Gabe's Dirty Blues

“When I bought the Shamrock Tavern in Seattle, the seamen and street people didn't cotton up to me at first. It took 6 months for me and my crazy music to win them over - and then it was standing room only for years. You see we started with blues and never changed except for jazz. That was it for 17 years. Jazz and blues - you never had it so good …

… The tunes in this album were basically the tunes I played on a juke box at the original Shamrock and later 'Gabe's' a downtown Seattle joint in the 1950s and 1960s.

Now we had an old juke box with one speaker and we would turn it up as loud as we could. The customers were mostly seamen and street people - pimps, hustling broads and chippies - gamblers and boozers - pinball mechanics (some of the most loveable bastards of all) - pill-heads and addicts.

It was a rough joint and we only had one light in the place - the juke box. Constant fights - the seamen were mean. But it was exciting too. Seamen and street people are something else and we never knew what the hell would happen any given moment.

Wow, did seamen love to fight - drink - screw and listen to jazz and the blues…”- from Gabe McManus’s liner notes to “Gabe’s Dirty Blues

And if the above quotes don’t get you all of a quiver to download and listen to this 1978 collection of King / Federal R&B pounders then you may well be dead. If you ain’t already droolin’ then you certainly ain’t no bebop wino and you are definitely on the wrong blog. Maybe you should go hang around “too-square-to-bop.com” or some such.

We must thank “Issaquah” for this superb 2 LP set. So let the man himself give the lowdown on just what’s cookin’ here:

Gabe McManus had a passion for R&B music and owned a couple of bars in Seattle in the 40's, 50's & 60's. He wanted everyone to get a flavor of some of the music that wasn't too popular with the main stream at the time, so he compiled a 2-album compilation of some great old R&B music.

It took me months to track down a true vinyl copy of the album (circa 1978), which I eventually found through a wanted ad on Craigslist! The album & cover were in super-good condition and I had them ripped, scanned the covers and finally compiled GABE'S DIRTY BLUES in 100% digital format!

The complete 2-album set has 30 tracks totalling 78:05 minutes, so it can be burned in CDA format onto 1 CD! I did compress the entire set, forcing everyone to download, and then seed, the complete 30 song album. This helps preserve the entire torrent and prevents "cherry picking" of favorite songs. It is compressed with 7-Zip format (Windows). WINRAR & WINZIP will both decompress this file. Don't waste time complaining, just enjoy.
I've included the following in the archive:
* All 30 songs in MP3 format (320)
* All 30 songs in WAV format (original RIP from vinyl to WAV)
* Album cover (front & back) Scans in high res
* Album center scans
* Both MP3 & WAV files have ID3 tags + cover art embedded
* PDF file with play list & details

Thank you, “Issaquah”. As you can all appreciate, the inclusion of WAV files makes for a rather large download – seven downloads in fact. Out of consideration for non-premium account holders, there are TWO versions of this album available for download from rapidshare and megaupload. The DELUXE version is as detailed above by “Issaquah”. The BASIC version does not include the WAV files, but does have everything else.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps. Password on all downloads = greaseyspoon

DELUXE download currently unavailable

The Basic Version (mp3 only) can be downloaded from here:

http://www10.zippyshare.com/v/28020718/file.html


1. Fever / Little Willie John
2. Walkin' The Blues / Champion Jack Dupree
3. Sick & Tired / Lula Reed
4. Shake 'em Up, Baby / Roy Brown
5. Work With Me Annie / Hank Ballard & The Midnighters
6. Cherry Wine / Little Esther Phillips
7. 60-Minute Man / Billy Ward & The Dominoes
8. Ride, Jockey, Ride / The Lamplighters
9. Keep On Churnin' / Wynonie Harris
10. Rocket 69 / Todd Rhodes
11. 10-Inch Record / Bull Moose Jackson
12. Black Diamond / Roy Brown
13. Jealous Love / Lula Reed
14. Bloodshot Eyes / Wynonie Harris
15. Sexy Ways / Hank Ballard & The Midnighters
16. Salty Dog / The Lamplighters
17. Monkey, Hips and Rice / The “5” Royales
18. T-99 / Tiny Bradshaw
19. Rock Love / Lula Reed
20. Wasn't That Good / Wynonie Harris
21. Annie Had A Baby / Hank Ballard & The Midnighters
22. Girl From Kokomo / Roy Brown
23. All Around the World / Little Willie John
24. I Want a Bow-Legged Woman / Bull Moose Jackson
25. Quiet Whiskey / Wynonie Harris
26. Use What You Got / Freddy King
27. Queen Of Diamonds / Roy Brown
28. Loving Machine / Wynonie Harris
29. Shake That Thing / Wynonie Harris
30. Adam Come Get Your Rib / Wynonie Harris

Thank you Issaquah!

Buddy Johnson And His Orchestra (Silver Star Swing Series)

The third post on Buddy Johnson and this guy was such an important figure in the development of R&B that he thoroughly deserves such exposure on the blog. The first two posts on Buddy looked at his mid-fifties Mercury output, when his band, which had previously survived the transition from swing to R&B, was managing just fine as rock and roll rose to prominence. In this post we jump back a decade and look at tracks he recorded for Decca for whom he signed in 1939. This 1976 LP (complete with surface noise, natch) compiles tracks recorded between 1944 and 1952 and provides us with an insight into why this band survived through the R&B years, long after most big bands had broken up.

