Sonny Boy Williamson - Chess Masters

Side 1:
01. Don't Start Me To Talkin'
02. I Don't Know
03. All My Love In Vain
04. The Key (To Your Door)
05. Keep It To Yourself
06. Dissatisfied

Side 2:
01. Fattening Frogs For Snakes
02. Wake Up Baby
03. Your Funeral And My Trial
04. "99"
05. Cross My Heart
06. Let Me Explain

Side 3:
01. One Way Out
02. Too Young To Die
03. Trust My Baby
04. Checkin' Up On My Baby
05. Sad To Be Alone
06. Got To Move

Side 4:
01. Bring It On Home
02. Down Child
03. Peach Tree
04. That's All I Want
05. Too Old To Think

Download the 2LP set from here:

Sonny Boy Williamson (Mega)

As with so many of these early 1980s "Chess Masters" releases on PRT, absolutely no information on the artist or recordings is provided on this 2LP set. Of course the featured artist on this collection is the second Sonny Boy Williamson, whose real name has been thought to be William Miller, Rice Miller, or Aleck Ford. He could have been born in 1894 or maybe 1909. It's pretty certain that he was earning a living as a bluesman from the 1920s onward, and in 1936 he formed a long lasting partnership with guitarist Robert Jr. Lockwood.

In the 1940s while working on the "King Biscuit Time" radio show in Helena Arkansas he started calling himself "Sonny Boy Williamson" after the well known and influential Chicago based singer / harmonica player John Lee Williamson. It may have been an attempt to deliberately mislead the radio audience, but when the original Sonny Boy was murdered in 1948, the second "Sonny Boy" (who was in fact the older man) was left with the name.

His recording career started with Trumpet Records, Jackson, Mississippi in early 1951 and he recorded for this label until November 1954. Sonny Boy's first Chess recording session took place on the 12th August 1955, backed by the Muddy Waters band. Two tracks from this session, "Don't Start Me To Talkin'" and "All My Love In Vain" were released on Sonny Boy's first Checker single, the first of seventeen that he would release on the Chess subsidiary label.

O.K. sad sacks, here's the facts on the tracks that this album lacks!

First off here's the tracks with recording date and original release number:

01. Don't Start Me To Talkin' - 12th August 1955 - Checker 824
02. I Don't Know - 8th February 1957 - Checker 864
03. All My Love In Vain - 12th August 1955 - Checker 824
04. The Key (To Your Door) - 7th August 1956 - Checker 847
05. Keep It To Yourself - 7th August 1956 - Checker 847
06. Dissatisfied - 1st September 1957 - Checker 910
07. Fattening Frogs For Snakes - 8th February 1957 - Checker 864
08. Wake Up Baby - 27th March 1958 - Checker 894
09. Your Funeral And My Trial - 27th March 1958 - Checker 894
10. "99" - 1st September 1957 - Checker LP 1437
11. Cross My Heart - 1st September 1957 - Checker 910
12. Let Me Explain - 24th January 1956 - Checker 834
13. One Way Out - 30th April 1964 - Chess LP 1503
14. Too Young To Die - 14th December 1960 - Chess LP 1503
15. Trust My Baby - 15th September 1960 - Checker 963
16. Checkin' Up On My Baby - 14th April 1960 - Chess LP 1503
17. Sad To Be Alone - 30th January 1960 - Checker 943
18. Got To Move - 11th January 1963 - Chess LP 1503
19. Bring It On Home - 11th January 1963 - Checker 1134
20. Down Child - 15th September 1960 - Checker 1134
21. Peach Tree - June 1960 - Chess LP 1503
22. That's All I Want - 8th September 1961 - Chess LP 1503
23. Too Old To Think - 8th September 1961 - Chess LP 1503

Session details:

All sides recorded in Chicago with Sonny Boy Williamson on vocals and harmonica.

Don't Start Me Talkin' (Checker 824)
All My Love In Vain (Checker 824)
Recorded 12th August, 1955. Additional personnel: Otis Spann (piano); Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers (guitars); Willie Dixon (bass); Fred Below (drums).

Let Me Explain (Checker 834)
Recorded 24th January, 1956. Additional personnel: Otis Spann (piano); Robert Lockwood and Luther Tucker (guitars); Willie Dixon (bass); Fred Below (drums).

The Key (To Your Door) (Checker 847)
Keep It To Yourself (Checker 847)
Recorded 7th August, 1956. Additional personnel: Robert Lockwood and Luther Tucker (guitars); Willie Dixon (bass); Fred Below (drums).

