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 we're going to Los Angeles in the year 1950, with releases of the Aladdin label. By then, this had become one of the leading West Coast labels with the best of musicans that played the roof off the joints of Central Avenue, that was the place to be these days.
Aladdin brought some of the hottest Rhythm & Blues musicians of the day, but today's show I start with a veteran of the scene. Lonnie Johnson recorded from 1925 with OKeh, and he backed the great blues singers of the moment, and also with the bands of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and McKinney's Cotton Pickers. There he showcased a new technique of playing one-string style guitar solos, and with that he influenced the great jazz guitarists such as Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt.
His post-war recordings still have some of the feeling of them old blues. Here he is on Aladdin 3047 with Your Last Time Out.
3047 - Lonnie Johnson - Your Last Time Out
3049 - Amos Milburn - Johnson Rag
Amos Milburn was the most prolific artist for Aladdin. This Johnson Rag was number 3049 in the catalog of the label, and in total he done some 75 sides between 1946 and '57. We'll get more of Milburn today - but first some loud noises from the saxophone of Big Jay McNeely, and you're hearing already some in the background.
Tenor saxophone honking started as a fad with Illinois Jacquet in 1942, with his solo on Lionel Hampton's Flying Home. McNeely is credited to be the most flamboyant of them all, dressing in yellow or green suits, performing under blacklights and stroboscopes - and that was a new sensation back in the early fifties. With his loud style he electrified a new audience of both Black and White teenagers.
In the eigties a new interest for Rhythm & Blues gave McNeely's career a second round with tours all over the world - and in '89, the night the Berlin Wall fell, he played in a club in Berlin. Legend has it, that he blew the wall down, together with Detroit Gary Wiggins, and listeners, just hearing that frantic honking, I guess they're right.
Here is the Deacon's Blowout.
3050 - Big Jay McNeely - Deacon's Blowout
3051 - Charles Brown - My Baby's Gone
(jingle)
3052 - Lightnin' Hopkins - Changing Weather Blues
3053 - Titus Turner - I'm Just a Lucky So and So
Four in a row, and you can't think of a greater contrast between the honking of Big Jay McNeely and what came just after that, Charles Brown, with his soft voice and sleek combo styled after Nat King Cole's. Brown's voice is perfect for that, and that's how he started in Johnny Moore's Three Blazers. This combo has Eddie Williams on bass and guitarist Charles Norris. We'll get his former combo, Johnny Moore's, later in this show.
You got more, after the jingle that wonderful guitar work was Lightnin' Hopkins. The recording was from '48, and by the time it was released Hopkins was back home in Houston, Texas. It was Aladdin's talent scout Lola Ann Cullum who had brought him to Los Angeles to record, but generally Hopkins rarely left Texas but for an occasional gig or recording session. You heard the Changing Weather Blues on Aladdin number 3052.
And the finally you got Titus Turner, on the label credited as Mr. T and his band, and it was his first time on record. Turner is best remebered for his songs All Around the World, a.k.a Grits Ain't Groceries, Tell Me Why, Sticks and Stones and Leave My Kitten Alone, and all did well through the rock 'n roll era.
Next the biggest hit of Calvin Boze, and the style of this trumpeter and singer was much like Louis Jordan's. He never got that much succes, this number 9 on the R&B chart was his best shot, and it's a song that echoes the lighthearted fun of Louis Jordan's Caldonia. Here he is with Safronia B.
3055 - Calvin Boze - Safronia B
3057 - Lester Young - Just Coolin'
The jazzy sounds or Lester Young with Just Coolin' on Aladdin number 3057 and the flip, Something To Remember You By is now in the background. This recording is from 1947, before the real problems with his heavy drinking started off. Most say that the booze caused a change in his style, others blame it to the traumatic detention he served for posessing marijuana in the army. In the late forties he still had a lot of highlinghts, including his appearances in the Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts.
From the serious jazz to another one of Amos Milburn. Here he is with the Birmingham Bounce.
3058 - Amos Milburn - Birmingham Bounce
3060 - Charles Brown - Repentance Blues
More Charles Brown with the Repentance Blues on Aladdin 3060, the label that I spotlight today, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. In fact I done several shows on this important West Coast label, from the very beginnings in 1945 when the Philo label was started. In '46 the Patent Office refused to register the label because its name was too close to the Philco company, a manufacturer of, among others, records blanks.
At first it was decided that the new name would be Med-Lee, having the last name inital and the first names of the owners in it, Leo and Eddie Messner. But soon after the owners changed their minds and called the label Aladdin, after the magic lamp that already was on the Philo imprints.
Aladdin had the cream of the crop of West Coast musicians, and also they worked with Cosimo Matassa, a New Orleans based producer. These recordings feature the bands of Lee Allen and Dave Bartolomew with Clarence Garlow and the popular duo Shirley and Lee.
Next another recording of Lightnin' Hopkins, like the other one I played shelved from a session in 1948. Here is the Rollin' Blues.
3063 - Lightnin' Hopkins - Rollin' Blues
3065 - Calvin Boze - Lizzy Lou (parts 1 & 2)
The double-sider Lizzy Lou of Calvin Boze, again showing off how much he leaned on his main influence, Louis Jordan.
And the next one on the catalog is number 3066, one more of Charles Brown. Here is Again.
3066 - Charles Brown - Again
3067 - La Melle Prince & Maxwell Davis - Get High
The obscure LaMelle Price backed by the band of Maxwell Davis with a great rocking piece of Rhythm & Blues. This is her only release for Aladdin. Her name pops up on a Decca 45 from 1969, that is a traditional Nashville-style country & Western tune complete with wailing guitars and fiddles, and that was included on an CD box set devoted to African-American country & Western singers.
Next another one of Amos Milburn. This is one of his most well known recordings, and the start of a whole series of drinking songs. They proved to be a nice selling concept, but they did not reflect the lifestyle of Amos Milburn - there's no sign that he had a drinking problem.
Here is Bad Bad Whiskey.
3068 - Amos Milburn - Bad Bad Whiskey
3069 - Floyd Dixon - Girl fifteen
3070 - Big Joe Turner - Back Breaking Blues
And the Back Breaking Blues of Joe Turner ends today's special on the Aladdin label, with releases from 1950. Before that you got Girl Fifteen of Johnny Moore's Three Blazers with Floyd Dixon singing and doing the upright bass, and that was number 3070 of the label.
Now I got very little time left, so just a few words on where to find more information on this show, and others, of course that's on the website that you easily find searching Google for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. In the episodes list, this is show number 243. And of course you can let me know if you liked the show, feedback is greatly appreciated, and the e-mail address is rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com.
Thanks for being with me again today, and of course next week you'll get more exciting Rhythm & Blues. So see you then, here, on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!