Smiley Lewis - I Hear You Knocking (Imperial LP 9141)

Side A
1. The Bells Are Ringing
2. Standing On The Corner
3. Blue Monday
4. Down the Road
5. Lost Week End
6. Real Gone Lover

Side B
1. Bumpity Bump
2. I Hear You Knockin'
3. I Can't Believe It
4. Hey Girl
5. One Night
6. Nothing But The Blues

Joan keeps our New Orleans vibe going with this 1961 Imperial retrospective LP. This time it’s the 1950’s sides of Smiley Lewis which get the treatment, and the cover art is slightly reminiscent of the Jesse Allen LP on the previous post. This is a reconstruction of the original LP, with all tracks sourced from vinyl.

Smiley’s career was outlined on the “Caldonia’s Party” post. It was a tale of talent not reaping its just rewards, for Smiley’s best records were overshadowed by cover versions by Gale Storm, Fats Domino and Elvis Presley. Even the title track was a big hit in the UK for Dave Edmunds around 1970, but at least it drew the attention of the public (including me) to the great Smiley.

The music on this twelve track LP is absolutely prime New Orleans R&B, recorded at Cosimo Matassa’s J&M studio with bands mostly led by Dave Bartholomew and featuring a supporting cast which includes Fats Domino, Lee Allen, Herb Hardesty, Huey Smith and Earl Palmer. Although Smiley never quite achieved the success his talent deserved, we can enjoy this taste of his glory years from 1952 – 1956 thanks to Joan.


Ripped from vinyl at 128 kbps.

Download from here:

I Hear You Knocking (Mega)


1. The Bells Are Ringing
2. Standing On The Corner
3. Blue Monday
4. Down the Road
5. Lost Week End
6. Real Gone Lover
7. Bumpity Bump
8. I Hear You Knockin'
9. I Can't Believe It
10. Hey Girl
11. One Night
12. Nothing But The Blues

There are two good Smiley collections currently available on Revola and Bear Family. See the recommended purchases section in the "Caldonia’s Party" post.

And lastly here are label scans of three Smiley singles (included in the download) courtesy of Joan, of course!

Jesse Allen - Rockin' and Rollin'

Side A
1. What A Party
2. Rockin' And Rollin'
3. I Love You So
4. I Wonder What's The Matter
5. The Things I Gonna Do
6. Sittin' And Wonderin'

Side B
1. Boogie Woogie Mama
2. Shake 'em Up Baby
3. Rock This Morning
4. Gonna Move Away From Town
5. Gotta Call That Number
6. Gonna Tell My Mama

Many thanks to Big Al (The Bloggers’ Pal!) for sending in this 1980s Pathe Marconi compilation of Aladdin and Imperial sides recorded in New Orleans by singer / guitarist Jesse Allen between 1951 and 1954.

No-one seems to know where Jesse Allen came from. The sleeve notes on this album have fellow musicians speculating that he came from Florida or Georgia or Alabama or Mississippi, while John Broven in his book “Rhythm & Blues in New Orleans” refers to “Texas-styled blues shouter, Jesse Allen.” But wherever he came from, he established himself on the New Orleans scene at the beginning of the 1950s, making his recording debut for Aladdin in October 1951 at a session which was the first to be held by the Mesner brothers in the Crescent City.

Four tracks were cut with two being released on Aladdin 3129 – “Rock This Morning” b/w “Gonna Move Away From Town.” The former track is a good relaxed swingin’ jump tune while the latter is a decent slow blues with some nice guitar work by Allen. Two sides from this session were unissued: “Boogie Woogie Mama” in which Allen sounds like Roy Brown, and “Shake ‘em Up Baby” (previously recorded by Roy Brown) in which Allen seems to try too hard not to sound like Roy Brown.

Jesse’s next session came in December 1951 for Coral, with two sides “My Suffering” and “Let’s Party” being released as a single. In 1952 he recorded for the Bayou subsidiary of Imperial, releasing what may have been his most successful record, “Dragnet.”

None of his Coral and Bayou sides are on this LP, so we move onward to August 1953 when Jesse made his debut for Imperial, recording a couple of duets with chantoozie Audrey Walker whose warblings come under the heading of “acquired taste.” A single (Imperial 5256) was released, with the duo sounding like Little Esther and Mel Walker on “Gotta Call That Number” and veering more towards Shirley and Lee on “Gonna Tell My Mama.”