I Don't Know (Checker 864)
Fattening Frogs For Snakes (Checker 864)
Recorded 8th February, 1957. Additional personnel: Robert Lockwood and Luther Tucker (guitars); Willie Dixon (bass); Fred Below (drums).

Dissatisfied (Checker 910)
"99" (Checker LP 1437)
Cross My Heart (Checker 910)
Recorded 1st September, 1957. Additional personnel: Otis Spann (piano); Robert Lockwood and Luther Tucker (guitars); Willie Dixon (bass); Fred Below (drums).

Wake Up Baby (Checker 894)
Your Funeral And My Trial (Checker 894)
Recorded 27th March 1958. Additional personnel: Lafayette Leake (piano); Robert Lockwood and Eugene Pierson (guitars); Willie Dixon (bass); Fred Below (drums).

Sad To Be Alone (Checker 943)
Recorded 30th January, 1960. Additional personnel: Otis Spann (piano); Robert Lockwood and Luther Tucker (guitars); Willie Dixon (bass); Fred Below (drums).

Checkin' Up On My Baby (Chess LP 1503)
Recorded 14th April, 1960. Additional personnel: Otis Spann (piano); Robert Lockwood and Luther Tucker (guitars); Unknown (electric bass); Fred Below (drums).

Peach Tree (Chess LP 1503)
Recorded June, 1960. Additional personnel: Otis Spann (piano);  Eddie King and Luther Tucker (guitars); Willie Dixon (bass); Fred Below (drums).

Trust My Baby (Checker 963)
Down Child (Checker 1134)
Recorded 15th September, 1960. Additional personnel: Lafayette Leake (piano); Robert Lockwood and Luther Tucker (guitars); Willie Dixon (bass); Fred Below (drums).

Too Young To Die (Chess LP 1503)
Recorded 14th December, 1960. Additional personnel: Otis Spann (piano); Robert Lockwood and Luther Tucker (guitars); Willie Dixon (bass); Odie Payne (drums).

That's All I Want (Chess LP 1503)
Too Old To Think (Chess LP 1503)
Recorded 8th September, 1961. Additional personnel: Otis Spann (piano); Robert Lockwood and Luther Tucker (guitars); Willie Dixon (bass); Fred Below (drums).

Got To Move (Chess LP 1503)
Bring It On Home (Checker 1134)
Recorded 11th January, 1963. Additional personnel: Lafayette Leake or Billy Emerson (organ); Matt Murphy (guitar); Milton Rector (electric bass); Al Duncan (drums).

One Way Out (Chess LP 1503)
Recorded 30th April, 1964. Additional personnel: Lafayette Leake (piano); Buddy Guy (guitar); Jack Myers (electric bass); Clifton James (drums).


Original release details:

Don't Start Me Talkin' / All My Love In Vain (Checker 824) was released in September 1955.

Let Me Explain (b/w Your Imagination) (Checker 834) was released in March 1956.

Keep It To Yourself / The Key (To Your Door) (Checker 847) was released in October 1956.

Fattening Frogs For Snakes / I Don't Know (Checker 864) was released in June 1957.

Your Funeral And My Trial / Wake Up Baby (Checker 894) was released in May 1958.

Dissatisfied / Cross My Heart (Checker 910) was released in December 1958.

It's Sad To Be Alone was the B-Side of The Goat, Checker 943, released in January 1960.

Trust My Baby (b/w Too Close Together) (Checker 963) was released in October 1960.

Bring It On Home / Down Child (Checker 1134) was released in February 1966.

"99" is an alternate take of "Ninety Nine" which was released as the B-Side of "Born Blind" (Checker 883) in February 1958. "99" was released on Checker LP 1437 "Down And Out Blues" in 1959.

Checkin' Up On My Baby, Peach Tree, Too Young To Die, That's All I Want, Too Old To Think, Got To Move, One Way Out, were all first released on Chess LP 1053 "Sonny Boy Williamson - The Real Folk Blues" in January 1966.

You can find El Enmascarado's rip of a 78 rpm issue of Sonny Boy's first record for Checker here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/dont-start-me-talkin-all-my-love-in.html

In fact here they be, Sonny Boy's first and considerably successful sides on Checker:

And to finish off, here's the cover of the only Sonny Boy Williamson CD I possess, from the Chess Legendary Masters series. Like the other CDs in this series it's in superb sound quality. If you ever come across any of these CDs in your local hepcat record shop, or in a jumble sale, buy 'em.

