Luke Jones & Red Mack - West Coast R&B 1947-1952

Here’s a 1987 Krazy Kat LP which features some rollicking West Coast jump blues from the mid 1940s. All of theses sides were recorded for the Atlas label between early 1946 and mid 1947 with the exception of Red Mack’s single “Just Like Two Drops of Water” / “Mr Big Head” which was recorded for Mercury in early 1951. Wynonie Harris recorded a storming cover version of “Just Like Two Drops of Water” for King, but the original version is the one by Red Mack.

This collection centres on Luke Jones, bandleader, alto and baritone sax player and clarinettist who was born in Louisiana but as an infant moved to Los Angeles. From the late 1930s he was involved in the LA scene, playing for Lionel Hampton and Roy Milton before forming his own jump trio with pianist Betty Hall Jones and drummer / blues shouter George Vann. At the Atlas sessions the trio was augmented by trumpeter and vocalist Red Mack and bass player Chuck Barksdale. Two of the early 1946 sides were credited to Red Mack: “If You Love Me Baby” and “Black Man’s Blues.”

The music is the standard jump band mix of the 1940s – blues, boogies, shuffles and the occasional ballad. The contributions of Betty Hall Jones and George Vann are particularly fine. Miss Jones pounds out some great boogie while George Vann is a good blues shouter. This is yet another LP which has languished unplayed for a decade or two in my dusty vinyl vault. I’m glad I dusted it down for the blog – it’s a cracking little comp which spotlights musicians who perhaps weren’t up there with the bands of Louis Jordan, Roy Milton or Joe Liggins, but who nevertheless made music which still sounds good sixty years later.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

http://www5.zippyshare.com/v/AMXqpxn9/file.html

1. Jump The Boogie - Luke Jones (Atlas 122, 123, 160)
2. Feelin' Low Down - Luke Jones (Atlas 116)
3. Four Or Five Times - Luke Jones (Atlas 116)
4. Graveyard Blues - Luke Jones (Atlas 122)
5. Shufflin' Boogie - Luke Jones (Atlas 122, 123, 160)
6. Worryin' Anyhow Blues - Luke Jones (Atlas 123, 160)
7. Disc Jockey Blues - Luke Jones (Atlas 144)
8. What You Bet - Luke Jones (Atlas 115)
9. If You Love Me Baby - Red Mack (Atlas 117)
10. Black Man's Blues - Red Mack (Atlas 117)
11. Mr Big Head - Red Mack (Mercury 8217)
12. Just Like Two Drops Of Water - Red Mack (Mercury 8217)
13. Midnight Blues - Luke Jones (Atlas 135)
14. Ditch Diggin' Daddy - Luke Jones (Atlas 134)
15. I Love You Love Me Too - Luke Jones (Atlas 134)
16. She's My Baby - Luke Jones (Atlas 135)

Joan Selects, Encore Appearance Volume 2

Be Bop Wino Done Gone proudly presents another volume of “Joan Selects”, featuring a mightily generous helping of 40(!) rare rhythm delights ripped from vinyl. Joan has spoiled us yet again not only with this veritable banquet of bop, but also with an accompanying folder of label scans. The theme of the talking bridge takes us into the world of heartfelt spoken pleas, although I have long suspected that The Velvetones’ over-the-top version of “The Glory of Love” isn’t meant to be taken seriously. Anyway, crank up the volume, sit back, and enjoy these slabs of vintage crackly vinyl. And it’s over to our benefactor, the girl herself, Joan:

This volume of the Joan Selects series, “Encore Appearance, Volume 2” is as a result of a theme I’ve had in mind for quite a long time. It just took awhile to get the songs gathered and processed. The theme in this volume is wholly centered around the song device called the “spoken” or “talking” bridge. All the songs herein have that in common and span the 1930s to the early 1960s, with 90 % culled from the 1950s. This technique manifests usually as a spoken re-iteration of one of the verses customarily by the bass voice in the group, while the balance harmonize in the background.

This was first popularized by the original Ink Spots in the mid to late 1930’s. I have included several songs by the Ink Spots. “If I Didn’t Care” features original bass member “Hoppy” Jones. Hoppy died in the 1940’s and was replaced by Cliff G. Ivan as bass, and he can be heard in the second of the earlier Ink Spots singles here, “We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)” which was issued in 1949 and achieved a number 1 position that year in the “Race” charts. Later versions of the Ink Spots continued to record well into the 1950’s, and the third of the three Ink Spot songs included here is one of those, recorded for King Records (#1425), called “When You Come To The End Of The Day”

While other early groups employed this device, most of the doo-wop groups of the 1950s cite their inspiration directly as being the Ink Spots. Several of the songs in “Joan Selects, Encore Appearance, Volume 2” are notorious in their contents: namely The Velvetones with their recording of “Glory Of Love” for Aladdin (#3372) and Vernon Green and his Medallions with their huge R&B hit” The Letter” recorded for the DooTone (#347) record label in Los Angeles; I have also included one of the oddest issues of the 1950s, recorded by the Velvitones on the Milmart label (#113), a recitation in doo-wop style of the “Gettysburg Address”.

