Honey Honey Blues / Moonrise Blues - Lightnin' Hopkins (Aladdin 3077)

Listen to "Honey Honey Blues"

Listen to "Moonrise Blues"

Both sides were recorded in Houston, Texas, in February 1948. This single was released in February 1951.

This is another in the "Blues on 78" series where we showcase rips from original shellac 78 rpm discs provided by El Enmascarado, and this time we're really going "down home." These sides are probably the rootsiest sounds to hit the blog so far. Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins' musical career began in the 1920s with Blind Lemon Jefferson and Texas Alexander. In 1946 he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum who got him signed to Aladdin Records out in LA - she had already scouted Amos Milburn for the same label.

Although Lightnin's style harked back to the rough country blues of the 20s and 30s, he had a series of entries in the R&B charts in the late 1940s and early 1950s for Aladdin, Modern, Gold Star and Sittin' In With. This disc didn't chart, but it's a belter - with "Moonrise Blues" being an especially powerful doom-laden performance.

Says El Enmascarado: "A listen to the lyrics of Moonrise Blues makes it easy to guess that the song Bad Moon Rising "borrows" from it. It's one of the darkest Lightning Hopkins songs I can remember. He must have had a big fight with his girlfriend before leaving for the studio."

By way of contrast, "Honey Honey Blues" is an attractive little pleader with lovely guitar playing. There's more Lightnin' coming up in the series, so keep looking in on Be Bop Wino, the blog where the blues reigns!

Don't Start Me Talkin' / All My Love In Vain - Sonny Boy Williamson (Checker 824)

Recorded in Chicago on August 12th, 1955. Personnel: Sonny Boy Williamson (vcl and hca); Otis Spann (p); Muddy Waters (g); Jimmy Rogers (g); Willie Dixon (b); Fred Below (d).

Listen to "Don't Start Me Talkin'"

Listen to "All My Love In Vain"

Recorded at Sonny Boy Williamson's first session for the Chess label, and released on the Chess subsidiary Checker, "Don't Start Me Talkin'" hit the R&B charts in October / November 1955. On the November 12th issue of Billboard, it stood at number 9 in the retail sales chart, number 3 in the juke box plays chart and number 5 in the disc jockey plays chart. The record didn't start slipping down the charts until early December, so Sonny Boy's Chess debut was a considerable success.

1955 was an excellent year for Chess with a whole heap of hits for Sonny Boy, Little Walter, Willie Mabon, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and of course Chuck Berry whose "Maybellene" was the third top selling R&B disc of the year.

Many thanks to El Enmascarado for this post. Special mention must be made of his sterling persistence in getting a decent rip from the Victrola - worn shellac disc, especially from skip-skip afflicted "All My Love In Vain." Luckily for us El Enmascarado has a hi-tech solution to such problems - increase the tone arm weight. Back when a record was a record and not a mere intangible concatenation of bits and bytes, I used to sellotape coins to my tone arm so that it could plough through skips. Happy days.

Off The Wall / Tell Me Mama - Little Walter And His Jukes (Checker 770)

Listen to "Off The Wall"

Listen to "Tell Me Mama"

This double sided hit for Little Walter was recorded in Chicago in March 1953. The personnel were: Little Walter (harmonica, vocal); Louis Myers (g); Dave Myers (g); Willie Dixon (b); Fred Below (d).

"Off The Wall" / "Tell Me Mama" was one of a series of chart successes for Little Walter in 1953. In May 1952, while still a member of the Muddy Waters band, he had recorded the instrumental "Juke." Released as by "Little Walter and his Night Cats," it became a massive R&B hit in the autumn of 1952, spending two months in the number one spot. Little Walter left the Muddy Waters outfit to launch his own solo career, recruiting a band he christened "The Jukes" with Louis Myers on lead guitar, his brother Dave Myers on bass and Fred Below on drums.

"Juke" was no one off hit, for further success came in late 1952 and early 1953 with "Mean Old World" / "Sad Hours", both sides of which charted. The band toured intensively in the spring of 1953, returning to the studio in March. "Off The Wall" / "Tell Me Mama" was another double sided hit for Little Walter, with "Tell Me Mama" charting in April 1953 and "Off The Wall in May. In the autumn of 1953 there was another double sided hit for Little Walter with "Blues With A Feeling" / "Quarter To Twelve." As 1953 turned to 1954, "You're So Fine" continued the run of hits.

Ripped from the original 78 rpm shellac disc. Many thanks to El Enmascarado for this latest post in the "Blues On 78" series. There's even more in the pipeline!