Time marches on, and back in the 1950s it marched on too, and as Jesse's records weren’t selling, it was time to call in the heavy hitters. In early 1954 Jesse Allen entered the studio with New Orleans legends Lee Allen, Alvin “Red” Tyler, Edward Frank, Frank Fields and Earl Palmer to cut four sides which were released on Imperial singles 5303 and 5285. The first single was an excellent rocker, “What a Party” b/w a blatant rip-off of Guitar Slim’s “The Things I Used To Do” titled “”The Things I Gonna Do.” Despite the obvious plagiarism, “Things” was a fine performance with Jesse serving up some nice guitar runs set against riffing saxes. Come to think of it, there was more than a hint of “Money Honey” about “What A Party” but Lee Allen’s booting sax gave it a distinctive sound and made it a real tough piece of rock 'n' roll.

By now it was becoming clear that a certain lack of originality was an obstacle to Jesse’s hit record ambitions. Imperial 5285 featured another rip-off, for “Sittin’ And Wonderin’” was simply a rehash of Lloyd Prices’ “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” or if you were being kind it was an answer record, only about two years too late. The other side of the disc, “I Wonder What’s The Matter,” was a good slow blues with the usual fine guitar work from Jesse.

In September 1954 Jesse cut his final sides for Imperial. “Rockin’ And Rollin’” was simply “Rock Me Baby” with a new title and this time round Jesse’s voice sounded like a slightly less strident than usual Big Joe Turner. The other side of the disc (Imperial 5315), “I Love You So,” had that great rolling New Orleans rhythm, but Jesse’s vocals featured a few bum notes.

Obscurity was beckoning, but there was still time for a couple more records. Three or four years after his last Imperial session, Jesse was reunited with Lee Allen and Red Tyler for a session for Johnny Vincent’s Vin label. One single was the result – “Baby Say You Will” b/w “Goodbye Blues” (Vin 1002). In 1959 Jesse made his first recording session outside of New Orleans, for Jimmy Liggins’ Duplex label in Fayetteville. “Love My Baby” b/w “After A While” was released on Duplex 9003. The great record buying public could hardly contain its indifference.

And so it was all over and Jesse, we may speculate, returned whence he came. Or perhaps he went somewhere else. Who knows? Yet wherever he was he could reflect that he had made some good records and had performed with the finest musicians in New Orleans. And a quarter of a century later a French record company thought his work was good enough to release on an LP, and another quarter of a century further on down the road here we all are listening to his work again. Not a bad epitaph.

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Download from here:

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http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0ULVUYL0

1. What A Party

2. Rockin' And Rollin'
3. I Love You So
4. I Wonder What's The Matter
5. The Things I Gonna Do
6. Sittin' And Wonderin'
7. Boogie Woogie Mama
8. Shake 'em Up Baby
9. Rock This Morning
10. Gonna Move Away From Town
11. Gotta Call That Number
12. Gonna Tell My Mama

Recommended purchases:

The Official CD "Little Walkin' Willie Meets Jesse Allen" has twenty tracks by Jesse, covering just about everything he ever released. Wild isn't the word for the six Little Walkin' Willie tracks on this collection. Simply astonishing stuff.

The UK Ace label LP “Jumpin’ The Blues, Volume 3” featured Jesse’s Coral side “Let’s Party,” which is a good jump blues. Keep crate digging for you never know, it may turn up when you least expect it.

You might have a better chance of turning up a copy of the long out of print Westside CD “Tuff Enuff, The Ace Blues Masters, Vol 3.” It has both sides of Jesse’s Vin single. Alternatively, you can download the comp from Amazon’s UK mp3 store. “Baby Say You Will” is a meandering performance which loses its way several times. “Goodbye Blues” is a much better track, being a rousing rocker with lots of blues guitar and riffing horns. A good vocal from Jesse, too.

“Love My Baby” from Jesse’s Duplex single is on the CD “Stompin’ 4.” The Stompin’ series of CDs has more than thirty volumes of the rarest, most obscure R&B records ever recorded. A labour of love and a work of genius. “Love My Baby” is a raw and primitive blues guitar blaster with shouted vocals and little trace of the New Orleans sound. A fine note on which to end a post.

Amos Milburn - Let's Have A Party

Side A
1. Chicken Shack Boogie
2. Trouble In Mind
3. I Know You Love Me
4. Good Good Whiskey
5. Rocky Mountain
6. Let's Rock Awhile
7. Down The Road Apiece

Side B
1. Bewildered
2. One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer
3. Let's Have A Party
4. I'm Still A Fool For You
5. Bad Bad Whiskey
6. My Happiness Depends On You
7. All Is Well

This is a revamped post from the original blog with all-new scans of the LP cover and some labelshots of the disc itself.

This is one of 5 (I think) Amos Milburn LPs released on the French Pathe Marconi label in the 1980s. It’s a terrific album, mostly in fantastic sound quality (in fact superior to that on a 3CD Milburn set I bought during the 1990s), with the exception of “Let’s Rock Awhile” which is marred slightly by some feedback or microphone hum. Like the previous post of “13 Unreleased Masters” this is a career spanning collection, although this time round there’s rather more emphasis on the early 1950s with a goodly sample of Amos’s booze anthems and some cracking early rock and roll in “Let’s Have A Party” and “Rocky Mountain.”

