at number 5 in October 1950, and "Walkin' The Chalk Line" reached number 10 in September 1951.

Billboard, July 1950

Two hits in 1953, "Soft" and "Heavy Juice" were instrumentals featuring Red Prysock on tenor sax. These set the pattern for much of the band's remaining recorded output in 1954 and 1955 as ill health (a series of strokes or heart attacks depending on who you read) forced Tiny to increasingly take a back seat as far as musical activity was concerned. The band however did keep going, with Red Prysock being replaced by Sil Austin who was in turn replaced by Noble "Thin Man" Watts on a series of good instrumental releases for the juke box crowd.

Billboard June 1954 - the last Tiny disc to see chart action

The tracks on this LP were recorded between 1950 and 1952 when Bradshaw's blues ballin' and squallin' was at its artistic and commercial height. His powerful voice was backed by a suitably powerful band which featured tenor sax man Rufus Gore and Orrington Hall on alto and baritone saxes. When Gore left he was replaced by former Tiny Grimes sax player Red Prysock although Gore would return to join Prysock and Hall in a blow the roof off the joint sax lineup.

So this LP is mostly classic Tiny although there are a couple of tracks ("Rippin' And Runnin'" and "Newspaper Boy Blues") where vocals, both male and "female" parts, are by Tiny Kennedy. There's also "One, Two, Three, Kick Blues" where the band backs bloozy chantoozy Dorena Deane. A welcome bonus is a hitherto unreleased track "Snaggle Tooth Ruth" which is lots of fun. All this and a classic 1980s Nozbig cover by Dave Gibson. What more could you want, rhythm fans?

Original Release Details:

Well Oh Well / I Hate You - King 4357 - April 1950

Boodie Green / After You've Gone - King 4376 - August 1950

Breaking Up The House / If You Don't Love Me, Tell Me So - King 4417 - December 1950

Walk That Mess / One, Two, Three, Kick Blues - King 4427 - February 1951

Two Dry Bones On The Pantry Shelf / Brad's Blues - King 4447 - April 1951

Bradshaw Boogie / Walkin' The Chalk Line - King 4457 - June 1951

T-99 / Long Time Baby - King 4487 - September 1951

The Train Kept A-Rollin' / Knockin' Blues - King 4497 - February 1952

Mailman's Sack / Newspaper Boy Blues - King 4537 - April 1952

Lay It On The Line / Rippin' And Runnin' - King 4547 - July 1952

Heavy Juice / The Blues Came Pouring Down - King 4621 - May 1953

Snaggle Tooth Ruth - first issued on this LP

Elsewhere On The Blog:

A Tribute To The Late Tiny Bradshaw The Great Composer

King LP of mainly instrumental sides by the Bradshaw band. Includes the two big hits featuring Red Prysock, "Soft" and "Heavy Juice." Post includes biography of Tiny Bradshaw.

Tiny Bradshaw - Stomping Room Only

Krazy Kat compilation of best of Bradshaw (no "Soft" though) quite a bit of duplication with "Breaking Up The House."

General update post on all things Tiny Bradshaw on the blog, including links to El Enmascarado's 78 rpm singles:

Tiny Bradshaw LPs and those Mighty 78s

Scan by El Enmascarado

Above 2 scans from Joan

More R&B coming soon including loose as a goose West Coast sounds from Marv, untamed Detroit vocal group shenanigans from Charlie B and an LP by an old favourite ripped by my good self. Perhaps another look at Earl Bostic to be thrown in? Stay tuned.

Tiny Bradshaw LPs and those mighty 78s

It seems fitting to post the new links to 2 Tiny Bradshaw LPs as three of our recently featured tenor sax men had spells in his band - Red Prysock, Sil Austin and Noble Watts.

The main post on Tiny is about the King LP "A Tribute To The Late Tiny Bradshaw, The Great Composer." This magnificent post which is guaranteed to treble your brainpower, increase your vocabulary tenfold and transform you into the hippest character in your neighbourhood (if you aren't already) can be found here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/tribute-to-late-tiny-bradshaw-great_03.html

Not only do you get a fantastic LP to download, you also get biographical details and a pile of scans of labels and EP covers from Joan.

