Cotton Ball Parts 1 and 2 – Sonny Thompson (King 4729)

Recorded on May 21st, 1954 in Cincinnati. Personnel: Fred Clark (as); David Brooks (ts); Tommy Purkson (bar); Sonny Thompson (p); Clarence Kenner (g); James Royal (b); Robert Boswell (d). Released July, 1954.

Listen to "Cotton Ball (Part 1)"

Listen to "Cotton Ball (Part 2)"

Thanks to El Enmascarado for these rips from the original 78 rpm disc of this two part late night smoocher from Sonny Thompson. You can imagine these cool jazzy sounds coming out of a tavern juke box shortly before closing time. Perhaps the clientele have been listening to Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, The Midnighters, Fats Domino and Ray Charles. But the evening wears on and only a few hardened drinkers remain to hear this moody late night instrumental. That’s it, folks. We’re closing. Ain’t you got homes to go to?

Billboard Magazine reviewed “Cotton Ball” on July 17th, 1954: “Here’s a neat slow-blues instrumental item which is particularly danceable yet retains a retentive melody line. The strongly repetitious bass figure and drum backing spark the various solo efforts for a slick hunk of wax. For the jazz and r.&b. markets."

Sonny Thompson had several hits with slow instrumentals such as “Long Gone”, “Late Freight” and “Mellow Blues.” “Cotton Ball” wasn’t a big seller but as you can hear, it’s a fine atmospheric recording. For an overview of Sonny’s career (plus an LP to download) see this post:

Cat On The Keys

  

You can listen to “Late Freight” ripped from El Enmascarado’s 78 rpm disc at this post:

Late Freight / Sonny's Return

Flying Home Parts 1 and 2 – Tiny Grimes’ Swingtet (Blue Note 524)

Recorded at WOR Studios, NYC on August 14th, 1946. Personnel: Trummy Young (tb); John Hardee (ts); Marlowe Morris (p); Tiny Grimes (g); Jimmy Butts (b); Eddie Nicholson (d)

Listen to "Flying Home Part 1"

Listen to "Flying Home Part 2"

With thanks to El Enmascarado for his rips and scans from this Blue Note 78 rpm disc.

Before guitarist Lloyd “Tiny” Grimes was issuing those great jump blues singles on the Atlantic label and before he had renamed his group “The Rocking Highlanders”, dressing them in kilts and Tam O’Shanters, and yea, well before he was recording even more jump blues and backing the likes of J.B. Summers, Haji Baba and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins on Gotham, our hero was one cool dude on the New York jazz scene.

He was a late starter on the four string guitar, having commenced his musical career on the piano and as a tap dancer. In 1940, not long after taking up the guitar, he joined the already successful jive group The Cats & The Fiddle. From there he joined the illustrious pianist Art Tatum and bass player Slam Stewart to form the Art Tatum Trio. Inevitably his guitar playing improved greatly in such company and in 1944 Tiny formed his own group. While with the trio he had become a fixture on the New York jazz club scene and he was soon picking up recording work with Ike Quebec, Coleman Hawkins and Hot Lips Page.

Tiny’s first session as a leader (for Savoy in September 1944) has gone down in jazz history as Charlie Parker (who had been jamming with Tiny’s band at the Downbeat Club) was on alto sax. To round off the session the group recorded Parker’s “Red Cross”, an instrumental based on the chords of “I Got Rhythm” which is considered an important step in the development of be-bop.

After the Parker session, Tiny was on sessions on various labels with Ike Quebec, Coleman Hawkins, Hot Lips Page, Cozy Cole, Billie Holiday, Earl Bostic, John Hardee and Buck Clayton. In August 1946, Tiny finally got another session as a band leader with jazz label Blue Note. Two singles resulted from the session – the two-parter “Flying Home” and “’C’ Jam Blues” / “Tiny’s Boogie Woogie.”

Tiny Grimes circa 1948 - William Gottlieb collection

Tiny’s move towards R&B started 2 months later when his group backed blues shouter Gatemouth Moore on National, and the trend continued the following year when Tiny’s band backed Walter Brown on a cover of “Open The Door, Richard” on Signature. At the very end of 1947 Tiny’s group started recording for the new Atlantic label, but we shall leave that part of the story for another post!