Note the bowler hat - Sonny adopted a rather eccentric interpretation of the English gentleman style during his British tours in 1963/64. He recorded with The Animals, The Yardbirds and Chris Barber during this time and also made a recording in London in April 1965 with a band that included Brian Auger and Jimmy Page. He died the following month back home in the USA.

Amos Milburn - 13 Unreleased Masters (re-up)

Side A:
01. Shake, Shake
02. I'll Be True
03. After Awhile
04. Without Someone To Call Your Own
05. Sorrowful Heart
06. Stormy Weather

Side B:
01. I'm Gonna Leave You
02. Hard Driving Blues
03. Nickel Plated Baby
04. Rapture In Bloom
05. Don't Tell Her
06. My Tortured Mind
07. It's A Married Woman

Download from here:

http://www21.zippyshare.com/v/BD8KucmC/file.html

Original post (October 10th, 2009) is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/amos-milburn-13-unreleased-masters.html

Please note that this re-up includes new front and back cover scans as well as label scans.

This is the last of my 5 Pathe Marconi Amos Milburn LPs to be re-upped. For unreleased tracks, most of what is on offer on this LP is top class, although the opening track "Shake, Shake" from Amos' 1956 New Orleans session is pretty weak - a formulaic attempt to make a rock 'n' roll record which is nowhere near as good as the re-recording of "Chicken Shack Boogie" which Amos cut at the same session.

The original post has an account of how I found my way to Amos, and also includes a survey of all the tracks on this LP. Hell, it's so good I'm just gonna reproduce it here. So all aboard the time machine and let's get back to 2009:

Back around 1980, when I started getting into the R&B sounds of the 1940s and 1950s, one name I was always on the lookout for in my searches through the record bins was Amos Milburn. For a few years all I could find was a scratched-to-hell copy of a 1978 United Artists LP called “Chicken Shack Boogie”. Then along came a series of reissue LPs of the great man himself on Pathé Marconi: “Let’s Have A Party”, “Vicious Vicious Vodka” and another LP named after one of his biggest hits: “Chicken Shack Boogie”.

Which brings me to the latest offering here on Bebopwino – one of those Amos Milburn LPs from Pathé Marconi – “13 Unreleased Masters”. It’s something of a cliché for reviewers to claim that a collection of unreleased tracks stacks up well against the released output of a performer, but in this case it’s true, bud, it’s true. And listening to these tracks while processing them from vinyl brought back to me the reasons why I became such a big fan of Amos Milburn all those years ago.

He’s one of those rare artists to whom I could happily listen for hour after hour. His piano playing ability combined with his smoky, slightly hoarse voice meant that he was equally at home with boogie woogie, early rock and roll, blues and ballads. You could imagine him performing in a rowdy dance hall or in the more intimate setting of a barroom or late night club.

This small but career-spanning collection shows the various sides of Amos. “Shake, Shake” is from late in his Aladdin career when he was no longer hitting the R&B charts. In December 1956 he recorded a session at Cosimo Matassa’s studio in New Orleans. The best known track from that session is his pounding reworking of “Chicken Shack Boogie”, but “Shake, Shake” can’t hope to equal that masterpiece. It may be rock and roll by-the-numbers, but Lee Allen’s tenor sax solo just about saves it. “I’ll Be True” recorded earlier in the year in Los Angeles is a nice pleading ballad which suits Amos’ voice perfectly. “After Awhile” is a good New Orleans influenced easy rocker recorded in LA in 1954.

“Without Someone To Call Your Own” and “Sorrowful Heart” are from a session recorded in New York in June 1953 with Sam “The Man” Taylor and Mickey “Guitar” Baker included in the backing band. “Without Someone …” is a fine moody blues, with “Sorrowful Heart” being a rather subdued ballad performance. “Stormy Weather”, the final track on side 1 of the LP, is a terrific performance recorded in LA in August 1952.

The seven tracks on side 2 were all recorded in LA in 1947 under the direction of Maxwell Davis. The storming “Nickel Plated Baby” (with nice guitar work by an unnamed player) dates from April while the rest of the tracks are from the November 19th session which produced the first version of “Chicken Shack Boogie.” One possible reason for these sides remaining unreleased is that they were recorded when an AFM strike was looming (to start on January 1st 1948) and record companies were frantically stockpiling masters to enable them to keep issuing material through the recording ban.

“I’m Gonna Leave You” is a rollicking boogie with great sax by Maxwell Davis “Hard Driving Blues” is either an instructional course on how to maintain your automobile at peak performance, or it’s a piece of utter filth. Here at Bebopwino our unofficial motto is “fun for all the family”, so any double entendres are purely in the minds of our listeners. Now go wash your brains out.