For those of you with a short attention span or who are already at the top of the hipness scale, the new download link for "The Great Composer" is:

Tiny Bradshaw The Great Composer (Mega)

The Krazy Kat LP "Stomping Room Only" can be found at:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/tiny-bradshaw-stomping-room-only.html

There is some duplication of tracks with "The Great Composer" but there are enough dynamite extras such as "T-99" and "Walk That Mess" to make it well worth your while downloading both albums.

The new download link for "Stomping Room Only" is:


Tiny Bradshaw Stomping Room Only (Mega)


We mustn't forget 3 superb 78s that El Emascarado ripped and sent in. These posts are well worth investigating for the streaming audio, label shots, and insights of El Enmascarado ( a real musician as well as failed Mexican wrestler). These posts can be found at:

Well Oh Well / I Hate You











http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/well-oh-well-tiny-bradshaw.html

South of the Orient / Later











http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/south-of-orient-later-tiny-bradshaw-his.html

Walkin' The Chalk Line / Bradshaw Boogie










http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/walkin-chalk-line-bradshaw-boogie-tiny.html

These tracks were featured in the downloadable series "Jump & Jive On 78".

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.

Walkin’ The Chalk Line / Bradshaw Boogie – Tiny Bradshaw (King 4457)

“Walkin’ The Chalk Line” was recorded in Cincinnati on February 8^th, 1950. Personnel : Tiny Bradshaw (lead vocal); Jimmy Robinson piano); Clarence Mack (bass); Calvin Shields (drums). Also present at the session, but sitting this track out, were Leslie Ayres (trumpet); Orrington Hall (alto and baritone sax); Rufus Gore (tenor sax) and Leroy Harris (guitar).

“Bradshaw Boogie” was recorded in New York on January 16^th, 1951. Personnel: Tiny Bradshaw (vocal); Leslie Ayres (trumpet); Andrew Penn (trombone); Orrington Hall (alto and baritone sax); Red Prysock (tenor sax); Jimmy Robinson (organ); Willie Gaddy (guitar); Eddie Smith (bass); Calvin Shields (drums).

Listen to "Walkin' The Chalk Line

Listen to "Bradshaw Boogie"

King 4457 was released in mid-June 1951. The disc was reviewed in Billboard on June 30^th. Of “Walkin’ The Chalk Line” Billboard said – “Bradshaw and male trio, backed by rhythm section only here, register with a hard-hitting little jingle with a recurring refrain.” And on “Bradshaw Boogie” the comment was: “Tiny and the boys come thru with one of their typical hard driving boogie blues novelties.”

“Walkin’ The Chalk Line” wasn’t a big seller despite being featured in the King / Federal / DeLuxe adverts in Billboard during July and August alongside Lucky Millinder’s “I’m Waiting Just For You,” “Sleep” by Earl Bostic, “Bloodshot Eyes” by Wynonie Harris, “Sixty Minute Man” and “Do Something For Me” by The Dominoes and Roy Brown’s “Wrong Woman Blues.”

Enough platters were sold to make King 4457 the 90^th best-selling R&B record of 1951. The really big hits around the middle of the year included the aforementioned “I’m Waiting Just For You,” “Sixty Minute Man” and “Do Something For Me” plus “Don’t You Know I Love You” by The Clovers, “Chains Of Love” by Big Joe Turner, “Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston and “Too Young” by Nat King Cole.

The “Bradshaw Boogie” session marked Red Prysock’s recording debut with the band and his fiery, rabble rousing tenor sax solo really brings what could have been a formulaic side to life.

As always we have El Enmascarado to thank for yet another slice of R&B history from his growing stash of 78 rpm discs. The sound quality on these two rips is remarkable, considering that they originate from shellac that is over sixty years old. I’ve been listening to these sides on my new laptop (a necessary buy after my 11 year old Pentium 4 PC took its final, fatal crash) which I’ve hooked up to my hifi and they pack quite a wallop. Thank you, o masked one!