Rockin' With Red / Red's Boogie - Piano Red (RCA Victor 22-0099)

Listen to "Rockin' With Red"


Listen to "Red's Boogie"

Both sides recorded in Atlanta on July 25th, 1950. Willie Lee Perryman (aka "Piano Red"), piano and vocal; William Jones, bass, William Green, drums.

Imagine my  deep joy when I wended my way home from the pub last night (with a belly full of Deuchar's IPA) to find this gem in my email inbox courtesy of El Enmascarado. Piano Red has been a longtime favourite of mine and pretty soon I was regaling the neighbours with multiple plays of "Rockin' With Red." Both sides of this disc were big R&B hits in early 1951, with "Rockin' With Red" reaching number 5 and "Red's Boogie" reaching number 4. Piano Red had three further chart hits in 1951, including the immortally risque "Right String But The Wrong Yo-Yo."

It's not just a cliche to say that this kind of music is timeless. Piano Red's musical career stretched back to the dawn of the 1930's and carried on through the R&B era into the early Rock and Roll period when he attracted a big following of rockers and then on into the early 1960s when he was reincarnated as Doctor Feelgood. He was still recording in the 1980s almost up until his death in July 1985.

You can imagine Piano Red pounding out these tracks in a saloon or bordello in the 1890s, never mind the 1950s!

Thanks to El Enmascarado for theses rips from a 78 disc and the label scans. I've added some 1950s EP covers on RCA and its subsidiary Groove sent in by Joan K. Thanks Joan.

And lastly we've just got time for another visit to El Enmascarado's record room where we can admire a heap of his latest shellac acquisitions - a sight to gladden the eye.

Walking The Blues / If You're Mine - Willie Dixon and The Allstars (Checker 822)

                                       

Listen to "Walking The Blues"

Listen to "If You're Mine"

Our "Blues on 78" series continues with this latest gem from El Enmascarado.

Released in July 1955, this disc was Willie Dixon's first solo disc. "If You're Mine" was recorded in May 1955 with Harold Ashby (tenor sax), Lafayette Leake (piano) and Fred Below (drums). "Walking The Blues" was recorded in June 1955 with Lafeyette Leake (piano) and Fred Below (footsteps).

"Walking The Blues" was a cover of the Champion Jack Dupree single on King, which had Mr. Bear doing the walking sounds. Champion Jack's version was the more successful, reaching number seven in the R&B best seller charts, and number six in the most played R&B records on juke boxes at the end of August 1955. In the same week the Willie Dixon version made it to number nine in the juke box plays chart.

Many thanks to El Enmascarado for these rips from the original 78 rpm shellac disc and also for the label scans.

Boogie Chillen’ / Sally May – John Lee Hooker (Modern 627)

Listen to "Boogie Chillen'"


Listen to "Sally May"

Recorded in Detroit in the second half of 1948, and released just before New Year, this primitive solo blues stomper by John Lee Hooker reached the number one spot in the R&B charts in 1949. It stands in complete contrast to the jump blues combos of Paul Williams, Louis Jordan and Amos Milburn who dominated the R&B scene at that time.

The good news for blues fans is that El Enmascarado has taken a break from getting his ass kicked in wrestling rings the length and breadth of Mexico and has devoted his time to acquiring even more 78 rpm shellac discs which he is working round the clock to convert to a bloggable format. This is the first in a series of  "Blues on 78" posts which will feature streaming audio ripped directly from battered 78s. Don't expect hi-fi sound quality but do expect the REAL blues.

Many thanks to El Enmascarado for the sounds and label scans. There hasn't been much activity on the blog lately as real life has kept me from the keyboard. Not only have there been no posts, but I've let a pile of unanswered blog related emails and comments build up. I'll get back to you all, I promise. A special thanks to the son of Calvin Boze for taking the time to leave a comment on "Choo Choo's Bringing My Baby Home." That certainly came as a very pleasant surprise!

Four Years Of Bop And Wine

This weekend marks the fourth anniversary of Be Bop Wino's appearance on the rocking interweb. The first music post (a cassette of Savoy and National movers and groovers) went up on Sunday, the 23rd of September 2007. A couple of years down the line the blog got taken down but reappeared in its current vinyl-only format, which I think is preferable to the old blog. I would like to thank all contributors and collaborators who have done so much to turn Be Bop Wino into something that I never anticipitated it would become when I started it four years ago.

Many thanks to those of you who take the trouble to comment. I've learned a lot from many of those comments. And thanks also to those of you who have corresponded via email over the years. It's been fascinating to hear from fellow bloggers, deejays (both club and radio), musicians from R&B revival bands, record retailers, relatives of the original 1950s musicians, journalists, researchers and fellow enthusiasts.

