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 some of the best of Rhythm & Blues from the decades where Rock 'n Roll still had to arrive and the music was more fun. And to start with a nice mellow tune of Myra Taylor backed up by the combo of Jimmy Keith recorded in October of 1946. Despite its lukewarm review in Billboard Magazine of the first of February of '47, this is one of my favorites. A warning to all women not to brag about the abilities of your man, not even to your best friend - she'll try out. Here is Tell Your Best Friend Nothin'.
01 - Myra Taylor - Tell Your Best Friend Nothing
02 - Horse Collar Williams - How Ya Like That
How Ya Like That of Floyd 'Horsecollar' Williams, a pretty obscure saxophonist leading a small combo consisting of Jesse Drakes on trumpet, Joe Evans and John Hartzfield also on saxophone, pianist Duke Jordan, drummer J. C. Heard and Gene Ramey on bass. Well you need Tom Lord's extensive jazz discography to find that out - or read it, like I did, on a web page on the independent record company that J. Mayo Williams started back in 1945. This was on his Chicago label, and that doesn't say it was recorded in the Windy City - it was cut in New York, like most releases of the label. Well the label is named Chicago, but it also featured the imprint "Harlem Series" and "The Southern Record Company", and from that all, only Harlem was right as Mayo Williams had set up his office on 307 Lenox Ave, right in the heart of Harlem.
Floyd Horsecollar Williams pops up again in the mid-fifties on another obscure label named That's It with an instrumental pair the Horsecollar Blues b/w Thru-Way. And that's about what I could find about him.
For the next one we go to the fine orchestra of Tom Archia with a recording for the Aristocrat label in October of 1947, celebrating the joys of the liquor. Now it's Tom Archia himself who does the singing and I'm afraid with a performance like that he wouldn't have made it to the next round of the Voice of America. But for a song about a man who can't live without the booze - it does.
Here is the Downfall Blues.
03 - Tom Archia - Downfall Blues (Whiskey)
04 - Handy Jackson - Trouble (Will Bring You Down)
(jingle)
05 - Goree Carter - Hoy Hoy
06 - T-Bone Walker - Glamour Girl
That were four in a row - after Tom Archia's booze song you got Trouble Will Bring You Down of Handy Jackson and that was released on Sam Phillips' Sun label from Memphis. Then came the jingle and after that you got Houston-based guitarist Goree Carter with Hoy Hoy from 1949 on the Freedom label. His career lasted only two years before he was drafted to serve in Korea, but still he became an influential guitarist for rock 'n roll artists. After his discharge in '51, he wasn't able to resume his career with just a hint of success.
And finally T-Bone Walker with the Glamour Girl from 1950 on the Imperial label. The sides T-Bone did for Imperial were produced by Dave Bartholomew, as the A&R man for the label the unsung hero of New Orleans' Rhythm & Blues. For that, T-bone Walker is much more recognized as a pioneer on the electrical guitar. Rolling Stone magazine placed him on a humble number 67 of the 100 greatest guitar players, but credits Walker having "invented the guitar solo as we know it, building a new style on fluid phrasing, bluesy bends and vibrato". When B.B. King heard him, he said he thought Jesus Christ Himself had returned to Earth to play the electric guitar - and hearing him on Stormy Monday was King's inspiration to get himself an electrical guitar. King rose much higher in that top 100, that is on a sixth place.
Next up another bluesman from Texas, but unlike T-Bone he stayed in the Lone Star State and recorded for several local labels. This though was recorded for Mercury in 1951. Here is L.C. Williams with I Don't Want No Woman.
07 - L.C. Williams - I Don't Want No Woman
08 - Ace Harris - Baby Maybe You're The Wolf
From 1945 Baby Maybe You're The Wolf of pianist Ace Harris - a pianist most remembered for backing up the Ink Spots and his stints with Hot Lips Page and Erskine Hawkins - but in between he recorded with a few combos during the forties.
And for the next one we go to Ivory Joe Hunter. Now Ivory Joe was not a stage name - these really were his given names. He came from a musical family and after he moved from Texas to Los Angeles, he joined Johnny Moore's Three Blazers and with him they had a major hit with his first recording Blues at Sunrise - on Hunter's own-established Ivory label. Apart from his own songs, he must have written some 7,000 more. Here he is with Don't You Believe Her.