South of the Orient / Later – Tiny Bradshaw, His Piano and Band (King 4664 Dee Jay Special)

Both sides were recorded in Cincinnati on July 29th, 1953. Personnel: Bill Hardman (tp); Andrew Penn (tb); Sil Austin, Rufus Gore (ts); Jimmy Robinson (p); Sam Jones (b); Philip Paul (d)

The record was released in October, 1953. Sil Austin made his recording debut for the Bradshaw band at this session, having replaced Red Prysock who left earlier in the year to start a successful solo career. Thanks are due to El Enmascarado for unearthing this 78 rpm disc.

Listen to "South Of The Orient"

Listen to "Later"

El Enmascarado comments: “South Of The Orient/Later by Tiny Bradshaw is on a white label promo/DJ copy. Although it looked pristine and pretty much unplayed, it had more surface grit than I expected. That might possibly have something to do with the disc seeming to be made out of vinyl rather than shellac.

South Of The Orient is kind of Afro/Exotica with a mambo beat. It's mostly piano bass and drums, although the horns play quietly in a few spots.

Later is a more straight ahead jump number. The drummer plays brushes rather than sticks, which tend to give it a lighter feel.”

This disc was released after Tiny Bradshaw had enjoyed two substantial instrumental R&B chart hits in 1953 – “Soft” and “Heavy Juice.” Unfortunately “South Of The Orient” failed to live up to the success of the two preceding Bradshaw releases. It may be that “South Of The Orient” was a little too exotic and “jazzy” for the R&B crowd.

Billboard Magazine reviewed “South Of The Orient” thus: “This Oriental flavoured effort bears a close kinship to some of the work being turned out by the bopsters today, but the pulsating tempo and the bright drum work make it a listenable hunk of wax. Good for jazz jocks.”

As for “Later” Billboard commented: “The Tiny Bradshaw ork has a happy time with this riff instrumental that is more jazz than r&b. It swings and it should please a lot of the cats.”

Here’s your chance to hear the two numbers that made it big for Tiny Bradshaw in 1953. “Soft” was released in late 1952 and peaked at number 3 in the R&B charts, spending most of spring 1953 on the best selling list. “Heavy Juice” was a smaller hit, reaching number 9 in August 1953.

Listen to "Soft"

Listen to "Heavy Juice"

Safronia B – Calvin Boze and his All-Stars

Scan courtesy Joan K

Recorded on January 13th, 1950, in Los Angeles. Personnel include Calvin Boze (trumpet and vocal), Maxwell Davis (tenor sax), and possibly Marshall Royal (alto sax), Don Wilkerson (tenor sax) and Willard McDaniel (piano).

Listen to “Safronia B” here:



Released on Aladdin 3055, b/w “Angel City Blues” in May, 1950. In Billboard, 10th June 1950, the record reached number nine in the most played juke box rhythm & blues records chart. It failed to appear in the record sales chart. By the following week “Safronia B” had dropped out of the juke box chart. This was in fact the only chart appearance by any Calvin Boze recording.

Scan courtesy Joan K

Nevertheless, it’s a fine catchy jump blues which has stood the test of time. It was included in two of the best CD compilations of Aladdin material: “The Aladdin Records Story” and “Jumpin’ Like Mad – Cool Cats & Hip Chicks.” It also appeared on the two vinyl Calvin Boze collections – “Havin’ A Ball” and “Choo Choo’s Bringing My Baby Home.”

2 CD comp presented as a mini-78 rpm album

Well worn copy of classic 2CD set compiled by Billy Vera

However, this wasn’t the first version of “Safronia B” recorded by Calvin. In 1946 he sang on “Saffronia Bee” with the Marvin Johnson Orchestra on the small G&G label. He was billed as “Calvin Boaz” on the disc. The song itself is in some ways a throwback to the swing era with phrases like “I’se a muggin’” and “Shoot the liquor to me John boy,” both of which refer to 1930’s hits. The 1950 Aladdin version is very much a Louis Jordan style jump blues with a romping backing arranged by Maxwell Davis who manages to get a sly quote from “Buttons and Bows” into his sax break.