While this collection of “Talking Bridge” songs is not a comprehensive collection, they are representative of the use of this musical technique in a wide variety of presentations. If any of our blogsters is of the opinion that I have overlooked any significant song in this format, I urge you to contact us through the comment section with your contribution. If there are sufficient additional songs to warrant yet another volume of these, then that will possibly come to pass.

Ripped from vinyl at various bitrates, mostly at 128 kbps. Surface noise present throughout, and that’s the way it should be.

Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/338418142/Joan_Selects__Encore_Appearance_Volume_2.rar

Or here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KU2HIWAF

Tracklist:

01 - The Velvetones - Glory Of Love - Release: Aladdin 45-3372
02 - The Enchanters - True Love Gone - Release: Coral 8-61756
03 - The Swans - Wedding Bells, Oh Wedding Bells - Release: Fortune 813
04 - The Corvets - I'm Going To Cry - Release: Moon 100
05 - The Jayhawks - Counting My Teardrops - Release: Flash 104
06 - The Esquires - Only The Angels Know - Release: Hi-Po 103
07 - The Squires - A Dream Come True - Release: Kicks 1-F
08 - The Diablos - The Wind - Release: Fortune 511
09 - The Ink Spots - If I Didn't Care - Release: Decca 9-23632
10 - The Medallions - The Letter - Release: Dootone 347
11 - The Delicardos - Letter To A School Girl - Release: Elgey 1001
12 - The Tellers - Tears Fell From My Eyes - Release: Fire 1038
13 - The Supremes - Just For You and I - Release: Ace 534
14 - The Dukes - I'll Find Her - Release: Imperial x5385
15 - The Velvitones - A Prayer At Gettysburgh - Release: Milmart 113x45
16 - The Gates - Summer Night Love - Release: Peach 716
17 - The Five Willows - Dolores 1 - Release: Allen 1002x45
18 - The Teardrops - Come Back To Me - Release: Sampson 634-A
19 - The Quintones - The Lonely Telephone - Release: Jordan 1601
20 - The Ink Spots - We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me) - Release: Decca 9-23634
21 - The Equallos - Beneath The Sun - Release: M & M
22 - The Rockaways - I'm Not Going Steady - Release: Epic 9226
23 - The El Pollos - These Four Letters - Release: Studio St. 999
24 - The Twisters - This Is The End - Release: Sunset 501
25 - The Gainors - The Secret - Release: Cameo 151
26 - The Spinners - My Love and Your Love - Release: Rhythm 125
27 - The Blue Jays - Write Me A Letter - Release: BlueJay 1002
28 - The Esquires - My Dearest, My Darling - Release: Odyssey
29 - The Melotones - Prayer Of Love - Release: Lee Tone 700
30 - The Smoothtones - Bring Back Your Love (To Me) - Release: Jem 412-45
31 - The Jupiters - It Takes Two - Release: Planet X 9621
32 - The Ebonaires - Love Call - Release: Lena L-1001
33 - The Lovers - A Lonely Island - Release: Derby 1030
34 - The Execs - Walking In The Rain - Release: Fargo 1055
35 - The Velvetones - Found My Love - Release: Aladdin 45-3391
36 - The Five Embers - Please Come Home - Release: Gem 224
37 - The Blenders - It Takes Time - Release: AFO 305
38 - The Five Kids - Carolyn - Release: Maxwell 101 (2 known copies)
39 - The Whispers – Are You Sorry - Release: Gotham G-7-312
40 - The Ink Spots - When You Come To The End Of The Day - Release: King 45--1425

Bobby Charles - Chess Masters

1977 LP of sides recorded for Chess from 1955 – 1957 by the sadly deceased Robert Charles Guidry. The Paul Gayten band provides sizzling backup on these raw and raucous R&B numbers. A good way to remember one of the true pioneers of rock and roll.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/335963077/Bobby_Charles_Chess_Masters.rar