Amos Milburn is perhaps my favourite artist of the golden era of rhythm and blues. His voice can evoke a semi deserted after hours joint in the wee wee hours when he tackles blues or ballads (try “Bewildered” or “Trouble in Mind”) or equally he can bring a picture of a packed dance hall to the mind’s eye when he pounds out that boogie woogie and rockin’ R&B (often accompanied by the legendary Maxwell Davis on tenor sax.)

The first track on this LP is perhaps the hardest rocking track he ever recorded – the 1956 remake of “Chicken Shack Boogie.” The LP sleeve wrongly lists track one as the original 1947 recording of “Chicken Shack Boogie” which became Amos’s biggest hit in 1949, helping to make him the top selling R&B artist of that year. In fact the track on this LP is from the session Amos recorded in New Orleans in September 1956 with Lee Allen and Alvin “Red” Tyler on tenor and baritone saxes. By this stage in his career the hits had long dried up for Amos, and this version of “Chicken Shack Boogie” got nowhere near the charts, but nevertheless it is one of the most stonkingly brilliant rock and roll records ever committed to wax.

The atmospherically sleazy LP cover is a straight copy of the 1957 Score LP “Let’s Have A Party” which has different tracks from the 1983 Pathe Marconi release.

Some day I might write a lengthier post on Amos Milburn, but I fear that I would only end up subconsciously regurgitating Nick Tosches’ great chapter on the man himself in “Unsung Heroes of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Get a hold of that book, turn to chapter 9 (“Amos Milburn: the chicken shack factor”), read and weep. And listen to “Let’s Have A Party” while you’re doing it.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

http://www86.zippyshare.com/v/tVbavymT/file.html

Recommended purchases:

There are several Amos Milburn comps available, including an Amazon mp3 download of the old Capitol Blues Collection 3 CD set “Blues, Barrelhouse & Boogie Woogie.” Last time I looked, Amazon Marketplace had the CD at an eye watering £60 or so.

If you prefer CDs to mp3s (and what sensible person doesn’t?) then you could do worse than buy the Revola CD (29 tracks) with the same title as the LP on this post – “Let’s Have A Party! (Amos Milburn in the 50s)”

Jackie Brenston - Rocket 88

Side A
1. Rocket 88
2. I Want To See My Baby
3. Jackie's Chewing Gum
4. Make My Love Come Down
5. My Real Gone Rocket
6. Mule
7. My Baby Left Town

Side B
1. Hi Ho Baby
2. Lovin' Time
3. Fat Meat Is Greasy
4. 88 Boogie
5. You Won't Be Comin' Back
6. True Love
7. The Blues Got Me Again

My thanks to our new donor – Big Al (The Bloggers’ Pal) for sending in this Green Line LP of Jackie Brenston Chess sides. Big Al is a fellow pilgrim on the Way of the Wailin’ Tenor Sax and has sent in several contributions which will appear on the blog.

The story behind “Rocket 88” has been told often – in Robert Palmer’s “Deep Blues,” in Jim Dawson and Steve Propes’ “What Was The First Rock ‘N’ Roll Record?” and perhaps most memorably in Nick Tosches’ “Unsung Heroes of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

It is a cautionary tale, of hopes raised and dashed, of friendships betrayed, of resentment and forgiveness, and, sadly, of an inordinate amount of boozing. The story unfolds in the year of Our Lord 1951, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, far from the usual Bebopwino arenas of Los Angeles and New York. Here we find ambitious young bandleader and deejay Ike Turner playing a few local gigs, and impressing guitarist B.B. King who was just passing through on the way to Sam Phillip’s Memphis Recording Service.

On B.B.’s recommendation, a recording date was arranged for Turner’s outfit (modestly named The Kings of Rhythm) at Sam Phillip’s studio at 706 Union Avenue where he recorded local blues musicians and leased or sold the masters to the Bihari Brothers’ Modern label in Los Angeles. And here we enter the realm of divine intervention, for lo, guitarist Willie Kizart’s amp was damaged in transit but on Sam’s insistence the session went ahead with paper stuffed into the cone. The result was a distorted fuzztone which dominated the best track on the session, “Rocket 88,” a paean to the Oldsmobile automobile of that name.


The song was written by band baritone sax player Jackie Brenston but it was really just an updated version of Jimmy Liggins’ 1947 jump blues “Cadillac Boogie.” The fortuitously distorted guitar gave the recording a sound which was different from other records of that era. The vocal was performed by Brenston, a long-time friend (some say they were cousins) of Ike. And here Sam Phillips takes another hand, for from the session he credited “Rocket 88” and “Come Back Where You Belong” to “Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats” while the other two sides, “Heartbroken and Worried” and “I’m Lonesome Baby” were credited to “Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm.” The sides were sent off to Chicago to be released on Chess.