Aladdin's big seller - Amos Milburn gets promotion in Billboard, June 1950

For decades Calvin Boze remained a somewhat mysterious figure to fans of jump blues, with the date and place of his birth being unknown and his musical career suddenly stopping in 1952. A lot more is now known about his background and you’ll be able to catch up on more about Calvin in a soon-to-appear post. Stay tuned!

So what else was happening in the R&B charts in June, 1950? “Safronia B” may have had only the most fleeting appearance amongst the platters that mattered back then, but I’ve compiled a little playlist based on the real “stayers” in the R&B charts that month.

First up is the top selling R&B record of 1950 – “Pink Champagne” by Joe Liggins on Specialty Records. Easily the top selling R&B act of the year was the Johnny Otis Revue on Savoy, thanks to his sensational female vocalist Little Esther. Three of her smashes are in the June playlist – “Double Crossing Blues,” on which she was accompanied by The Robins, and “Cupid’s Boogie” and “Mistrustin’ Blues,” both of which were duets with Mel Walker.

Scan courtesy Joan K

There was more hot jump action from Tiny Bradshaw on King with “Well Oh Well” and two classic blues tracks also sold very well at this time – Lowell Fulson (with the Lloyd Glenn band) on Swing Time with “Every Day I Have The Blues” and Roy Brown’s “Hard Luck Blues” on De Luxe which crashed straight into the charts at number six towards the end of the month. Of interest to those of us who like jazz flavoured R&B is an advert in Billboard from June 1950 in which Prestige Records attempt to market jazz sides as rhythm and blues. Among the discs billed as “America’s newest - hottest rhythm - blues records” are sides by James Moody, Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons and Wardell Gray.

Anyway whether you’re an R&B fan or a jazzer, or preferably both at the same time, here’s the playlist for June 1950. Keep checking back for more on Calvin Boze!

Well Oh Well / I Hate You - Tiny Bradshaw (King 4357)

"Well Oh Well" was recorded in Cincinnati on February 8th, 1950. "I Hate You" was recorded in Cincinnati on November 30th 1949. For personnel see below.

Listen to "Well Oh Well"

Listen to "I Hate You"

Call it synchronicity or coincidence or karma or fate or whatever, but there was your old Be Bop Wino wending his weary way home of a Friday afternoon after a hard week at the grindstone when a last minute decision to pop into one of Glasgow's few remaining second hand record shops resulted in the triumphant purchase of a used copy of the Proper 2CD Tiny Bradshaw set, "Breaking Up the House," for the very reasonable price of £4. OK, I already have most of the tracks on the second CD which deals with his first year or so at King Records, but I'm looking forward to listening to the first CD which goes way back to his first recordings for Decca in 1934.

And coincidentally I was already mulling over a post based around El Enmascarado's YouTube videos of "Well Oh Well" / "I Hate You" so it's time to pay another visit to that record room with its piles of 78 rpm shellac discs and its vintage Sparton radio / record player console.

So it's a big thank you to El Enmascarado for the label scans and rips from the original 78 rpm disc. The sound quality is surprisingly good and punchy considering that the record is well over 60 years old. As a bonus we have some scans of a 45 rpm EP supplied by Joan K. The downside is supplied by my interminable ramblings, so let's get to the point.

"Well Oh Well" was recorded in Cincinnnati on February 8th, 1950. Tiny Bradshaw had inked a pact with the King diskery in late 1949 and his hard blowing combo was ideally suited to the rise of rocking R&B which was elbowing aside the more subtle forms of jump blues at that time. Blaring sax histrionics were perpetrated by Rufus Gore and Orrington Hall, the dynamite rhythm section of Calvin "Eagle Eye" Shields (drums), Clarence Mack (bass), Leroy Harris (guitar) and Jimmy Robinson (piano) supplied the propulsive beat, the trumpet of Leslie Ayres is in there somewhere, and holding the whole thing together is a magnificent blues shouting vocal by the captain of the side, the leader of the pack, the great showman himself, Tiny Bradshaw.

