This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And what a mix of the best in Rhythm & Blues today, sure, great legends and musicians who are not so well-known - that is, as Renee says it in the intro, for most people all of this music is completely forgottten. So spotlight on the most exciting music of the previous century and I want to start with an easy shuffling double-sider blues. This was recorded on two sides of a Swing Time 78 so somewhere halfway I'll have to flip that disc fast as lightning. From 1950 here is Lowell Fulson with I'm a night owl.
01 - Lowell Fulson - I'm A Night Owl Pt. 1
01 - Lowell Fulson - I'm A Night Owl Pt. 2
O what a great easy-going blues. Lowell Fulson with I'm a night owl and that was from 1950 on the Swing Time label.
And I'm going back two years more, from 1948 is here Helen Humes backed up by Buck Clayton and his orchestra with her Jumpin' on Sugar Hill.
02 - Helen Humes - Jumpin' On Sugar Hill
03 - Savannah Churchill - Daddy Daddy
Well that came straight from a 78 from 1945. On the the Manor label that was Savannah Churchill with her All Star orchestra and that got to number 3 on the Harlem Hit Parade, the precursor of Billboard's Rhythm & Blues list. Savannah started singing in 1942 when her husband was killed in a car accident and she had to find a way to support her three children. In that she managed well with several charting hits, including her I want to be loved with the vocal group the Sentimentalists that later became the Four Tunes. She remained succesful until 1953 when a drunken man fell from the balcony of the Midwood Club, right on top of her, an unfortunate fall that broke her pelvis and effectively ended her career.
Next Annie Laurie with If You're Lonely. It's from 1960 and released on the DeLuxe label.
04 - Annie Laurie - If You're Lonely
05 - Eartha Kitt - My Heart's Delight
The most exciting woman in the world - said Orson Welles about her and I think, maybe he was right. Eartha Kitt was that and well, we know her from her appearance as catwoman in Batman, from her novelty song Santa Baby, but sure she did a few great songs in a style somewhere between jazz and rhythm & blues. You heard My Heart's delight and she recorded that with the orchestra of Henri Rene for RCA Victor in 1955.
Well considering where she came from - she was born on a cotton farm in North Carolina after her African-American mother was raped by probably the son of the farmer - she made an amazing jump to a celebrity known all over the world, thanks to her great talents that went much farther than singing alone. She's one of those very few black artists that, on her talent, broke through the barrier of segregation growing to universal stardom - and that places her next to someone like Louis Armstrong.
Well there's always the issue what to play after such a glamourous highlight - I can only do with a great contrast. Now I love this little studio band with their downright songs from the Great Depression. Here are on Decca, the Chicago group Harlem Hamfats with Hallelujah Joe Ain't Preachin' No More.
06 - Harlem Hamfats - Hallelujah Joe Ain't Preachin' No More
07 - Nature Boy Brown & His Blues Ramblers - Windy City Boogie
Well we stayed in Chicago with the Windy City Boogie. That was John Thomas Brown nicknamed the Nature Boy and his Blues Ramblers and that came straight from a 78 of the United label. It was United 103, one of the earliest releases on the label so that must have been in 1951.
Well the next song is also straight from a shellac platter. From 1947 on the Specialty label Roy Milton and his solid senders with It Should Never Have Been This Way.
08 - Roy Milton & His Solid Senders - It Should Never Have Been This Way
09 - Du Droppers - Bambalam
The Du Droppers, a track from 1953 that went unreleased by the time. It was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Now most vocal groups consisted of teenagers, but the Du Droppers were men in their forties. This song is about a girl of seventeen who seduced the singer, but her father held a shotgun ready for him. Now I don't think Leiber and Stoller, still young guys by then, had the age difference in mind but knowing this makes the content pretty eh... let's say spicy.
More vocal delight with a King record of 1957 - here is Bubber Johnson with Muddy Water.
10 - Bubber Johnson - Muddy Water
11 - Charles Brown - Still Water
And after the muddy water came the Still Water, a song written by Otis Rene and he was the brother of Leon Rene who'd owned the Exclusive label. Now this was on Alladdin, from 1951 and that was Charles Brown and his combo.
Charles Brown was - together with Nat King Cole, the great inspiration of Ray Charles in his early years when he lived in Seattle and recorded for the Down Beat and Swing Time labels. This is from 1948 - Walking and Talking, a self-written song about a son returning to his mother in Florida, where Ray Charles had lived before his mother died when he was fifteen years old, maybe two years before he recorded this.
12 - Ray Charles - Walkin' and Talkin'
13 - Lloyd Glenn - The Vamp
(jingle)
14 - Ivory Joe Hunter - Shooty Booty
15 - Paul Williams - Walkin' Around
From 1947 on the Savoy label that was Walkin' Around - that was Paul Williams' sextette. Before that you got Ivory Joe Hunter with a rock 'n roll influenced song. Shooty Booty was from 1958 on Atlantic and then I have to account for what I played before the jingle - well that was Lloyd Glenn with the Vamp, a nice instrumental from 1957 on the Aladdin label.
Well we still got time for a few goodies, so let's throw in a good blues. On the Cobra label from 1957 here is Sunnyland Slim with It's You Baby.
16 - Sunnyland Slim - It's You Baby
17 - Albinia Jones - Hole In The Wall
18 - Bonnie Davies - Don't Stop Now
Bonnie Davies with Don't stop now from 1942 on the Savoy label and she was backed up with Buddy Banks' band and that makes for the end of another episode of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. Before that you got a nice little rocker of Albinia Jones, on the Decca label, the Hole in the Wall, one of the last recordings she made. In 1950 she had to retire from the music business after she fell on stage and after that she only could walk with crutches - and that was the second story today of an unfortunate fall that put a good singer out of business - earlier I told you how the career of Savannah Churchill came to an end.
And that is when you put some records together and tell the stories that go with it - there's always something coincidental that comes together. Music and stories, that is what this program consists of and I hope you like them both. Well you can always comment on my program, let me know what you thought of it, and send me an e-mail at rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. Or find me on the web with a google search for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman and my program will show up first. As for now, I have to go, so byebye and have a great and rocking day. See you next time here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!