Listen to “Red Cross” featuring Charlie Parker and “Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Morning” by Gatemouth Moore with the Tiny Grimes Swingtet -

Listen to "Red Cross"

Listen to "Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Morning"

Red Cross (Savoy 532). Recorded NYC, September 15th, 1944. Personnel: Tiny Grimes (g); Charlie Parker (as); Clyde Hart (p); Jimmy Butts (b); Doc West (d)

Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Morning (National 4015). Recorded NYC, October 25th, 1946. Personnel: Gatemouth Moore (vcl); Russell Royster (tpt); Herman Flintall (as); John Hardee (ts); Sam Benskin (p); Tiny Grimes (g); Al Raglin (b); Eddie Nicholson (d)

Tiny's tenor sax man - John Hardee c 1947 William Gottlieb collection

Sources:

Dan Kochakian & Dave Penny - Tiny Grimes Discography Part 1, Blues & Rhythm Magazine, No. 228, April 2008

Dan Morgenstern - sleeve notes to “The Changing Face of Harlem: The Savoy Sessions” Savoy Jazz 2LP set, SJL 2208, 1976

Claude Carrière - sleeve notes to “Charlie Parker: The Complete Savoy Sessions Volume 1” Savoy LP, WL70520, 1984

Dapper Tiny - NYC c 1948 William Gottlieb collection 

Head Hunter / Cool And Easy – Johnny Otis Orchestra (Regent 1028)

“Head Hunter” was recorded in Los Angeles on the 23rd December, 1949. Probable personnel: Lee Graves, Don Johnson (trumpets); George Washington (trombone); Big Jay McNeely, Lorenzo Holden (tenor saxes); Walter Henry (baritone sax); Johnny Otis (vibes); Devonia Williams (piano); Pete Lewis (guitar); Mario Delagarde (bass); Leard Bell (drums)

“Cool And Easy” was recorded in Los Angeles on the 27th February, 1950. Personnel are as above except James Von Streeter replaces Big Jay McNeely on tenor sax and Redd Lyte is added on vocals.

Listen to "Head Hunter"

Listen to "Cool And Easy"

Many thanks to El Enmascarado for this 78 rpm disc which was released in January 1951. Billboard reviewed “Head Hunter” favourably: “Walkin’ and honkin’ medium blues refers to ‘Pinetop’s BW’ for backdrop riffs. Striding tenor sax and heavy bottom, rocking beat set this lung buster up for at least moderate coin collection.”

The B side was reviewed thus: “Redd Lyte warbles a southern style blues chant with a strong ork backdrop. Fine beat helps throughout.”

Billboard, January 1951

Released initially on Herman Lubinsky’s secondary label Regent, rather than his Savoy label, “Head Hunter” failed to chart, possibly because the Otis band was still riding high in the charts with “Rockin’ Blues.” In 1950 the Johnny Otis Orchestra was the nation’s top selling R&B act mainly thanks to a series of hits featuring the vocal pairing of Little Esther and Mel Walker. “Cupid’s Boogie,” “Mistrustin’ Blues,” “Deceivin’ Blues,” and “Wedding Blues” were all big hits for the duo in 1950, along with “Dreamin’ Blues” and “Rockin’ Blues” (both featuring Mel Walker) and the biggest seller for the band, “Double Crossing Blues” (Little Esther and The Robins).

The band failed to maintain the same level of success in 1951, however, mainly due to disagreements with Herman Lubinsky, the notoriously tight-fisted honcho of Savoy and Regent. In late 1950, Ralph Bass, the Savoy A&R man on the West Coast was lured away by Syd Nathan of King Records who set him up with his own subsidiary label, Federal. One of the first signings made by Bass for the new label was Little Esther who began recording for Federal in late January 1951. Backing for her recordings through 1951 and 1952 was provided by a moonlighting Johnny Otis Orchestra which made their last recordings for Savoy in March 1951 and later signed for Mercury towards the end of the year.