"Well Oh Well" made it to number two in the R&B chart in May 1950 and has featured in just about every Bradshaw compilation since then. Let us pause to weep with pleasure over Joan's scans of a 1950s King EP which not only has "Well Oh Well," but presents other Bradshaw greats "Soft" (with Red Prysock), "Heavy Juice," (ditto) and future rock and roll classic "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" (more Red and a stonkingly good vocal from Tiny.)

All EP scans by Joan K

Thanks to El Enmascarado we can hear the B Side of "Well Oh Well" - "I Hate You" which hasn't been included in any Tiny Bradshaw compilation that I've come across. It's a nice little ballad which gives Tiny a chance to show a pleasant light singing voice which is very different form his usual blues bawling and squalling. "I Hate You" was recorded at Tiny's first session for King.

Mo' Tiny -

On the blog:

A Tribute To The Late Tiny Bradshaw, The Great Composer has a full account of his career.

Stomping Room Only is an excellent mix of blues shouting vocals and jazzy instros

Recommended purchases:

Breaking Up the House (Proper PVCD101) - the 2CD set charting his career from the big band days of the 1930s to the first year of his spell with King Records.

Heavy Juice - The King Recordings 1950-55 on Rev-Ola. Wild and wooly, jazzy and bluesy.

The EP Collection (See For Miles) is long out of print. If you see it going second hand, grab it. Twenty-nine King tracks from 1950 - 1955 in superlative sound quality.

Postscript: This post has been adapted from the original which featured videos from the now defunct Youtubeseventyeight channel. The 1930s Decca tracks on the Proper 2CD set turned out to be repetitive and not very good sub Cab Calloway stylings. The Savoy tracks were good, though. I just love "Take The Hands Off The Clock." It turned out that I already had a copy of that Proper set. Now I've got two. My memory ain't what it was.

Tiny Bradshaw - Stomping Room Only

This is another old post revamped with an improved cover scan and new links. This 1983 Krazy Kat LP presents a nice mix of vocal and instrumental sides by the stonkingly rocking Tiny Bradshaw band. Tiny is in fine form, shouting the blues on classics such as “Walk That Mess”, “T-99”, “Well Oh Well” and “The Train Kept A-Rollin’.” The band is of course famous for having three of the all time honking tenor sax greats in its line up – Red Prysock, Sil Austin and Noble Watts, but this LP gives us a chance to appreciate the work of Rufus Gore who preceded and outlasted the three big names associated with the Bradshaw outfit.

The career of Tiny Bradshaw is looked at more closely on the post “A Tribute To The Late Tiny Bradshaw”, which concentrates more on his instrumental sides.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

Stomping Room Only (Mega)


1. Walk That Mess
2. Bradshaw Boogie
3. T-99
4. Breaking Up The House
5. Well Oh Well
6. The Train Kept A-Rollin'
7. Cat Fruit
8. Stomping Room Only
9. Gravy Train
10. Newspaper Boy Blues
11. I'm Going To Have Myself A Ball
12. Long Time Baby
13. Mailman's Sack
14. The Blues Came Pouring Down
15. Heavy Juice
16. Cat Nap

Those of you (and that should be just about everyone who digs real R&B) who would like to investigate further are commanded to purchase the following CDs:

Breaking Up The House, a 2CD set on Proper which has tracks from Tiny’s big band days, through to his King sides.



Heavy Juice – The King Recordings 1950-55 on the Rev-Ola label.



If you come across a second hand copy of the old See For Miles CD, “The EP Collection …Plus”, grab it!