Here's the Be Bop Wino anniversary playlist. Some of these tracks may still be found somewhere on the blog, but others have been and gone. So for your listening (but not downloading) pleasure we present a round dozen platters from back when R&B was R&B.

Imperial R&B All-Stars

Side One:
1. The Fat Man - Fats Domino
2. Rootin' And Tootin' - Smiley Lewis
3. All That Wine Is Gone - Big Jay McNeely
4. Fats' Frenzy - Fats Domino
5. An Old Cow Hand From A Blues Band - Dave Bartholomew
6. Don't Cry Baby - Big Jay McNeely

Side Two:
1. Ain't Gonna Do It - The Pelicans
2. '44' - Fats Domino
3. Shame, Shame, Shame - Smiley Lewis
4. Good News - Dave Bartholomew
5. I Don't Need You - James "Sugar Boy" Crawford
6. Don't Leave Me This Way - Fats Domino

Here’s the second compilation in the “R&B All-Stars” series. This time round it’s the turn of Imperial Records out of Hollywood, California, although you’d think it was a New Orleans label when you look at the track list and listen to the rollicking rhythm and blues contained within the bits and bytes available for your downloading pleasure.

This is definitely a case of “all killer, no filler.” The Fats Domino tracks date from before “Ain’t It a Shame” and “Blueberry Hill” and are raw roughhouse R&B, with his first ever recording, “The Fat Man” kicking off the whole shebang in a welter of stomping piano. There’s a couple of belters from Smiley Lewis while Dave Bartholomew not only contributes recordings under his own name, but also arranges and plays on just about every other track in the collection. The two Big Jay McNeely tracks are the only reminder here that Imperial was in fact a West Coast label. Don’t worry – they fit right in with the good time rockin’ and rollin’ from New Orleans.

So play it LOUD, with a little bit of cross fading, and be prepared to dance, jump, howl and play air piano as the rhythm takes a hold of you.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

http://www22.zippyshare.com/v/QblBgxzw/file.html

With thanks to "Spyder John" for pointing me towards the great Dave Bartholomew instrumental "Good News." Thanks also to Joan K for the 45 rpm record sleeve scan, and to "Brian with a B" for the "R&B All-Stars" idea.

Calvin Boze – Choo, Choo's Bringing My Baby Home

Side 1:
1. Choo Choo's Bringing My Baby Home
2. My Friend Told Me
3. Good Time Sue
4. Stinkin' From Drinkin'
5. Slippin' And Slidin'
6. I Can't Stop Crying
7. Beal Street On A Saturday Night
8. Hey Lawdie, Miss Claudie
9. Have You Ever Had The Blues

Side 2:
1. Waiting And Drinking
2. Blow Man Blow
3. Safronia B
4. Angel City Blues
5. Baby You're Tops With Me
6. I'm Gonna Steam Off The Stamp
7. Looped
8. Look Out For Tomorrow Today
9. Fish-Tail
10. I've Got News For You

I first came across the music of Calvin Boze back in the early 1980s via the old Pathe Marconi compilation “Aladdin’s Rock’n Roll Sock Hop.” When I heard his “Hey Lawdy, Miss Claudie” on Side One of the LP, three thoughts raced through my mind:
(1) Nope, that’s not the Lloyd Price song which was brilliantly covered by Elvis
(2) That guy sounds just like Louis Jordan
(3) What’s this old 1940s jump blues doing on a rock and roll album?

Not that I didn’t like “Hey Lawdy, Miss Claudie,” mind you. There was another Calvin Boze track on Side Two, “Good Time Sue” which wasn’t quite as good, but it had the same eerie resemblance to the sound of Louis Jordan. And it turned out that both tracks were from the early 1950s rather than the 1940s. Apart from a 1949 Amos Milburn opus (“Bow Wow”), the rest of the tracks on the album WERE rock and roll by the likes of Gene & Eunice, Thurston Harris, Shirley & Lee, The Jivers, Lee Allen and Little Wilbur and the Pleasers.

In the late 1980s two Calvin Boze compilation LPs appeared. “Havin’ A Ball” was issued on Moonshine. The LP had indifferent sound quality, having been obviously mastered from shellac or vinyl records. The LP on this post, “Choo, Choo’s Bringing My Baby Home” was issued by Route 66 in 1989. As with the Moonshine LP, the tracks are mastered from old records but with slightly better sound quality.