Given such a background it was no surprise that the Johnny Otis Orchestra failed to reach the levels of success it had achieved in 1950. There were only three chart entries for the group in 1951: “Rockin’ Blues” (released in late 1950), “Gee Baby” / “Mambo Boogie” and “All Nite Long.”

“Head Hunter” (a tribute to deejay Hunter Hancock) may have failed to chart but as you can hear, it’s a tremendous instrumental featuring great guitar work from Pete Lewis followed by screeching sax by Big Jay McNeely and all underpinned by driving horns and brass. There is some doubt as to the personnel performing on the number. Both Bruyninckx and the jazzdisco.org website list the band as consisting of only one horn player, Big Jay McNeely, plus vibes, piano, guitar, bass and drums. As you can hear on this post, however, it’s pretty obvious that there is more than one sax plus brass present on the track.

Our benefactor, El Enmascarado, says: “There's certainly more than one saxophone playing on Head Hunter- in the opening seconds, the huge saxophone "power chord" couldn't be less than two, and could easily be three. The lower note of the "power chord" is below the range of the tenor, and is a baritone sax.”

For “probable personnel” on the track, I’ve stuck with the complete band which was present at this session according to jazzdisco.org and ignored their suggestion that only Big Jay plus rhythm played on “Head Hunter.” Of course there is always the possibility that it isn’t Big Jay but James Von Streeter or Lorenzo Holden on lead tenor sax here.

Big Jay McNeely

Big Jay had started his recording career with the Johnny Otis Orchestra on Excelsior in 1948 before going solo on Savoy in late 1948 and then Exclusive in the first half of 1949. However in late 1949 and early 1950 Big Jay is credited on sitting in with the Otis band on several sessions, perhaps because regular Otis honker Von Streeter was becoming unreliable due to “lifestyle issues.” Moreover at the time of this session Big Jay was “between” recording commitments as Exclusive was about to go out of business and he was about a month away from signing with Aladdin. So let’s stick with Big Jay. Judge for yourselves!

Redd Lyte

The B-side “Cool And Easy” is another excellent track with fine blues guitar from Pete Lewis and a fine vocal from shouter Redd Lyte. Both Lewis and Lyte had graduated to the Otis band via the talent show at The Barrelhouse Club where Otis had a long standing residency. All in all this is a first class record with two strong sides. Thanks again to El Enmascarado for his rips from shellac (in very good sound quality) and label scans.

We’re not quite finished yet! Here’s a little bonus streaming audio playlist of Big Jay McNeely’s other tribute to Hunter Hancock – “Hoppin’ With Hunter” recorded for Exclusive in April 1949. Also present is a track recorded by James Von Streeter & His Wig Poppers for the small Scoop label in August 1949. The similarity to Big Jay’s style is remarkable. Keep on honkin’ and bluesin’, Be Bop Winos!

Listen to "Hoppin' With Hunter"

Listen to "Landslide"

Blow Mr. Jackson / The Blues - Joe Liggins & His Honeydrippers (Exclusive 244)

Recorded in Los Angeles in the second half of 1946. Released in June 1947. Personnel: Joe Darensbourg (clarinet); Little Willie Jackson (alto sax, baritone sax); James Jackson (tenor sax); Joe Liggins (piano, vocal); Frank Pasley (guitar); Red Callender (bass); Peppy Prince (drums)

Thanks to El Enmascarado and his ever growing mountain of shellac, we can enjoy listening to this 78 rpm disc by Joe Liggins.

Listen to "Blow Mr Jackson"

Listen to "The Blues"

“Blow Mr Jackson” was Joe’s big hit of 1947, following in the wake of “The Honeydripper” in 1945 and “I’ve Got A Right To Cry” and “Tanya” in 1946. Exclusive Records was the top selling R&B independent label in 1947 thanks in part to Joe’s record sales but mainly thanks to Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers who had two bigger hits with “New Orleans Blues” and “Merry Christmas Baby.”

