Be Bop Wino Pages

Joan Selects - the complete Joan Selects Collection

Big Ten Inchers - 78rpm rips by El Enmascarado


Attention Mac Users!

Mac users have been experiencing problems in unpacking the WinRAR archives used on this blog. Two solutions have been suggested.

1. Use The Unarchiver - www.theunarchiver.com - see comments on Little Esther Bad Baad Girl post for details.

2. Use Keka - http://www.kekaosx.com/en/ - see comments on Johnny Otis Presents post.

Wednesday, 6 April 2016

Lowell Hastings, Danny Turner, Eddie Woodland - Count "Red" Hastings





Tracklist:

Side A:
01. Diga Diga Do - Count Hastings
02. Sugar Cane - Count Hastings
03. Minor In The Diner - Count Hastings*
04. She's Funny That Way - Count Hastings
05. Patches - Count Hastings*
06. Begin The Beguine - Count Hastings
07. Candied Yam - Count Hastings

Side B:
01. Patches - Count Hastings
02. Baboo - Count Hastings
03. Minor In The Diner - Count Hastings*
04. Midnight Moan - Danny Turner*
05. Snap Case - Eddie Woodland*
06. Jumpin' With Pio - Eddie Woodland*
07. Danny's Jump - Danny Turner **

* = previously unreleased take
** = previously unreleased title

Download from:

http://www9.zippyshare.com/v/V0JcrxOp/file.html

Re-up of an LP originally posted on the 18th November 2007, back in the first few months of  Be Bop Wino. I've added new scans of the back and front covers plus the labels.

This is where R&B meets jazz or vice versa. Cool and jumping sax workouts from 1948 / 1949 for the Gotham label. The notes by Tony Burke explain all and include complete lists of all recording sessions by Lowell "Count" Hastings and Danny Turner. Count Hastings in particular had an extensive R&B career including sessions with Lucky Millinder, Illinois Jacquet, Wynonie Harris and Little Willie John. He was also a member of the bands of Earl Bostic and Louis Jordan.

The only sides on this LP which were released as a single were "Begin The Beguine" / "Candied Yam" on Gotham 171. These sides were recorded in New York on 29th November 1948. The rest of the Count Hastings tracks were recorded in New York on January 4th 1950 but remained unreleased at the time.

Danny Turner had one release on Gotham - "Give Me Some More Of That Real Fine Loving" / ""Midnight Moan" on Gotham 183, from his only session for Gotham under his own name in June 1949 in Philadelphia. The released take of "Midnight Moan" was different from the one presented on this album.

Eddie Woodland had one release on Gotham under his own name, Gotham 194 "Snap Case" / "Jumpin' With Pio" recorded on May 20th 1949 in Philadelphia. Again, these were different takes to the ones presented here.

The original 2007 post on this LP can be found here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2007/11/lowell-hastings-danny-turner-eddie_5596.html

Tuesday, 5 April 2016

Earl Bostic - Sax "O" Boogie





Tracklist:

Side 1:
01. Bostic's Jump
02. Earl's Rhumboogie
03. Hot Sauce Boss
04. 8:45 Stomp
05. Bar Fly Baby
06. Bostic's Boogie Blues
07. Blip Boogie
08. From Midnight To Dawn

Side 2:
01. Swing Low Sweet Boogie
02. Nay, Nay, Go Away
03. Sugar Hill Blues
04. Choppin' It Down
05. No Name Blues
06. Way Down
07. Don't You Do It
08. Rockin' And Reelin'

Download from:





This is a re-up of an LP which was originally posted in the very early days of the blog , the 17th November 2007, to be precise.

The original post is here:


In those days I hadn't worked out how to do a complete scan of an LP cover, so the original upload had scans that missed out parts of the front and back covers. For this re-up I've replaced the old cover scans with new ones plus I've added label scans.

The tracks on this LP date from a 1948 session for Gotham and sessions for King in 1949, 1950 and 1951. They may come as a surprise to those who are familiar only with Earl's 1950s hit singles and the series of "dance" LPs issued by King during that decade. There is no sign here of Earl's hit formula - the swinging, sophisticated, big toned alto sax backed by vibes, but instead we have a series of wild and raucous jump numbers. Full sessions details are on the LP back cover.

