The Legends of the Rocking Dutchman - episode 211

Legends Mix

This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.

Yeah Thank you, Thank you, thank you. It's great to be with you again and I promise you some more wonderful music and for sure that's gonna start with something great.

You know listeners, remember last week I played that wonderful instrumental of Duke Ellington? I still had to play if for my son, and he's a professional musician - in nowadays electronic music but he loves great jazz music and he's always searching for something to inspire him - and he put my headphone on and I put on the music and in that face I could already see how how much he dug that masterpiece of jazz - the 1956 version of the East St. Louis Toodle-Oo. And halfway he said dad - this is crying out: Sample me! Sample me! So I wonder what he's gonna make out of it.

So for you some more of the Duke. This is from 1928 and another showcase for the antics of Bubber Miley and Tricky Sam Nanton on the trumpet and the trombone - and whoever does that growling vocal scats. Here is the Mooche.

01 - Duke Ellington - The Mooche
02 - Clarence Williams - Bimbo

Now Clarence Williams may not have got the fame of Duke Ellington, in his days he was part of the top of the bill of bands - Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet played in his band, as did Irene Scruggs and Bessie Smith. This 1933 side titled Bimbo is a classical tap dance number and typical for his thirties goodtime style.

Next one of those homesickness songs to return back to the south - a typical theme for bluesmen who moved up north to the city and feel that nostalgy for the simple and rural life in the cotton fields. Like, hardship gets softer as it's far away. From 1934 on the Decca label here is Lousiana of Big Boy Teddy Edwards.

03 - Big Boy Teddy Edwards - Louisiana
04 - Eddie Kelly's Washboard Band - If You Think I'm Lovin' You, You're Wrong

(jingle)

05 - Johnnie Temple - County Jail Blues
06 - Leroy Carr - Papa's Got Your Water On

From 1931 on the Vocalion label Leroy Carr with Papa's Got Your Water On. Leroy Carr died young, at the age of 30 in 1935, but he proved to be a major influence on the making of the urban blues. His style was less rough and unpolished as his contemporaries in the South and together with his friend, guitarist Scrapper Blackwell he did a good instrumental backing on the piano. His first recording with Blackwell in '28 was the How Long How Long blues that became a big hit, and in the just seven years before the alcohol took his life, he laid down some 200 tracks.

You got more - before Carr that was the County Jail Blues of Johnnie Temple, together with the Harlem Hamfats they recorded that for Decca in 1938. This doesn't have much of the Hamfats sound, but the whining style of Odell Rand on the clarinet is easy to recognize.

Then before the jingle, that was the Carolina based washboard band of Eddie Kelly. On the Bluebird label was that If You Think I'm Lovin' You, You're Wrong.

And with the next one we jump into the forties with a long-time favorite of mine - a pre-war recording of Helen Humes with a composition of Leonard Feather. Here is the jump band of Pete Brown and the solution for when you can't read and can't write - Gonna Buy Me A Telephone.

07 - Helen Humes - Gonna Buy Me A Telephone
08 - Doc Wheeler & The Hardway Four - Big And Fat And Fourty-Four

The band of trombonist Doc Wheeler with vocal group the Hardway Four was that - you heard Big And Fat And Fourty-Four. Doc Wheeler Moran led the band that was known as the Sunset Royal Serenaders or the Sunset Orchestra and well they never got it but they do deserve the credits for the hit Marie written by Irving Berlin but in an arrangement of Steve Washington. Tommy Dorsey ripped it off and made it a big hit in 1937. Well Steve Washington had died the year before, and the band of Doc Wheeler just struggled on to survive. They did a session for Bluebird in '41 and this song was one of the tracks from that session.

Next a recording of Christine Chatman - a female band leader from Indiana. She was a good singer and pianist and she also played the accordion but she never got on record with that instrument. While she stayed in Chicago for a while, she recorded for the Aristocrat label and played in a few clubs until she got in trouble with the musicians union and got booted. She then moved to Los Angeles where she did some session work and she sang with the band of Peppy Prince. Before her time in Chicago she'd recorded for Decca as a band leader in a 1944 session that included a young Mabel Smith, and we know her now as Big Maybelle.

Here is Christine Chatman with the The Boogie Woogie Girl

09 - Christine Chatman - The Boogie Woogie Girl
10 - Hot Lips Page - Do It If You Wanna

From 1940 Do It If You Wanna of trumpeter Hot Lips Page on the Bluebird label. Page had started his own band in 1936 after he'd moved to New York and in Small's Paradise, that was a venue in Harlem, his performances were sold out, but two years later he was struggling to keep his band alive. This recording is just one of the many he did for the label.

And we stay with the trumpeters, next is Cootie Williams. Williams had learned the tricks on the trumpet from Tricky Sam Nanton of Duke Ellington's band and he was hired to replace Bubber Miley who'd quit the Duke's band in '29. Well we heard these two legendary horn players before today. Williams left Ellington to join the band of Benny Goodman, but in '42 he started to work for himself. This is from 1944 on the Hit label - featuring Pearl Bailey - Tess's Torch Song, a.k.a. I Had A Man.

11 - Cootie Williams - Tess's Torch Song (I Had A Man)
12 - Big Three Trio - Big Three Stomp

The Big Three Stomp of the Big Three Trio - Willie Dixom, Ollie Crawford and Leonard Baby Doo Caston. Well just last week I played a nice vocal outing, in this instrumental Caston can show off his piano skills and it features Dixon's bass work prominently. This was from 1949 on Columbia.

Next up the blues shouting of Rubberlegs Williams - it's the backing that provides us the great names. It's got Charlie Parker and Don Byas on the saxophone and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and Clyde Hart on the piano in the band. But there's nothing bebop in their performance - and they show off that they can backup a blues as well. The recording is from 1945 on the Continental label and it credits Clyde Hart's All Stars as the performer.

Here is That's The Blues.

13 - Rubberlegs Williams - That's The Blues
14 - Oscar Pettiford feat. Estelle Edson - Rhythm in a Riff

The Rhythm In A Riff of Estelle Edson backed by the band of Oscar Pettiford, and that included saxophonist Lucky Thompson, and that makes that on various CDs this track is billed as Lucky Thompson and Estelle Edson. It was recorded in 1946 as a cover of Billy Eckstine's version of a year before. Eckstine got it as a musical short in '47 on the silver screen.

Next a recording of Jimmy Coe on the States label from 1953. Jimmy Coe may not have earned that much fame, but he did play with Jay McShann where he briefly replaced Charlie Parker, and quite a few sessions as a leader for King and the States label and the Red Saunders Research Foundation devoted a whole page on him.

Here is Baby I'm Gone.

15 - Jimmy Coe - Baby I'm Gone
16 - Titus Turner - Let's Forget the Whole Thing
17 - Percy Mayfield - Lost Mind

The Lost Mind of Percy Mayfield asking for help finding it back after a wild romance gone wrong - and that was from 1951 on the Specialty label. From the same year was Titus Turner that came before, Let's Forget the Whole Thing and that was on the Regal label - and these two end this show of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchmman. Seventeen goodies from the twenties to the fifties again, with some in each decade, and I hope that you liked that blend that I mix my shows with. Well of course feedback is greatly appreciated and guaranteed for a reply - send your comments, ideas and praise to rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com.

Today's story and a whole lot more to find out on my show is on my web site, and easiest to get there is to search Google for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. The search engine will lead you right to where it's at and for info on this episode, go to number 211 in the list. Of course you can find out there what'll be on for next week.

Cause that's when I'll be back on the airwaves for you, with another shot of Rhythm & Blues. Until then, don't get the blues. Rock on and I hope to see you again, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!