This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And again today, a mixed set of tunes bringing us the best and the most obscure of Rhythm & Blues, well pretty much as you're used from me. Some of these sets just originate from browsing through my music collection and that always leaves for surprises, tunes I must have been listening before but I just had forgotten about. So go with me and my exploration of what I lost from memory.
And I start with a recording from the Ace label from Jackson, MS done in 1954 with Joe Hill Louis. His real name was Lesle Hill and he earned his nickname Joe Louis - after the boxer - for a fight he'd won with another kid. Normally he performed as a one-man-band attraction in the streets of Memphis and on local radio - but on here we find him with a small combo. Maybe it's about the street corner where he played - here is 4th and Beale.
01 - Joe Hill Louis - 4th and Beale
02 - Dinah Washington - Short John
Dinah Washington with her dirty blues on her docter, Short John. This was a sequel song on her Long John Blues, another dirty blues but on her dentist. I played it some time ago, and it's a song with a much more itimate feeling with Dinah not shouting her blues like on here, and only a guitarist - and man, a good one - with her.
Next from 1949 on the Mercury label the band of trumpeter Teddy Buckner fronted by bluesman Smiley Turner. Teddy Buckner - he'd seen the world before as a jazz trumpeter and that included a few years with Buck Clayton in Shanghai and work in France with Sidney Becket. He also appeared in movies from the thirties up to the sixties. As a musician of a good standing, you may wonder how he ended up for the longest stint of his life playing traditional dixieland in New Orleans Square in Disneyland.
Anyhow here he is with Smiley Turner - the Lonely Boy Blues.
03 - Smiley Turner - Lonely Boy Blues
04 - Washboard Sam - Booker T. Blues
(jingle)
05 - Chicago All-Stars - Are You Getting Married, Brother
06 - Big Boy Henry - Sad Letter Blues
A pretty long song for the time it was recorded, that was the Sad Letter Blues of a North Carolina bluesman calling himself Big Boy Henry - after the rifle bearing that name. It was recorded together with a whole lot of other tunes in '47 in a record store in New Bern, NC but none of the takes were released before 1988 together with some takes from '52 recorded in that same store. People got interested in him only in the mid-eighties when he had a few albums on the Hometown, Audio Art and Swingmaster labels - both with re-issues of this old material and new recordings. For his song Mr. President protesting against cuts in welfare by president Ronald Reagan, he won the prestigious W.C. Handy Award.
Before that you got a combo led by Cozy Eggleston billed as the Chicago Allstars titled Are You Getting Married Brother recorded for the Columbia label. I found an entry in Billboard's magazine of August 14 of 1948 where the reviewer is fairly positive on this record, seeing potential for the juke box.
And then I have to account for what was before the jingle, well you got Washboard Sam, a Chicago bluesman who recorded some 160 sides for the Bluebird and Vocalion labels. This Booker T Blues was from '39.
Next a nice party tune of King Kolax and his band, and we're talking 1954 now, when this was released on the Checker label. Vocals are Danny Overbea - here is Stomp and Whistle.
07 - Danny Overbea with King Kolax and His Orch. - Stomp And Whistle
08 - Art Shackelford Sextette - The Glory Of Love
Recorded for the Modern label in December of 1947, this was the combo of Art Shackelford - you heard an instrumental version of The Glory Of Love. Now this may sound a bit old-fashioned for '47, the other takes from that session sounded straight from the thirties.
Well nowadays all the music I play here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman is old-fasioned but that's what you came here for, Rhythm & Blues that's been forgotten for a long time.
Next pianist Ace Harris who used to be the piano player on the many hits of the Ink Spots but he also worked with Hot Lips Page and Erskine Hawkins. This instrumental from 1945 features Paul Bascomb. Here is the MFT Boogie.
09 - Ace Harris - MFT Boogie
10 - Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds Of Joy - Froggy Bottom
The Froggy Bottom of Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy and for that I made a deep dive into the past, this was from November 1929 on the Brunswick. The tune was written by pianist Mary Lou Williams .
And for the next one it's just a small step to 1932 - when the depression had deepened. Like in every business, these were harsh times for the recording companies and sales figures on music from the early thrirties were very low. That makes records from the era hard to find. This Reefer Man was released on the Crown label - an early thirties label from New York. Many of the releases, including this one, were re-released on the Varsity label in 1939.
Here it is - Don Redman with a song of Cab Calloway - the Reefer Man.
11 - Don Redman & His Orchestra - Reefer Man
12 - Carl Martin - Good Morning Judge
From Chicago you got Good Morning Judge of Carl Martin and well you can say that he has a very own style of playing the blues - in fact he could play 'bout anything that had strings. Martin often played together with guitarist Ted Bogan and Howard Armstrong who played the violin, under all kinda names like the Tennessee Chocolate Drops or the Four Keys - despite they were three only. About 1932 they moved to Chicago going out on their own. This was recorded in 1935 for the Vocalion label.
Next from 1939, Georgia White with Hydrant Love and that was on Decca that she did some more than a 100 sides for, most of them with pianist Richard Jones and Lonnie Johnson on the guitar.
13 - Georgia White - Hydrant Love
14 - Blind Richard Yates - I'm Gonna Moan My Blues Away
What a wonderful blues of Blind Richard Yates - as soon as I heard it, it stole my heart. The melodious way of singing is very untypical for the blues. There were two takes of it, one released on the Gennett label, and this one on the legendary Black Patti label. Both of them were included on a CD set of the Document series, titled Male blues from the twenties and I heard both of them. Well to me, this version is far superior.
So far for the pre-war blues - this little gem was 1927. I'm making a big jump of 22 years with a recording of bluesman Dennis McMillan from '49. It was never released until a 1969 album on postwar blues. Here is Paper Wooden Daddy.
15 - Dennis McMillon - Paper Wooden Daddy
16 - Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup - Love Me Mama
17 - Chris Powell - Ida Red
And Ida Red ends this show of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman where I did just a mixed bag of tunes that I hope you enjoyed. Of course you can let me know and send an e-mail to rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com - all mail will be replied of course. Ida Red was from April 1952 on the OKeh label and you heard Chris Powell and his Five Blue Flames. Before that Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup with his very typical style of the blues. From 1951 you heard Love Me Mama and that was on the RCA Victor label.
Well at the end of each show I always tell you where to find the information that I told you today - and that is on my website that you easiest find with a Google search for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. Once there, look for show number 130, that is today's show. Well of course you can also see what was on the playlist and take a peek for what's on for next week.
For now my time is up so have a rocking day and remember, dont get the blues, just play them. See you next time here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!