Firstly, Buddy himself was a talented pianist, arranger, composer and vocalist. Every track on this LP, with the exception of “Fine Brown Frame”, is a Buddy Johnson composition. Then there was his sister Ella who joined the band in 1940 and was one of the outstanding blues and ballad vocalists of her day. If you want to hear her absolutely best performances such as “Please Mr Johnson”, “Since I Fell For You”, “When My Man Comes Home” and “That’s The Stuff You Gotta Watch”, then you’re going to have to buy the great Ace CD recommended at the end of this post. In the meantime there’s enough of Ella on this selection to give you a taste of what a tremendous talent she was. The Bee Jays vocal group who accompany her on two of the tracks here was an in-house studio aggregation made up of band members Julius Watson, Steve Pulliam and Purvis Henson.

Balladeer Arthur Prysock was another formidable vocal talent who joined the band in 1943 and left for a successful solo career in 1952. His combination of suave good looks and Billy Eckstine influenced singing of lovelorn ballads was just what was needed to get the female members of the audience in a swoon. But most of all, this band was a dance band. Whether wowing the Harlem dancers at the huge Savoy Ballroom or blowing the roof off some chitlin’ circuit venue in the Midwest or the deep South, this was an outfit that guaranteed its audience a good time. “Walk ‘em”, with its heavy backbeat, was composed by Buddy when he noticed that many of the less proficient dancers couldn’t cope with the big band swing rhythms. There are some tremendous examples of Buddy’s stomping dance numbers on this collection.



Side two of this LP (tracks 9 – 16) has to be one of the best LP sides I’ve ever heard. There are five storming instros interspersed with some lovely blues by Ella. Tracks 11, 12 and 13 constitute a triple instrumental whammy, kicking off with the stomping “Down Yonder”, and then going into the real down-in-the-alley raunch of “Shake ‘em Up”, complete with “real gone” yells of “Stop me! Stop me!” and finishing up with the killer “Dr Jive Jives”. It’s just as well that Ella cools things down with a couple of slower numbers, because if we’d gone straight into the blasting finale of “Shufflin’ And Rollin’” I would have been an ambulance case for certain. DOA. “OD’d on Boogie, Doc.”



And there’s one more ingredient in this rhythm recipe – Buddy let those saxes wail. From the very first track, the decidedly swing era “South Main”, right through to the big band R&B of “Shufflin’ And Rollin’”, the saxes rarely let up. In the earlier line ups Frank Henderson and Jimmy Stanford provide the muscular tenor work and later Dave Van Dyke and Purvis Henson do the blastin’. And there’s also Geezil Minerve on alto and underpinning the reeds from first to last, the beefy baritone of Cherokee Conyers.

So there you have it folks - The People’s Band. And Buddy and his cohorts most certainly did play it pretty for the people.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

http://www118.zippyshare.com/v/8BxLFjy3/file.html

1. South Main
2. Fine Brown Frame (vcl – Buddy Johnson)
3. Opus Two
4. Walk 'em (vcl – Buddy Johnson)
5. You'll Get Them Blues (vcl – Ella Johnson)
6. Hey, Sweet Potato (vcl – Buddy Johnson)
7. Far Cry
8. Serves Me Right (vcl – Arthur Prysock)
9. Li'l Dog
10. You Can't Tell Who's Lovin' Who (vcl – Ella Johnson)
11. Down Yonder
12. Shake 'em Up
13. Dr Jive Jives
14. I'm Gonna Jump In The River (vcl – Ella Johnson & The Bee Jays)
15. Baby You're Always On My Mind (vcl – Ella Johnson & The Bee Jays)
16. Shufflin' And Rollin'

My recommended purchase is this outstanding CD on the UK Ace label: “Walk ‘Em: The Decca Sessions” (CDCHD 623).



A compilation of 24 tracks in exemplary sound quality, this disc concentrates on the vocal recordings of Buddy Johnson’s band, so you get the best of Ella and a smattering of instrumentals. Times are tough for reissue companies like Ace, so please go out and buy this superlative compilation. This is definitely one of the best CDs Ace have issued.

Original Rhythm 'N Blues

Here’s the first all new, entirely original post on the resurrected blog. It’s another example of a 1980s purchase which has remained forgotten and ignored for years in my vinyl cupboard.

From what I can glean from the rockin’ interweb, this collection originally appeared on the Sunbeam label. This particular LP from the Wino’s vaults was issued on the “Arbee” label. The back cover credits it to Arbee Records, England, 1977, while the actual record label says it was made in France in 1985. To add to the delicious confusion it has three different titles on the cover – “Original Rhythm ‘N Blues 1948-‘52” on the front, “Rhythm & Blues Anthology” on the spine and “Rhythm & Blues In The 40’s & 50’s” on the back. There is no title on the record label.

But what the heck, let’s not get too “record collectory”. It’s the music that matters and this is a little gem of a collection which shows the jazz and swing influences on R&B and at the other end of the timescale here (actually 1947-56) the influence of R&B on rock and roll. There’s lots of jumpin’ and jivin’ from big band veterans like Joe Thomas, Cootie Williams and Eddie Wilcox. The influence of the Jimmie Lunceford band in particular looms large here. There are also plenty of contributions from the following generation of rockin’ R&B musicians like Plas Johnson and “Mad Mel Sebastian.” Does anyone know who “Mad Mel” really was?

The information on the LP cover is pretty cursory, so I’ve done some digging round the worldwide R&B internet to get the low down on these wild waxings. ‘Scuse me if I don’t say too much about Earl Bostic and Bill Doggett. They’re both either on the blog or are about to be partially restored to the blog (no CDs!). Let us content ourselves with the observation that, like many other musicians on the LP, they both came out of the big band and jazz scene of the 1940s to make a mark on the R&B scene of the 1950s.