The final four tracks are all “slows”. The ballads “Rapture In Bloom” and “Don’t Tell Her” have no accompanying sax and sound uncannily like the King Cole Trio, which is no bad thing. “My Tortured Mind” and “It’s A Married Woman” are slow blues with sax fills by the maestro, Maxwell Davis.

The front cover of this LP is adapted from the cover of the 1952 Aladdin LP “Rockin’ The Boogie.” Thanks to Joan for a copy of that cover.

Amos Milburn - Vicious Vicious Vodka (re-up)

Side A:
01. Vicious Vicious Vodka
02. Long Long Day
03. Juice, Juice, Juice
04. Anybody's Blues
05. Tears, Tears, Tears
06. Money Hustlin' Woman
07. Birmingham Bounce

Side B:
01. Rum And Coca-Cola
02. Soft Pillow
03. Thinking Of You Baby
04. My Luck Is Bound To Change
05. Blue And Lonesome
06. Walkin' Blues
07. In The Middle Of The Night

Download from:

http://www102.zippyshare.com/v/0sBuSZYK/file.html

Original post (December 11th, 2010) is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/amos-milburn-vicious-vicious-vodka.html

The original post in which I reminisce about hearing The Big Town Playboys  perform "In The Middle Of The Night" in Edinburgh about 25 years ago. Tempus fugit ... and it certainly did for Amos Milburn, a giant of 1940s and early 1950s Rhythm and Blues, whose star faded so rapidly in the wake of the rise of rock and roll.

If you want an insight into the various stages of Amos' career with Aladdin, then "Vicious Vicious Vodka" is the collection for you. There's superb 1940s blues tracks with Amos on piano and husky vocals accompanied by the tasteful sax of Maxwell Davis, there's the early-to-mid 50s booze anthems, and there's a few late 1950s attempts to come to terms with the changing musical tastes of the record buying public. There's even a rare example of a live R&B cut in "Birmingham Bounce."

The back cover has interesting in-depth notes by Hank Davis and Colin Escott. Definitely one for the virtual record shelves of blues 'n' booze hounds the wide world over.

Amos Milburn - Chicken Shack Boogie (re-up)

Side A:
01. My Baby's Boogying
02. Amos Boogie
03. Bye Bye Boogie
04. It Took A Long Long Time
05. Chicken Shack Boogie
06. Pot Luck Boogie
07. Jitterbug Fashion Parade

Side B:
01. Roomin' House Boogie
02. Johnson Rag
03. Boogie Woogie
04. Sax Shack Boogie
05. Roll Mr Jelly
06. Grey Hound
07. House Party

Download from:

http://www10.zippyshare.com/v/XbNi61uX/file.html

Original post (April 9th, 2011), which contains recording info, career summary and recommended listening is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/amos-milburn-chicken-shack-boogie.html

As I wrote back in 2011 (five and a half years ago - help!), this is probably the best of the Pathe Marconi Amos Milburn collections. Apart from "It Took A Long Long Time", it's non-stop boogie, stomp, sway and rock from Amos, including the original 1948 hit version of "Chicken Shack Boogie." This is another much played LP, so there's quite a few clicks and pops along the way but that's what happens when you use your records the way the Good Lord intended them to be used. This stuff ain't for cataloging and filing away. This is the soundtrack for boozing, dancing and generally raisin' a ruckus. Go for it!

Amos Milburn - Let's Have a Party (re-up)

Side A:

01. Chicken Shack Boogie

02. Trouble In Mind

03. I Know You Love Me

04. Good Good Whiskey

05. Rocky Mountain

06. Let's Rock Awhile

07. Down The Road Apiece

Side B:

01. Bewildered

02. One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer

03. Let's Have A Party

04. I'm Still A Fool For You

05. Bad Bad Whiskey

06. My Happiness Depends On You

07. All Is Well

Download from:

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

Original post (May 19th, 2010) is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/amos-milburn-lets-have-party.html

This is the first of the Pathe Marconi Amos Milburn collections which I bought way back in the 1980s. I think I fell in love with the LP as soon as I spotted it in the record shop. That front cover was originally used on the 1957 LP of the same title on Score, a subsidiary label of Aladdin and is pure 1950s "glam", an approach to sleeve design which probably reached its peak on a series of blues albums on the Crown label.

This is the LP which got me hooked on Amos Milburn. It wasn't the first Amos LP I bought, that was a beat up copy of the UA "Chicken Shack Boogie" compilation from the late 1970s. But "Let's Have A Party" had it all - great artwork and crystal clear sound reproduction. With one strange exception - "Let's Rock A While" is curiously muffled. I have the same track with the same sound problem on the 3CD collection "Blues, Barrelhouse & Boogie Woogie." I wonder if the original record was like that?