Or here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SA1APRCG

1. Watch It Sprocket
2. Yea Yea Baby
3. You Know I Love You
4. Good Loving
5. I'd Like To Know
6. Ain't Got No Home
7. Time Will Tell
8. Take It Easy Greasy
9. You Can Suit Yourself
10. Later Alligator
11. On Bended Knee
12. I'll Turn Square For You
13. I Ain't Gonna Do It No More
14. Put Your Arms Around Me Honey
15. Lonely Street
16. Mr Moon
17. One Eyed Jack
18. Hey Good Looking

Red Prysock - Cryin' My Heart Out

Side 1

1. Wiggles

2. Cryin' My Heart Out

3. Jump For George

4. Hard Rock

5. The Hammer

6. Jackpot

7. Rock The House

8. 125th Street Sunrise

Side 2

1. Body And Soul

2. Red Speaks

3. Hey There

4. Short Circuit

5. Finger Tips

6. Head Snappin'

7. Teenage Rock

8. Paquino Walk

“Red Prysock is a tenor man who swims smack-dab in the mainstream of jazz. By mainstream I mean that belly part of the water where many years ago you could find Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry, Herschel Evans, Vido Musso and literally hundreds of musicians who surrounded the melodic line with their big, fat tones and pronounced vibratos and honked unashamedly with passion and muscle.”

- Lou Sidran

Wilbert “Red” Prysock started playing the saxophone around 1943. His favourite players during that period were Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas, Lester Young, Gene Ammons and Dexter Gordon. From 1944 to 1947 he served in the armed forces. On his return to civilian life he became a professional musician when he was discovered by Tiny Grimes. He played with the Grimes band on sessions for Atlantic and Gotham, before joining Roy Milton for a very brief spell in 1950.

However it was Red’s spell with the Tiny Bradshaw band through 1951 and 1952 which really brought him to the attention of honk fans. He played on frantic numbers like “Bradshaw Boogie” and “The Train Kept A Rollin’” and in October 1952 he was playing lead on his own composition, the big instrumental hit “Soft”. He recorded one more session with Bradshaw before moving on (being replaced by Sil Austin) in early 1953 to the Cootie Williams orchestra.

In March 1954 Red was leading his own band at his first session for Mercury. Red went on to great success with the company with whom he stayed until 1961, releasing 5 LPs and numerous singles including his big hit “Hand Clappin’”. His muscular style was highly suited to the emerging rock and roll music. He recorded a blistering number called “Rock’n Roll” in January 1955 and played live dates as a member of the Alan Freed Rock and Roll Orchestra.

The tracks on side A (tracks 1-8) of this 1983 compilation were recorded for Bobby Robinson’s Red Robin label. Tracks 1-6 were Red’s first recordings as a bandleader made in January 1952 while he was still with the Bradshaw outfit. “Cryin’ My Heart Out” is the only slow track from this session, the rest being rousing swingers. “The Hammer” is a particularly torrid performance. Tracks 7 and 8 are unreleased tracks from a 1953 Tiny Grimes session. “Rock The House” sounds like a rehearsal track with the band vocals rendered almost inaudible in the mix.

All the tracks on side B were recorded for Mercury, ranging from the first session in March 1954 (“Body and Soul”) to January 1957 (“Head Snappin’”). “Body and Soul” and “Hey There” are good ballad performances. The rest of the tracks are wild blasters which will please all you honk fans out there.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

http://www17.zippyshare.com/v/6bATpyif/file.html

Noble “Thin Man” Watts - Blast Off!

This is an “upgraded” post from the old Be Bop Wino blog. I've added a new front cover scan plus back cover and label scans, sorted a mistake in the tagging, and equalized the volume across the sound files.

Like fellow Rock ’n’ Roll / R&B honkers Sil Austin and Red Prysock, Noble Watts was a veteran of the Tiny Bradshaw band. Sol Rabinowitz’s NYC based Baton label had enjoyed minor chart success with Buddy Tate’s “Fatback and Greens” in 1955 and a couple of years later Watts was signed in the hope of producing another instrumental hit. Among the tracks recorded by Watts at his second Baton session in October 1957 was a greasy grinding dance instro with the vaguely suggestive title “The Slop”. After some heavy airplay it was renamed “Hard Times” and became a good seller on the pop charts as well as an r&b hit.

This 1979 Flyright LP compiles some great late 50s R&B / Rock ‘n’ Roll instrumentals. It was one of the first such albums I bought and tracks like “Blast Off!” and “Hot Tamales” remain firm favourites on my turntable. The original LP didn’t include “Hard Times” but I’ve added it in as a bonus.

Ripped from vinyl at 256 kbps. (Hard Times = 320 kbps). No password.

