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's selection brings us something new and something old, that is, stuff that I got in my collection more recently, and mostly, that goes with preparing new shows, and stuff that I got when I just found out about the most exciting music that's been in the history of popular music, Rhythm & Blues. I'll tell you more about that later, but first the music. Starting with one of the most popular of vocal groups of the early fifties, the Orioles. Ladykiller Sonny Til got the gals completely out of their minds when he entered the stage and from this group, on their home label Julibee, here is their version of the blues classic See See Rider.
01 - Orioles - See See Rider
02 - Ray-O-Vacs - Lonesome Lover
Lonesome Lover of The Ray-O-Vacs, the group of bass player Jackson "Flap" McQueen, and he'd been in the orchestra of local celebrity Pancho Diggs that drew the crowds to New Jersey's venues in the late thirties. The Ray-O-Vacs, oddly named after a battery brand, they had their first releases for the Coleman label, and in 1950 they with Decca where they had some releases on the 48000 Rhythm & Blues series. None of their records sold where in contrast they were chosen best small combo in a 1953 readers poll in the Pittsburg Courier. The group probably broke up in 1957 when after some releases on the Kaiser label nothing was heard of them anymore.
This group and their re-release on a Danish LP from 1989 was some of the first... Euh..no. Let me keep that confession that I promised to the show itself. So in this transcript this is kind of a loud beep ending here...to start a radio program of my own. There's just so little on radio on what I got to call my music, that I knew I would fill a gap.
Well it's a bit over two years later since I started the show and I've been researching so much on African-American music from the thirties to the fifties that I've transformed into a walking encyclopedia. I even contribute to that other encyclopedia, Wikipedia, every now and then and when you look up their page on the Ray-O-Vacs, well most of it is mine, when I tried to find out the name of that fantastic saxophonist, well he went by the name of Leoparte "Chink" Kinney. Nice to find a who's who in New Jersey's music scene in a book that's on Google books.
Now that's enough talk for now, so back to the music with another one that's in my collection from that very start. It's from 1958 on the Federal label. Here is Tiny Topsy with Waterproof Eyes - and after that you'll get the Larks with Ohh...It Feels So Good.
03 - Tiny Topsy - Waterproof Eyes
04 - Larks - Ohh...It Feels So Good
(jingle)
05 - Camille Howard - Excite Me Daddy
06 - Floyd Dixon - Hole In The Wall
From 1953 the Hole in the Wall and that is a completely different song from Albinia Jones classic Hole in the Wall. Well they both rock and sing about a joint where you can jump to the music and get drunk. This one was Floyd Dixon and he recorded that for the Specialty label.
Before that you got Camille Howard on the Federal label, also from 1953, with Excite Me Daddy and that was her first record for Federal after so many years she spent with the Specialty label. Now her years after Specialty are not the years we know her best of, but she was still much in demand and she tours nationwide with Roy Brown, Roy Milton, Little Willie John, The 5 Royales and Joe Tex. She even revealed plans to open her own night club in L.A., but the Rock 'n Roll craze made her music old-fashioned and she decided to quit music.
Next from 1952 Todd Rhodes with a nice instrumental titled the Red Boy Is Back - a follow-up of the Blues for the Red Boy that was a great hit in the same year and that was the signature tune of Alan Freed's famous Moondog show.
By then he already had a long musical career behind him. Already in the twenties he'd played in McKinney's Cotton Pickers and also worked with other great names like Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins and Fats Waller. When he settled in Detroit in the thirties, there's a gap in his appearances on record, and we find him back just after the war recording for the Detroit-based Sensation label and later for King, with his own band, the Toddlers. He did great instrumentals and backed up female singers like Kitty Stevenson, Connie Allen and Lavern Baker.
Well here is Todd Rhodes with the Red Boy Is Back.
07 - Todd Rhodes - Red Boy Is Back
08 - Johnny Moore's Three Blazes - Don't Get Salty Sugar
Johnny Moore's Three Blazes with their star singer Charles Brown on the Exclusive label released in 1948 - probably recorded in the last months of '47. Don't Get Salty Suger is in the typical style that they'd borrowed from Nat King Cole - but Charles Brown added his own flavor to it with his distinctive voice.
Now these are still pretty lighthearted songs - when Brown got out for his own they turned into gloomy and mellow blues that were a great inspiration for Ray Charles in his early days.