The tracks:

1. The Bo-Do Rock - Earl Bostic
2. Lavender Coffin - Joe Thomas
3. Typhoon - Cootie Williams
4. Serenade To Twins - Johnny Sparrow
5. Shuffle Express - Eddie Wilcox
6. Blow Mr Low - Joe Williams
7. Charmaine - Burnie Peacock
8. Just Fall In Love - Dan Grissom
9. Dungaree Hop - Plas Johnson
10. Honkin' - Jimmy Jackson All Stars
11. Goodnight, Irene - Mighty Man Maxwell
12. Gin And Coconut Milk - Wilburt Harrison
13. Aviator Papa - Lolly Pop Jones And Ethel Morris
14. Rain - Oscar McLollie
15. Pachuco Bop - Mad Mel Sebastian
16. Cherry - Clarence Palmer & The Jive Bombers

The info (updated June 2017):

1. The Bo-Do Rock - Earl Bostic
recorded in Los Angeles, April 19, 1956 for King Records (King 4930) – Earl Bostic with the Bill Doggett combo. No need to say any more about these giants of R&B. A sample of their work is already on the blog or will appear soon.

2. Lavender Coffin - Joe Thomas
recorded for King Records, Linden NJ, May 21, 1949 released on King 4296 in June 1949. Joe Thomas spent 15 years as tenor sax player and vocalist with the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra. Started his own small band and recorded for King 1949 – 1951.

3. Typhoon - Cootie Williams
recorded for Mercury, December 1947 and released on Mercury 8083 in May 1948. Cootie Williams was for many years trumpeter in the Duke Ellington Orchestra. In the early 1940s he formed his own big band which had Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson”, Sam “The Man” Taylor and Bud Powell in the line up. By the time this side was recorded all of these musicians had left and the band had slimmed down to 9 or 10 pieces. The following year Willis Jackson joined and the band had a hit with the two-parter which gave Jackson his nickname – “Gator Tail”.

4. Serenade To Twins - Johnny Sparrow
recorded for National Records in NYC in March 1950 and released on National 9121 in October 1950. Tenor sax man Johnny Sparrow played in Jay McShann’s band (alongside Paul Quinichette) then in Louis Armstrong’s big band. He replaced Johnny Griffin in Lionel Hampton’s band, playing alongside Morris Lane. In 1949 he left the Hampton outfit to form his own small band known as “Johnny Sparrow and his Bows and Arrows”. He recorded some sides for Melford, including the hit “Sparrow’s Flight”, then signed for National in 1950 and moved on to Gotham in 1952.

5. Shuffle Express - Eddie Wilcox
recorded for Derby Records, New York, June 1951 and released on Derby 766 in August 1951. Another alumnus of the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra, pianist Eddie Wilcox led small bands which recorded for New York based labels Abbey and Victor in 1949-50. In 1951 he signed for Derby Records, acting as an arranger, producer, A&R man and band leader for the label. “Shuffle Express” was originally released as the B-side of Betty McLaurin’s “The Masquerade Is Over”. On this session the band included tenor sax men Freddie Mitchell and Lucky Thompson.

6. Blow Mr Low - Joe Williams
recorded in Chicago, September 1953 with the Red Saunders band. Released on Savoy 1165 in July 1955. Joe Williams was a blues shouter who had spells with the Coleman Hawkins and Lionel Hampton bands and is best remembered for his tenure in the Count Basie band in the 1950s. His biggest hit was “Every Day I Have The Blues.”

7. Charmaine - Burnie Peacock
recorded for King in New York, November 1951, and released on King 4506 in December 1951. Burnie Peacock was a clarinet and alto sax player who played in the big bands of Lucky Millinder, Jimmie Lunceford, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton and Count Basie, all in the space of three years from 1945 - 48. He stood in for Earl Bostic when the latter was recovering from a car crash.

8. Just Fall In Love - Dan Grissom
recorded for Million, Los Angeles 1955, released on Million 2011 in May 1955. The vocal group on the record is The Ebb Tones. This was the B-side of “Recess in Heaven”. Dan Grissom was a vocalist and alto sax player with the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra. He was rather uncharitably nicknamed “Dan Gruesome” by jazz fans who were less than enamoured by his song stylings. From 1945 onwards he made records as a vocalist for various small labels in Los Angeles.

9. Dungaree Hop - Plas Johnson
recorded for the Tampa label in Los Angeles in 1956 and released on Tampa TP-116 in August 1956. Tenor sax man active in R&B and the poppier side of rock and roll in the mid to late 50’s, recording LPs for Capitol and Score. Also active in session work and in the jazz field. That’s his sax work on Henry Mancini’s “Pink Panther Theme.” See plasjohnson.com for much more info on this prolific musician.

10. Honkin' - Jimmy Jackson All Stars
released as RPM 349 in 1952. Evidence from the matrix numbers points towards this recording actually originating from a session by Benny Carter recorded for Modern in 1949 with Ben Webster on tenor sax. Moreover, like “Honkin’”, Carter’s “Cottontail” / “Time Out For The Blues” (released on Modern 858) also has dubbed on crowd noises. If you would like to investigate further then please buy the wonderful Ace (UK) compilation “Let’s Jump! Swingin’ Humdingers From Modern Records” (CD CHD 809). This Billy Vera compiled CD has Benny Carter’s “Cottontail” / “Time Out For The Blues” plus “Deep Purple” which is credited to the Jimmy Jackson All-Stars.