“Rocket 88” was an immediate smash, tearing up the R&B charts to the number one spot and finishing as the 8th best selling R&B record of 1951. This was great news for Jackie and the Chess brothers, but not so hot for Ike Turner (whose Chess single bombed) and the Biharis. In the blink of an eye Jackie was out of the Kings of Rhythm and touring the country with a new set of Delta Cats. Sam Phillips started to think more seriously about starting his own record label and a corny country musician called Bill Haley brought out a good cover version of “Rocket 88” and decided that covering R&B records might prove to be both artistically and financially advantageous.


As for Jackie, his star was soon on the wane. The follow up release on Chess, “My Real Gone Rocket” went nowhere and there were signs of trouble when his next release, “Independent Woman,” was backed by a Billy Love side, “Juiced,” which was credited to Jackie despite his total lack of involvement in that recording. Jackie’s Chess career finally faded out in 1953. There was a brief spell in Lowell Fulson’s band before Jackie found himself back with Ike Turner, this time as a salaried sax player.

By now the Turner outfit was more like a rhythm and blues review than the tight little group which had entered Phillip’s studio only a few years before. They were signed to Federal Records and released sides credited to Ike Turner and his Orchestra, Billy Gayles, The Gardenias and even two records credited to Jackie Brenston – “What Can It Be” / “Gonna Wait For My Chance” and “The Mistreater” / “Much Later”, both in 1956.

They were reasonably good records, especially the hard rocker “Much Later,” but they were not to be the route back to stardom for Jackie. Indeed that route was now closed forever as Jackie took to some serious boozing with fellow band member (and one of the original Kings of Rhythm) Raymond Hill. He remained with Ike Turner into the early sixties and was on the international smash hit for Ike and Tina Turner “A Fool In Love” which was released on Sue in 1960. Jackie had his own single on Sue, “Trouble Up The Road” but naturally it didn’t sell. In 1962 Jackie parted with Ike Turner for the final time, worked for a while with Sid Wallace, and now sober again, made his last recording with the Earl Hooker band for the Mel-Lon label in 1963.

He returned to Clarksdale where he took up the insanely lethal combination of truck driving and wine drinking, finally passing in December 1979 while being treated in a veterans’ hospital in Memphis.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

Rocket 88 (Mega)


1. Rocket 88 (Memphis, March 1951, Chess 1458)

2. I Want To See My Baby (Memphis, December 1951, unreleased)

3. Jackie's Chewing Gum (Memphis, December 1951, unreleased)

4. Make My Love Come Down (Memphis, July 1951, unreleased)

5. My Real Gone Rocket (Memphis, July 1951, Chess 1469)

6. Mule (Chicago, April 1953, unreleased)

7. My Baby Left Town (Memphis, December 1951, unreleased)

8. Hi Ho Baby * (Chicago, December 1951, Chess 1496)

9. Lovin' Time (Chicago, December 1951, unreleased)

10. Fat Meat Is Greasy (Memphis, December 1951, unreleased)

11. 88 Boogie (Chicago, December 1951, unreleased)

12. You Won't Be Comin' Back (Chicago, December 1951, unreleased)

13. True Love (Chicago, April 1953, unreleased)

14. The Blues Got Me Again (Chicago, December 1951, Chess 1532)

* duet with Edna McRaney

Recommended purchase:

“The Mistreater” (Rev-Ola Bandstand), a 24 track collection of all the Chess and Federal sides.

Big Jim Wynn - Blow Wynn Blow

Side A
1. Ee-Bobaliba
2. Buzz, Buzz, Buzz
3. I Want A Little Girl
4. Cherry Red
5. Rock Woogie
6. Shipyard Woman
7. J.W. Bop
8. In A Rhapsody In Minor

Side B
1. Blow Wynn Blow
2. Jelly Kelly Blues
3. Fat Meat
4. Farewell Baby
5. Put Me Down Blues
6. I'm The Boss (At My House)
7. Goofin' Off
8. Down To The Ocean

A pioneering R&B saxman on both tenor and baritone, Big Jim Wynn could consider himself unlucky on two counts. First off, while working the LA nightspots with his small jump band in the mid 1940s he wrote an infectious ditty called “Ee-Bobaliba” which became a staple of his act. Such was its popularity with the club audiences, Big Jim even renamed his band the “The Bobalibans.”