Billboard, 16th August 1947

Exclusive was the 5th biggest R&B selling label of 1947, with the top four places being taken by major labels Decca, Capitol, Mercury and RCA Victor. Decca’s domination was largely due to the enormous popularity of Louis Jordan whose “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens” / “Let The Good Times Roll” was the year’s top selling R&B record. Other big sellers for Louis in 1947 were “Boogie Woogie Blue Plate,” “Jack, You’re Dead,” “Texas And Pacific,” “Open The Door, Richard!” and “Early In The Mornin’”. Lionel Hampton and The Mills Brothers were also successful for Decca.

Capitol’s big selling artists were Julia Lee, Nellie Lutcher and Nat “King” Cole. Mercury’s R&B success was mostly due to Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson’s “Old Maid Boogie” / “Kidney Stew Blues” while RCA Victor had the Count Basie version of “Open The Door, Richard!” and “Hawk’s Boogie” by Erskine Hawkins to thank for their position as 4th top selling R&B label.

Major label dominance of R&B sales would come to an end in 1948 when King became the top selling label thanks to big sales for Bull Moose Jackson, Lonnie Johnson and Wynonie Harris.

Thanks once more to El Enmascarado for providing the opportunity to post this snapshot from the rapidly developing R&B scene of the late 1940s.

Still Groove Jumping!

Side One
1. Right Now Baby - Roy Gaines
2. All My Life - Roy Gaines
3. Down To The Bottom - Larry Dale
4. You Better Heed My Warning - Larry Dale
5. Midnight Hours - Larry Dale
6. Country Boy - Tiny Kennedy
7. Peek-A-Boo - Mr. Bear
8. The Bear Hug - Mr. Bear & His Bearcats

Side Two
1. Drink Up - The Du-Droppers
2. Mr. Bear Comes To Town - Mr. Bear & His Bearcats
3. I'm Gonna Keep My Good Eye On You - Mr. Bear & His Bearcats
4. Rockin' With Red - Piano Red
5. High Low Jack - Buddy Lucas
6. When I Got Married - Champion Jack Dupree
7. She's Got No Hair - Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup
8. Jump Man Jump - Piano Red

Finally we get round to posting the follow up LP to “Groove Jumping!” Issued in 1987 on the UK Detour Records label, “Still Groove Jumping!” is a blaster of a compilation of sides originally released on the RCA subsidiary Groove in the mid 1950s.

It’s a mighty mess of clanging blues guitar mostly from Mickey “Guitar” Baker and buzz saw tenor sax solos from King Curtis and Sam “The Man” Taylor. There’s no need for me to go on at length as all bases are covered by the sleeve notes compiled by Bez Turner.

For more information on the short life of Groove Records read the “Groove Jumping” post. Read the “Detour Records” post for more information on this all but forgotten UK re-release label.

Listen to highlights from “Still Groove Jumping!” in the player below:



Peruse these original Groove and Vik EP covers courtesy Joan K:

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

https://rapidshare.com/files/1377008620/Still_Groove_Jumping_.rar

Or here:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?q4sjw88u0myom32

1. Right Now Baby - Roy Gaines
2. All My Life - Roy Gaines
3. Down To The Bottom - Larry Dale
4. You Better Heed My Warning - Larry Dale
5. Midnight Hours - Larry Dale
6. Country Boy - Tiny Kennedy
7. Peek-A-Boo - Mr. Bear
8. The Bear Hug - Mr. Bear & His Bearcats
9. Drink Up - The Du-Droppers
10. Mr. Bear Comes To Town - Mr. Bear & His Bearcats
11. I'm Gonna Keep My Good Eye On You - Mr. Bear & His Bearcats
12. Rockin' With Red - Piano Red
13. High Low Jack - Buddy Lucas
14. When I Got Married - Champion Jack Dupree
15. She's Got No Hair - Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup
16. Jump Man Jump - Piano Red

Jesse Allen - an amendment

Thanks to research carried out by Bob Eagle and further information received from Jesse's daughter Joanne it is now known that Jesse was born on the 25th September 1925 and not in 1930 as was previously thought. My thanks to Bob and Joanne.