09 - Ivory Joe Hunter - Don't You Believe Her
10 - Harlem Hamfats - I Don't Want You Loving Me
From 1936 I Don't Want You Loving Me and the voice of Herb Morand, it definitely defined the sound of Harlem Hamfats. When he's not singing he growls the trumpet like in the outtro of this one. When he left to his home town New Orleans in '39, the group never recorded anymore. I suppose it's Odell Rand, normally on the clarinet, who took up the saxophone on this one.
And for the next one we dive even into the late twenties with the Washboard band of Clarence Williams, and it's fronted by Margaret Webster. Here is I've Got What It Takes (But It Breaks My Heart to Give It Away).
11 - Margaret Webster & Clarence Williams' Washboard Band - I've Got What It Takes (But It Breaks My Heart to Give It Away)
12 - Henry Red Allen & Lee Brown - My Little Girl
And this little goodie was from 1940, My Little Girl of Lee Brown and he was backed up by a washboard band led by the great trumpeter Henry Red Allen. By the time he played in the orchestra of Luis Russell together with Louis Armstrong, and Allen is often said to be the first one to play in Armstrong's style - and with that he for sure belongs to the greats of jazz. Now until late in the forties, the line between serious jazz and earthy Rhythm & Blues was very thin - and this record shows that off.
And for the next one I go to 1935 with a Chicago recording for the Vocalion label. Here is bluesman George Noble with the Sissy Man Blues.
13 - George Noble - Sissy Man Blues
14 - Kid Prince Moore - Ford V-8 Blues
From 1938 on the Decca label the Ford V-8 Blues of Kid Prince Moore and this is one of the many songs where bluesmen compare man's two favorite subjects to talk about - women and cars. And where the Cadillac is the wannahave car and the Ford is the more likely to be able to afford - many of these car and women-comparison blues stretch the comparison to women. You can have a classy woman beautiful like a Cadillac but she's expensive and demanding - or be satisfied with a woman whose pretensions are less.
V-8 Ford was the the successor of the A-model, that in its turn was the follow-up of the iconic T-model. Like their predecessors the V-8 - or more correct, the Model 18, was a mass produced and relatively cheap car. A lot of older blues use the T-model as the poor man's car, but by '38 most of them had disappeared off the road, so the lyrics had modernized to the current model.
Next on the Sitting In With label bluesman Leroy Dallas with Baby Please Don't Go that was recorded in New York in 1949 together with guitarist Brownie McGhee and Wilbert Ellis on the piano.
15 - Leroy Dallas - Baby Please Don't Go
16 - Martha Davis - Lovin' Blues
From 1946 Martha Davis with the Lovin' Blues and this lady made fame together with her husband with the musical comedy act Martha Davis & Spouse that did well during the forties and fifties. There are a few clips on YouTube with them and in their act they rely on their facial expressions and her being much taller than he was.
And we got time enough for a great double sider. Well it's time you sing the blues when you got a bad tooth ache and Victoria Spivey as the patient and Lonnie Johnson in his role as a doctor, do a great job in this one. They did a few nice blues duets in Victoria's typical style, for the Vocalion label. So here is, from 1928, the Toothache Blues.
17 - Victoria Spivey & Lonnie Johnson - Toothache Blues
And well it did hurt, but all ends well. The Toothache Blues of Victoria Spivey and her dentist Lonnie Johnson from 1928 ends this episode of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. As usual I crisscrossed several decades of African-American music from the first half of the 20th century - music that is the cradle of all of our modern popular music. Remember, if it wasn't for the blues and the jazz, our music would probably have been based on classic European styles and for that, it would have been completely different.
The dominant influence of African American music is a unique story blended with the history of segregation and discrimination of a population with a thriving and proud subculture, and that story needs to be told so it won't be forgotten and that's what I'm doing here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. And if you want to discuss with me, or comment or have just anything to say to me, well take up your keyboard and mail me - the address is rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. And as always, today's playlist and story is to be reviewed on my web site, that you can find searching Google for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. Once in, this is show number 170 in that list of episodes.
For now time's up so have a rocking day. See you next time, here on this station, for more Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!