In 1945 Helen Humes (accompanied by the Bill Doggett Octet) recorded a version for the new LA indy label Philo. “Be-Baba-Liba” as it was now called was one of the biggest R&B hits of the year, but as Miss Humes took composer credits, not a cent wended its way to Big Jim’s pocket. To add insult to injury, Lionel Hampton recorded a version called “Hey! Ba-ba-re-bop” which became the second top selling R&B record of 1946, tucked in behind Louis Jordan’s “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie." Composer credits for the rewrite were taken by Curly Hammer and Lionel Hampton, so once again Big Jim got zilch.

Big Jim and his band recorded his song for 4 Star in late 1945, but despite a fine lead vocal by Claude Trenier, this version remained in the shadows of the “cover” versions by Humes and Hampton. Big Jim’s version is a great jump record, but the problem was that the combination of nonsense syllables and standard blues verses lent itself to rewrites and the subsequent loss of composer credits and record sales to more established acts.

In fact Big Jim Wynn was destined never to have a hit record, despite doing the rounds of the LA indies such as 4 Star, Gilt Edge, Modern, Supreme and Specialty as well as the major label Mercury. Apart from writing “Ee-bobaliba”, Big Jim is probably best remembered by R&B fans for providing the backing on many of T-Bone Walker’s fine recordings for Imperial in the early 1950s. The two had first played together in the LA club scene as far back as the late 1930s when T-Bone was doing a dance act. Big Jim’s band not only worked in the studio with T-Bone but also accompanied him on the road. As the band included Eddie Davis on tenor sax, Big Jim moved over to baritone sax.

Big Jim’s live act was something to behold as he pioneered many of the tricks which would be taken up by more renowned “honkers.” As George Moonoogian says in his sleevenotes: “He would kick, dance, shuffle, strut, go down on his knees, roll and literally provide his own mini-show on stage, all the while blowing wild solos on his sax. He was the first of the Los Angeles area sax players to perform these antics on stage …” And here bad luck struck a second time, as one Cecil J. McNeely was a regular spectator at Big Jim’s shows and “borrowed” his act to carve out a (thank God) long career as king of the tenor sax wildmen.

As the fifties wore on, Big Jim concentrated more and more on session work, with the occasional foray on the road backing acts such as Etta James and Richard Berry. Even in the 1970’s, and now aged well over sixty, he was still appearing live with the Johnny Otis show and managing to tear up the audience with his wild stage shenanigans. As he said in an interview: “One of my desires is to live to be a hundred. I try to keep in shape by exercise and eating health foods…” Well they do say that bad luck comes in threes. Within a year of that interview he was dead.

This 1985 LP was issued on the “Whiskey, Women and …” label, which was a joint enterprise run by the magazine of the same name and Mr R&B records. I only ever did find one issue of the “Whiskey, Women and …” magazine, in the Glasgow branch of Tower Records. The magazine (which was indescribably brilliant), the record shop, and the record company are, like Big Jim Wynn himself, no longer with us.


Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

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

1. Ee-Bobaliba (4-Star 1026, 1945)
2. Buzz, Buzz, Buzz (4-Star 1026, 1945)
3. I Want A Little Girl (4-Star 1025, 1945)
4. Cherry Red (Gilt Edge 528, 1945)
5. Rock Woogie (Gilt Edge 528, 1945)
6. Shipyard Woman (Gilt Edge 527, 1945)
7. J.W. Bop (Supreme 1509, 1948)
8. In A Rhapsody In Minor (Gilt Edge 531, 1945)
9. Blow Wynn Blow (Supreme, 1509, 1948)
10. Jelly Kelly Blues (Gilt Edge 531, 1945)
11. Fat Meat (Specialty 312, 1948)
12. Farewell Baby (Supreme, 1522, 1948)
13. Put Me Down Blues (Specialty 312, 1948)
14. I'm The Boss (At My House) (Million 2004, 1954)
15. Goofin' Off (Supreme 1522, 1948)
16. Down To The Ocean (Million 2004, 1954)

Recommended purchase:

The 4 CD set “Honk for Texas” on the JSP label (JSP7760) has one CD entirely devoted to Big Jim Wynn, plus 10 tracks on another CD shared with Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson. You’ve just gotta buy this one!

Rock 'n' Roll (Regent MG-6015)

Side A
1. Rockin' Boy / Chuz Alfred Combo
2. Hot Rod / Hal Singer
3. Blues For Everybody / Bobby Banks Orch.
4. Playboy Hop / Rockin' Bros. Orch.
5. The Grinder / Rockin' Bros. Orch.

Side B
1. You Gotta Rock And Roll / Bob Oakes Orch.
2. Backbiter / T.J. Fowler
3. Wine Cooler / T.J. Fowler
4. Rooster Boogie / Paul Williams Orch.
5. Frog Hop / Hal Singer Orch.


