This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And today I take you to the late winter and early spring of 1940, just over two months, from mid-February to early April, to the Decca studios for some great Rhythm & Blues that was recorded in these few weeks. I'll get you a nearly continuous series of releases of their race series, the numbers 7730 to 7753 and it's all great and enjoyable music.
So let's start with an instrumental of Franz Jackson. His name may not ring a bell with you but he was a great in the Chicago scene from the early thirties where he played with the greats of jazz - and he continued to blow the saxophone until he died at the age of 95. From him on Decca 7730 the Boogie Woogie Camp Meeting.
7730 - Franz Jackson and his Jacksonians - Boogie Woogie Camp Meetin'
7732 - Sam Price - Swing Out In The Groove
Sam Price with Swing Out In The Groove and that was recorded in the early spring of 1940 for Decca, as all of today's music is. Price was hired by Decca as the studio pianist for backing up blues singers.
Next Frankie Halfpint Jaxon, one of them bluesmen who had numerous recordings with Decca. He started around 1910 as a teenager in vaudeville and blues and by 1920 he worked with Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith, later with leading big bands like Bennie Moten's and King Oliver's, but also with just piano backing of Georgia Tom and Cow Cow Davenport. With Decca he recorded with the Harlem Hamfats and he used to be on local radio in Chicago as Halfpint Jaxon and his Quarts of Joy.
From him on Decca 7733 - Wasn't It Nice.
7733 - Frankie Halfpint Jaxon - Wasn't It Nice
7735 - Johnnie Temple - Good Woman Blues
(jingle)
7736 - Doctor Sausage & his Five Pork Chops - Doctor Sausage's Blues
7738 - Peetie Wheatstraw - Big Money Blues
The Big Money Blues of pianist and blues singer Peetie Wheatstraw on Decca 7738. Bluesmen often think that he was a guitarist as in the only picture we know of him he holds a guitar. Yet on most if not all of his recordings it's the piano that he's been playing.
Before that you got Doc Sausage and his band the Five Pork Chops with the Doctor Sausage's Blues, the flip of his recording debut with Decca, Wham! Four sides of him were released on Decca, and they didn't sell and the next recording date would be some ten years later as Doctor Sausage and his Mad Lads for the Regal label, again a one-session stint that yielded Rag Mop that went to #4 on the R&B chart, and Sausage Rock.
Still Lucius Tyson, as his real name was, he was pretty succesful in the New York nightclub scene. His comedy and musical group the Five Pork Chops included pianist Gerry "The Wig" Wiggins and Al 'Dr. Horse' Pittman, another singer who had an important side role next to Doc Sausage on stage, but on these tracks he's not heard.
Then, finally, there was that blues before the jingle, well that was the Good Woman Blues of Johnnie Temple and that was just one of the dozens of records he had with Decca.
Next Lil Armstrong and her swing band the Dixielanders with an instrumental titled Sixth Street, recorded in New York in March of 1940. It's the flip of a ballad titled My Secret Flame. Lil Armstrong who'd been married to Louis Armstrong in the twenties, she usually was released on the popular series of Decca instead of the race series, that I feature here today on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. I don't know what's been the reason for that but it brings her here in this show. Here is Sixth Street.
7739 - Lil Hardin Armstrong - Sixth Street
7740 - Creole George Guesnon - Iberville & Franklin Blues
And from Lil Hardin's 6th Street to an intersection in New Orleans that doesn't exist. Creole George Guesnon was in New York when he recorded this Iberville and Franklin Blues and he must have lost his way in his hometown cause these two streets do not cross - Iberville ends at the Mississippi river way west from where Franklin does. Well who cares when you're in New York, when you sing the blues on your hometown far away.
He did four sides for Decca while he was in New York and that's the only recorded output of Guesnon. He returned to his hometown one year later working odd jobs together with performing in local places.
Next up is Georgia white, just the next release of Decca after Guesnon. Now White was far more productive with Decca, she did over a hundred sides with the label. From her you'll get the Late Hour Blues.