The version of "Chicken Shack Boogie" on this LP is not the original 1947 hit recording, despite what the sleeve notes say. It is in fact the 1956 re-recording featuring searing sax work from Lee Allen and Red Tyler. Surely one of the greatest rock'n'roll records ever committed to wax. Naturally it sold zilch.

This has been a much-played LP, so of course there are some clicks, pops and rumbles, but it's still "as fine as wine, and really on the ball!"

Big Jay McNeely - Road House Boogie

Side A:
01. Blow Big Jay
02. Road House Boogie
03. Willie the Cool Cat
04. Midnight Dreams
05. Hoppin' With Hunter
06. K & H Boogie
07. Gingercake
08. Boogie in Front

Side B:
01. Junie Flip
02. Jaysfrantic
03. Real Crazy Cool
04. Tondalayo
05. Deac's Blowout
06. Let's Split
07. Just Crazy
08. Penthouse Serenade

Download from:

Road House Boogie (Zippy)

or

Road House Boogie (Mega)

This 1985 Saxophonograph LP is the final installment of my Big Jay McNeely vinyl uploads to the blog. On consideration I may well have inadvertently saved the best for last. With the exception of the vocal ballad "Midnight Dreams" and the hep blues "Junie Flip", the music on this album rocks, swings, howls, honks and hoots like crazy. Moreover, the gatefold sleeve has an extended biographical essay (based on interviews) by Bill Millar. The same essay constitutes one of the chapters in his book "Let The Good Times Rock!"

The back cover of the LP has full details of the recording sessions for these tracks, February and April 1949 for the Exclusive sessions, January 1950 for the Aladdin session and August 1952 for the featured Federal tracks. As has become customary on Be Bop Wino I have added the details of the original single releases of the tracks.

Original release details:

Midnight Dreams / Blow Big Jay - Exclusive 90X - April 1949

Road House Boogie / Willie The Cool Cat - Exclusive 96X - May 1949

Hoppin' With Hunter / Tondalayo - Exclusive 108X - July 1949

K&H Boogie / Junie Flip - Exclusive 122X - ? 1949

Boogie In Front / Gingercake - Exclusive 149X - ?1949

Jaysfrantic / Deac's Blowout - Aladdin 3050 - March 1950

Just Crazy / Penthouse Serenade - Federal 12111 - December 1952

Let's Split / Real Crazy Cool - Aladdin 3242 - May 1954

This LP follows on from the previous post "Wild Wig!" which featured Big Jay's first recordings for Savoy. Indeed while the Savoy disc "The Deacon's Hop" was climbing the R&B chart to the number one spot in February 1949, Big Jay was already recording for Leon Rene's Exclusive label. Less than a year later he recorded four tracks for Aladdin, two of which were not released until 1954. The final two tracks on this collection are from Big Jay's first session for Federal in August 1952. In between the Aladdin and Federal sessions Big Jay recorded for Imperial from late 1950 until late 1951.

If you download all the Big Jay McNeely LPs available on this blog, then you will have almost all the tracks he issued in the 1940s and 1950s.

Above: "Wild Wig" is a homemade comp of Big Jay's eight sides for Savoy, recorded in November / December 1948.

"Road House Boogie" contains his Exclusive sides recorded in February / April 1949, his four Aladdin sides recorded in January / February 1950 and two sides recorded for Federal in August 1952, neither of which are on the Federal LP "Big "J" In 3-D".

"Deacon Rides Again" contains most of his Imperial sides, recorded between December 1950 and November 1951.

"Big "J" In 3-D" has twelve of his Federal sides, recorded between August 1952 and April 1954.

"The Best Of Big Jay McNeely" is a career spanning collection which duplicates some of the above, but also fills in a few gaps from the Imperial and Federal collections. Also included are two of the four tracks Big Jay recorded for Vee-Jay in March 1955, his late 1950s hit "There Is Something On Your Mind" recorded in Seattle in January 1958 for Hunter Hancock's Swingin' label, and an unreleased version of "Flying Home" also recorded for Swingin'.

Recommended for your bookshelf:

I can't stop raving about this book! "Nervous Man Nervous: Big Jay McNeely And The Rise Of The Honking Tenor Sax!" by Jim Dawson.