The anonymous donor who sent in the Plymouth LP “Rock and Roll No. 2” also sent this 1950s LP on the Regent label. The album was released around 1956 and it’s another fine example of a record company using old R&B sides to exploit the rock and roll craze. The tracks on offer here range from early 1950s R&B honk and jump to a couple of jazz groups recording in an R&B / rock and roll style in the mid 1950s. Don’t get me wrong, this is a very listenable collection of sax dominated rockin’ music which is guaranteed to tickle the musical taste buds of Be Bop Wino fans, especially as it is sourced from the vaults of Savoy, home of the big fat tenor sax sound.

Founded by Herman Lubinsky in 1947, Regent was a sister label to his renowned Savoy label. In the early 1950s Regent released singles by established Savoy R&B names like Johnny Otis and the various artists associated with his group such as Mel Walker, Redd Lyte and Little Esther. Around 1952 it was unsuccessfully relaunched as a vehicle for pop releases. Throughout its existence Regent was always overshadowed by the longer established Savoy.

In the mid-50s Regent started releasing a line of LPs, the Regent 6000 series. Titles included classical, gospel, cocktail jazz and the kind of thing that the Schadenfreudian Therapy blog would thrive on – Mexican folk, polkas, hot harmonicas, swingin’ organs, military marches, Rudy Vallee, banjo music, Fingers Finnegan, Dixieland jazz, ye gods, I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.

But in amongst the cheese was a smattering of jazz and early R&B from Savoy, National and DeeGee – Billy Eckstine, Don Byas, Art Pepper, The Ravens, Dizzy Gillespie, live cuts by Wardell Gray and Dexter Gordon recorded in 1947, and another “rock and roll” LP with the imaginative title “Rock and Roll Party No. 2.” Like the LP featured here, it was very much a recycling of old Savoy R&B material including sides by Big Jay McNeely, Paul Williams, Hal Singer, T.J. Fowler, Little Esther and Nappy Brown. It would be very good listening for Be Bop Winos, if anyone out there has a copy they would like to donate.

Thank you once more to our ever generous anonymous donor for this vintage LP!

Ripped from vinyl at 128 kbps.

Download from here:

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1. Rockin' Boy / Chuz Alfred Combo (1955)
2. Hot Rod / Hal Singer (1955)
3. Blues For Everybody / Bobby Banks Orch. (1955)
4. Playboy Hop / Rockin' Bros. Orch. (1954)
5. The Grinder / Rockin' Bros. Orch. (1954)
6. You Gotta Rock And Roll / Bob Oakes Orch. (1956)
7. Backbiter / T.J. Fowler (1952)
8. Wine Cooler / T.J. Fowler (1952)
9. Rooster Boogie / Paul Williams Orch. (1951)
10. Frog Hop / Hal Singer Orch. (1952)

Hen Gates And His Gaters - Rock And Roll No. 2 (Plymouth P-12-149)

It’s exploitation a go-go as the Hen Gates saga continues, thanks to this second Plymouth LP of the mysterious Mr Gates. Thanks very much to the anonymous sax fan who sent this in, and he is a different anonymous sax fan from the one who kicked the whole Hen Gates thing off a few posts back.

Track 5, “Madeira Roll”, is Freddie Mitchell’s “Hot Ice”. Track 10 “Rock Daddy Rock” is also a definite Freddie Mitchell track with a new title – “Madera Hop”. Track 11 “Bee Bee Roll” is “Leapin’ On Lenox” by Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis. If you’ve been following the Hen Gates posts you’ll know that these 3 tracks turned up on the previous Plymouth Gates LP “Rock And Roll”, and here they are again.

I’m not going to attempt to make any more match ups of the tracks here with the previous Hen Gates and Freddie Mitchell posts, for that road leads to certain insanity. However don’t hesitate to try it for yourselves!

Mojo Killian has kindly sent in more information with match ups between the tracks on this LP and those on previous Hen Gates LPs, especially the Masterseal album.

Thanks, Mojo and here we go:

Ok, folks, here's what I found out:
1. Moondog Rock = Rock Me Sugar on Masterseal LP "Let's All Dance to Rock and Roll"
2. Stompin' And Rockin' = Love To Rock With You on Masterseal LP
3. The Big Fish = Choo Choo Rock from Masterseal LP
4. Move It = Rock'n And Walk'n on Masterseal LP
5. Madeira Roll = Hold It on "Rock And Roll" (Plymouth 144) = Hot Ice
6. Sneaky Pete = T.N.T. on "Rock And Roll"
7. Go Everybody = Juke Box Rock on Masterseal LP
8. Till Tom Rock = Rock Around Rosie on Masterseal LP
9. Swinging To The Rock And Roll = The New Rock on Masterseal LP
10. Rock Daddy Rock = Rockin' & Rollin' Hop on "Rock And Roll" (Plymouth 144)
11. Bee Bee Roll = Look And Listen on "Rock And Roll" (= Leapin' On Lenox)
12. Zing Zang Roll = Bear Walk on "Rock And Roll"

