Leo Parker and Sax Gill - Back To Back Baritones

Side A:

01. Woody - Leo Parker

02. Rolling With Parker - Leo Parker

03. Leo Leaps In - take 2 ** - Leo Parker

04. Solitude ** - Leo Parker

05. Rolling With Parker * - Leo Parker

06. Leo Leaps In - take 1 ** - Leo Parker

07. Leo Leaps In - take 3 ** - Leo Parker

Side B:

01. Crisco Jump ** - Sax Gill

02. Dancer's Delight - Sax Gill

03. Shortning Bread ** - Sax Gill

04. Bull Frog Bounce * - Sax Gill

05. That's The Groovy Thing * - Sax Gill

06. Mel's Jump ** - Sax Gill

07. That's The Groovy Thing * - Sax Gill

* = unreleased take
** = unreleased title

Back To Back Baritones (Mega)

Back To Back Baritones (Zippy)

Here's a blast from the past! This compilation of sides recorded by baritone sax men Leo Parker and Sax Gill for Gotham was on the original Be Bop Wino blog about 10 years ago but with incomplete cover scans. Situation remedied for this re-up - there are new cover and label scans to go with the sound files.

Dave Penny's notes on the back cover are very thorough so there's little for me to add, except some links to other posts on Be Bop Wino where you can find more music featuring Leo Parker.

Of the two featured artists on the LP Leo Parker is by far the better known, being a major figure in the development of be bop who recorded with many of the well known musicians of the time. Originally an alto sax player, Leo shifted to baritone while with that nursery for bop, the Billy Eckstine band. He was with Eckstine from 1944 - 1946. Also in 1946 he recorded with Tadd Dameron and Sarah Vaughan for Musicraft and had a spell with Dizzy Gillespie.

1947 - 1948 was a very prolific spell for Leo who recorded for Savoy under his own name and also for various labels in groups led by Illinois Jacquet, Gene Ammons, Sir Charles Thompson, Fats Navarro, Dexter Gordon, J.J. Johnson and Russell Jacquet.

In January 1947, Leo featured on an Illinois Jacquet session for Aladdin, soloing on "Jivin' With Jack The Bellboy." You can hear that track on this LP - "Illinois Jacquet And His Tenor Sax" On the same LP Leo also solos on "For Truly" which was recorded in December 1947.

At the end of January 1947 Leo featured on a Fats Navarro Savoy session. In May and September he was with the Illinois Jacquet band for sessions on Apollo. During the summer of 1947 Leo was on a Sir Charles Thompson session for Apollo, featuring strongly on "Tunis In" and "Mad Lad." In September 1947 Leo was on a Gene Ammons Quintet session for Aladdin and on October 4th he recorded four tracks for Savoy under his own name - "El Sino," "Ineta," "Wild Leo" and "Leapin' Leo." The Savoy tracks are on this LP - "Gene Ammons - Red Top - The Savoy Sessions."

On December 11th 1947 Leo recorded three sides for Savoy with the Dexter Gordon Quintette - "Settin' The Pace," "So Easy" and "Dexter's Riff." These can be heard on the LP "Dexter Gordon Master Takes."

On December 19th 1947 Leo was with the Illinois Jacquet band for a Victor session. He solos on "Embroyo," "Mutton Leg" and "Symphony In Sid." These tracks are on the LP "King Jacquet."

In December 1947 Leo recorded sides for Savoy under his own name and also as part of a band led by J.J. Johnson. Leo was back for another Savoy session in March 1948. In May he was on a Russell Jacquet session for Sensation. You can hear two of these tracks on streaming audio on the post "Suede Jacket" / "Lion's Roar" which features two of the sides on a 78 rpm disc sent in by El Enmascarado.

You can also find these sides on the homemade compilation "Jump & Jive On 78 Volume 3."

In July 1950 Leo recorded for Prestige and in December of that year he recorded a session for Gotham as featured in this post! Only one single resulted from the Gotham session - "Woody" / "Rolling With Parker" (Gotham 262).

In July 1951 Leo recorded for Chess and in November of 1952 he cut a single for United - "Cool Leo" / "Leo's Boogie" (United 141) which you can find on the compilation LP "Screaming Saxophones Have A Ball."

Leo was back at Chess in August 1953. The effects of a long standing heroin addiction were badly affecting his career and his next session was not until July 1954 when he cut an LP with guitarist Bill Jennings for King - "Billy In The Lion's Den." In December of that year he recorded with Illinois Jacquet for Clef and then ill health took over, stopping his recording activity for nearly seven years.