"Let The Good Times Rock!" by Bill Millar. An anthology of Bill's well researched liner notes for roots music albums, including Hillbilly, Rockabilly, Rock 'n' Roll, R&B, Doo-Wop, Swamp Rock and Blue-Eyed Soul. R&B artists featured are: Etta James, Albert Collins, Herb Hardesty, Gatemouth Brown, Ivory Joe Hunter, Stick McGhee, Big Jay McNeely, Young Jessie, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Big Jim Wynn, Bullmoose Jackson and Sonny Knight.

Big Jay McNeely - Wild Wig

Side 1:

01. Wild Wig

02. Benson's Groove

03. The Deacon's Hop

04. Artie's Jump

Side 2:

01. California Hop

02. Sunday Dinner

03. Man Eater

04. Cherry Smash

Download from:

Wild Wig (Mega)

Wild Wig (Zippy)

We've been working our way through Big Jay's career on the blog, although backwards! Let's skip back to the very beginning, with his first records which were recorded in late 1948 and released during 1949 on four singles on Savoy. I've presented them in a made-up LP complete with front cover shamelessly ripped off from the Savoy LP "Big Maybelle Sings."

"Wild Wig" and "The Deacon's Hop" were both released at the beginning of 1949 and quickly hit the Billboard chart, "Wild Wig" reaching number 12 and "The Deacon's Hop" going all the way to number one. At the end of July 1949, in Billboard's half yearly survey of the top selling singles of the year so far, "The Deacon's Hop" was the thirteenth best selling Rhythm and Blues record. The top three were "The Hucklebuck" by Paul Williams, "Trouble Blues" by Charles Brown, and "Chicken Shack Boogie" by Amos Milburn.

In the same survey Big Jay was the thirteenth top selling R&B artist of the half year, thanks to sales of three Savoy discs, "The Deacon's Hop", "California Hop", and "Wild Wig", plus one release on Exclusive, "Blow Big Jay" which was recorded in February 1949 and released a few weeks later in April. By the time his Savoy releases were charting, Big Jay had already moved on and was recording for Exclusive. In our next post on Big Jay we'll be looking at his Exclusive and Aladdin releases.

In 1955 Savoy released a 10" LP, "Big Jay McNeeley Plays A Rhythm And Blues Concert" which featured his eight tracks recorded for the company in 1948.

As can be seen on the LP cover above, Big Jay's surname is spelled with an extra "e" and "Benson's Groove" has been renamed "Deacon's Groove." This same track was included in the Savoy 2LP set "Honkers and Screamers" as "Cold Blood."

The Savoy recording sessions:

November 29th, 1948, at Radio Recorders, Santa Monica Bvd, Hollywood, California -

John Anderson (trumpet); Jesse "Streamline" Ewing (trombone); Big Jay McNeely (tenor sax); Bob McNeely (baritone sax); Jimmy O'Brien (piano); Ted Shirley (bass); William Streetser (drums):

Wild Wig
Sunday Dinner
Benson's Groove
Man Eater

December 15th, 1948, venue as above -

John Anderson (trumpet); Britt Woodman (trombone); Big Jay McNeely (tenor sax); Jimmy O'Brien (piano); Ted Shirley (bass); William Streetser (drums):

California Hop
Cherry  Smash
The Deacon's Hop
Artie's Jump

The tracks were released as follows:

Benson's Groove / Wild Wig - Savoy 682. Released January 1949. Big Jay McNeely And His Bluejays.

The Deacon's Hop / Artie's Jump - Savoy 685. Released January 1949. Deacon McNeeley's Blue Jays.

California Hop / Sunday Dinner - Savoy 698. Released June 1949. Deacon McNeeley and his Blue Jays.

Cherry Smash / Man Eater - Savoy 713. Released October 1949. Big Jay McNeeley.

Note that the spelling of Big Jay's surname varied on the Savoy releases. Only Savoy 682 had the now universally recognised spelling of "McNeely." The other releases had "McNeeley."

Session information from "Nervous Man Nervous: Big Jay McNeely and the Rise of the Honking Tenor Sax!" by Jim Dawson. Additional release information from contemporary issues of Billboard and rateyourmusic.com which is a useful visual source for the labels on the original 78 rpm discs. 1955 Savoy LP cover from discogs.com.

Be Bop Wino Wails! Re-upped

Download from:

http://www38.zippyshare.com/v/pBpSV4VW/file.html

In response to a request for the re-up of this homemade compilation. There you go, movers 'n' groovers.

Track recording dates plus original release label info:

1. Midnight Jump - Hal Singer – Savoy (unreleased), February 1949

2. Rockin' - Bobby Nunn & The Robins – Modern 807, 1951

3. Rocket Boogie "88" Part 1 - Pete Johnson & His Orchestra – Downbeat / SwingTime 169, April 1949

4. Skid Row Boogie - Pete Johnson & His Orchestra – Downbeat / SwingTime 168, April 1949

5. Bye Bye Boogie - Amos Milburn – Aladdin 206, October 1947

6. Blue Roller - Gene Ammons – Prestige 911, February 1955

7. Cadillac Baby - Roy Brown – DeLuxe 3308, April 1950

8. What's Mine Is Mine - The Ray-O-Vacs – Decca 48234, January 1950

9. Stardust - Johnny Otis & His Orchestra – Mercury 8263, December 1951

10. Hot In Harlem - Tiny Grimes – Atlantic 869, May 1948

11. Careless Love - Big Joe Turner –National (unreleased), November 1947

12. The Applejack - Joe Morris – Atlantic 866, September 1948

13. Mumblin' Blues - Jack McVea & His All Stars – Exclusive 270, December 1947

14. Slow Blues - James Von Streeter – Savoy (unreleased), July 1949

15. D'Natural Blues - Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra – Victor 20-3351, January 1949

16. Deceivin' Blues - Johnny Otis & His Orchestra (vocal - Little Esther & Mel Walker) – Savoy 759, June 1950

17. Two Guitar Boogie - Rene Hall – Victor 20/47-5407, March 1953

18. Wild Wig - Big Jay McNeely – Savoy 682, November 1948

The original post (March 2nd, 2010) with further arcane knowledge is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/be-bop-wino-wails.html

All rips are from vinyl. Let's get the party rockin'!

The Dells - Rockin' On Bandstand

Side 1:
01. Jo-Jo
02. Zing, Zing, Zing
03. I Can't Help Myself **
04. Dance, Dance, Dance
05. Baby Do *
06. Time Makes You Change
07. Wedding Day
08. Oh What A Nite

Side 2:
01. Come On Baby *
02. At The Bandstand *
03. Cherry Bee *
04. Swinging Teens
05. Baby Open Up Your Heart
06. Restless Days, Sleepless Nights *
07. I Can't Dream *
08. I Wanna Go Home

* = previously unissued tracks
** = unissued in the 1950s

Download from here:

http://www28.zippyshare.com/v/OVIxS5bB/file.html

In response to a request for more doo-wop, here, for the first time on this blog, is a fine as wine 1983 Charly compilation of mostly uptempo Vee-Jay sides from The Dells. They were a long-lived group, recording and performing until 2012. As ever when it comes to vocal group history the go-to place is Marv Goldberg's website. His article on The Dells is here:

http://www.uncamarvy.com/Dells/dells.html

This collection includes their biggest 1950s R&B hit "Oh What A Night" and 7 tracks which were unreleased back in the 1950s. It's rhythm and blues meets rock 'n' roll and is well worth a listen especially for the great instrumental backing.

Release details of the nine tracks on this LP which were given a single release in the 1950s / early 1960s:

Zing, Zing, Zing: B-Side of Dreams of Contentment, Vee-Jay 166, December 1955

Oh What A Nite / Jo-Jo: Vee-Jay 204, July 1956

I Wanna Go Home: B-Side of Movin' On, Vee-Jay 230, December 1956

Dance, Dance, Dance: B-Side of Why Do You Have To Go, Vee-Jay 236, February 1957

Time Makes You Change: B-Side of Pain In My Heart, Vee-Jay 258, October 1957

Wedding Day: b/w My Best Girl, Vee-Jay 300, November 1958

Baby, Open Up Your Heart: B-Side of Dry Your Eyes, Vee-Jay 324, September 1959

Swinging Teens: b/w Hold On To What You've Got, Vee-Jay 376, March 1961

Big Jay McNeely - Deacon Rides Again

Side A:
01. Deacon Rides Again
02. Blow Blow Blow
03. Jay Walk
04. Night Ride
05. Jet Fury w/ Cheers
06. Deacon's Express
07. Insect Ball

Side B:
01. Sad Story
02. All That Wine Is Gone
03. Don't Cry Baby
04. Let's Do It (Deacon's Hop)
05. I'll Never Love Again
06. Love From The Heart (True Love)
07. Old Black Mule

Download from here:

Deacon Rides Again (Mega)

Deacon Rides Again (Zippy)

This is the return of an LP which I posted in the very earliest days of the blog. Back then I couldn't scan in LP covers properly so the rather tawdry looking post was quietly allowed to die following one of the takedowns of the blog. The return of "Deacon Rides Again" includes new cover and label scans. The sound files are the same but with a volume boost.

