This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And thank you, thank you, I'm so happy that you found your way to my radio program again, and you tuned in on the right time on the right frequency. You'll get some great music again today, listeners, from days gone by, when times were hard and the music was you only consolation. A selection from the roaring twenties to the rocking fifties, and today I start with a piece of music history - the birth of a great classic.
Lionel Hampton played the drums and vibes in the band of Benny Goodman, not leading his own band yet, and he was waiting for what was the first time in his life he would be flying in a plane. In '39, listeners, that was a rare occasion for anyone, but especially for a Black man, to be flying in a plane. Well you can imagine Hamp was dead nervous and while waiting to board the plane, he whistled the tune that became the classic Flying Home.
Benny Goodman had the best of musicians in his band - regardless of color and with that he was a rare example. In his band another great was playing - the pioneer on the electrical guitar Charlie Christian. He also gets a nice part in this classic. Here is Flying Home.
01 - Benny Goodman - Flying Home.wav
02 - Barbecue Bob - Mississippi Heavy Water Blues
Barbecue Bob was that with the Mississippi Heavy Water Blues on the Columbia label from 1927. This of course was about the epic flooding of the Mississippi in '27. This massive flooding displaced over 600,000 people, three quarters of them African Americans. The horrible situation in the refugee camps in the following years, made many decide to hop a freight train to Chicago or other Norhtern cities - a great deal of the Great Migration happened in these years.
This was one of the first records of Barbecue Bob - his real name was Robert Hicks. He got his nickname while he worked in a barbecue joint in North Atlanta. Hicks was not from the Mississippi delta, and he ain't witnessed the flooding. He recorded this from a safe distance of the disaster, in a New York studio, but the record sold well.
And we stay in the year 1927 with Victoria Spivey. On the OKeh label here she is with the Red Lantern Blues.
03 - Victoria Spivey - Red Lantern Blues
04 - King Mutt & his Tennessee Thumpers - Maxwell Street Stomp
(jingle)
05 - Clarence Williams - Shout, Sister, Shout!
06 - Albert Ammons - Early Mornin' Blues
A lot of great music again here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman, you got four in a row. After Victoria Spivey that was the obscure King Mutt and his Tennessee Thumpers with the Maxwell Street Stomp. It's most likely these Tennesse Thumpers were the name given to few musicians having a free-for-all gettogether in the Gennett studio and probably no-one of them called himself King Mutt. The only musician that we're sure of on their recordings is cornettist Punch Miller. The recording date, February 12 of '29, only gives a clue who more could have been present at the recorded jam session. I guess it's been a fun day in that studio in New York.
Then after the jingle came Clarence Williams with one of the many takes he did on different dates for Shout Sister Shout, all around '29 and 1930, for the OKeh label and the ARC record company. This is great goodtime music to play loud and I often do so in that little car I drive every day to my work and back. The sound must be well audible outside as one of my colleagues now calls my car my jazzmobile. Well - it won't come as a surprise for you it can play the blues too.
Then finally from 1936 Albert Ammons and his Rhythm Kings - a five piece band, and the other members were Guy Kelly, Dalbert Bright, Jimmy Hoskins, and Israel Crosby. You got on the Decca label the Early Morning Blues.
And for the next one another pianist. Here is Cripple Clarence Lofton with the House Rent Struggle.
07 - Cripple Clarence Lofton - House Rent Struggle
08 - Champion Jack Dupree - My Baby's Gone
From 1941 My Baby's Gone of Champion Jack Dupree on the OKeh label. Dupree was introduced to the great A&R man Lester Melrose after his boxing career and he recorded extensively for him in the next few years. He was based in Chicago these days but his music shows off that he's from New Orleans - he spent his childhood days in the same orphange as Louis Armstrong did.
And we're staying in the Windy City and with the discoveries of Lester Melrose with the vocal jive group the Cats And The Fiddle. On the Bluebird label from 1939 here is That's on Jack, That's On.
09 - Cats And The Fiddle - That's on Jack, That's On
10 - Babe Wallace - Fine Piece Of Meat
The band of Skeets Tolbert, the Gentlemen of Swing, fronted by Babe Wallace with A Fine Piece Of Meat, recorded for the Decca label in 1939. Wallace is better known as a star of the silver screen, starting in the classic Stormy Weather from 1943. He's also been the star in many musicals. But he started with a job as a bouncer in the Savoy ballroom, moving his way up to a singer in this and other top venues of New York - the Cotton Club, the Apollo and Small's Paradise.
Next on the Excelsior label the band of King Perry fronted by blues shouter Duke Henderson. Here is Leona's Boogie.
11 - Duke Henderson - Leona's Boogie
12 - Saunders King - B Flat Blues
This B-Flat Blues of Saunders King predates the double-sided version of it, the Summertime Boogie from '49. By '46 when it was copyrighted, King was with the Rhythm label that didn't issue this one. It is, though, easy to find on several compilation albums.
Next blues shouter Bob Merrill backed by Cootie Williams and his band. Merrill had joined the band in '46 as vocalist and trumpeter, and he done three sessions for the Capitol and Majestic labels. Later in '47 Cootie had to size down his band and the December recording session for Mercury didn't have Merrill on board anymore.
Here they are with Save the Bones for Henry Jones from '47 on Majestic.
13 - Bob Merrill - Save the Bones for Henry Jones
14 - Lightnin' Hopkins - Backwater Blues (That Mean Old Twister)
Recorded for the Aladdin label that was the Backwater Blues a.k.a. the Mean Old Twister of Lightnin' Hopkins, the flip of Katie Mae. This was from his first session for the label, together with Wilson 'Thunder' Smith, and they had got the nicknames from an Alladin executive to have them sound more dynamic. Well the name stuck but as for dynamics, Hopkins could have done without 'em.
Hopkins was from Houston and most of his time he stayed there, performing in clubs on Dowling Street - the places where he played when Lola Ann Cullum, the talent scout of Aladdin, had found him.
Next a great instumental from 1954 of Sunnyland Slim. On the Blue Lake label this is Bassology - and I hear no relation to the Slim Gaillard song that I will play in a show later. Here it is.
15 - Sunnyland Slim - Bassology.wav
16 - Pete Peterson's Band - Long Gravy
17 - Clarence Gatemouth Brown - Guitar in My Hand
And with Clarence Gatemouth Brown I have to end this show, this episode of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. I'm araid the hour past away as if it were seconds, well they say time flies when you're having fun. That was the Guitar in My Hand from 1947 on the Aladdin label and before that you got the band of Pete Peterson with Long Gravy from 1949, recorded for the Exclusive label. Rhythm & Blues as it is meant to be and I hope you all liked it, well of course you can let me know, feedback is greatly appreciated. Just send a note to my e-mail address, that is rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com.
And all of today's stories you can find them on my web site, and easiest way to find that is to search the web for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman - it will show up first. Once in, it's show 241 in the list of episodes - you're gonna need that number.
And I want to take the opportunity to draw your attention to the search function on my web site. Of course you can use it to search my site, but it also is a great help to identify titles and records - like for instance, on what label it went and when it was recorded. You can search various sources, including some pretty extensive discographies of record labels, and my favorite is the one of the on-line 78 discographical project, that is an ever-growing website with listings of both very common and quite obscure record labels.
Well time's up for today. I'll get to you next week and of course I'll bring you some more great Rhythm & Blues. So see you again, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!