Due to work pressures I haven't had time to post recently. The blog will be back soon with more Jump and Jive from shellac and Blues from vinyl. Keep-a-rockin' out there in R&B land.

The Honeydripper, parts 1 & 2 - Sammy Franklin and His Atomics (Black & White 101)

Recorded in Los Angeles and released in late August 1945. Personnel - Sammy Franklin (trumpet); Len Talley (vocal); remainder unknown.

Listen to "The Honeydripper Part 1"

Listen to "The Honeydripper Part 2"

This disc was one of a number of cover versions of Joe Liggins' huge hit "The Honeydripper." There were more successful covers by Jimmie Lunceford, Roosevelt Sykes and Cab Calloway but what makes this version especially interesting is Sammy Franklin's connection with Joe Liggins and with the genesis of  "The Honeydripper."

At the beginning of the 1940s Joe was a member of Sammy Franklin's band, The California Rhythm Rascals. Joe wrote "The Honeydripper" and started performing it with Sammy's band. He offered Sammy co-composer rights if he would front up $500 to cover the cost of recording the song but Sammy turned him down. Joe left and formed his own small jump band, The Honeydrippers, recorded his song for Leon Rene's Exclusive Records and the rest is, as they say, history.

"The Honeydripper" by Joe Liggins and His Honeydrippers was released towards the end of April 1945 and became one of the biggest R&B hits of all time. Five months later we find Sammy releasing a version with a small jump group with the then topical name "The Atomics." But it was too late for Sammy. The Honeydripper juggernaut had long disappeared over the horizon and was now well out of reach. There's a lesson there for us all.

With thanks to El Enmascarado for this rare 78 rpm disc. More jumpin' and jivin' on 78!

Billboard, 15th September 1945

Jesse Allen, Blues Singer

In May 2010 I posted an LP issued by Pathe Marconi in the 1980s, “Rockin’ and Rollin’” by Jesse Allen. The disc which had been donated to the blog by regular contributor Big Al consisted of 12 tracks recorded in New Orleans for Aladdin and Imperial between 1951 and 1954. Although none of the tracks had been hits back in the 1950s, there was some very good blues / R&B material in the compilation.

Pathe Marconi LP from the 1980s

According to the sleeve notes, very little was known about Jesse Allen. There were conflicting stories about where he came from, with Dave Bartholomew being sure that he came from Jacksonville, Florida, while Tommy Ridgley thought that he hailed from either Georgia or Alabama and Bobby Mitchell was under the impression that he was from Mississippi. The author of the sleeve notes, Jeff Hannusch, didn’t know what happened to Jesse after he cut his last record around 1960.

Since posting that LP I have heard from Jesse Allen’s daughter and I can now add some background to his story. So let’s take a closer look at the life and music of a bluesman who may not have achieved stardom but who has left us a small legacy of fine recordings.

Jesse Leroy Allen was born on the 25th of September, 1925, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. He was the seventh of eight children. He joined the Navy at a young age and also from a young age developed a love for music and singing. As you can hear from the sound samples in this article he had a strong singing voice suited to both slow blues and rocking numbers. He never learned to read music but was a self taught guitarist, playing by ear and learning licks from fellow musicians as he picked up work in small time clubs and bars starting in Dade and Broward counties, Florida. Over the years his club work would take him and his family to Amarillo, Texas, to New Mexico and even to White Plains, New York.

His first recording session was for Aladdin Records in New Orleans on October 13th, 1951. This was in fact the first New Orleans session held by the LA based label. The “Rockin’ and Rollin’” LP includes all four tracks from this session. Two of the tracks, “Gonna Move away From Town,” and “Rock This Morning” were released on Aladdin single 3129 in late April, 1952.

The record was reviewed in Billboard on the 26th April. “Gonna Move Away From Town – strong blues vocal by Allen is given added excitement by very effective instrumental backing. Guitar is especially fine.” There was rather fainter praise for “Rock This Morning” as Billboard opined: “Standard blues fare lacks real excitement tho the lyrics help. Should catch some coin.”