Some Calvin Boze tracks turned up in pristine sound quality on the great Billy Vera double CD compilation on Capitol, “Jumpin’ Like Mad: Cool Cats & Hip Chicks.” The second track on the first disc was the unforgettable “Safronia B” and there were three more gems on the set: “Looped,” “Blow Man Blow,” and “Keep Your Nose Out Of My Business”. How could the last track not be by Louis Jordan? Heck, even the song title was pure Louis. “Safronia B” also turned up on the terrific “The Aladdin Records Story” double CD set.

What was noticeable from these reissues was that very little was known about Calvin Boze. Indeed there seemed to be only one photograph of him, the photo that’s on the front of this Route 66 LP. “Rock and Roll Sock Hop” used a drawing of him that originally appeared on Aladdin record sleeves of the 78 era and this drawing was adapted for the illustration on the front of “Havin’ a Ball.” The most thorough notes on him were by Dave Penny for “Choo, Choo’s Bringing My Baby Home” and even at the time of the writing of these notes in 1989, Calvin’s place and date of birth were unknown.

However, time moves on and more facts about Calvin Boze have come to light. He was born in Trinity County, Texas on October 15th, 1916. He was educated in Houston and in the 1930s he played trumpet and led the Wheatley High School band which numbered Tom Archia, Russell and Illinois Jacquet, and Arnett Cobb among its members. Thereafter Calvin attended Prairie View College where he led the Collegians who included his old school band mate Tom Archia and Charles Brown.

At some time in the mid 1940s Calvin relocated to Los Angeles, possibly after his military service. His first recording was for Globe Records in LA in 1944-45 with Russell Jacquet’s band which included Teddy Edwards on alto sax, Charles Mingus on bass and Chico Hamilton on drums. Two sides were issued on Globe 105 – “Penny’s Worth of Boogie” and “Look What You’ve Done To Me.”

Calvin’s next recordings were as vocalist with Marvin Johnson and his Orchestra (in reality a seven piece jump band) on November 2nd, 1945, for the G&G label. Billed as Calvin Boaz, he sang on “Just A Dream” and “Saffronia Bee,” which he would re-record several years down the line for Aladdin.

In August 1949 Calvin signed for Aladdin Records for whom he recorded a total of seven sessions, commencing on August 15th, 1949 and ending on August 15th, 1952. The recordings, under the supervision of Maxwell Davis, showed a remarkable resemblance to the jump blues hits of Louis Jordan. Not only was Calvin’s singing voice very like that of Jordan (perhaps with the exception of a couple of the slow blues numbers), but the material itself can be described as Jordanesque. It was mostly melodic good humoured jump and jive with “Beal (sic) Street on a Saturday Night” being similar to Jordan’s “Saturday Night Fish Fry” with its description of street life and rambunctious goin’s on – in Memphis in Calvin’s song, as opposed to New Orleans in Jordan’s number. There’s lots of fun for jump blues fans here in spotting the similarities between Calvin’s songs and various Louis Jordan numbers.

As we’ve seen in a previous post, only “Safronia B” had a brief brush with the national R&B chart. However it has stood the test of time and has featured in numerous official and unofficial jive compilations and to this day remains a favourite at jumpin’ record hops. Calvin and his road band were a successful live act, with residencies and appearances in the LA area and several national tours supporting Dinah Washington. Aladdin promoted Calvin’s sides well and even featured his likeness on their record sleeves, but after his final session in August 1952, Calvin faded from the music scene.

Back in the 1980s and early 90s his disappearance from the entertainment world was seen as another aspect of the Calvin Boze mystery. In fact we now know that he took up a career in teaching.

A few years back I posted the Moonshine LP “Havin’ A Ball” and last year I received an email from a former pupil of Mr. Boze. I can’t say how long a gap there was between Calvin Boze’s final recording session in 1952 and the start of his new career as an elementary school teacher. According to our anonymous correspondent he was teaching at George Washington Carver Elementary School in the Willowbrook district of South Los Angeles by 1963.

In a short series of emails our informant has painted a picture of a dedicated and very effective teacher. Mr. Boze was able to guide his young charges through the difficult days in the aftermath of the assassination of JFK. In a lighter moment one Friday afternoon he gave his class a demonstration of how to do “The Mashed Potato” much to their noisy delight. Once a hep cat, always a hep cat.

Sadly Calvin Boze passed away in June 1970 at the comparatively young age of 53.

Further information:

The J.C. Marion website has a page “Remembering Calvin Boze” at this link:

http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/cboze.html

The article has interesting information about his live appearances.