In September and October of 1961 he had an all too brief comeback with Blue Note - recording two albums - "Let Me Tell You 'Bout It" and "Rollin' With Leo." The latter album was not released until 1980. He was scheduled to record a Blue Note LP with Dexter Gordon in early 1962 but in February of that year he died of a heart attack.

Sax Gill had three singles released on Gotham, but of the six sides, only one is on this LP in its original release take - "Dancer's Delight." The singles were -

"Drigo's Serenade" / "Bull Frog Bounce" (Gotham 192), released in September 1949.

"Snaperoo" / "Rhythm Fantasy" (Gotham 205), released in November 1949.

"Dancer's Delight" / "That's The Groovy Thing" (Gotham 217), released in January 1950.

For the Melvin "Sax" Gill story, read Dave Penny's notes on the cover of this LP.

If you follow all the links above you are now in a position to make up your own Leo Parker compilation. Have fun!

Leo Parker discographical information from JazzArcheology.com:

http://www.jazzarcheology.com/leo-parker/

Paul Williams - House Rocker

Side 1:
01. The Twister
02. Boogie Mr Williams
03. Turtle Rock
04. Canadian Ace

Side 2:
01. Rompin'
02. Jelly Roll Boogie
03. House Rockin' (aka House Rocker)
04. Back Bender

Download from:

http://www49.zippyshare.com/v/okErVdfW/file.html

These eight sides are from the Savoy 2LP set "Honkers and Screamers."

Facts on the sax tracks, Jack:

"The Twister" and "Boogie Mr Williams" were recorded in Detroit on December 20th, 1947. Personnel: Phil Guilbeau (trumpet); Wild Bill Moore (tenor sax); Paul Williams (baritone, alto sax); T.J. Fowler (piano); Herman Hopkins (bass); Reetham Mallett (drums).

Both tracks unreleased on singles. Another take of "The Twister" recorded on March 2nd, 1948 was released as a two parter on Savoy 665 in April 1948.

"Turtle Rock" and "Canadian Ace" were recorded in Detroit on March 4th, 1948. Personnel: Phil Guilbeau (trumpet); Wild Bill Moore (tenor sax); Paul Williams (baritone sax); Floyd Taylor (piano); Herman Hopkins (bass); Reetham Mallett (drums).

"Canadian Ace" was a title given to a previously untitled, unissued track on Savoy 2LP SJL2234 "Honkers and Screamers."

"Turtle Rock" was released on Savoy 773 b/w "Blues At Daybreak" in December 1950.

"Rompin'" "Jelly Roll Boogie," "House Rockin' "(aka "House Rocker"), and "Back Bender" were recorded in Detroit on January 13th 1949. Personnel: James Poe (King Porter) (trumpet); Louis Barrett, Billy Mitchell (tenor saxes); Paul Williams (baritone sax); Floyd Taylor (piano); John Holiday (bass); Bill Benjamin (drums).

"Rompin'," "Jelly Roll Boogie," and "Back Bender" were not released as singles. "House Rocker" b/w "He Knows How To Hucklebuck" was released as Savoy 702 in July 1949.

Label scan from 45worlds.com

The Cash Box July 2nd 1949

It's no coincidence that two of my favourite sax players from the 1940s and 1950s are Paul Williams and Leo Parker. Both were exponents of the big, bad, low down and dirty baritone sax, although one, Leo Parker, in the jazz field (although usually with a blues sensibility) and the other, Paul "Mr Hucklebuck" Williams in the rhythm 'n' blues field.

Paul Williams was born in Lewisburg, Tennessee, on July 13th, 1915, spent part of his childhood in Bowling Green, Kentucky, before moving to Detroit with his family when he was thirteen years old. He started playing saxophone in school where he met trumpet player Lloyd Henderson. On leaving school the pair formed a small group, the Kings of Rhythm, which found a gig at a Detroit club (The Morris Cafe) which lasted five years. The group played popular hits of the day for the white patrons of the club.

The Second World War brought about the breakup of the little band and as the war wound down Paul Williams joined the Clarence Dorsey band which played for black audiences at the Sensation Club. Paul next played for the King Porter band at a club called "Sportree" and it was here that he was scouted by Savoy Records man Teddy Reig after head honcho Herman Lubinsky had received a tip from local record shop owner Joe Battle.