Original release information:

Earl's Rhumboogie / 8.45 Stomp on Gotham 154

Bostic's Jump / Hot Sauce Boss on Gotham 155

Bar Fly Baby / Bostic's Boogie Blues on Gotham 161

Blip Boogie on King 4302 (other side was Earl's Blues)

From Midnight To Dawn on King LP 528 "After Hours" (Various Artists)

Swing Low Sweet Boogie on King EP 200 "Earl Bostic And His Alto Sax Volume 1"

'Nay, 'Nay Go Away / Sugar Hill Blues on King 4328

Choppin' It Down / No Name Blues on King 4343

Way Down on King 4420 (other sides was Merry Widow Waltz)

Don't You Do It on King 4683 (B Side of "Off Shore") but without the introduction on the version on this LP. Vibes are also prominent on the single version. The version on this LP is the same as the version on Charly LP "Earl Bostic Blows a Fuse."

Rockin' And Reelin' on King 4437 (other side was "I Can't Give You Anything But Love")

Further reading about Earl is on this post on "Earl Bostic Blows a Fuse.":


Coming soon - re-ups on Lowell "Count" Hastings (who is on many of the tracks on this LP) and "The Paragons Meet The Jesters".

Battle Of The Blues Volume 4 (King LP 668)





Tracklist:

Side 1:
01. Big Mouth Gal - Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
02. Bring It Back - Wynonie Harris
03. If You Don't Think I'm Sinking - Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
04. Trouble At Midnight - Roy Brown
05. Peas And Rice - Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
06. Rock Mr Blues - Wynonie Harris

Side 2:
01. Lonesome Train - Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
02. Old Age Boogie - Roy Brown
03. Bald Headed Blues - Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
04. Grandma Plays The Numbers - Wynonie Harris
05. Good Bread Alley - Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
06. Queen Of Diamonds - Roy Brown

Download from:


 

The 4th and final volume of King's "Battle Of The Blues" series has only 12 tracks - 6 by Eddie Vinson, and 3 each by Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris. Tracks recorded 1948 - 1954 and this LP was originally released in 1959. Session details are included in the download:


Once again many thanks to Joan K for this LP which was originally posted on the 13th December 2008 here:


More re-ups coming soon!

Sunday, 3 April 2016

Battle Of The Blues Volume 3 (King LP 634)





Tracklist:

Side 1 (Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson):
01. Person To Person
02. I'm Weak But I'm Willing
03. Somebody Done Stole My Cherry Red
04. Queen Bee
05. Featherbed Mama
06. I Trusted You Baby
07. No Good Woman
08. Ashes On My Pillow

Side 2 (Jimmy Witherspoon):
01. The Last Mile
02. 24 Sad Hours
03. Blues In Trouble
04. Sad Life
05. Don't Tell Me How
06. Foolish Prayer
07. Highway To Happiness
08. I Done Told You

Download from here:


Volume 3 of King's "Battle Of The Blues" series was originally released in 1959. The recording details are in the original post from 8th December 2008 here:


The Eddie Vinson tracks were recorded for King between 1949 and 1952. The Jimmy Witherspoon tracks were recorded for Federal in 1952 and 1953.

The Eddie Vinson story can be read on these two blog posts:

"Mr Cleanhead Steps Out" (11th September 2010) at -

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/eddie-cleanhead-vinson-mr-cleanhead.html

and "Cherry Red Blues" (27th September 2010) at -

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/eddie-cleanhead-vinson-cherry-red-blues.html

Please note that "Battle Of The Blues Volume 4" was ripped at 128 kbps.

Thanks to Joan K for this series.

Battle Of The Blues Volume 2 (King LP 627)





Tracklist:

Side 1 (Roy Brown):
01. Hard Luck Blues
02. Dreamin' Blues
03. 'Long About Sundown
04. Double Crossin' Woman
05. Sweet Peach
06. Wrong Woman Blues
07. Brown Angel

Side 2 (Wynonie Harris):
01. Man, Have I Got Troubles
02. I'll Never Give Up
03. Here Comes The Night
04. Luscious Woman
05. Drinking Blues
06. Nearer My God To Thee
07. Tremblin'

Download from here:



This is the second of four volumes of "Battle Of The Blues" that Joan K donated to the blog in 2008. Originally released in 1959, Volume 2 is a return bout between Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris, although this time the combatants opt for slow, moody blues songs rather than the all out rockin' R&B of the first volume. An interesting contrast in styles between the crying style of Roy and the hoarse voiced shouting of Wynonie. Superb musicianship on all tracks.

Original post (from 27th November 2008) is here:


The remaining 2 volumes will be posted soon as will other requested re-ups (Tab Smith, early Earl Bostic, Count Hastings, and The Paragons Meet The Jesters.)

Have a bluesing good Sunday!