“Spyder John” has informed me that issues 9 and 10 (volume 1) of ‘Fessa John Hook’s “Dancing on the Edge Journal” contain a two part article on the origins of “Safronia B.” There is an exploration of the California big band scene of the 1930s as well as info on Marvin Johnson and Calvin Boze. See:

http://www.beachshag.com/

in order to subscribe to “Dancing on the Edge (Explorations in Beach and Shag History)”

There is a brief entry in the Texas State Historical Association online handbook here:

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fboaq

Further listening:

“Calvin Boze: the Complete Recordings, 1945 –52 (Blue Moon BMCD 6014) was issued in 2007 and is still available.

“Marvin Johnson: Jumpy Rhythm Jive, the Complete Recordings, 1946–51 (Blue Moon BMCD 6050) was issued in 2006 and is also still available at mid-price if you look around.

I’ve ordered my copies of the Blue Moon CDs from Amazon.co.uk marketplace. So much for the argument that blogs discourage CD sales.

There are twelve of Calvin Boze’s Aladdin sides on the previously recommended 4 CD collection on JSP “Rare West Coast Jump ‘n’ Jive 1945 – 1954.” Tip - search around for a reasonable price on this set. The people at Amazon.co.uk are doing it for £9.99. Don’t go paying around £20 for it!

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

http://www55.zippyshare.com/v/Cg2ScELi/file.html

1. Choo Choo's Bringing My Baby Home (13th January, 1950, Aladdin 3079)

2. My Friend Told Me (23rd October, 1951, Aladdin 3122)

3. Good Time Sue (23rd October, 1951, Aladdin 3132)

4. Stinkin' From Drinkin' (24th July, 1950, Aladdin 3072)

5. Slippin' And Slidin' (15th January, 1951, Aladdin 3086)

6. I Can't Stop Crying (15th January, 1951, Aladdin 3100)

7. Beale Street On A Saturday Night (15th January, 1951, Aladdin 3079)

8. Hey Lawdie, Miss Claudie (23rd October, 1951, Aladdin 3122)

9. Have You Ever Had The Blues (15th August, 1949, Aladdin 3045)

10. Waiting And Drinking (15th August, 1949, Aladdin 3045)

11. Blow Man Blow (15th August, 1952, Aladdin 3147)

12. Safronia B (13th January, 1950, Aladdin 3055)

13. Angel City Blues (13th January, 1950, Aladdin 3055)

14. Baby You're Tops With Me (13th January, 1950, Aladdin 3086)

15. I'm Gonna Steam Off The Stamp (23rd October, 1951, Aladdin 3110)

16. Looped (15th August, 1952, Aladdin 3147)

17. Look Out For Tomorrow Today (24th July, 1950, Aladdin 3072)

18. Fish-Tail (23rd October, 1951, Aladdin 3110)

19. I've Got News For You (24th July, 1950, Aladdin 3100)

With thanks to Joan K and El Enmascarado for label scans. And many thanks to a former pupil for memories of Mr. Boze the teacher.

Let’s listen to “Blow, Man Blow.” Take it away, Calvin!

King R&B All-Stars

Side One
1. Tell The Truth - The 5 Royales
2. I'll Go Crazy - James Brown & his Famous Flames
3. Driving Sideways - Freddy King
4. Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong - Albert King
5. Over The Rainbow - The Checkers
6. Cherry Wine - Little Esther

Side Two
1. I'm Tore Up - Billy Gayles
2. Goofy Dust Blues - Little Willie Littlefield
3. Tonk Game - Hank Marr
4. It Won't Be This Way Always - The King Pins
5. Teardrops On Your Letter - Hank Ballard & The Midnighters
6. Need Your Love So Bad - Little Willie John

I hope this will be the first in a series of "R&B All-Stars" posts which will present short label based compilations of 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues sides. As I believe in the old adage that "less is more", these compilations will be presented as 12 track LPs complete with front and back covers. The tracks may be few in number but I like to think that "all killer, no filler" is an apt description for these mythical 12 inchers. Every selection is a gem, says I, chosen from well-worn vinyl.
 
The LP covers will be based on scans of original 78 rpm and 45 rpm record sleeves supplied by Joan K and El Enmascarado. The idea for these covers originated with our photoshopper "Brian with a B" although the covers on this post are by myself, so all complaints should be directed to me!
 
"King R&B All-Stars" is a mix of mainly mid to late 1950s sides, most of which were originally released on Federal, a subsidiary label of King. Soul fans should be pleased by the impassioned gospel-style pleading on the sides by James Brown, The 5 Royales and The King Pins. Hank Ballard and Little Willie John get deep down in the two classic weepers "Teardrops On Your Letter" and "Need Your Love So Bad" and there's some raunchy blues guitar on the tracks by Freddy King, Albert King and Billy Gayles (with the Ike Turner band).
 
Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.
 
Download from here:
 
http://www23.zippyshare.com/v/LPIZFhyk/file.html