The Jazz West Coast Research blog has a post on the renaming of jazz tracks on the Modern/RPM/Crown labels, including the Benny Carter / Jimmy Jackson tracks. Discographies do list a Jimmy Jackson session in 1952 with musicians such as Billy Hadnott and Devonia Williams taking part,but the master numbers seem to show that the tracks originate from the Carter session of 1949.

11. Goodnight, Irene - Mighty Man Maxwell
recorded for Discovery in Los Angeles on August 9th, 1950. Released on Discovery 524 in September 1950. Billboard announced the recording artist as "Mad Man Maxwell."Discovery was a small jazz label which was taken over by Savoy.

12. Gin And Coconut Milk - Wilburt Harrison
recorded for DeLuxe in Miami, November 1953. B-Side of “Nobody Knows The Trouble” (DeLuxe 6031). Yes, it’s Wilbert Harrison who had the massive hit “Kansas City” for Fury in 1959, and who also recorded “Let’s Stick Together” which was covered by Canned Heat and later by Bryan Ferry.

13. Aviator Papa - Lolly Pop Jones And Ethel Morris
recorded for DeLuxe in New Orleans in 1948. Lollypop Jones “starred” in 3 films in 1946 – two musical shorts, “Chicago After Dark” and “Lucky Gamblers”, and a grade Z all-black horror movie “Midnight Menace” in which he got to sing “Honeysuckle Rose” and “Don’t Sell My Monkey Baby”.

14. Rain - Oscar McLollie
Recorded for Class, Los Angeles, 1953, released on Class 503 in March 1953. Oscar McLollie recorded two singles for Leon Rene’s Class label in 1952/53, his first release being “The Honey Jump”. During 1953 he transferred to Modern Records and recut “The Honey Jump” with his group now called The Honeyjumpers. After a series of good records such as “All That Oil In Texas” and “Lolly Pop”, he recorded briefly for Mercury in 1956. In 1957 he was back recording for Class, including several duets with Jeanette Baker. One of their numbers “Hey Girl - Hey Boy” was covered by Louis Prima and Keely Smith in the film of the same name.

15. Pachuco Bop - Mad Mel Sebastian
recorded for M & S in 1952, probably in Los Angeles. B Side of "Raven Hop." “Mad Mel Sebastian” is a pseudonym for …? Is it Chuck Higgins? Or someone cashing in on Chuck’s “Pachuco Hop”? Does anyone know anything about Mad Mel? A comment on the original post says that he had a disc on the small "R&B" label called "Walkin' On The Ceiling."

16. Cherry - Clarence Palmer & The Jive Bombers
recorded for Savoy (Savoy 1515) in New York in May 1957, released in June 1957. Very similar sound to their 1956 Savoy hit “Bad Boy.” The Jive Bombers were a group whose origins lie back in the 1930s as does “Bad Boy” which descends from Lil Armstrong’s “Brown Gal.” Now that would be worth a post on its own!

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

http://www111.zippyshare.com/v/v4l0D1Wq/file.html

Buddy Johnson & His Orchestra - Walkin'

Here’s a second helping of Buddy Johnson sides from Mercury with this follow up LP (originally issued as Mercury MG-20322 in 1957) to “Rock’n Roll”. This re-issue on Official dates from 1988.

When I dug this LP out of the vinyl vault a couple of years ago for a post on Rockhall, I wasn’t particularly impressed by the contents and, rushing to judgement, I decided that the majority of the tracks weren’t worthy of a post by a hip rockin’ cat like myself. So I extracted 5 tracks (the whole of side 1 minus track 3) and added them to the tracks from “Rock’n Roll” to make up a collection of jumping big band rock ‘n’ roll.

Well I’m not ashamed to admit that I was wrong, for this is one cracking little album. Of the tracks I originally rejected, only two fall into the sentimental ballad category: Nolan Lewis’s Eckstine-style singing on “There’s No One Like You”, and the slightly hipper Floyd Ryland’s 1950’s crooner effort on “You’re Everything My Heart Desires.” Ella Johnson’s vocal efforts on side two are absolutely outstanding. “You’d Better Believe Me” is a sultry blues while “So Good” is a rocker with an irresistible dance beat.

The final two tracks are contrasting instrumentals which demonstrate Buddy Johnson’s talent as an arranger. “Bitter Sweet” conjures up pictures in my mind’s eye of deserted city streets at dawn. It’s like a moody piece from the soundtrack of a 50’s crime film or perhaps an episode of “The Naked City” (“there are eight million stories in New York …”) “Gone Walkin’” on the other hand is all hustle and bustle, evoking the streets in the rush hour.

As for the rest of the LP, it’s rock’n roll time again, with blaring saxes by Purvis Henson, Dave Van Dyke and Johnny Burdine. I’m glad I listened more carefully this time around. Download and appreciate the many sides of the Buddy Johnson Orchestra: blues, boogie, ballads, jazz, and rock ‘n’ roll.