Next the godfather of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues - Dave Bartholomew. As producer, arranger, leader of the house band and talent scout for Imperial records he brought great names to the spotlight of fifties Rhythm & Blues - like T-Bone Walker, Chris Kenner, Smiley Lewis, Shirley & Lee and Fats Domino.
Well as a singer and performer he wasn't one of the greatest, neither among the most influential I'm afraid and that's why he's inducted in teh Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer for his role in establishing New Orleans Rhythm & Blues and the transition to Rock 'n Roll.
Listen to That's How You Got Killed Before.
09 - Dave Bartholomew - That's How You Got Killed Before
10 - Joe Liggins - Hey Betty Martin
Hey Betty Martin - a novelty song of Joe Liggins that didn't make it to the grooves of a 78 by then. It was included on a CD featuring Liggins' recordings for the Specialty label where he signed in 1950. Five years after his monster hit the Honeydripper he still managed to make million-selling records like Pink Champagne and I Gotta Right to Cry. But his 'spectacualar' status had started to fade and by 1954 Specialty didn't renew his contract. Now the band stayed together up to Liggin's death in 1987 but after the mid-fifties they had no succesful releases anymore - he sounded too old-fashioned to the new Rock 'n Roll public.
Next on the Sitting In With label the obscure Houston saxman and singer Joe Papoose Fritz. He had one hit with the label, I Love You My Darling, that slowly spreaded from Houston to the East Coast. From him you'll get I'm So Sorry.
11 - Joe 'Papoose' Fritz - I'm Sorry
12 - Champion Jack Dupree - Dennis Rag
The Dennis Rag - piano work of Champion Jack Dupree that saw daylight in 1961 on an album titled Champion Jack's Natural & Soulful Blues. It didn't have a recording date on it so it may well be an oldfashioned rag recorded in '61 or something old that hasn't been released before.
And we'll stay with the piano a little longer with Jimmy Yancey on the piano and Faber Smith singing. From 1940 on Vocalion here is the East St. Louis Blues.
13 - Faber Smith & Jimmy Yancey - East St. Louis Blues
14 - Al 'Cake' Wichard Sextette & Jimmy Witherspoon - T.B. Blues
The T.B. Blues of Jimmy Witherspoon backed up by drummer Al 'Cake' Wichard and his band and that was recorded in late 1947 for the Modern label, stockpiling masters for the next year when the AFM had ordered a recording ban. It was Wichard who'd brought Jimmy Witherspoon to the Modern label where Al Wichard had a long-time association with. He played both as a drummer in other line-ups and led his own band the Al Cake Sextette that you heard on this one. I found this on a CD titled Beat the Ban, a compilation of recordings for Modern that were done in that frantic last month of '47 where the studios were booked full 24 / 7.
And next a song of the Treniers, the group of the identical twins Claude and Cliff Trenier, in '49 joined by their elder brother Buddy en '51 with the younger brother Milt. Unfortunately on record you can't see the antics and gags they did on stage - their live act was famous and an example for many of the acts of later rock 'n roll artists. As one of the very first black acts they performed in Vegas and kept on doing until November of 2003 when Claude died - Cliff had passed away twenty years before.
Here is from 1950 Everybody Get Together.
15 - Treniers - Everybody get together
16 - Richard Berry - Oh! Oh! Get Out Of The Car
And from the Treniers we go to Richard Berry with a 1954 song that the Treniers also did, Oh! Oh! Get Out Of The Car. Not a very nice way to treat the gal you picked up for a ride I think. That was a year before Berry wrote the rock 'n roll classic Louie Louie that he recorded two years later in '57. He sold the rights for the song for 750 dollars to pay for his wedding, and it was not before the mid eighties, while Berry lived on welfare, that an attorney helped him out to get paid for the royalties he'd missed for the over 1,600 times it was recorded. That made him a millionaire instantly. Must have been a good lawyer.
Well there's time for one more so we get back to 1940 with a great instrumental of Count Basie and his band. On Columbia here is Easy Does It.
17 - Count Basie - Easy Does It
And Count Basie ends today's show of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. Easy does it was from 1940 on the Columbia label and it was written by Sy Oliver and Lester Young. From Rock 'n Roll to forties swing, it's been a varied set again and I hope you liked today's compilation. Well of course you can let me know and send an e-mail to rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. And if you want to read back what I told you today - including that little confession I made earlier in the show, well go to my website and the easiest way to get there is a Google search for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. There you will also find today's playlist and what will be on for next week.
As for now, time's up so have a wonderful and rocking day, and I hope to see you back next time, on this station, for another episode of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman.