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 spotlight the OKeh label with some releases from the year 1952. Just the year before, Columbia had revived the subsidiary for its Rhythm & Blues releases and somewhat over a year ago I did a show on this revived 6800 series. Now that series ran until 1970, making it the major label for Chicago soul. And so there's a whole lot more music to play from it than that one show that I done. So today some more releases.
And I want to start today with number 6835 of the catalog, and that is organist Wild Bill Davis with the Chicken Gumbo.
0 - 6836 - Wild Bill Davis - Chicken Gumbo
0 - 6841 - It's Too Late Baby - Chuck Willis
It's Too Late Baby of Chuck Willis - not his great ballad hit It's Too Late, that came four years later when he moved to Atlantic. Willis had been discovered in a talent contest in his hometown Atlanta and got a contract with Columbia, where he did one single before he got transferred to OKeh. OKeh was Willis career launcher in Rhythm & Blues, and compared to what I play most, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman, he was of a younger generation, the generation that understood Rock 'n Roll and the new teenager market.
He got famed as the King of the Stroll, the popular late fifties dance and he recorded several songs for that dance - including Going To The River. Betty and Dupree and his remake of the blues classic See See Rider. Willis had serious stomach problems and was way too late with getting medical help for that. He died on the operating table in an Atlanta hospital at the heigt of his career, in 1958, only thirty years old.
His last recording, the ballad What Am I Living For, was a big hit, but the revenues of it mostly paid for his debts with the IRS. The flip Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes contained the words "They said that rock and roll would soon fade away No matter what they say, rock and roll is here to stay!" and he proved to be true listeners. Many times I emphasize how important Rhythm & Blues - or pre-Rock 'n Roll African American music in general - has been in the making of all of our popular music, but it needed to cross over to the general audience first to gain that importance.
That crossover, where the white bands started to play Rhythm & Blues and adapted it further to the latest tastes of a new audience, the teenager market, that is the essence of Rock 'n Roll. That is, listeners, how I see it, and there are as many definitions of Rock 'n Roll out there, probably as many as there are people who listen to it.
Next one is number 6842 of the catalog of OKeh, and that is Tell That Woman of the Big Three Trio. It was recorded in 1951, before Willie Dixon signed with the Chess label. Together with guitarist Ollie Crawford and piano man Leonard 'Baby Doo' Caston he stayed with OKeh until early '51. Caston left in '52 and that meant the end of the trio.
Here they are with Tell That Woman.
0 - 6842 - Big Three Trio - Tell That Woman
0 - 6843 - Ravens - That Old Gang Of Mine
(jingle)
0 - 6844 - Titus Turner - Don't Take Everybody To Be Your Friend
0 - 6847 - Paul Gayten - Lonesome For My Baby
Four in a row - after the Big Three Trio you got the Ravens with a classic that's been around since 1923 - That Old Gang Of Mine. The flip was the syrupy Everything but you - both featured the bass of Jimmy Ricks. Now the Ravens were immensely popular and Jimmy Ricks definitely was the big star. With his delivery he set a new standard for bass voices in vocal group - every bass singer wanted to sound like him.
Then came Titus Turner with Don't Take Everybody To Be Your Friend. Turner had been hopping record labels for a while without much success, and his OKeh stint is just part of that, until his All Around the World was made a hit by Little Willie John in 1955. Turner is better known for his songwriting, he penned many a classic of late Rhythm & Blues, including Leave My Kitten Alone and Sticks and Stones that became a hit for Ray Charles.
Then finally Paul Gayten with this Lonesome for my Baby that apparently was aimed at the pop market.
Next Larry Darnell who'd been the star of the Regal label - when it went out of business, he moved to OKeh. Though from Columbus OH Darnell is first of all associated with New Orleans where he was the steady performer at the Dew Drop Inn. His recordings for Regal were major hits - ever since the label closed, he never got near the success he had in these two years.
Here he is with Left My Baby.
0 - 6848 - Larry Darnell - Left My Baby
0 - 6850 - Chris Powell - That's Right
Blown out by trumpeter Clifford Brown you heard that's right - an instrumental of Chris Powell and his band the Five Blue Flames - and that was a Philadelphia based combo.
And next on OKeh 6852, a recording of Annie Laurie - backed up by Paul Gayten and his band. Laurie who came from Atlanta, got to work with Paul Gayten when she moved to New Orleans. Like Larry Darnell whom I played earlier today, she also excelled at the Regal label, and moved to OKeh when it went bust.