Ripped from vinyl at 256 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

http://www118.zippyshare.com/v/uk1EfX7I/file.html

1. Rockin' Time
2. They Don't Want Me To Rock No More (vcl – Ella Johnson)
3. There's No One Like You (vcl - Nolan Lewis)
4. Rock On! (vcl – Buddy Johnson)
5. Ain't Cha Got Me (Where You Want Me) (vcl – Ella Johnson)
6. Buddy's Boogie
7. Oh! Baby Don't You Know (vcl – ensemble)
8. You'd Better Believe Me (vcl – Ella Johnson)
9. You're Everything My Heart Desires (vcl – Floyd Ryland)
10. So Good (vcl – Ella Johnson)
11. Bitter Sweet
12. Gone Walkin'

Buddy Johnson & His Orchestra - Rock 'N Roll (Mercury LP 20209)

Thanks to an anonymous donor who sent in vinyl rips and cover scans of this Buddy Johnson LP which was originally released on Mercury in 1956 and reissued on the Official label in 1988.

Our donor is a sax player who provides an interesting sidelight on the influence of this album and of Buddy Johnson’s tenorman Purvis Henson (that’s him with Buddy on the front cover of the Official issue) on the players who were keeping this music going back in the 1980s:

“This record was a major influence on almost all of the White Blues and Rhythm and Blues Bands that were working the East Coast circuit in the 80's including Roomful. We all circulated tapes of this Album to each other. It is not all that surprising considering that Little Walter listed Buddy Johnson as a major influence and even covered “I'm Just Your Fool”. The main Sax player Purvis Henson has been an influence on all of us Sax players, what an incredible player. I am including both the original Mercury cover art and the Official release. Hope you dig it Bro.”

I dig it, I dig it.

Bandleader, pianist, arranger, songwriter and vocalist Buddy Johnson was a major figure in R&B history, not just because of the longevity of his recording career (1939 – 1964) but also because of the sheer quality and versatility of his band. In the 1940s The Buddy Johnson Orchestra had a string of hits on Decca (many featuring vocalists Ella Johnson, Buddy’s sister, and Arthur Prysock) and was a huge live attraction in their New York base and in the Southern States. Like other top big bands of the era, their repertoire included dance tunes, boogies, blues and ballads. As the era of the big band faded in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Buddy managed to keep his band together, both on the road and in the studio.

In early 1953 Buddy signed for Mercury, revitalising his chart career and starting a new phase of success for the band which had already survived the transformation from swing to R&B and now found itself at the forefront of the rise of rock ‘n’ roll as it became part of the live shows promoted by Alan Freed and his New York rival Tommy “Doctor Jive” Smalls.

The precedent was set in 1953 when The Buddy Johnson Orchestra was part of the first of the really big R&B touring package shows – The Big Rhythm and Blues Show organised by the Moe Gale agency - which also included Ruth Brown, Wynonie Harris, The Clovers and Lester Young. The show drew huge audiences as it travelled through the Eastern States, The Midwest and The South. In Cleveland it drew 10,000 to a show hosted by Alan Freed who would use the band on his own rock ‘n’ roll package shows such as his Boston show of May 1955 which included Bo Diddley, Nappy Brown, The Five Keys, The Moonglows, Dinah Washington, Little Walter, Al Hibbler and Dakota Staton. As late as January 1959, with its hit making days long gone, the band was on the “Biggest Show of Shows” along with The Platters, Jimmy Clanton, Clyde McPhatter, The Crests, The Cadillacs, Bo Diddley and Duane Eddy.



In the same month Buddy’s contract with Mercury was not renewed and the band signed for Roulette but their only single release on the label met with indifference, for the days of that now largely forgotten genre, Big Band Rock ‘n’ Roll, were well and truly over. Before the end of 1959 Roulette released an LP titled “Go Ahead and Rock Rock Rock” credited to both Buddy and Ella. In the early 1960s deteriorating health brought Buddy’s retiral from the music scene. Ella also retired, to take care of Buddy who passed away in 1977, with Ella passing away in 2004.



Ripped from vinyl at 256 kbps.

Download from here:

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1. I Don't Want Nobody v – Ella Johnson
2. Doot Doot Dow
3. Bring It Home To Me v – Ella Johnson
4. You Got It Made v – Floyd Ryland
5. A Pretty Girl v – Ricky Harper
6. Any Day Now v – Ella Johnson
7. It's Obdacious v – Buddy Johnson & Gil Askey
8. Crazy 'Bout A Saxophone v – Buddy Johnson
9. Upside Your Head v – Ella Johnson
10. Ain't But One v – Ella Johnson
11. A-12
12. I'm Just Your Fool v – Ella Johnson

If you want to hear more of Buddy Johnson on Mercury, I recommend this excellent CD on Rev-Ola: “Gotta Go Upside Your Head” (CR Band 6).



Note: Mercury LP MG-20209 was originally issued on the Wing subsidiary of Mercury as MGW-12005. The cover was similar to the Mercury issue MG-20209, although with the tracklist on the other side of the cover photo (see below) –



"Ex-Rhode Islander" pointed out that after the Mercury issue, the LP was again reissued on Wing as MGW 12111. This time round it was retitled "Rock'n Roll Stage Show" and the adman's dream couple photo was replaced by a photo of the band with Buddy and Ella centre front.

Nat Cole Meets The Master Saxes (Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet and Dexter Gordon)

I’ve never really thought of myself as a “record collector”. I’m just a guy who happens to have a lot of records. I don’t pore over dealers’ lists or trawl round record fairs and I guess I’m also too canny to pay those ludicrous “collectors’ prices” that some of the sharks in the second hand market demand. However I like to think that I have some taste in music and also that I know a bargain when I see one!