7741 - Georgia White - Late Hour Blues
7742 - Frankie Halfpint Jaxon - When They Play Them Blues
Put Me In The Alley When They Play Them Blues - that was Frankie Halfpint Jaxon again and next Arkansas bluesman Lee Brown, another steady on the Decca roster. From him the Perlina blues.
7744 - Lee Brown - Perlina Blues
7745 - Louis Jordan - Somebody Done Hoodooed the Hoodoo Man
Somebody Done Hoodooed the Hoodoo Man - you heard Louis Jordan. Now I'm an absolute nitwit in this field, so I had to look up whether there's a difference between hoodoo and voodoo and it seems there is, but I'm afraid I didn't catch the essence of either of them in the description on Wikipedia.
Well maybe I should stick to the music but first let me tell you a bit on the short spell of time that today's music is from. Today I feature the Decca label and all recordings are from February to April of 1940. What kinda year was that? The war in Europe hadn't reached America yet and the president is Franklin Roosevelt, who is up for his third term later that year. February brings us the Disney movie Pinocchio and the first Tom and Jerry cartoon and Elmer Fudd is born on March the second - few months before his arch-enemy Bugs Bunny. April 1st is the 1940 US census date and Booker T Washington is the first African American who is portrayed on a US post stamp.
Sounds like a lull in history while elsewhere in the world the war is building up, and the music is of a nation slowly crawling out of the depression and no idea yet that America would be involved at the end of the next year. The blues have the same subjects as they always had.
So let's return to the music with Roosevelt Sykes with the Yellow Yam Blues.
7747 - Roosevelt Sykes - Yellow Yam Blues
7749 - Leroy's Buddy (Bill Gaither) - Mean Devil Blues
Bill Gaither billed as Leroy's Buddy with the Mean Devil Blues. Gaither was a close friend of Leroy Carr and after the death of his friend in 1935 he adopted Leroy's Buddy as his stage name for a while, and that's what most of his many recordings on Decca have been billed as.
Next one more of Johnnie Temple. Here's the Skin and Bones Woman.
7750 - Johnnie Temple - Skin and Bones Woman
7751 - Skeets Tolbert & His Gentlemen Of Swing - Gimme Something Like That
Skeets Tolbert and his Gentlemen of Swing with Gimme Something Like That. Campbell Tolbert as his name was, he joined Snub Moseley's band in 1937 and when Snub left, he took over leadership and renamed the band the Gentlemen of Swing. His nickname Skeets he got as a little boy when he lived in Charlotte, NC and it was short for Mosquito - not a name to be proud of I think. His recordings for Decca were not very succesful and that is despite that his music is easy to listen to - pretty much comparable to Louis Jordan.
And I wanna end today's show with of the most important of bluesmen of the thirties - Peetie Wheatstraw. His production was massive - some 160 sides for Vocalion and Decca and he has a deserved, well-documented page on Wikipedia that tells us of the huge influence he had on fellow bluesmen. Unfortunately William Bunch, as his real name was, died young in a car accident in 1941.
From him the Two Time Mama.
7753 - Peetie Wheatstraw - Two Time Mama
And Peetie Wheatstraw ends today's episode of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman where I spotlighted Decca's recordings of the early spring of 1940. And these few months, well they brought us a pretty varied set of music with legendary bluesmen, and good but unknown swing music. Most of Decca's output on swing jazz was on their popular series - this was the race series, the series for what later was to be called Rhythm & Blues.
Well I hope you liked listening to my show as much as I enjoyed compiling it - it's always a pleasure to sort out and present the music that I like so much. Well you can let me know if you dug the show or if you have any comments to make or questions to ask. My email adress is rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com and of course you can also find me on the web, just do a google search for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman and my site will show up first. There you can find what will be on next time and review today's playlist or read back what I told you today.
As for now, have a rocking day and I hope to see you next time, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman.