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 show is all about the OKeh label, that is, their famous 6800 series that was launched in the summer of 1951. It lasted until 1970 and brought us some of the greats of Rhythm & Blues and soul. Today some of the earliest releases of this series that started with a great female singer. She'd recorded as Little Miss Sharecropper for the National label, and for OKeh she was presented as Bea Baker - but we know her of course as LaVern Baker when she started singing with the band of Todd Rhodes and later when she signed for Atlantic.
So here's the very first issue of OKeh's new series, number 6800. Bea Baker and Maurice King and his Wolverines with I Want A Lavender Cadillac - And I want it now.
6800 - Maurice King & Bea (LaVern) Baker - I Want A Lavender Cadillac
6804 - Treniers - Plenty Of Money
Don't we all wanna have that - plenty of money. That were the Treniers and they were 6804 of the brand new catalog of the revived OKeh label. Today I feature the start of the 6800 series of OKeh. Now the label had been around since 1918 - the name being the initials of Otto K.E. Heinemann, the founder, and after an unexpected smash hit for a recording of a blues of Mamie Smith in 1920, they'd discovered the market for race records - that's how African American music was called by then. Columbia bought OKeh in 1926 and through the years, the label has been discontinued and revived several times. The 1951 revival was one of them and a page size ad in Billboard Magazine of June 30 of that year announced great news on Rhythm & Blues, that was, the return of the label with an impressive roster - actually the Rhythm & Blues artists that had been signed to Columbia before - and announcing the first five releases.
And when in 1953 the pop branch was renamed to Epic, Okeh became a label solely devoted to Rhythm & Blues, and in the sixties it was one of the major labels for the Chicago soul scene.
The next one, OKeh number 6806, is a vocal effort. The Al Russell trio had been around since 1944 and got renamed to Do Re Mi trio in 1947 - that is, under all possible spellings you can think of and several personnel changes, but fairly succesful. They even owned record labels, with several names, be it that most of the releases were made to sell at gigs. Yet in 1950 the group had broke up and Al Russell revived the trio a year later with two other guys named Al and a guitarist named Freddy - indeed the trio consisted of four members. Well you don't lie about the count if you call yourself Al Russell *and* The Do Re Mi Trio and there's even a picture of the quartet in one of the trade magazines that I found on Marv Goldberg's web page on this vocal group. They'd just signed with Columbia who put them on their new OKeh series.
The group with the three Al's stayed together for a very long while since, Alton 'Buddy' Hawkins being replaced when he died in 1977 by some guy nicknamed Skeets for another two years. Al Russell still performed in a restaurant in West Chester, PA until 2009 at the age of 88 and he stopped not because he was too old for it, but the business closed. He died two years later.
Listen to May That Day Never Come.
6806 - Al Russell & The Do Re Mi Trio - May That Day Never Come
6807 - Willie Dixon & The Big Three Trio - Lonesome Blues
(jingle)
6808 - Bill Davis Trio - Catch 'Em Young, Treat 'Em Rough, Tell 'Em Nothin'
6810 - Chuck Willis - I Rule My House
Well the man is the boss - I rule my house was that sung by Chuck Willis and if you want to keep it that way there's that advice of Bill Davis that you heard before - Catch 'Em Young, Treat 'Em Rough and Never Tell 'Em Nothin'. No sign of women's lib in 1951 and these kinda verses were pretty common in Rhythm & Blues these days. Now the women had similar lyrics, actually 'Catch 'em young' was a hit for Mabel Scott, and when a woman sings it, it somehow gets a much more positive feeling.
Then before the jingle you got Willie Dixon and his Big Three Trio with the Lonesome Blues, before his involvement with the Chess label where he worked as a talent scout, songwriter, session musician and producer.