The King Porter outfit didn't impress Reig too much but Paul Williams did, so Paul split from the Porter band and used the T.J. Fowler band as backing at his first two Savoy sessions on September 5th and October 6th 1947. The October session yielded the big hit "Thirty-Five Thirty" (named after the address of Joe Battle's record shop) which made the top ten in the national R&B chart.

Towards the end of 1947 Paul formed his own band which included musicians from the King Porter outfit as well as tenor sax man Wild Bill Moore. The same group of musicians also produced recordings on Savoy for release under Wild Bill's name. 

Good sellers for the Williams band through 1948 included two disc jockey tributes, "Bouncing With Benson" and "Waxie Maxie," and the hard blowing two-parter "The Twister." The latter two tracks featured Wild Bill's muscular tenor sax with Williams playing hot 'n' heavy baritone. Savoy A&R man Teddy Reig is usually credited with persuading Paul to make the decisive shift to baritone sax, a development which gave the band a big sound which could send audiences wild, particularly on honk heavy numbers like "The Twister."

By the time the band recorded "The Hucklebuck" in December 1948 Wild Bill had left, thus missing out on THE R&B phenomenon of 1949. Not only was it the top selling R&B disc of the year, it inspired big selling cover versions in both the pop and R&B fields. It's a disc which deserves it's own post and one is in preparation.

The huge sales of "The Hucklebuck" brought Paul Williams very little financial reward. He was not the composer (and thereby hangs a tale ...) and performers' royalties had a way of ending up elsewhere in the Savoy organisation. He continued to record for Savoy until the end of 1951 but no other release came anywhere near the success of "The Hucklebuck." A follow up, "He Knows How to Hucklebuck" / "House Rocker" had modest success in the second half of 1949. "What's Happening" and "Rockin' Chair Blues" from 1950 and 1951 made even less noise.

Paul Williams first post-Savoy session for Jubilee / Josie in mid-1952 failed to engender any releases but a session for Mercury later in the year produced two singles. In 1953 Paul had two singles on Jax with Noble Watts now joining the band on tenor sax. In 1954 - 1956 there was a spell of label-hopping as the Williams band had releases on Groove, Capitol, Rama, Josie and Vee-Jay. A couple more releases followed in 1961-62 on Warwick / 7 Arts and Ascot. 

Throughout his recording career and beyond, Paul's band was in demand as a backing band for live appearances by R&B and rock and roll artists. He was on the bill of Alan Freed's infamous March 1952 "Moondog Coronation Ball" at the Cleveland Arena and indeed was the only act to actually perform before the police shut the event down due to overcrowding.

You can see Paul backing various well known R&B performers in those old 1950s "Showtime At The Apollo" films which crop up in various guises on TV and DVD (and YouTube). He was also a studio backing musician for Ruth Brown and a band director for Lloyd Price and James Brown.

With Amos Milburn on Showtime At The Apollo

In 1964 Paul Williams retired from playing, took up sales jobs, did well, and then founded his own booking agency in 1968. He passed away in September 2002 at the age of 87.

Sources - Peter Grendysa and Atilla Oess interviews with Paul Williams in 1980 and 1985 for the Saxophonograph LPs "The Hucklebuck" and "Spider Sent Me."

Bob Porter - Soul Jazz (Jazz In The Black Community, 1945-1975), XLibris, 2016.

Paul Williams And His Hucklebuckers (Savoy MG-15046)

Side A:
01. Jockey Jump
02. Rye Boogie
03. Jeep's Blues
04. Paul's Boogie

Side B:
01. Weasel Swing
02. Juice Bug
03. Camp Meetin' Bounce
04. Blowing The Boogie

Download from here:

Paul Williams And His Hucklebuckers (mega)

10 inch vinyl LP released in 1954. All the above scans from www.45worlds.com.

The LP has been "reconstructed" using rips from various sources.

Recording and original release details of the tracks:

"Jockey Jump" was recorded on March 2nd, 1948 in Detroit. Personnel: Phil Guilbeau (trumpet); Wild Bill Moore (tenor sax); Paul Williams (baritone sax); Floyd Taylor (piano); Herman Hopkins (bass); Reetham Mallett (drums).

"Jockey Jump" was originally released as "Waxie Maxie" (b/w "Spider Sent Me") on Savoy 670, August 1948. Reached number 11 in Billboard's best selling race records chart, late September 1948.

"Juice Bug" was recorded on November 2nd, 1949 in New York City. Personnel: Phil Guilbeau (trumpet); Fred Jackson, Cranford Wright (tenor saxes); Paul Williams (baritone, alto sax); Lee Anderson (piano); Pete Glover (bass); Bill Benjamin (drums).