Here she is with Get Me Some Money.
0 - 6852 - Annie Laurie - Get Me Some Money
0 - 6853 - Treniers - It Rocks! It Rolls! It Swings!
It Rocks! It Rolls! It Swings! You heard the Treniers, a group formed around twins Cliff and Claude Trenier and their elder brother Buddy. Already in '49 they were billed as the Rockin' Rollin' Treniers and the words rock and roll were often in their lyrics. The Treniers had a wild show inspiring many later artists - but they didn't make it when Rock 'n Roll struck the nation. Still the group has been around up in this century, merely a family business drafting new cousins and nephews when a member either died or quit. The era ended when Claude Trenier died in 2003.
Next one is the Chicago great Red Saunders. His band doesn't get much credits on the labels of records, but they backed up quite a few sessions for various labels. Of his hit Hambone, there have been two takes, both issued, the second one twice in the sixties - and by then this definitely was still not old-fashioned but that alt take did not have the full band of Saunders in it. That second take features singer Delores Hawkins - while on this one she only does the whistling in the outtro. It also has and a group named The Hambone Kids - that were Delecta "Dee" Clark, Sammy McGrier and Ronny Strong. They were known for their hamboning - a.k.a patting juba - rhythmically slapping body parts. What you're hearing in the background is the flip Boot 'Em Up; Here is his hit Hambone.
0 - 6862 - Red Saunders - Hambone
0 - 6863 - Big Three Trio - Blue Because Of You
Blue because of you - one more of the Big Three Trio, the combo of Floyd Dixon on bass, Leonard 'Baby Doo' Caston on piano and Ollie Crawford on the guitar.
Next Hadda Brooks - a pianist who got a classical training and later started to pound out the boogie woogie after hearing the greats of the style - Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons. Still she rather thought herself a ballad singer. Here she is with her self-penned Time Was When on Okeh number 6865.
0 - 6865 - Hadda Brooks - Time Was When
0 - 6867 - Bill Davis - Azure 'Te.wav
Wild Bill Davis on the jazzy side with Azure Te. Davis had been the pianist of Louis Jordan's Tympani Five in its most succesful years, but he stared out on his own with a trio that also featured guitarist Bill Jennings and drummer Chris Columbus. Bill Davis played the organ since the mid-thirties but made the Hammond B-3 his signature instrument only after his time with Louis Jordan.
Next another great jumping ditty of Larry Darnell. Here he is with Boogie Oogie.
0 - 6869 - Larry Darnell - Boogie Oogie
0 - 6872 - Arnett Cobb - Jumpin' the Blues
Arnett Cobb was Jumpin' the Blues on this one - OKeh 6872. Cobb was named the Wild Man of the Tenor Sax for his stomping and honking style - way before others started to blow the sax that way. In 1942, he honked his way through Flying Home No. 2 while he was in the band of Lionel Hampton - a groundbreaking record towards the hard playing style of Rhythm & Blues.
I got time for one more of the catalog of OKeh's 6800 series. So here is Loud Mouth Lucy of Chuck Willis.
0 - 6873 - Chuck Willis - Loud Mouth Lucy
And Chuck Willis ends today's episode of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman where I featured the OKeh label in its 6800 series. Many know OKeh as a label for Rhythm & Blues and soul, and that is what this 6800 series was. The connection between the label and African American music dates from 1920 when label owner Otto Heinemann, specializing the label in specialty releases for ethnic groups - Yiddish, Polish, German, Irish and so on, found out that African American music was a huge market after releasing a blues of Mamie Smith that instantly sold a million.
The success led to a separate series of records and recordings made in a mobile studio all over the country. When Columbia bought the label in 1926, emphasis has been more and more on Africna American music. Columbia discontinued and revived the label several times. Nowadays it's a jazz label under ownership of Sony Music.
Well time's up for today so all I need to do is mention the email address where you can leave your comments, suggestions, ideas and fanmail - rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. Also today's story and playlist, and what's on for next week, you can find it at the program's website, and easiest way to get there is to do a search for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman and it will show up first. This is show 174 in that long list of shows that I done until now.
Next week there will be a new show with more Rhythm & Blues. As for now, have a rocking day. See you next time, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!