Mojo Kilian

Ripped from vinyl by our anonymous friend at 160kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

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1. Moondog Rock
2. Stompin' And Rockin'
3. The Big Fish
4. Move It
5. Madeira Roll
6. Sneaky Pete
7. Go Everybody
8. Till Tom Rock
9. Swinging To The Rock And Roll
10. Rock Daddy Rock
11. Bee Bee Roll
12. Zing Zang Roll

Record Store Day in a Mixed Up City

Saturday 17th April 2010 is the day we celebrate the continued existence of our local independent record stores. Three Glasgow shops are listed as UK participants: Avalanche Records, Monorail Music and Mixed Up Records. There’ll be live music and limited edition discs on sale, so if you’re in the Glasgow area tomorrow, get yourself along to one or all of these worthy venues. Full list of participating UK stores here:

http://www.recordstoreday.com/Venues?country=United%20Kingdom

Mixed Up Records got a mention on the original Be Bop Wino blog way back last autumn, for it is situated in Otago Lane in the West End of Glasgow. As I mentioned back then, this little area of niche businesses on the banks of the River Kelvin is under threat from a proposed development of “luxury” flats. More details can be found here on the Save Otago Lane website:

http://saveotagolane.co.uk/

As I was feeling guilty about failing to mark last year’s Record Store Day in any way, shape or form, I pissed off from work early this afternoon and took a subway ride across the city to check out the jazz and blues vinyl at Mixed Up Records. I thought I’d also take a few pixelly photos on my phone camera to give Be Bop Winos the wide world over a flavour of what our City Council and its property developer friends can’t wait to destroy. So here’s a few photies taken around the area.

I hope you get the flavour of this wonderful higgledy piggledy mixture of mid-Victorian terraces and houses, late Victorian tenements, mews buildings, workshops, etc. Obviously it’s just the kind of place that’s crying out for a massive development of apartment blocks which will totally overshadow all those horrible old buildings.

Innumerable developments of crap flats have sprouted fungus-like all over the city in the last 15 years or so. Odd that they are nearly all advertised as “executive” apartments. Will ordinary, non-executive people still be allowed to live in Glasgow in the future? Will the Be Bop Wino be driven into exile by a combination of the forces of crass commercialism and his own inability to achieve executive status?

Whatever happens, I’m gonna be thumbing through those vinyl bins right to the very end. Say no to corporate arrogance by supporting your local independent record store! Crate dig your way to the Revolution! Every vinyl record purchased and reclaimed from the local landfill site is a blow against The Man! BTW my visit to Mixed Up was successful - I scored an Illinois Jacquet LP.

Jack McVea & His All Stars - Open The Door Richard!

Tenor saxman Jack McVea was always there or thereabouts in the Los Angeles jazz / rhythm & blues scene of the 1940s. He was in the Lionel Hampton big band line-up which recorded “Flying Home”, the number which first brought Illinois Jacquet to the attention of sax fans. He took the first sax solo on “Blues” at the first ever Jazz At The Philharmonic concert, but Illinois took the second sax solo and in a few moments of blasting, screeching, crowd-pleasing madness, Jacquet had defined the future of jazz and R&B tenor sax styling. McVea was on “Slim’s Jam”, along with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Slim Gaillard, and managed to slip in a reference to “Open The Door, Richard!” about a year before he recorded his own hit version of the comedy stage routine.



In 1943 he left Hampton to form one of the first small jump bands in LA and not only released records under his own name, but also provided backing for Wynonie Harris on Apollo Records and T-Bone Walker on Black & White. It was for the latter record company that McVea made the record that was to become one of the biggest selling and most covered records of 1947 – “Open The Door Richard!” While working for the Lionel Hampton outfit a few years before, McVea had toured with a comic called Dusty Fletcher, part of whose stage routine consisted of playing a drunken reveller trying to gain entry to his appartment by rousing his slumbering roommate who happens to have the only key to the front door.

McVea worked up a little spoken musical number for his band’s live act based on the Fletcher routine and recorded it for Black & White in September 1946. The record was released at the end of the year and became a monster seller in 1947, inspiring covers by Louis Jordan, Count Basie and Dusty Fletcher himself. Of course Jack saw very little of the royalties, most of which vanished thanks to some creative accountancy by the record company. McVea’s last recording session for Black & White took place in March of 1947. In November and December of 1947 he recorded several sessions for Exclusive and then took to club work in locations as far apart as Honolulu, Alaska, Las Vegas, and even LA.

