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 a lot of the best of Rhythm & Blues in this show number 201 here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. All music that I got recently, you know, together with the music that I acquire myself for this show often come whole albums of great stuff that I play on the unthemed shows that, on my website, I call "Legends Mix". Today is such a mix. And I start with a great session for Decca in 1942 with a combo led by Pete Brown, and that included Sammy Price on the piano and Dizzy Gillespie on the trumpet. And then the singer, one of my favorites, with a great blues - Can't Read Can't Write Gonna Buy Me A Telephone. Here is Helen Humes.
01 - Helen Humes - Gonna Buy Me A Telephone
02 - Louis Armstrong - New Do You Call That A Buddy
And also on Decca from 1941 that was Louis Armstrong with the New Do You Call That A Buddy - new indicating that this is a second take of it. And indeed there's another take without the New in it - but that was released later than this one.
I played Louis Jordan's version just last week, and you'll guess it, while looking that up I stumbled upon this version, and I just wanted to play this goodie as well.
For the next one I go to a traditional ballad on a life gone wrong in New Orleans. Most will know it from the 1964 monster hit that the British rock band the Animals had with it. This is folk singer Leadbelly doing it in '48. He wasn't the first one to record it - an coutry duo Clarence "Tom" Ashley and Gwen Foster did it in '33 and in 1941 Woody Guthrie and in '47 Josh White. And in fact, this '48 recording was the second time he did it - there's a take from 1944 titled In New Orleans that was the same song.
Here is Leadbelly.
03 - Leadbelly - House Of The Rising Sun
04 - Ramblin' Thomas - Ramblin' Mind Blues
(jingle)
05 - Tiny Parham - Rock Bottom
06 - Tommy McClennan - Whiskey Head Woman
Four in a row - after the House of the Rising Sun you got the Ramblin' Mind Blues of Ramblin' Thomas, recorded for the Paramount label back in February of 1928. Interest for this roaming bluesman came after the re-discovery of Jesse 'babyface' Thomas in the seventies, his brother.
They were from a family of nine, his father an old-fashioned fiddler. According to Jesse the guitar came, with a slide, from a mail order in the Sears catalog. Willard, as Ramblin' Thomas real name was, travelled the south and the midwest and recorded twice in Chicago, a session for Paramount and one for Victor.
You got more - after the jingle that piece of old-fashioned jazz was the band of Tiny Parham and their style is easily recognized with the loud tuba doing the bass part. Parham was born in Winnipeg but he grew up in jazz hotbed Kansas City and played in local bands until he moved to Chicago in 1926. He done most of his recordings for Victor from 1927 to '30 - until Victor did not renew his contract, probably as a cost-cutter during these bad economic circumstances.
Through the Great Depression Parham played the organ in theatre houses. As an organist he did a few recordings for Decca in 1940.
And finally from 1939 that was the Whiskey Head Woman of Tommy McClennan, a Mississippi born bluesman and like so many others he found his way to Chicago where he recorded for the Bluebird label.
More blues with L.C. Green - his Going Down To The River Blues was entirely on the music of Good Morning Little Schoolgirl of Sonny Boy Williamson. Green played much in the style of Sonny Boy Williamson and it's maybe a bit confusing, he also recorded a song titled Little School Girl, and that also has some similarities to Williamson's version but not as strong as this one. Green was a good performer but he never got that much attention.
Recorded in Detroit for the JvB label, here he is with Going Down To The River.
07 - L.C. Green - Going Down To The River Blues
08 - Leroy Ervin - Blue Black And Evil
From 1947 the obscure Texas bluesman Leroy Ervin, and in style he's maybe ten years behind, this could well have been from the late thirties. His only session yielded just two sides - this one and a cover of Lead Belly's Rock Island Blues. It was recorded for the Houston based Gold Star label.
And for the next one we go to 1942 with a recording of Doctor Clayton. Peter Clayton played the piano and the ukelele, but on record he only sang. In '37 his wife and four children died in a fire - after that he moved from St. Louis to Chicago and he started to drink.
Most of his pre-war recordings were for Bluebird - this one too. Here he is with On The Killin' Floor.
09 - Doctor Clayton - On The Killin' Floor
10 - Frank Edwards - Love My Baby
This was recorded in Atlanta in '49 for the Regal label but it never got released until twenty years later. You got Love My Baby of Frank Edwards. Edwards played the blues all of his life, from his teenage years until his final recording session, in 2002 two days after his 93rd birthday and only hours before he died of a heart attack.
From him to a bluesman who needs no further introduction. I played numerous songs on him, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman, many of them in my Decca specials. Here is Peetie Wheatstraw with the Separation Day Blues.
11 - Peetie Wheatstraw - Separation Day Blues
12 - Frankie Lee Sims - Home Again Blues
Recorded in '48 in Dallas for the local Blue Bonnet label that was the Home Again Blues of Frankie Lee Sims. Sims played the clubs of Dallas with Smokey Hogg and T-Bone Walker, but never got as much recognition as they did. From his 1953 recordings for the Specialty label, his hit Lucy Mae Blues is what we remember him most for.
Next recorded either in Chicago or Detroit, a number of Baby Boy Warren. Robert Warren grew up in Memphis and he was one of the stars on the famous King Biscuit Time show on KFFA of Helena, AK - together with Sonny Boy Williamson II. In '42 he moved to Detroit and got himself a job in the automobile industry, and playing the blues after work.
This was recorded for the Blue Lake label, a subsidiary of the Parrot label of Chicago-based disc jockey Al Benson. Here is Baby Boy Warren with Santa Fe.
13 - Baby Boy Warren - Santa Fe
14 - Jimmie Hudson - Rum River Blues
The Rum River blues of the obscure singer Jimmie Hudson. Hudson recorded three songs for the Exclusive label, two of them pop songs. This one's got Gene Phillips on guitar, further personnel unknown. This is a blues on homesickness for the South, and it's got Tenessee as well as New Orleans in its lyrics. Whether Jimmy Hudson was from the South - as the song suggests - I don't know. The song's copyrighted to Leon Rene, the owner of the label, but many are, and the theme is pretty common to the blues.
Next Elmore Nixon on the Sitting In With label with I Went To See A Gypsy.
15 - Elmore Nixon - I Went To See A Gypsy
16 - Johnny Otis - Court Room Blues
17 - Browley Guy and The Skyscrapers - Watermelon Man
And the Watermelon Man of Browley Guy and the Skyscrapers ends today's show - yeah listeners, time's up again. The Watermelon Man was recorded in the Universal Broadcasting studio in Chicago for Al Benson's Parrot label but he traded it to the Chess brothers, where it was released on the Checker label. Browley Guy was best known as a ballad crooner, and not the best one in town. He done quite a few sessions for the Miracle label but a lot of the material was not useful for release. His sessions for the States label in 1952 were better and well, this one is quite nice too.
Before that, the Courtroom Blues of the band of Johnny Otis, and baritone saxophonist Lem Tally also did the vocals on this one. It was released in 1947 on the Excelsior label.
And that makes for a very varied set and I hope you liked the show as much as I did. Well of course you can let me know - mail your ideas, comments and applause to rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. And all of today's show, you can read back what I told you today on the website of the show, and easiest way to get there is to search the web for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. You can also take a sneak peek what will be on for the next week.
I'm done for today - next week there will be more Rhythm & Blues from me. Until then - don't get the blues. See you again, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!