Download from here:

Blast Off (Mega)

1. Blast Off
2. Easy Going Pt. 1
3. Flap Jack
4. The Slide
5. Mashed Potatoes
6. Original Boogie Woogie
7. The Creep
8. Shakin'
9. Easy Going Pt. 2
10. The Beaver
11. Great Times
12. The Frog Hop
13. Hot Tamales
14. Walking The Floor Over You
15. Hard Times (The Slop) *

* = bebopwino bonus track

All together now: “Hot Tamales and Cha-Cha!”

Those Great Blues Girls From The 40's

Happy New Year folks and here’s the first post of 2010! And let’s get back into true Be Bop Wino territory – the mid to late 1940’s when rhythm and blues was developing out of swing and jump and it was hard to tell where jazz left off and R&B began. Of the artists on this LP, Cleo Brown, Helen Humes, Betty Hall Jones and Addie Williams were all swing era veterans.

Pianist / vocalist Cleo Brown’s recording career stretched back to the mid 1930s with Decca Records. Singer Helen Humes’ recording career began in 1927. After a spell with a band led by Big Al Sears, she joined the Count Basie band in 1938 and remained with them until 1941. She moved to the West Coast during the war and in 1945 recorded with the Bill Doggett Octet for Philo / Aladdin, having a moderate hit with “He May Be Your Man” and a massive hit with “Be-Baba-Leba.” The two sides on this collection were recorded for Philo / Aladdin in December 1945 with backing provided by a band featuring Lester Young and Maxwell Davis. The bluesy “Stop Jivin’ Around” was unreleased.

As for Addie Williams – all I know is that she was active in Kansas City in the mid 1930s when she worked with Betty Hall Jones who is very much the star of this collection. Other artists here of whom I know next to nothing are Rose Mitchell whose powerhouse performance of “Baby Please Don’t Go” dates from 1954 and may be backed by the Dave Bartholomew band; and Tina Dixon who may or may not be the “Auntie Tina Dixon” who recorded raunchy “party” LPs for Laff Records. Check out the covers on lpcoverlover.com here and here, and judge for yourselves.

The whole of side B of this LP is devoted to sophisticated piano playing chantoozy and comedienne Betty Hall Jones. If you like Julia Lee or Nellie Lutcher then you’ll like the work of Miss Jones. Her career began in the 1920s in California, continued in Kansas City in the mid 1930s with the Bus Moten band, and then back to California and a spell with an early line up of the Roy Milton band between 1937 and 1942. In 1946 and 1947 she recorded with the jump band of Luke Jones for Atlas Records. The seven sides on this collection were recorded over two sessions in 1949 for Capitol. The backing bands were led by guitarist Tiny Webb and included Bumps Myers, Dave Cavanaugh, Jesse Price and Maxwell Davis.

Miss Jones’ music provides hip and humorous commentary on life’s vicissitudes in a style similar to that of Louis Jordan. Perhaps the highlight is “This Joint’s Too Hip For Me” in which Miss Jones laments the stylistic excesses of beboppers Howard McGhee, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and states her preference for more mainstream musicians like Louis Armstrong, Louis Jordan, Coleman Hawkins, Count Basie and Jack Teagarden.

This LP was issued on the Pathe Marconi label in 1985. The recordings were originally made for Philo / Aladdin, Capitol and Imperial.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

http://www21.zippyshare.com/v/89p0cMAj/file.html

1. Baby Please Don't Go - Rose Mitchell
2. Cleo's Boogie - Cleo Brown
3. Maybe Someday - Addie Williams
4. Stop Jivin' Around - Helen Humes
5. Please Let Me Forget - Helen Humes
6. Hello Baby - Tina Dixon
7. Don't You Know I Want To Love You - Tina Dixon
8. You Got To Have What It Takes - Betty Hall Jones
9. If I Ever Cry (You'll Never Know) - Betty Hall Jones
10. This Joint's Too Hip For Me - Betty Hall Jones
11. Thrill Me - Betty Hall Jones
12. Buddy Stay Off That Wine - Betty Hall Jones
13. That's A Man For You - Betty Hall Jones
14. I Never Miss The Sunshine (I'm So Used To The Rain) - Betty Hall Jones

Recommended Purchase:



Blue Moon is a label which I don’t think I’ve mentioned on the blog so far. They have released many CDs of 1940s / early 1950s jump and R&B, including a 22 tracker of Betty Hall Jones called “Complete Recordings 1947-1954.” The complete Blue Moon R&B catalogue is well worth investigating if you are of the Be Bop Wino persuasion.