A Tribute to the Late Tiny Bradshaw, the Great Composer (King LP 653)

Let us start the New Year of 2009 by paying tribute to a true giant of rhythm and blues: Myron “Tiny” Bradshaw, bandleader, drummer, blues shouter and tunesmith. If ever one musician encapsulated what Bebopwino is about then that musician is Tiny Bradshaw, a man whose musical career started in a college swing band in the 1920s, progressed through various big bands in the 1930s and 1940s, and then switched to small group jump and R&B in the late 1940s and thereafter had an influence on rock and roll in the 1950s via his song “The Train Kept A’Rollin’” which was covered by Johnny Burnette and the Rock’n’Roll Trio. Of course during the 1960s the Burnette version was covered in turn by The Yardbirds who then covered themselves by regurgitating the number as “Stroll On” in the Antonioni film “Blowup.” But I am getting somewhat ahead of myself. Let’s go back to the 1920s …

… back to Wilberforce University where we find young Tiny drumming and singing in Horace Henderson’s Collegians. Henderson (brother of Fletcher) broke up the band in 1928 and Bradshaw moved to New York where he played in a succession of big bands including Marion Hardy’s Alabamians, Duncan Mayer’s Savoy Bearcats and The Mills Blue Rhythm Band. When Bradshaw formed his own band in 1934, he took on the role of singing, dancing frontman inspired partly by Mills Blue Rhythm Band frontman Baron Lee, and partly by Cab Calloway. The band quickly secured a recording contract with Decca and although they had some success with “Shout Sister Shout” and “Darktown Strutters’ Ball”, the contract was not renewed and the Bradshaw band remained unrecorded for more than a decade.

Despite the lack of records being issued, the Bradshaw outfit remained a popular live attraction throughout the rest of the 1930s and into the wartime era. Tiny’s next recordings were Jubilee recordings for the Armed Forces in early 1944. Later that year his band was recording for the Regis and Manor labels in a jump-blues style. When Bradshaw signed with the Savoy label in 1947, he had slimmed the band down to a small group and was now recording tracks like “Take The Hands Off The Clock” in a rhythm and blues style.

In late 1949 Tiny Bradshaw signed for the King label and his powerful swing influenced R&B was soon hitting the charts. “Well Oh Well”, “Walking The Chalk Line”, “Soft” and “Heavy Juice” (the latter two tracks being instrumentals featuring Red Prysock on tenor sax) all charted between 1950 and 1953. Although there were no more chart hits for Tiny, his extremely danceable sax driven music was a big live attraction. When Red Prysock left the group in 1953, he was replaced by Sil Austin, who was replaced in turn by Noble Watts in mid-1954.

It was at this time that Tiny’s ever growing health problems forced him to cut back drastically on touring and recording. A stroke or heart attack left Tiny paralysed in both legs and although the band continued to record under his name until January 1958, he was actually present on only a handful of the recordings. In November 1958 it all came to an end when Tiny suffered a fatal heart attack.

This LP is a 1980s reissue on Sing of King LP 653 “A Tribute to the Late Tiny Bradshaw, the Great Composer” which was released in 1959. The 1959 tribute was in fact a reissue, with four additional tracks, of the 1958 King LP 395-501 “Tiny Bradshaw.” There are only two vocal tracks on the album, “Well Oh Well”, and “The Train Kept A’Rollin’”, with the bulk of the tracks made up of instrumentals recorded in 1953 and 1954. The three big hitting tenor sax men, Red Prysock, Sil Austin and Noble Watts are all well represented but we should also sing the praises of tenor sax man Rufus Gore who is present on most of these tracks.

Most of the above information on the career of Tiny Bradshaw was taken from Joop Visser’s sleevenotes to the “Tiny Bradshaw The EP Collection” CD. Label shots supplied by Joan K. If you are interested in investigating the early career of Tiny Bradshaw then CD1 of the Proper 2CD set “Breaking Up The House” has his pre-King recordings. CD2 of the set has a selection of his early King material. 43 tracks for a budget price – it has to be a bargain!

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

Tiny Bradshaw The Great Composer (Mega)


1. Soft
2. Off And On
3. Heavy Juice
4. Well Oh Well
5. Free For All
6. Choice
7. Bushes
8. Stack Of Dollars
9. Later
10.Powder Puff
11. South Of The Orient
12. The Train Kept A’Rollin’
13. Light
14. Ping Pong
15. Come on
16. Cat Fruit