The two other sides recorded at the session, “Shake ‘em up Baby” and “Boogie Woogie Mama,” were not released. Jesse Allen’s daughter is adamant that he is not the vocalist on these sides and indeed they just don’t sound like him at all. I don’t know who the singer is, but he is obviously trying to emulate Roy Brown. You can hear these sides on the “Rockin’ and Rollin’” download.

Listen to Aladdin 3129 here:



“Gonna Move Away From Town” / “Rock This Morning” was not the first Jesse Allen single to be released. On December 8th, 1951 he recorded two sides for the Coral label: “My Suffering” and “Let’s Party” which were released on Coral 65078 at the beginning of February 1952.

They were reviewed in Billboard on the 9th of February 1952: “My Suffering – Blues ditty gets a solid chant from Allen with a neat assist from the combo backing him. Let’s Party – Routine re-write of “Hey-Baba-Re-Ba” makes for nothing more than an okay handclapper.”

Listen to Coral 65078 here:



Jesse’s next recording session was for Bayou, a subsidiary of Lew Chudd’s Imperial label. Supervised by Dave Bartholomew in New Orleans, the session (probably held in 1952 or early 1953) yielded the single “Dragnet” / “Take It Easy” (Bayou 011). “Dragnet” with its dramatic opening chords and Joe Friday style voiceover, was an attempt to cash in on the popular TV series of the same name. Unfortunately such blatant “borrowing” led to legal problems.

Under the heading “TV Themes Stir Indie Diskings” the Billboard edition of the 11th of July 1953 reported: “Meanwhile attorneys for the TV program ‘Dragnet’ forced Lew Chudd’s Bayou label to withdraw from circulation the Jesse Allen satirical waxing of the show’s theme. The attorneys, Pacht, Tannenbaum and Ross also said they are checking Modern Records’ ‘Dragnet Blues.’”

Listen to Bayou 011 here:



In August 1953, Jesse Allen had his first recording session for Imperial. He recorded four duets with Audrey Walker, two of which were released on Imperial 5256 – “Gonna Tell My Mama” and “Gotta Call That Number.” Two numbers, “Dumb Bunny” and “You Can Believe That” were not released.

Imperial 5256 was reviewed in the Billboard edition of October the 10th, 1953. “Gonna Tell My Mama” received a lukewarm review – “The boy-girl team sounds good here, but the material is just a bit too ordinary.” The review of “Gotta Call That Number” was also less than enthusiastic – “Again the material is only fair. Moreover, the gal is far less effective on this side.”

Listen to Imperial 5256 here:



Although the disc with Audrey Walker failed to sell, Imperial had enough faith in Jesse Allen to call him back to the studio for a solo recording session in early 1954. Backed by a line up of New Orleans’ finest session musicians, Jesse cut four sides. “Sittin’ and Wonderin’” and “I Wonder What’s the Matter” were released in June 1954 on Imperial 5285. With Lee Allen and Alvin “Red” Tyler on saxophones and underpinned by a rhythm section of Edward Frank (piano), Frank Fields (bass) and Earl Palmer (drums), these sides were fine examples of Crescent City R&B.

“Sittin’ and Wonderin’” was an answer record to Lloyd Price’s 1952 hit “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” while “I Wonder What’s The Matter” was a slow burning blues with Jesse in particularly good voice.

The other two sides from the session were released in September 1954 on Imperial 5303.The A side, “The Things I’m Gonna Do,” was another answer record, this time to Guitar Slim’s big hit “The Things I Used To Do.” The B side, “What A Party” was a great rocker which borrowed the tune of Clyde McPhatter’s “Money Honey.”

The record received a good review in Billboard on the 4th September. Of “The Things I’m Gonna Do” the reviewer said: “Allen promises to reform and look for a true love in a good chant job above a familiar instrumental riff. The mood of the blues is set effectively.” And “What A Party” had another positive review: “Rhythm blues about a wild shindig manages to work in the titles of a number of past disk clicks in the lyrics. Should do okay in the coin boxes.”