The tracks on this LP date from a couple of years before the Federal recordings on "Big "J" In 3-D," being recorded for Imperial between December 1950 and November 1951. This was the era captured in the photographs of Bob Willoughby taken at Hunter Hancock's Midnight Matinee on October 6th 1951 in the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium. The Imperial sides differ from the Federal sides in that few of them are instrumentals. Half of the tracks feature vocal accompaniment by "Three Dots And A Dash", a group with a varying lineup which featured Jesse Belvin and then Marvin Phillips as lead vocalist.

In fact there are only four original instrumental tracks in this collection: "Deacon Rides Again", "Blow Blow Blow", "Jay Walk" and "Night Ride." "Jet Fury w/ Cheers" and "Deacon's Express" have a murky origin, being spliced together extracts from the four original instrumentals with dubbed on crowd noise. See below for details!

The first six tracks of this collection are a non-stop tenor sax blast which brings to mind a quote from LeRoi Jones' sleevenotes for the Willis Jackson album "Thunderbird" on Prestige:

“Lloyd’s Manor in Newark, N.J., was a place where they’d have groups, like Illinois Jacquet’s, Erskine Hawkins', Earl Bostic’s, Tab Smith’s, Big Jay McNeely’s and all the other wild swingers of the day ….. It was a loud blur, climaxed by those shattering saxophone battles which featured heavy horns like Jacquet, McNeely and Ammons-Stitt groups and big throated singers like Wynonie Harris, Larry Darnell and Little Esther.” (Quoted in Charlie Gillet's "The Sound Of The City")

As I mentioned at the start of this post, two of the tracks on Side A have dubbed on crowd noise and are not what they seem to be. They are in fact cut-and-paste jobs, consisting of extracts from previously issued tracks spliced together. Listen to "Jet Fury w/ Cheers" and you can hear the intro to "Jay Walk" followed by "Deacon Rides Again" and then maybe some of "Blow Blow Blow." My head is still reeling from trying to deconstruct the track.

Similarly "Deacon's Express" combines pieces of different tracks, starting off as pieces of "Blow Blow Blow" then throwing in the "Ooh!" from "Deacon Rides Again" then back to the beginning of "Blow Blow Blow" for a complete reprise of that track. I think. I'm beyond all caring!

But what of the vocal sides which form more than half of this collection? The frantic "Insect Ball" features the voices of Little Arthur Matthews and Ernest Mayhand (aka Dope and Skillet). Jesse Belvin provides the vocal on "Sad Story", and leads Three Dots And A Dash (Jimmy Huff, Undine Harris and Marvin Phillips) on "All That Wine Is Gone" and "Don't Cry Baby". The final four tracks on the LP again feature Three Dots And a Dash, but with a different lineup without Jesse Belvin, lead vocals being provided by Marvin Phillips.

Big Jay releases on Imperial:

Imperial 5115 - All That Wine Is Gone / Don't Cry Baby - April 1951

Imperial 5130 - Insect Ball / Sad Story - summer 1951

Imperial 5164 - Let's Do It (Deacon's Hop) / I'll Never Love Again (credited to "Three Dots And A Dash with Big Jay McNeely And His Orchestra") - late summer 1951

Imperial 5169 - Tall Brown Woman / The Deacon Blows For Ray - late 1951

Imperial 5170 - Deacon Rides Again / Blow Blow Blow - January 1952

Imperial 5176 - Jay Walk / Night Ride - March 1952

Imperial 5186 - Love From The Heart / Old Black Mule (credited to "Three Dots And A Dash with Big Jay McNeely And His Orchestra") - mid (?) 1952

Imperial 5219 - Deacon's Express / Jet Fury - January 1953

As noted above, "Deacon's Express" and "Jet Fury - Cheers" are spliced extracts from Imperial 5170 and Imperial 5176, with dubbed on crowd noise. Two 1953 releases on the Imperial subsidiary Bayou are similar - Hometown Jamboree / Teenage Hop (Bayou 14) and Catastrophe / Calamity (Bayou 18). Someday, someone will risk their sanity by sitting down and listening to all these sides in order to analyse the ingredients of these cut 'n' paste jobs. It won't be me.

Elsewhere on the blog:

The Best Of Big Jay McNeely (Saxophonograph)

Big "J" In 3-D (Sing)

No R&B fan should be without this book:

Nervous Man Nervous by Jim Dawson (Big Nickel Publications, 1994) goes way beyond Big Jay to take a broad look at the honking sax phenomenon in rhythm and blues. Honk fans, this is your bible.