This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And todays mixed bag comes from the CDs that I take with me every day in my car. Well, that is, from what I have lying in it now as I change them every now and then. So step in on the passenger's side and take the ride with me to my work 'cause it won't surprise you that it's all great Rhythm & Blues that rocks that little car. And one of these CDs is the Classics series chronological Jo Jo Adams. Now I got this CD from the music service that I've subscribed myself to, and that way they don't come with the original inlay so instead I printed a label scan that I found on the internet and that's a real cool one. It's from the Melody Lane Record Shop label in Chicago and it names Jo Jo's first recording, together with Freddie Williams and his band. A great double-sider, here is Jo Jo's Blues on Melody Lane number 12.
01 - Jo Jo Adams - Jo-Jo Blues
02 - Effie Smith - Sugar-Daddy
Effie Smith from the album Lady sings the blues and for sure she does a good one on this. Sugar Daddy was that and he becomes too old for her and needs to be replaced by a younger fella. This was from 1947 originally on Aladdin and she has Buddy Harper with her to do the backing with his band.
Well maybe if you're a regular listener and you listen real close to what I tell you on this show, you may have heard that before I used to take the bus or the bicycle to go to my work. What changed? Well my work moved out of town and now it's a good 10 miles to there. Too far for me to do on the bicycle and the public transport takes over an hour to get there. So I bought myself an old but economic little car, actually one of the smallest available because the gas prices here are more than double of 'em in America. I call the car my little Korean as that's where it's been built, a factory that later was bought by General Motors and branded Chevrolet like the American cars. Mine's from before that and still named Daewoo Matiz.
It's still a short ride and it rocks with my choice of music. And one of the album that's in there right now is the 4 CD set Houston Might Be Heaven that I featured a few weeks ago. From that I'll play Blip Thompkins, a pretty obscure singer and trombonist, with Everything's Been Done Before.
03 - Blip Thompkins - Everything's Been Done Before
04 - Peppermint Harris - Got A Big Fine Baby
(jingle)
05 - Lee Graves - I'm From Texas
06 - Smokey Hogg - Hello Baby
Three more from that 4 CD set Houston Might Be Heaven that's in my little car and that spices up my ride to work. You got Peppermint Harris with Got A Big Fine Baby, then after the jingle Lee Graves with I'm From Texas and Smokey Hogg singing Hello Baby.
The CD set is on the JSP label and it features many Houston legends but it shines an extra spotlight on Peppermint Harris and Smokey Hogg that got a whole CD for themselves each.
Next the band of Jay McShann fronted by blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon with the Voodoo Woman Blues. And when a New Orleans voodoo woman digs a hole by your door by night, well it's probably time to get out of the way. This was originally released on Mercury in 1946 and I found it on a CD titled Best of 1946 Rhythm & Blues. Here is Jimmy Witherspoon.
07 - Jimmy Witherspoon and Jay McShann - Voodoo Woman Blues
08 - Johnny Crawford - Texas Woman
And from the voodoo gal from New Orleans to the Texas woman, innocent when she came from Houston but she got slick in California and took off with his money, as Johnny Crawford sings. This came from the same CD, titled Best of 1946 R&B.
And for the next one I return to Jo Jo Adams with a blues that appears three times on that CD of the Classics label, under different titels and with different orchestration. Of them I'll play what I think is the best of them. Originally from 1946 on Aladdin, and backed up by Maxwell Davis and his band, here is the hard-headed woman blues.
09 - Jo Jo Adams - Hard-Headed Woman Blues
10 - Effie Smith - Three Men In My Life
Effie Smith from her album Lady sings the blues with Three men in my life, and they were all doing her wrong. Now Effie Smith had a longlasting career spanning some forty years but she never hit the charts until the sixties and we had to wait until a CD on the Classics label saw daylight before any of her earlier material had been re-released. Well since then she picked up - it's another CD that I spin in the CD slot of my car radio.
Next one of the greatest of Rhythm & Blues that I found on that CD Best of '46 R&B. Originally on the National label the label credits Pete Johnson's Allstars but the voice apparently is Joe Turner's, and the flip Sunday Morning Blues had Joe Turner's allstars on the label. Here is the Mad Blues.
11 - Joe Turner - Mad Blues
The Mad Blues - Joe Turner together with Pete Johnson, and they'd teamed up together already a long time, from before the war.
Next Little Willie Littlefield from a CD titled Boogie Blues and Bounce and that features his recordings for the Modern label. Now neither of the ones I'm going to play show up in the discograpy of Modern records so I assume they went unreleased by the time. Here's the first one - the Goofy Dust Blues.
12 - Little Willie Littlefield - Goofy Dust Blues
13 - Little Willie Littlefield - Mello Cats
The Mello Cats of Little Willie Littlefield, another Modern recording that wasn't released by the time and I took this from a CD featuring Little Willie titled Boogie Blues and Bounce.
Next Ivory Joe Hunter and his band and on this, an unknown songthrush that's on the label credited only as "Aurelia" and according to a list of advance releases in Billboard Magazine her full name is Aurelia Joyner. Not any more useful inforation is on-line and I assume this is her very only recording, unless she used other names.
Listen to Are You Hep To The Jive.
14 - Ivory Joe Hunter feat. Aurelia Joyner - Are You Hep
15 - Laurel Watson - Kangaroo Blues
From the Apollo label recorded in 1945 Laurel Watson and the septet of Tab Smith with the Kangaroo Blues. Again a lady whose voice hasn't been waxed very often but she remained active in jazz and fronted the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band from 1984.
Next Rabon Tarrant who was the drummer in Jack McVea's band and also a productive songwriter - his most covered song is the classic Blues with a Feeling that he also sang.
From him you'll get Hey Hey Baby.
16 - Rabon Tarrant and Jack McVea - Hey, Hey Baby
17 - Walter Brown - Fine Brown Baby
18 - Hubert Robinson - Room And Board Boogie
The Room and Board Boogie of Hubert Robinson, a local blues shouter of Houston TX and this was in 1950 on the rare Macy's label of that city. And before that you got Walter Brown with the Fine Brown Baby and that was originally released in 1946 on the Queen label, the Rhythm & Blues susdidiary of King, until in 1947 they decided to merge the two together into the King label, that's become, of course, one of the leading labels in Rhythm & Blues.
And with that the little musical ride in my car has come to an end. I made a little detour, the fifteen minutes to my work would have been too short for this show. Well colleagues say they can see that I have my music on, my little car rocks over the roads. Or probably it'll be my silly drumming on the steering wheel that they'd seen.
So if you wanna share a ride, or just want anything to comment on my show, you can write me at rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. And everything I told you today is on my web site, as well as what's on for next week. Easiest way to get there is a google search for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman and my site will show up first.
For now, my time's up so have a rocking ride. See you next time, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!