Unfortunately neither of Jesse’s releases did okay in the coin boxes or anywhere else. However, despite the lack of sales Imperial persevered with Jesse. He was back in the New Orleans recording studio on September 18th 1954 to cut “Rockin’ and Rollin’” and “I Love You So.”

“Rockin’ and Rollin’” was an excellent cover version of Lil' Son Jackson’s 1951 hit while “I Love You So” was an appealing pleader. Released on Imperial 5315, the sides suffered a similar fate to Jesse’s previous discs and failed to chart despite their musical excellence. It may be that the lack of originality in releasing answer discs and a cover version of a recent hit prevented the Imperial releases from garnering enough sales to chart.

You can listen to the 3 Imperial releases here:



Jesse didn't record again until 1958. This time round he cut two sides for Johnny Vincent's Vin label, backed again by Lee Allen and Red Tyler on saxes with James Booker on piano and Roland Cook on bass.

“Goodbye Blues” is an excellent catchy rocker which lopes along merrily. Jesse’s voice is extremely effective against a background of riffing horns. “Baby Say You Will” is a slow pleader with Jesse providing another appealing vocal. The sides were released on Vin 1002 but again there was no chart action.

Listen to Vin 1002 here:



Jesse’s last recordings were made for the Jimmy Liggins owned Duplex label which released occasional R&B and soul records between 1958 and 1978. He cut two sides in Fayetteville, Tennessee in 1959. Released on Duplex 9003, “Love You Baby” (aka “Love Me Baby”) and “After A While” were memorably unruly wild blues rockers with screaming vocals and clanging guitar soaring over a muddy chaotic mix of horns, piano and drums. It was marvellously uninhibited stuff and a great end to an intermittent recording career.

Listen to Duplex 9003 here:



Although Jesse’s recording career was over, he continued to play the bars, clubs and juke joints. He and his family moved around to wherever his music career took him. In the early 1960s he was in Amarillo, Texas, then in 1964 he was back in Tallahassee. In 1965 he was in White Plains, New York before moving to Miami in 1966 or 1967 where he stayed for the rest of his life.

He developed heart complications and passed away in Miami on the 14th of September, 1976. Almost up until his death he was still working in clubs in Florida, in Perrine, in Midway (the Club 40) and in Tallahassee (the Red Bird Café).

The Red Bird Cafe, Tallahassee. Photograph - Florida Memory

The recorded legacy of Jesse Allen may be considered to be scant when compared to that of the many R&B stars who achieved greater fame, yet some of his recordings were deemed to be good enough to be re-released on an LP as part of the French Pathe Marconi’s reissue programme back in the 1980s. A few of his recordings continued to resurface occasionally on obscure LPs and CDs in the Savage Kick and Stompin’ series and more recently all of his records were rounded up on the Official CD “Little Walkin’ Willie Meets Jesse Allen.”

Official CD - hard to find nowadays

However, music was not his most important or most lasting legacy. He is survived by one daughter, eight grandchildren, twenty-three great grandchildren and one great-great granddaughter (at the time of writing). His daughter describes him as “a great guy with lots of love and compassion for everyone. He was ‘everyday people!’”

With thanks to Joanne.

Other information sources – Billboard magazine (available on Google books); Florida Memory website; sleevenotes to “Rockin’ and Rollin’” by Jeff Hannusch; Bruyninckx Discography.

Joan Spins Again! – Volume 2

Side 1
1 Half Angel - The Twilighters
2 Dynaflow - The Caverliers
3 The Greatest Of Them All - The Demens
4 Please Remember My Heart - The Five Bells
5 I Want Your Love - The Mellow Drops
6 Squeeze Me Baby - The Crystals
7 Pretty Baby, Baby - The Gazelles
8 So Worried - The Five Hollywood Bluejays
9 Crying Over You - The Hornets

Side 2
1 You Will Always Find Me True - The Billy Dawn Quartet
2 The Darkest Night - The Gems
3 Treat Me Right - The Love Notes
4 Come On And Rock - The Dukes
5 Bop-Alena - The Shadows
6 We Two - The Belvederes
7 Why Oh Why - The Tru-Tones
8 Two Time Heart - The Bombers
9 Good Old 99 - The Marylanders

Joan K brings us another selection of rare vocal group rhythm and blues in the second volume of her new series Joan Spins Again!