Regular visitors to the blog will have realised that we’ve gone vinyl here at Bebopwino, just in time for my main sources of second hand vinyl to either start drying up or vanish completely. Yup, those interesting independent record stores are disappearing faster than snaw aff a dyke, certainly as far as Glasgow is concerned. There is a long established shop through in Edinburgh which literally has floor to ceiling vinyl but the prices just aren’t to my taste and as so many crates of LPs are crammed into the shop, customers aren’t allowed in for a casual browse.

Now before you all start panicking and running around yelling “Oh no, Bebopwino is running out of vintage sounds, and life just won’t be worth living once he’s uploaded his last record,” just breath a sigh of relief because there are plenty more LPs in my vinyl vault. And there have been a couple of unexpected reinforcements recently in the shape of a bunch of jazz LPs turning up in my local charity shop and then, thanks to a work colleague, another bunch of jazz LPs kind of fell into my lap. Meaning a jazz collector went to the great second hand record shop in the sky and his collection was possibly heading for the skip until my colleague stepped in and did a great rescue job by contacting people he knew who would be interested in this kind of stuff.

So courtesy of a deceased jazz fan and my co-worker here is the first LP from that batch: Nat “King” Cole with three of the best tenor sax men of the day, specifically 1942 – 1943.

The sides with Lester Young were recorded in July 1942 for Van and several years later surfaced as two singles on the new Philo label. The Illinois Jacquet sides were recorded around the same time and appeared on the obscure Disc label as 12 inch 78rpm singles. “Pro-Sky” is my favourite track on the album as Illinois really cuts loose on it. If I were compiling a collection of sides that illustrated the rise of the honking tenor sax, this track would be on it. And it pre-dates the famous Jazz At The Philharmonic recording of “Blues” by about two years. The Dexter Gordon sides were recorded for Clef and Mercury in late 1943.

This LP was probably the one in the worst condition out of the whole bunch, so despite the TLC which I have lavished on it, there is still substantial, hiss, crackle, and lordy knows what else. Audiophiles beware.

Ripped from rather distressed vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

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Nat “King” Cole plays piano on all tracks :

1. Indiana / Nat "King" Cole Trio (with Lester Young)
2. I Can't Get Started / Nat "King" Cole Trio (with Lester Young)
3. Tea For Two / Nat "King" Cole Trio (with Lester Young)
4. Body And Soul / Nat "King" Cole Trio (with Lester Young)
5. Heads / Nat "King" Cole Quintet (with Illinois Jacquet)
6. I Can't Give You Anything But Love / Nat "King" Cole Quintet (with Illinois Jacquet)
7. I Found A New Baby / Dexter Gordon Quintet
8. Blowed And Gone / Dexter Gordon Quintet
9. Sweet Lorraine / Dexter Gordon Quintet
10. Rosetta / Dexter Gordon Quintet
11. Pro-Sky / Nat "King" Cole Quintet (with Illinois Jacquet)
12. It Had To Be You / Nat "King" Cole Quintet (with Illinois Jacquet)

King Porter - Special Request

This 1989 Official LP features not one, but two jump groups going under the name of “King Porter and His Orchestra”. Tracks 1 – 8 were recorded between 1947 and 1949 by a Detroit-based group led by trumpet player James Poe. The first two tracks were recorded for the small Paradise label. Tracks 3 to 6 were recorded for Joe Von Battle’s JVB label but sold to King who released them in 1949. Tracks 7 and 8 were recorded for King in Cincinnati. The Paradise sides probably have Paul Williams on alto sax, while the JVB and King sides have Wild Bill Moore on tenor sax.

Meanwhile out on The Coast, another King Porter was recording for Imperial. This was trumpeter/arranger Jake Porter who would found Combo Records a few years later. The group backing him was in fact guitarist Gene Phillips’ band which at various times featured Bumps Myers, Marshall Royal and Lloyd Glenn.

This leaves the last two tracks on the LP which were recorded in 1952 for the 4 Star label. It’s not certain which of the King Porter groups was on these recordings. Perhaps there was even a third band using the name?

As for the music, both bands put in good shifts with plenty of tough tenor work (especially from Wild Bill) on show.

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1. Russel St Hussel
2. Porter's Ball
3. Shuffling Boogie
4. Russell Street Hustle
5. King Porter Special
6. Bar Fly
7. Come On In
8. Battle Ax
9. Charlie The Boogie Man
10. Bumps Boogie (vocal – Gene Phillips)
11. Hey Little Brownie (vocal – Gene Phillips)
12. Should Have Rationed Myself (vocal – Gene Phillips)
13. Chidtlin' Ball (vocal – Gene Phillips)
14. Don't Let Fletcher Getcha
15. Special Request
16. I've Tried (vocal – Marie Wells)

Jimmy Liggins - I Can't Stop It

Born seven years after his bandleader brother Joe, Jimmy Liggins embarked on his own musical career in 1947. After a brief try at a career in boxing, Jimmy became driver for Joe’s band as they toured the country in the wake of their smash hit “The Honeydripper”. Jimmy couldn’t help but be impressed by the large amounts of money that Joe was earning and at the end of 1946 he left The Honeydrippers to start up his own band, which he named The Drops of Joy.

In September 1947 the band started recording for Art Rupe’s Specialty Records, with “I Can’t Stop It” being their first release. This record demonstrated that Jimmy’s sound was going to be very different from Joe’s. Jimmy’s up-tempo recordings all featured pounding rhythms, shouted, half-spoken vocals and heavy riffing from twin tenor saxes. When the band played slower blues it was with a real gutsy down-in-the-alley feel as you can hear on this 1981 Mr R&B compilation.

