This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And a mixed bag of the best of Rhythm & Blues again, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. Some stuff that I recently found on CDs but also some shellac that I dusted off again and a few vinyl re-release albums from the eighties that I spun other tracks from before on here - there's so much material that I still have to catalog and sort out. Like this instrumental of Lloyd Glenn. I took it from an album titled After Hours and from that you will get Strollin'.
01 - Lloyd Glenn - Strollin'
02 - Hot Lips Page And The V-Disc All Stars - The Sheik Of Araby
From 1945 Hot Lips Page with the Sheikh of Araby and this was a special recording for the V-Disc editions. V-discs - where V stands for Victory - were 12'' vinyl records especially for the armed forces overseas. Because of the larger size it could hold much more music than the standard 10 inch records. This one was nearly six minutes long, though you heard not all of it, as you may have noticed it skipped some grooves.
Next Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, who earned his nickname for the damage a hair straightener product had done to his head - it never grew a hair again. From 1947 on Mercury here is the Luxury Tax Blues.
03 - Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson - Luxury Tax Blues
04 - Rosetta Howard & The Big Three Trio - Ebony Rhapsody
Rosetta Howard with the Ebony Rhapsody on the Columbia label from 1947, backed up by the Big Three Trio, that was the combo of Willie Dixon and Big Bill Broonzy. Rosetta Howard had her heydays a decade earlier, where she recorded numerous blues with the Harlem Hamfats for Decca. It's surprising how little her vocal style changed since then.
Going that decade, here is on the Vocalion label Cab Calloway with Hoy Hoy. Now Hoy Hoy as a shout became popular with race music in the mid-forties with Joe Liggins monster hit the Honeydrippers - the blues shouter generation that made it from the end of the war, say to 1948, is sometimes called the hoyhoy generation, being the pathmakers of Rock 'n Roll.
But this is much older and no sign of Rock 'n Roll in this one - this is the swing era. Here is Cab Calloway.
05 - Cab Calloway - Hoy Hoy
06 - Lucky Millinder feat. Myra Johnson - Silent George
Lucky Millinder and his orchestra with Silent George and the vocals on this one way Myra Johnson. This powerful singer worked with Count Basie and had a long-time engagement with the band of Fats Waller. From before, her name pops up in the International Movie Database in a few soundies, say music clips on film, from the early forties and a minor and uncredited role in a 1932 black musical movie titled Harlem is heaven.
Next a wonderful dirty blues of Dinah Washington like she only could make 'em. Long John Blues is about her seven feet tall dentist and she goes there for her aching tooth. But whether it's the novocaine - a popular dentist anesthetic that is said to be somewhat mood enhancing or the drilling capacities - and the way Dinah sings it, that can only have a dirty meaning - she don't want to wait another half year to see him, she wants to go back tonight.
Here is Dinah Washington with the Long John Blues.
07 - Dinah Washington - Long John Blues
08 - Little Willie Littlefield - Drinkin' Hadacol
Well just a few weeks ago I did a special on drinking and just forgot about this little gem. Little Willie Littlefield with Drinkin' Hadacol - and Hadacol was a vitamin supplement - actually multivitamin mix but the great feature of it was what was called the preservative - the bottle didn't mention the nature of this preservative but it was 12 per cent of alcohol. Well that did it of course in the counties where the sale of alcohol remained prohibited or restricted after prohibition ended. The dietary supplement tasted like what it looked like - some murky brown stuff with a smell like sewer water. But hey, it had alcohol in it and it was immensely popular during the forties, partly thanks to a promotion machine that was unheard of these days. Little Willie Littlefield recorded this in 1949 for the Modern label at the heydays of the popularity of this odd elixir.
09 - Edward 'Great Gates' White - Sad And Lonesome
10 - Calvin Boze - I'm Gonna Steam Off The Stamp
Calvin Boze was that I'm Gonna Steam Off The Stamp and he recorded that in 1951 for Aladdin. Before that you got The Great Gates with Sad and Lonesome and Edward Gates White as his real name is, recorded that for the Four Star label in 1950.
Next Roy Milton and his Solid Senders and the Little Boy Blue and he recorded it for his own label Miltone in 1946 or '47. I did a special on his label a few weeks ago but I couldn't possibly play all releases in one hour so this is one of the leftovers. But definitely not less good - so here it goes.
11 - Roy Milton - Little Boy Blue
12 - Griffin Brothers feat. Margie Day - Little Red Rooster
Margie Day backed up by the Griffin Brothers with the Little Red Rooster and that was released on the Dot label in 1950. It was her second single with the Griffin Brothers and it hit number five on the R&B list. Her first single Street Walkin' Daddy did similar and that jumpstarted Margie's career. It wasn't her first time in the studio though, she'd recorded a single for Savoy in 1947 as a member of a vocal group Four Bars and a Melody.
Next Little Esther Phillips and this was on the Federal label. Little Esther had been discovered by Johnny Otis and her first records with Otis were smash hits while she was still in her teens. When she chose to leave her mentor and step over to Federal, her success failed and her addiction to drugs halted her career by the mid-fifties. She made a succesful come-back in '62 but her drug addiction kept casting a shadow over her short life.
On this record she's backed up by Billy Ward's Dominoes. Listen to The Deacon Moves In.
13 - Little Esther & the Dominoes - The Deacon Moves In
14 - Tampa Red & Willie B. James - Pretty Baby Blues
On RCA Victor from 1951 you heard Tampa Red with Willie B. James with the Pretty Baby Blues. Tampa Red's real name was Hudson Woodbridge - he adopted his stage name when he moved from Tampa where he'd been raised by his grandmother, to Chicago. Working with Ma Rainey in 1928 was his breakthrough and in the thirties he teamed up with Georgia Tom with whom he recorded over 85 sides, sometimes billed as the Hokum Boys.
In 1934 he started a group the Chicago Five and with that he was one of the forerunners of the typical small-combo sound that took over from the big orchestras in the forties. Tampa red recorded some 335 songs making him the most prolific blues artist of his time.
Well when he recorded the Pretty Baby Blues that I just played he was at the end of his career. In 1953 his wife died and he turned to the bottle.
Next a previously unissued song of Big Joe Turner that I found on an eighties rerelease album. It was recorded in New York in July of 1947. The fade-out end wasn't common back then and probaby is done by the compilers of the album. Listen to Going Home.
15 - Joe Turner - Going Home
16 - Albert Ammons - Shout For Joy
17 - Monette Moore - Two Old Maids In A Folding Bed
And so we end this show with a dive into the thirties. Two old maids in a folding bed from 1936 on Decca - the kind of song that you can easily picture in a traveling show that's got both the blues in it as comedy sketches. Many of the older blues have evolved from the black vaudeville tradition and that's why I feature such songs here in the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. You heard Monette Moore and that raging boogie woogie before that was Albert Ammons on Vocalion from 1938 with Shout For Joy. No shouting in it but Ammons did a great job on the piano.
I hope you liked today's selection and well, of course you can let me know and send me an e-mail to rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. Or find me on the web to review today's playlist or see what's on next week. Do a google search for the legends of the rocking dutchman and my site will show up first.
As for now, byebye and have a great and rocking day. See you next time here on the Legends Rocking Dutchman!