This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And I start today with a blues on a typcial American weather phenomenon. Lucille Bogan recorded this blues on a tornado that killed her man and ravaged her house, under the name of Bessie Smith in 1933 for the ARC record company.
Here is the Mean Twister.
01 - Lucille Bogan - Mean Twister
02 - Yack Taylor - Chicago Bound Blues
From 1941 Yack Taylor and the Chicago Bound Blues and that was recorded for the Decca label with the piano of Sam Price backing her up. Yack Taylor is a pretty obscure blueswoman and her name pops up with a few Decca recordings together with Sam Price - some just billed as Yack Taylor and her Texas Blusicians - but that of course was the name of Price's band.
Next one is Jack Dupree with a 1945 recording for the Joe Davis label. Dupree already was part of the Chicago blues scene when he met Joe Louis who got him into a boxing career, a pretty succesful one, and that earned him his stage name Champion Jack DuPree. After he returned to singing, he did numerous recordings for the OKeh, Joe Davis, Apollo, King and other record labels.
Here he is on the Joe Davis label with Walkin' By Myself.
03 - Champion Jack DuPree - Walkin' By Myself
04 - Five Red Caps - Mama Put Your Britches On
(jingle)
05 - Curtis Jones - My Baby's Getting Buggish
06 - Blind Willie Dunn's Gin Bottle Four - Blue Blood Blues
And that were four in a row - after Champion Jack Dupree you got another release on the Joe Davis label, the Five Red Caps, recorded illicitly in 1943 while the recording strike of the American Federation of Musicians was in full effect. The group used to be named the Four Toppers but with the rename they tried to mislead the union. The recordings they did for Joe Davis were pretty succesful so they name stayed, also because it was a catchy name and it sounded black - luggage handlers on train stations - typically a job for African Americans these days - they wore red caps.
The song was titled Mama Put Your Britches On and it's about women's labor in America's defense industry during the war - the britches here not so much pants in general, but I guess they meant a work overall.
You got more - after the jingle came Curtis Jones with My Baby's Getting Buggish and with that we made a dive into the thirties. It was recorded for Vocalion in December of 1937. And the last one is even older - from 1929 you got Blind Willie Dunn and his Gin Bottle Four with the Blue Blood Blues.
That one was released on OKeh - as is the next one, also from '29. This was the debut single for Little Hat Jones, a Texas bluesman. All of his commercially recorded songs were done for OKeh in 1929 and '30. The Nashville Country Music Foundation keeps an interview tape that was done in 1964 by Morris Craig and at that interview he sang a few more songs, some of them are to be found on-line.
Here is from 1929 the New Two Sixteen Blues. The word New in the title suggests that there should have been an earlier recording but there isn't - or it has been lost to history.
07 - Little Hat Jones - New Two Sixteen Blues
08 - Lovin' Sam Theard - She Skuffles That Ruff
And we stayed in the year 1929 with this She Skuffles That Ruff of Lovin' Sam Theard that he recorded for the Brunswick label. He is most remembered now for this kind of hokum blues, nearly all about sex, and for two songs he wrote - Let The Good Times Roll that was a hit for Louis Jordan, and I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You that was made famous by Louis Armstrong. But most of his life he spent in theatres doing comedy, and from the mid-seventies he was in Hollywood productions such as Sanford and Son and Norman Is That You.
Next from a whole decade later a recording for Vocalion that never got released these days. The Chicago session dates November of 1938. Here is Joe Williams with his Chicago Swingers fronted by Mattie Hardy. Listen to He's Gone Away.
09 - Mattie Hardy with Joe Williams & His Chicago Swingers - He's Gone Away
10 - Sam Price feat. Ruby Smith - Harlem Gin Blues
The Harlem Gin Blues of Ruby Smith backed up by Sam Price and his Texas Blusicians and that's the second time he pops up on the playlist, before you got a blues of Yack Taylor with him on the piano. Now these Blusicians, at some point included greats like Buck Clayton, Jonah Jones, Don Stovall, Emmett Berry and Lester Young. As the house pianist for Decca where he had a long time contract with, he backed up on many sessions of all kinds of bluesmen and women.
And next, one of the greats of thirties swing - Jimmie Lunceford. When in 1934 he was booked for the Cotton Club his fame rose for his inventive and innovative way to combine top notch jazz with comedy and vaudeville. His trumpeter Sy Oliver was one of the most original arrangers around and the combination of Lunceford's tight band and a lot of humor made him a great addition to the Cotton Club roster - but comedy never compromised the quality of Lunceford's band.
From 1936 on the Decca label - here is the Harlem Shout.
11 - Jimmie Lunceford - Harlem Shout
12 - Luis Russell feat. Louis Armstrong - Swinging On Nothing
That came from a 1942 soundie with the band of Luis Russel - and that trumpet, that was Louis Armstrong. It's Russell and Velma Middleton doing the vocals and - well you can't see that on radio - Middleton shows off, she can cut a rug. Now the joy splatters off the screen and it's a shame to realize that these soundies were playback - the music was recorded in advance in a studio setting. It's easy to tell when Louis Armstrong makes the mistake to take his trumpet down while his solo continues, the singers don't even have a microphone near and at some point the complete saxophonist section - nobody moves a finger, they're too occupied with their synchronized movements. Well the viewers, who had to spare a dime to view the music clip on a coin machine, they probably didn't care 'cause the music is great and so is the show they get to see. Well you can watch it for yourself - it's on YouTube.
And we'll stay for a moment with great swing music from the early forties. From '41 on the Decca label here is Al Cooper and his Savoy Sultans with the Second Balcony Jump.
13 - Al Cooper - Second Balcony Jump
14 - Babe Wallace with Skeets Tolbert & his Gentlemen Of Swing - Git It ('Cause I Love To See You Wid It)
Also from 1941 on Decca you got Skeets Tolbert and his Gentlemen Of Swing and they're fronted by Emmett 'Babe' Wallace with Git It. Wallace is best remembered for his role in the '43 movie Stormy Weather - and a great deal of his musical career he spent in Europe.
Skeets Tolbert was the leader of one of the many swing bands in New York, unfortunately a bit forgotten. There's a 2-CD set on the French Classics series out there, containing all of his recordings.
The next group is much obscurer - they had only two releases for Decca on one session in October of 1941. Here are Chester Boone and his Jumping Jacks with Please Be Careful.
15 - Boone's Jumping Jacks - Please Be Careful
16 - Andrew Tibbs - I Feel Like Crying
17 - Mercy Dee Walton - The Main Event
From 1954 Mercy Dee Walton with the Main Event, an instrumental that was released on the San Francisco based Rhythm label. Before that you got from October 1947 Andrew Tibbs and he was backed up by the orchestra of Tom Archia. This I Feel Like Crying that he recorded for the Aristocrat label was from a session in October 1947, just one month after his infamous Union Man Blues and Bilbo Is Dead, two most controversial blues on one single, one on the almighty musicians union and the other is a flaming sarcastic song about an outright racist Mississippi senator.
And that brings us to the end of today's show. All that I told you today is to be found on the website of the program - and best way to get there is to search the web for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. Once in, this is show number 180 to look for. Of course you can also see what the next show will bring and where to contact me - that is rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com.
For now time's up. There will be more great Rhythm & Blues next week. Now don't get the blues in between. See you next week here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!