The first incarnation of The Drops of Joy had the hard blowing tenors of Harold Land and Charles “Little Jazz” Ferguson backing up Jimmy’s guitar and vocals on his self-penned songs. Chart success came in 1948 with “Teardrop Blues” (Billboard no. 7) and in 1949 with “Careful Love” (no. 15), both songs having been recorded in December 1947.

The first line-up of The Drops of Joy broke up after a violent incident during a performance on the 1st April 1948 in a Jackson, Mississippi skating rink. Little Jazz was slashed with a razor and Jimmy was shot through the mouth. Full details can be read in the sleeve notes of this LP.

In November1948 the new line-up, augmented by Maxwell Davis, recorded four tracks and returned to the charts with “Don’t Put Me Down” (no. 9). In 1951 Jimmy formed a third version of the band which included Herman “Rockhouse” Manzy on drums. In late 1952 or early 1953 The Drops of Joy recorded their last session for Specialty which yielded their biggest hit “Drunk”. Jimmy then left Specialty, possibly because of a money dispute, a course of action for which he later expressed regret. He had only one more recording session, in June 1954 for Aladdin. Four terrific hard-rocking sides were recorded; “I Ain’t Drunk”, “No More Alcohol”, “Boogie Woogie King” and “Talking That Talk”, but none saw chart action.

Jimmy’s music represented a step away from the swing influenced jump bands, and was a move towards the harder rocking variety of rhythm and blues and ultimately rock and roll. Download and enjoy some real righteous riffs!

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1. I Can't Stop It
2. Don't Put Me Down
3. Troubles Good-Bye
4. Misery Blues
5. Move Out Baby
6. Answer To Teardrop Blues
7. That Song Is Gone
8. I Want My Baby For Christmas
9. Down And Out Blues
10. That's What's Knockin' Me Out
11. Lonely Nights Blues
12. Goin' Down With The Sun
13. Brown Skin Baby
14. Lover's Prayer
15. Dark Hour Blues
16. I'll Never Let You Go

Bull Moose Jackson - Big Fat Mamas Are Back In Style Again

Benjamin Clarence Jackson was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1919. He took up the saxophone while at school. He formed a band called The Harlem Hotshots who played gigs around North Ohio, tried his luck with various bands in New York State, and then returned to Cleveland where he was discovered in 1943 by bandleader Lucky Millinder who gave him the saxophone chair recently vacated by Lucky Thompson.

Christened “Bull Moose” by his bandmates (perhaps because of his unprepossessing looks), Jackson soon added vocal duties to his repertoire, reportedly being given his start when band vocalist Wynonie Harris failed to show for a gig in Lubbock, Texas.

When Syd Nathan set up the King Label in Cincinnati in 1945, he concentrated at first on signing Country and Western artists from the burgeoning local scene which centred around the WLW “Midwestern Hayride” program. He soon set up an R&B subsidiary named Queen, with ex-Millinder trumpet player Henry Glover as A&R man. Glover was keen to have his old boss record for the new label, but as Millinder was already under contract to Decca, Bull Moose became the front man for a series of recordings by the Millinder orchestra in 1945/46. Some sides were recorded with the full orchestra, others with a small group of Millinder musicians which became The Buffalo Bearcats.

The glory years for Bull Moose were 1948 and 1949 when he had considerable chart success mostly with romantic ballads such as “I Love You, Yes I Do”, “All My Love Belongs To You”, “Don’t Ask Me Why” and “Little Girl Don’t Cry”. So successful was Bull Moose, he displaced Louis Jordan as top selling R&B artist in 1948 and, along with Wynonie Harris, helped King to become the top selling R&B label of that year.

This 1980 Mr R&B LP concentrates on the “other side” of Bull Moose Jackson – the stomping instrumentalist and the singer of some of the most infamous double entendre recordings in R&B history, and also of some fiery rabble rousing jump blues. One of his earliest successes was with an answer record to the Millinder/Harris hit “Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well?” “I Know Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well” gets this collection off to a fine start, and the saga of Deacon Jones and his devoted congregation continues with the raucous “Fare Thee Well, Deacon Jones”.

As we have already seen, Syd Nathan maintained strong Country and R&B rosters and he liked to exchange songs between the two styles. There are two examples here: the blasting version of Wayne Raney’s “Why Don’t You Haul Off And Love Me?” and a spirited rendition of Moon Mullican’s “Cherokee Boogie”. For me, the Bull Moose version of “Why Don’t You” easily eclipses the rather sedate original but personally I think Moon Mullican’s “Cherokee Boogie” is better than the cover by Bull Moose.

Neither of Bull Moose’s most infamous “dirty” records are here – “I Want A Bow Legged Woman” and “Big Ten Inch”, but “Nosey Joe”, a Leiber-Stoller composition from 1952, certainly runs them close in the double entendre stakes. Although he was still making fine records in the early 1950s, changing fashions in R&B meant that Moose’s music was going out of style and his King career came to an end in 1955. The final track on this LP was recorded in Los Angeles in 1957 for the small Encino label with backing by a group led by Rene Hall and the rather unfortunate addition of a vocal chorus.

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Thanks to Joan for the vintage King EP cover.