Next the vocal group the Sugar Tones on OKeh number 6814. Billboard wasn't overly positive about this one in their review, but I prefer it to the slow ballad on the A-side. So listen to The Sun Shines Once Again
6814 - Sugar Tones - The Sun Shines Once Again
6816 - Irlton French & Chuck Thomas - My Run Around Baby
And another one that wasn't favored by Billboard's critics. Irlton French was backed by Chuck Thomas and his All Stars with my Run Around Baby. Well he didn't make his mark on Rhtyhm & Blues but we'll find him once more here on this show today.
Next another one of Lavern Baker under the name of Bea Baker. She's being backed up again by Maurice King and his Wolverines. Here is Make it Good.
6817 - Maurice King & Bea (LaVern) Baker - Make It Good
6820 - Mr. Google Eyes & Billy Ford - No Wine No Women
Mr. Google Eyes backed up by Billy Ford's band with No Wine No Woman. Joe August was his real name and he earned his nickname at Dooky Chase's restaurant in New Orleans' Fifth Ward - a family owned eatery that still exists. As a teenager he worked as a delivery boy and he kept on staring to the female patrons of the restaurant.
Next a rocking blues again backed up by Chuck Thomas, with Pearl Taylor on lead that again can't get the approval of Billboard's critics. Well each to his own but I dig this one and especially the trumpeter in the band - that Billboard calls distractingly old-fashioned. Now the trumpet indeed got more and more out of fashion in the fifties, but this is just too good to be judged like this, and I think OKeh had a top notch house band with Chuck Thomas.
Well judge for yourself. Here is Pearl Taylor with Come On Daddy.
6822 - Pearl Taylor - Come On Daddy
6824 - Johnny Hodges - The Jeep Is Jumpin'
The Jeep Is Jumping - a nice instrumental of Johnny Hodges, the famous tenor saxophonist of Duke Ellington since the thirties. He'd just got out of his own in 1951, a pretty unsuccesful adventure that ended being re-united with the Duke in '55. Richt now in the background you hear the flip of this one. Tired Socks, with it's staccato background a jazz piece that sounds like a part of a classical symphony.
Next the Ravens with I Get All My Lovin' On A Saturday Night. The flip, The Whiffenpoof Song, is one that I can agree with Billboard's critics, a failed attempt to get a pop standard right. But this one is the Ravens at their best.
6825 - Ravens - I Get All My Lovin' On A Saturday Night
6826 - Treniers - Hey Little Girl
The Treniers show that they're not only good at loud rocking movers, this is a real good attempt to sound as a vocal group. Hey Little Girl was number 6828 in OKeh's catalog.
And for number 6829 OKeh dug up an oldie of Big Joe Turner. Cherry Red was recorded in the summer of 1939 and well you can hear this is somewhat out of fashion for 1951 - but a great blues and wonderfully orchestrated. On the flip the 1940 recording Joe Turner's Blues that I featured before, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. But here's Cherry Red.
6829 - Big Joe Turner - Cherry Red
6832 - Royals - If You Love Me
(jingle)
6834 - Red Saunders feat. Jumpin Joe Williams - Weekday Blues
6835 - Little Brother Brown - Too Much Jelly Roll
And three more end today's show of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman where I featured the start of the newly reborn OKeh label in 1951, the famous 6800 series that brought us a lot of the best of Rhythm & Blues and sixties soul. You got Little Brother Brown - well the voice was the same Irlton French whom we heard earlier today - with Too Much Jelly Roll on OKeh number 6835 and before that you got Red Saunders and his band fronted by Jumping Joe Williams and the Weekday Blues one release earlier. And then before the jingle you got the Royals, by then still a pretty unknown doowop group with If You Love Me. Well that changed when Hank Ballard joined the group in '53 and renamed it to the Midnighters.
As I said OKeh brought us some great Rhythm & Blues despite the sour critics in Billboard that I cited today every now and then. I hope you agree and of course you can tell me, my e-mail address is rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. And to read back what I told you today, or find out what's on for next time, you can find that on my web site, and the easiest way to get there is to search Google for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman.
For now, time's up so have a wonderful and rocking day. See you next time, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!