Saturday, 2 April 2016

Battle Of The Blues (King LP 607)





Tracklist:

Side 1 (Roy Brown):
01. Boogie At Midnight
02. Big Town
03. Bar Room Blues
04. Love Don't Love Nobody
05. Miss Fanny Brown
06. Lolly Pop Mama
07. I've Got The Last Laugh Now

Side 2 (Wynonie Harris)
01. Bloodshot Eyes
02. Good Rockin' Tonight
03. Loving Machine
04. Shake That Thing
05. I Feel That Old Age Coming On
06. All She Wants To Do Is Rock
07. Good Morning Judge

Download from:

http://www11.zippyshare.com/v/doP5vbuo/file.html

Hang on to your hats, rockin' cats 'n' jivin' kittens, because someone has requested a re-up of the entire King "Battle Of The Blues" series. These LPs were originally issued in the late 1950s / early 1960s. They were collections of sides by Roy Brown, Wynonie Harris, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson and Jimmy Witherspoon which had been released as singles on King / Federal / DeLuxe from the late 1940s through to the mid 1950s.

This LP, the first in the series, was issued in 1958. "Rousing" is the word for the music contained herein as Roy and Wynonie bawl the blues over a raucous backing of pounding drums and squealing saxes.

Joan K donated all 4 volumes to Be Bop Wino back in September 2008. The original music files were in m4a format which I then converted to mp3 (192 kbps), so the sound quality isn't so hi in the fi. It's still good enough to freak out the neighbours, especially if you hook up your laptop / desktop / tablet or whatever to your sound system like I do. Let the blues blast forth!

The original post can be found here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/roy-brown-wynonie-harris-battle-of_2311.html

More info and brilliant tracks by Roy Brown available on this post of the Gusto 2LP set "Hard Luck Blues":

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/roy-brown-hard-luck-blues.html



More info on Wynonie Harris on this post of the Route 66 LP "Oh Babe!":

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/wynonie-harris-oh-babe.html


Friday, 1 April 2016

Al Sears - Ride The 'D' Train





Side 1
01. The Beautiful Indians Part 1 - Duke Ellington and his Orchestra
02. Searsy - Al Sears and his All Star Rhythm Section
03. Long Long Ago - Al Sears and his All Star Rhythm Section
04. Searsy's Blues - Johnny Hodges and his Orchestra
05. Castle Rock - Johnny Hodges and his Orchestra
06. Now Ride the 'D' Train - Al Sears and his Orchestra
07. Nell Don't Wear No Button Up Shoes - Al Sears and his Orchestra
08. Azores - Al Sears and his Orchestra

Side 2
01. Tweedle Dee - Al Sears and his Rock 'n' Rollers
02. Rock 'n' Roll Ball - Big Al Sears
03. Here's the Beat - Big Al Sears
04. Great Googa Mooga - Big Al Sears
05. So Glad - Big Al Sears
06. Teener's Canteen - Alan Freed and his Rock'n Roll Band
07. Teen Rock - Alan Freed and his Rock'n Roll Band
08. Right Now Right Now - Alan Freed and his Rock'n Roll Band

Download from:


My thanks to a German sax fan for donating this fine album. Unfortunately he was unable to send scans of the inner pages of the original gatefold sleeve. If anybody out there has the means to scan and send images of these missing pages please get in touch via the comments or the blog email.

I don't think I've ever come across an LP where there is such a contrast between the first and second sides. I suppose this was inevitable when you consider the nature of Al Sears's career which spanned the days of big band swing, then the era of small group jazz and R&B, and then on into the age of the Big Beat - rock 'n' roll as promoted by Alan Freed and a host of others.

Al Sears gained experience in a number of the top big bands, including an early lineup of the Chick Webb band, Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy, Lionel Hampton, and most famously The Duke Ellington Orchestra where he replaced Ben Webster in the featured tenor sax spot.

After leaving the Duke, Al spent most of the late 40s and early 50s (until summer 1951) in the small band of fellow ex-Ellingtonian Johnny Hodges. It was while with this group that Al had his biggest hit, "Castle Rock". After this success Al left off gigging with Hodges to concentrate on his music business career (he had taken business admin courses years earlier during a low point in music sales) but still kept recording, occasionally as leader and often as a session man. Among the R&B sessions he was involved in were dates with Screaming Jay Hawkins, Nappy Brown and Big Joe Turner ("Hide and Seek", "Flip Flop and Fly" in 1955).

Side 1 of this collection takes us through the jazz years with Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges. Following the success of "Castle Rock" Al recorded a brilliant session at King in September 1951. The band was virtually identical to the Hodges group from "Castle Rock" and it was long rumoured that Hodges was in fact playing on that session. The last 3 sides on Side 1 are from this session and although promoted as R&B sides by King, they lie squarely in the small group jazz style of the Hodges band.

A December 1952 session for RCA Victor saw Al moving more towards the rockin' R&B style which would soon be promoted as rock and roll. In 1954 he recorded an out and out rock 'n' roll single for Herald - "Tweedle Dee" / "Goin' Uptown". The latter track is a real sax killer which is unfortunately not on this collection but is available on the Bear Family CD "Sear-iously."

"Tweedle Dee" kicks off the second or "rock 'n' roll" side of this album. The rest of this side is made up of tracks recorded for RCA subsidiary Groove, Jubilee ("So Glad" in more R&B vein) and three records credited to Alan Freed's Rock'n Roll Band. Al had originally recorded the Freed band titles for Coral with a small studio group in 1955. "Teener's Canteen" was originally called "Tina's Canteen" but with Freed making a play for the teenage audience a re-titling seems almost inevitable.

Al was one of a number of ex big band, swing veterans Freed called on to form his own "rock 'n' roll" big band for stage, radio and film appearances. Other recruits included Al's fellow NYC session men Sam "The Man" Taylor and Freddie Mitchell. Both Freddie and Al can be seen blowing enthusiastically in the film "Rock, Rock, Rock", Freddie on an adaptation of his "Moondog Boogie" re-titled "Rock 'n' Roll Boogie", and Al on a storming version of his own composition "Right Now Right Now." The final three tracks on this collection were featured on 2 Coral LPs of Alan Freed's "Rock 'n' Roll Dance Party" and were also released as singles.

Al did have one more jazz recording session as a leader in 1960 on the Swingville LP "Swing's The Thing." He continued to play and record occasionally but in a jazz style rather than rock 'n' roll or R&B. Al remained active in the business side of music, retiring in 1980 at the age of seventy. He passed away in 1990.

The tracks on this LP and the recommended Bear Family CD owe their excellence to a large number of musicians. In particular the contributions of the following should be noted: Lloyd Trotman, Dave Marshall, Sonny Greer, Jesse Stone, Johnny Hodges, Sam "The Man" Taylor, Mickey Baker, Budd Johnson and Haywood Henry. Whether playing jazz, R&B or rock and roll, Al Sears was invariably in the company of the most accomplished musicians.

Recommended purchases:

Anyone who likes the big, rasping sax sound of 1950s NYC rock 'n' roll just has to have the Bear Family CD "Sear-iously." 25 sides recorded between 1949 and 1956 for Coral, Herald and RCA / Groove. The 1949 sides feature Clarence Palmer and his original version of "Brown Boy", adapted from Lil Armstrong's "Brown Gal." The front cover has a picture of Al on stage with Sam "The Man" Taylor and Red Prysock.


The Bear Family CD doesn't have the King sides from 1951. The whole session (8 tracks) was included on the 1999 Westside CD "Groove Station" along with tracks by Preston Love, Wild Bill Moore, Fats Noel and Jesse Powell, all in fantastic sound quality. The CD is still around on the Bear Family Website, eBay and Amazon Marketplace. Well worth hunting down. In fact your life is incomplete without it.


Happy sax blasting! And remember if you have the inner sides of the "Ride The 'D' Train" gatefold sleeve and can obtain scans, please get in touch.

Finally, thanks again to our anonymous donor. You are now admitted to the Mystic Order of the Wailing Sax.

Sunday, 27 March 2016

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

Monday, 21 March 2016

Joe Houston - Rockin' 'n' Boppin'






Tracklist:

Side 1
01. Rockin' 'n' Boppin'
02. Flying Home
03. Walking Home
04. Earthquake
05. Waycross Mama Blues
06. Moody
07. Hurricane
08. Go Joe Go

Side 2
01. Cornbread & Cabbage
02. Jay's Boogie
03. Doin' The Lindy Hop
04. Boogie Woogie Woman
05. Hog Maws Part 2
06. Dig It
07. Shtiggy Boom
08. Joe's Gone
09. The Hully

Download from here:






Bought second hand. There is damage to the inner sleeve which renders a small part of the notes unreadable.

We continue our tribute to the late Joe Houston with a Saxophonograph LP which hasn't been on the blog before.

I was saddened to read in the March edition of "Blues & Rhythm" that Joe Houston had passed away last December after a long period of ill health. One of my favourite LPs of the 1980s R&B reissue craze was "Rockin' At The Drive In" on Ace. This was a reworking of an LP originally issued on Combo in 1956. The honking sax was awesome, relentless even, and as for the cover art, ye gods! There in the car park of a Googie architecture drive in restaurant was the man himself, blowing his sax to an admiring crowd of teens plus DJ Art Laboe and, artfully placed in the picture, a couple of open top cars each about the size of a small house (by UK standards). 1950s California seemed impossibly cool to somebody living in gloomy, rain soaked Glasgow in the 1980s.