Jack signed up with Jake Porter’s Combo Records in 1953. His band was very much the house band at Combo, recording not only under Jack’s name, but also under various guises such as Jonesy’s Combo. They were on Combo’s biggest selling disc, the original version of “Ko Ko Mo” by Gene & Eunice, but once again saw little in the way of royalty payments. As the 1950s wound to a close, so did Jack’s recording career and by the early 1960s he was making a living as a junkman. In 1966 he took up an engagement as clarinet player in a small Dixieland jazz group at Disneyland. It was a gig that lasted until 1992 when Jack finally retired from the music scene. He died in December 2000.

This is a re-up of an LP originally posted on the old Be Bop Wino blog, but with all new cover scans, including the complete gatefold sleeve.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps. I made extensive use of clicking and crackling elimination, which may or may not be a good thing.

Download from here:

http://www20.zippyshare.com/v/zWoIoeVl/file.html

1. Bartender Boogie (Black & White 750)
2. Tarrant Blues (Apollo 370)*
3. O-Kay For Baby (Apollo 761)
4. We're Together Again (Apollo 366)*
5. Ooh Mop (Black & White 750)
6. Don't Blame Me (Apollo 761)
7. Frisco Blues (Black & White 751)
8. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying (Black & White 793)
9. Open The Door Richard! (Black & White 792)
10. Wine-O (Black & White 751)
11. Inflation Blues (Exclusive 260)
12. Groovin' Boogie (Black & White 810)
13. No, No, You Can't Do Dot Mon (Exclusive 266)
14. Jack Frost (Exclusive 266)
15. Mumblin' Blues (Exclusive 270)
16. The Key's In The Mailbox (Black & White 828)

* credited to Rabon Tarrant



More platters that matter -

On the blog: “New Deal” (Jukebox Lil 625) which has more early Jack McVea sides.



Recommended purchases:

“McVoutie’s Central Avenue Blues” (Delmark DE-756)



Compilation of Apollo sides. Includes sides credited to Wynonie Harris, Cee Pee Johnson, Wild Bill Moore and Duke Henderson.

“Fortissimo! The Combo Recordings 1954 -57” (Ace CDCHD 1246)

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis = Hen Gates Shock!!!

Thanks to “Hamfat” who commented on the Hen Gates and His Gaters “Rock and Roll” post, we now know that a couple of the tracks on that album are not old Freddie Mitchell masters bought from Derby, but are in fact Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis tracks recorded for Lenox in 1947.

The tracks in question are “Back Bone” and “Look and Listen.” Hamfat suggested that they were in fact “Leapin’ On Lenox” and “Lockjaw’s Bounce.” My thoughts after listening to the Lenox tracks on the excellent Chronological Classics CD “Eddie Lockjaw Davis 1946 – 1947” are that “Back Bone” is “Minton’s Madhouse” and “Look and Listen” is indeed “Leapin’ On Lenox.”

I am still not totally convinced that all the tracks on the “Let’s All Dance To Rock and Roll” LP are Freddie Mitchell masters from Derby. The only two tracks I could identify for sure as such are “Great Gates Rock” and “Lose” which are “Cold Heat” and “Doby’s Boogie” respectively. These are the two tracks which aren’t listed on the LP sleeve and in my opinion the remaining 12 tracks sound different, more like mid 50s tracks than recordings from 1949 – 1952 which were the years Freddie Mitchell was at Derby. The two definite Mitchell tracks also turn up again on the “Rock and Roll” LP. Here is an update on the list of tracks from “Rock And Roll” whose origins are now known:

Track 1, “Stop” is “Pony Express”, recorded 1950/51, originally released on Derby 725

Track 3 "Look Out" is "Lockjaw's Bounce" (Lockjaw Davis), recorded in 1947, unreleased on single

Track 4 “Hold It” is “Hot Ice” (minus intro), recorded December 1951, originally released on Derby 777

Track 5 “The Creep” is “Doby’s Boogie”, recorded in 1949, originally released on Derby 713

Track 8 “Rockin’ and Rollin’ Hop” is “Madera Hop”, recorded in December 1951, originally released on Derby 807

Track 9 “Back Bone” is “Minton’s Madhouse” (Lockjaw Davis), recorded in 1947, originally released on Lenox 515

Track 10 “Look And Listen” is “Leapin’ On Lenox” (Lockjaw Davis), recorded in 1947, originally released on Lenox 502

Track 11 “Bunny Rock” is “Cold Heat” (minus intro), recorded in 1952, originally released on Derby 793

Track 12 "Bear Walk" is "Lockjaw's Bounce" (Lockjaw Davis), recorded in 1947, unreleased on single

The Chronological Classics CD lists several Lockjaw Davis tracks recorded for Lenox being released on Remington and Plymouth. See the comments section on the “Rock And Roll” post for details. Can anyone add any more information which could help us nail the mystery of Hen Gates for once and for all?

PS - sorry for the slightly misleading and sensationalist headline. I'm hoping to get a job on "The Scotsman" newspaper. Or failing that, a position with BBC Scotland.