Originally released as "Juice Bug Boogie" on Savoy 721 (B-Side of "Cranberries") in January 1950.

Label shot: Discogs.com

"Paul's Boogie" and "Camp Meetin' Bounce" were recorded on December 1st, 1949, in Detroit. Personnel: Phil Guilbeau (trumpet); Fred Jackson, Cranford Wright (tenor saxes) Paul Williams (baritone, alto sax); Lee Anderson (piano); John Murphy (bass); William Benjamin (drums).

"Camp Meeting Bounce" was originally released on Savoy 734 (B-Side of "What's Happening") in March 1950.

"Paul's Boogie" was originally released on Savoy 758 (B-Side of "Jeep's Blues") in September 1950.

"Jeep's Blues," "Rye Boogie" and "Weasel Swing" were recorded on May 18th, 1950 in New York City. Personnel: Phil Guilbeau (trumpet); Joe Alexander, Miller Sam (tenor saxes); Paul Williams (baritone sax); Lee Anderson (piano); John Murphy (bass); William Benjamin (drums).

"Weasel Swing" and "Rye Boogie" were originally released on Savoy 751 in June 1950.

"Jeep's Blues" was originally released on Savoy 758 (b/w "Paul's Boogie") in September 1950.

"Blowing The Boogie" was recorded on 17th December, 1951, in New York City. Personnel: Blue Mitchell (trumpet); Lee Pope (tenor sax); Ted Butler (baritone sax); Paul Williams (baritone, alto sax); Lee Anderson (piano); Sam Jones (bass); Joe Booker (drums).

"Blowin' The Boogie" was originally released on Savoy 831 (b/w "It's All Over Now") in January 1952.

Our look at releases on the Savoy label continues with this 1954 LP of Paul Williams tracks which were recorded between 1948 and 1951. In the late 1940s Savoy had a series of big R&B hits with saxophone instrumentals such as "Bubbles" by Wild Bill Moore, "The Hucklebuck" and "Thirty-Five Thirty" by Paul Williams, "Corn Bread" by Hal Singer and "Deacon's Hop" by Big Jay McNeely.

See the post "Rhythm and Blues Volume 1" for these hits. We'll be looking at some of these sax players again in upcoming posts, including another look at Paul Williams.

Be Bop Wino - your saxsational R&B blog!

Big Jim Wynn - Blow Wynn Blow (Re-up)

Side A:

01. Ee-Bobaliba

02. Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

03. I Want A Little Girl

04. Cherry Red

05. Rock Woogie

06. Shipyard Woman

07. J.W. Bop

08. In A Rhapsody In Minor

Side B:

09. Blow Wynn Blow

10. Jelly Kelly Blues

11. Fat Meat

12. Farewell Baby

13. Put Me Down Blues

14. I'm The Boss (At My House)

15. Goofin' Off

16. Down To The Ocean

Download from here:

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

Original post (8th May, 2010) is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/big-jim-wynn-blow-wynn-blow.html

In response to a request for a re-up, here is West Coast tenor sax and baritone sax player Big Jim Wynn. The original post contains extensive background information on Big Jim as well as original release information on the tracks in this LP.

More information has come to light since the original Big Jim Wynn post regarding the origins of "Ee-Bobaliba" / "Be Baba Leba" / "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re -Bop!" See this post: Lionel Hampton - Leapin' With Lionel for information on Tina Dixon's claim to the copyright, which may conflict with Big Jim Wynn's claim to be the originator of one of R&B's biggest hits of 1945/46.

This re-up contains an improved version of one of the original label scans, plus the volume on these tracks has been boosted. And like all the re-ups, the files are now password-free.

Gene Ammons & Leo Parker - Red Top

Side 1:

01. El Sino - Leo Parker's All Stars

02. Ineta - Leo Parker's All Stars

03. Wild Leo - Leo Parker's All Stars

04. Leaping Leo - Leo Parker's All Stars

05. Just Chips - Gene Ammons

06. Street Of Dreams - Gene Ammons

07. Good Time Blues - Gene Ammons

Side 2:

01. Travellin' Light - Gene Ammons

02. Red Top - Gene Ammons

03. Fuzzy - Gene Ammons

04. Stairway To The Stars - Gene Ammons

05. Jim Dawgs - Gene Ammons

06. Big Slam Part One - Gene Ammons

07. Big Slam Part Two - Gene Ammons

Download from:

Red Top (Mega)

Red Top (Zippy)

The title of this collection is slightly misleading as none of the tracks were recorded by Gene Ammons for Savoy as the named artist. The first four tracks were recorded for Savoy in 1947 and constitute a Leo Parker session, with Gene as a sideman.