"Rockin' 'n' Boppin'" provides a good overview of Joe's 1950s recording career. The gatefold sleeve contains notes by Ken Mills which at times could be called "fervent" as he preaches the glories of the Southern California R&B scene and Joe's contribution thereto. Included in the notes is a section on another LP already on this blog, "Earthquake," which was released by Pathe Marconi in the early 1980s. This was a compilation mainly consisting of sides originally recorded for Imperial. Unfortunately some of the tracks were wrongly titled and the original versions of "Hurricane" and "Earthquake" were not actually on that LP. However, they are here on "Rockin' 'n' Boppin'!" Read Ken Mills's notes for the full story.

Original release info plus reviews culled from the pages of Billboard:

01. Rockin' 'n' Boppin' - Cash 1018, late 1955.

02. Flying Home - Cash 1013, c September 1955.

03. Walking Home - Cash 1013, c September 1955.

Billboard, 1st October 1955
04. Earthquake - Imperial 5201, 1952.

05. Waycross Mama Blues - Freedom 1526, late 1949 /early 1950.

06. Moody - Bayou 004, May 1953. "Houston is the honking tenor type as he and the ork read off a riff-built instrumental for a good side."

07. Hurricane - Imperial 5196, July 1952. "The ork under Houston drives hard on a rhythm instrumental cleffed by the leader. Results are adequate."

08. Go Joe Go - Lucky 004, May 1954.

09. Cornbread & Cabbage - Hollywood 423, May 1953. "Houston shows a lot of sax on this side, a dynamic riff effort."

10. Jay's Boogie - Hollywood 423, May 1953. "More sax work with abandon by Houston, this time to a boogie beat by the ork."

11. Doin' The Lindy Hop - Modern 863, April 1952

12. Boogie Woogie Woman - Modern 879, August 1952. "A jump boogie gets a solid go from the ork and Lois Butler helps it along with her vocal. Material is not impressive."

13. Hog Maws Part 2 - Magnum 45-723, 1964.

14. Dig It - Modern 879, August 1952. "The ork enjoys itself jamming away on this riff item with lots of solo work featured thruout. Tune builds a bit, but not as much as it could. Jazz fanciers may like."

15. Shtiggy Boom - RPM 426, February 1955. "Swingy new rocker that has all the West Coast record firms excited is handed a driving reading by the Houston ork, with the sidemen on the vocal. Houston turns in some solid work on sax, and the side builds all the way. This could happen."

Scan from Joan K

16. Joe's Gone - RPM 426, February 1955. "And Joe Houston does go in this swinging instrumental side. Both jazz and blues fans will be interested in this wild cutting. Houston comes thru with excitement. Two potent juke sides."


17. The Hully - Combo 157, August 1959. "A blues-oriented instrumental with a rocking rhythm. Some good horn passages and interesting musical figures."

Recommended site:

http://www.colorradio.com/joe-houston.html

Now somebody get me a time machine. I gotta get back to 1950s LA!

Saturday, 19 March 2016

Clubbing, Early 1950s Style


Sunday double of sides about nightlife. The way the youth of today (and I mean anyone under 40) go on about "clubbing" you'd think they'd invented all night dancing /drinking / socialising. Well here's a couple of early 1950s R&B tracks to demonstrate that there's nothing new under that lucky old sun. Oh, and by "R&B" I mean REAL R&B.

First up, Frank Culley and Harry Van Walls rap about the Rhumboogie Club in Columbus, Ohio. Recorded in late 1949, "Rumboogie Jive" was the B Side of "After Hours Session" (Atlantic 888) which reached number 10 in the R&B charts in February 1950.



The "Coffee Grinder" referred to was a dance. Wonder what it was like?

After boogieing our woogies for a few hours, it's time to move on to an after hours joint where we can chill out to some slinky sax and hear Jimmy Coe and his drummer Earl "Fox" Walker exchanging hip observations. The scene described on the record was inspired by Jimmy and the band's visits to an after hours joint called "The Royal Roost" in Indianapolis. "After Hour Joint" was released on States 118 in June 1953. There was a follow up a few months later, "Raid On The After Hours Joint." We're gonna split before that happens, but remember, if the cops grab you, don't give your real name.



As an aside, the excellent Ace CD "Let The Boogie Woogie Rock And Roll" has a totally different track under the title "Rhumboogie Jive." Does anyone know what that track really is?

Great article on Jimmy Coe on Red Saunders Research Foundation here:

http://myweb.clemson.edu/~campber/coe.html

Have a restful Sunday.