1. I Know Who Threw The Whiskey (In The Well)
2. Bull Moose Jackson Blues
3. Sneaky Pete
4. Cleveland Ohio Blues
5. Fare Thee Well, Deacon Jones
6. Keep Your Big Mouth Shut
7. Miss Lucy
8. Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide
9. Memphis Gal
10. Why Don't You Haul Off And Love Me
11. Big Fat Mamas Are Back In Style Again
12. Cherokee Boogie (Eh-Oh-Aleena)
13. Nosey Joe
14. Bootsie
15. I Wanna Hug Ya, Kiss Ya, Squeeze Ya
16. Watch My Signals

Be Bop Wino Wailin' The Blues

I thought I’d try my hand at putting together some short compilations ripped from vinyl of the kinds of music that get covered here on Be Bop Wino, so here’s the first in what I hope will be a series. I was determined to keep the number of tracks down to sixteen per volume in an attempt to revive the lost art of compiling an LP, but faced with some mighty fine blues I ended up with eighteen tracks. But I’m not gonna do a Joan – there won’t be thirty or forty tracks on these collections! Famous last words.

So we kick off with the blues, and Be Bop Wino tours the South – beginning with Sam Phillip’s studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he recorded blues artists for release on Modern / RPM out of LA , Chess in Chicago and of course for his own Sun label. Howlin’ Wolf, Rosco Gordon, Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm, Doctor Ross (the harmonica boss!) and one man band Joe Hill Louis were just some of the talents who graced the studio at 706 Union Avenue.

Jackson, Mississippi was the home of Lillian McMurray’s Trumpet label where the recording careers of the second Sonny Boy Williamson (William Miller) and Elmore James kicked off. Sonny Boy’s “Mighty Long Time” was the B side of his classic “Nine Below Zero.” Another label which originated in Memphis was Duke, founded by James Mattis, but in 1952 it was taken over by the Houston based owner of Peacock, Don Robey, and its operation moved to Texas. Duke remained an outlet for musicians from Memphis, including Bobby Bland, Johnny Ace and Junior Parker. The latter had made his first recordings in Memphis under the supervision of Ike Turner for Modern / RPM, but found greater success with Sun (“Feelin’ Good” and “Mystery Train”) before moving on to Duke.

Colourful entrepreneur Don Robey founded his Peacock label in Houston in 1949 initially to record blues guitarist / singer Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown who was being managed by Robey. In this collection there are three early Peacock recordings, by Lavada Durst (Dr. Hepcat), New Orleans guitarist Edgar Blanchard and Houston bass player Donald “Silver” Cooks. Blanchard and Cooks are backed by Blanchard’s band The Gondoliers. The harmonica on these two tracks is played by the legendary Papa Lightfoot out of Natchez, Mississippi.

Hillbilly musician Eddie Shuler formed Goldband Records in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1951. The label had a strong country / Cajun / rockabilly roster, but Eddie started recording R&B artists like Boozo Chavis and Classie Ballou in the mid fifties. Lee Baker Junior, better known as Guitar Junior was Goldband’s most successful blues artist hitting it big with his first release in 1957, “Family Rules.” Guitar Junior eventually moved to Chicago, changed his name to Lonnie Brooks, and enjoyed a successful “second” blues career.

The only track recorded for a major label here is the unreleased “Sober” by Piano Red. The track was recorded for RCA in Atlanta with backing provided by Clyde “Blow Top” Lynn’s band. Born in 1911 in Hampton, Georgia, as Willie Perryman, Piano Red’s recording career started in 1936. In the 1950s he had an unlikely career boost when he released a series of raucous (and salacious) R&B pounders like “Rockin’ With Red” and “Right String Baby But The Wrong Yo Yo” which attracted a whole new audience of young rock ‘n rollers.

Many southern artists migrated to the Northern cities. John Lee Hooker is always associated with Detroit and Chicago of course became home to many southern blues musicians. Chi-Town’s Chess Records (and its Checker subsidiary) had a fantastic array of blues talent – Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jimmy Rogers, these are just a handful of names from dozens. Magic Sam (Sam Maghett) belonged to the generation which succeeded that of Muddy and his cohorts. In 1957 he started recording for the small Cobra label, with “All Your Love” (recorded under the supervision of Willie Dixon) being the most successful of four singles he released in 1957 / 1958.

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1. She May Be Yours (But She Comes To See Me Sometime) / Joe Hill Louis
- Sun 178, 1953

2. Downtown Boogie / Doctor Ross
- unissued Sun Studios recording, early 1950s

3. I'm Gonna Forget About You / Ike Turner
- unissued Sun Studios recording, 1953

4. Mighty Long Time / Sonny Boy Williamson (II)
- Trumpet 166, 1951

5. That's Alright / Junior Parker
- Duke 168, 1957

6. Hattie Green / Lavada Durst
- Peacock 1509, 1950

7. Creole Gal Blues / Edgar Blanchard
- Peacock 1514, 1950

8. Mr Ticket Agent / Silver Cooks
- Peacock 1510, 1950

9. There Better Be No Feet (In Them Shoes) / Junior Parker
- Duke 147, 1955

10. Everything's Going To Be Alright / Little Walter
- Checker 930, 1959

11. Chocolate Drop / Howlin' Wolf
- unissued Sun Studios recording, 1951/52

12. Decorate The Counter / Rosco Gordon
- unissued Sun Studios recording, 1952

13. Sober / Piano Red
- unissued RCA recording, 1953

14. Movin' On Down The Line / John Lee Hooker
- unissued United Sound Studios recording 1948-52

15. All Your Love / Magic Sam
- Cobra 5013, 1957

16. Roll Roll Roll / Guitar Junior
- Goldband 1068, 1958

17. Diggin' My Potatoes / Washboard Sam
- Chess 1545, 1953

18. Blue Midnight / Little Walter
- Checker 955, 1960 (recorded 1952)