Volume 2 is a fascinating mix of ballads, blues, and some of the wildest vocal group records I’ve ever heard. “Dynaflow,” “Squeeze Me Baby,” “Pretty Baby, Baby,” “You Will Always Find Me True” and “Bop-Alena” in particular should all appeal to fans of rocking R&B. The Gazelles would give The Lamplighters a run for their money any day. It’s vocal group R&B just the way I like it with hoarse voiced tenor leads, down in the alley baritones, burbling bassmen and wailin’ backing from jump blues combos. More please, Joan!

Recorded at various bitrates. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from – rapidshare link

Or from – alternative link

Listen to some highlights in the playlist below. I’ve selected three rockers plus one tearstained slab of heartache which may well have me reaching for the 12 year old malt whisky again. I blame Joan.

1 - The Twilighters - Half Angel - MGM 55014 -1955
2 - The Caverliers - Dynaflow - Atlas 1031 -1954
3 - The Demens - The Greatest of Them All - Teenage 1008 -1957
4 - The Five Bells - Please Remember My Heart - Stolper 100
5 - The Mello-Drops - I Want Your Love – Imperial - Unreleased
6 - The Crystals - Squeeze Me Baby - Luna 101 -1954
7 - The Gazelles - Pretty Baby, Baby - Gotham 315 -1956
8 - The Five Hollywood Blue Jays - So Worried - Recorded In Hollywood 185 -1951
9 - The Hornets - Crying Over You - Flash 125 -1957
10 - The Billy Dawn Quartet - You Will Always Find Me True - Firefly 332
11 - The Gems - The Darkest Night - Drexel 909 -1956
12 - The Love Notes - Treat Me Right
13 - The Dukes - Come On And Rock - Imperial (Unreleased)
14 - The Shadows - Bop-Alena - Delta 1509 -1958
15 - The Belvederes - We Two - Baton 217 -1955
16 - The True-Tones - Why Oh Why
17 - The Bombers - Two Time Heart - Orpheus 1105 -1956
18 - The Marylanders - Good Old 99 - Jubilee 5114 -1953

Jump & Jive on 78 Volume 1

We present a compilation "LP" of El Enmascarado's rips from shellac for your downloadable listening and dancing pleasure. Programmed by your blogmeister for maximum moving and grooving, this virtual disc is guaranteed to provide hours of toetapping fun for the discerning fan of 1940s jump blues.

Check out Jumpin' on 78  and More Jumpin' and Jivin' on 78 for links to the original posts of these discs where you can find out all the background info on who played what and when. The sharp eyed among you will have noticed that Joe Liggins' "A Lovers Lament" / "Miss Betty's Blues" is not included here. We're saving it for a planned second volume.

The download includes all label scans plus an rtf document with the notes from the original posts. These sides are ripped from original 78 rpm discs so surface noise is unavoidable.

Jump & Jive On 78 Volume 1 (Mega)

Side 1
1 Blow Wynn Blow - Jim Wynn
2 Strato-Cruiser - Joe Lutcher
3 Dripper's Boogie Part 1 - Joe Liggins
4 Dripper's Boogie Part 2 - Joe Liggins
5 Jealousy - Tiny Grimes
6 Sonny's Return - Sonny Thompson
7 Nite-Flite - Lloyd Glenn
8 Little Girl Don't Cry - Bull Moose Jackson
9 Let's Make Christmas Merry, Baby - Amos Milburn

Side 2
1 Well Oh Well - Tiny Bradshaw
2 Bow Wow - Amos Milburn
3 The Sidewalks Of New York - Tiny Grimes
4 Sunday Blues - Joe Lutcher
5 Moosey - Bull Moose Jackson
6 J.W. Bop - Jim Wynn
7 I Hate You - Tiny Bradshaw
8 Still Waters - Lloyd Glenn
9 Late Freight - Sonny Thompson