The rest of the tracks on the LP were recorded by Gene for the United label of Chicago in 1952-53. These sides were later purchased by Savoy for LP release. See the session and release details below for the facts, Jack!

Savoy renamed "Jim Dog", which became "Jim Dawgs", "The Beat", which became "Good Time Blues", and on this LP considerably altered the two-parter "Big Slam", removing the dubbed on crowd noise from the original single release, and also re-editing the material into a different form. As you can read below, your intrepid blogger acquired a considerable headache through multiple listenings of "Big Slam" in its various forms.

However, solace was found on the Red Saunders Research Foundation website where I read up on Gene Ammons' United releases. Scrolling through the site reminded me of the brilliant sax tracks released by United in the early '50s - tracks by the likes of Jimmy Forrest, Eddie Chamblee and Tab Smith as well as Gene.

Included in the download is a homemade alternative front cover for this LP - a cover which gives prominence to Leo Parker and uses a vintage photo of Gene rather than the one on the official cover.

Session and original release details:

Leo Parker Savoy session, 1947:

Side 1, tracks 1-4, recorded in Detroit, October 4th, 1947. Leo Parker's All Stars: Howard McGhee (trumpet); Gene Ammons (tenor sax); Leo Parker (baritone sax); Junior Mance (piano); Gene Wright
(bass); Charles Williams (drums)

El Sino / Wild Leo released on Savoy 912, December 1947.

Wee Dot / Leaping Leo released on Savoy 950, c 1948.

Running Water (Stan Getz) / Ineta released on Savoy 954, c 1948.

Gene Ammons United Sessions, 1952-1953:

Side 1, tracks 5-7, Side 2, track 1, recorded in Chicago, November 18th, 1952. John Coles (trumpet); Lino Murray (trombone); Gene Ammons (tenor sax); McKinley Easton (tenor sax, baritone sax); John Houston (piano); unknown (guitar); Benny Stuberville (bass); George Brown (drums)

Side 2, track 2 recorded in Chicago, April 15th, 1953. Personnel as in November 1952 session.

Side 2, tracks 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 recorded in Chicago, June 8th, 1953. Personnel as in previous two sessions.

United releases were credited to "Gene Ammons, His Golden Toned Tenor and Orchestra."

Street Of Dreams / The Beat (renamed "Good Time Blues" on Savoy releases), released on United 137, January 1953.

Red Top / Just Chips released on United 149, May 1953.

Stairway To The Stars / Jim Dog released on United 164, January 1954. On later releases "Jim Dog" was listed as "Jim Dawgs" but it is unrelated to the original track of this title by Ike Quebec on Savoy from 1947.

Big Slam Part 1 / Big Slam Part II released on United 175, April 1954. There is a difference between the two parter as presented on this LP and the original two part release on 78 rpm.

The track listed as "Big Slam Part One" on the LP has a running time of over 4 minutes 20 seconds, too long for one side of a 78 rpm single, yet well under the combined running time of the two sides of the original 78 which was well over 5 minutes.  The running time of the original 78 rpm release of "Big Slam Part 1" was 2 minutes and 35 seconds.

The track listed as "Big Slam Part Two" on the LP has a running time of 2 minutes and 35 seconds. The running time of the original 78 rpm release of "Big Slam Part II" was 2 minutes and 55 seconds.

There are two YouTube clips of the 78 rpm release, one from "cdbpx", the other from "ShellacHeaven." Comparing the LP tracks with these clips reveals that "Big Slam Part Two" on this LP seems to be the same as the original version of "Big Slam Part II."

The original 78 rpm disc has dubbed crowd noise to give the impression that it is a live recording of an onstage jam session. This probably accounts for the slightly longer running time of the 78 version of Part II. "Big Slam Part One" on the LP contains material from both the original 78 rpm sides, ending exactly the same as "Big Slam Part Two." It appears to be a shortened edit of the combined sides 1 and 2 of the 78 rpm single release.

Fuzzy / Traveling Light released on United 185, November 1954. No complications, as far as I can see!

Information sources - LP sleevenotes by Bob Porter, Bruyninckx, Billboard, The Red Saunders Research Foundation.