August 8: Born on this date in 1933 was Joe Tex, arguably the most underrated of all 60s Soul singers… Joseph Arrington, Jr. (August 8, 1933 ~ August 13, 1982)

Joe Tex made the first Southern soul record that also hit on the pop charts ("Hold What You've Got," in 1965, made number five in Billboard)...

 His raspy-voiced, jackleg preacher style also laid some of the most important parts of rap's foundation...

He is, arguably, the most underrated of all the '60s soul performers associated with Atlantic Records, although his records were more likely than those of most soul stars to become crossover hits…

 

In 1961, he recorded his composition, "Baby You're Right", for Detroit’s Anna Record Label...

as well as for the New Orleans “ACE” label…

Later that year, James Brown recorded a cover version, albeit with different lyrics and a different musical composition, winning songwriting credit, making the song a hit in 1962, reaching #2 on the R&B chart... 

(This was the start of a long running feud between Tex and Brown. Check out the Wikipedia version of that story…) 

 

It was during this time that Tex first began working with Buddy Killen, who formed the Dial Records label behind Tex. After a number of songs failed to chart, Killen decided to have Atlantic Records distribute his recordings with Dial in 1964.  By the time he signed with Atlantic, Tex had recorded thirty songs, all of which had failed to make an impact on the charts…

In 1965, Killen took Joe to Muscle Shoals, not yet a fashionable recording center, and they came up with "Hold What You've Got," which is about as close to a straight R&B ballad as Tex ever came. It was followed by a herd more, most of which made the R&B charts, a few cracking the pop Top 40…

In 1966, his "I Believe I'm Gonna Make It," an imaginary letter home from Vietnam, became the first big hit directly associated with that war. 

His biggest hit was "Skinny Legs and All," from a 1967 live album, his rapping pure hokum over deeply funky riffs. "Skinny Legs" might have served as a template for all the raucous, ribald hip-hop hits of pop's future…

He was too down-home for the slickness of the disco era, or so it would have seemed, yet in 1977, he adapted a dance craze, the Bump, and came up with the hilarious "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)," his last Top Ten R&B hit, which also crossed over to number 12 on the pop chart…

Joe Tex died of a heart attack in 1982,
 only 49 years old…

 Killen, Ben E King, Don Covay, Wilson Pickett, and the great songwriter Percy Mayfield served as pallbearers…

R.I.P. JOE TEX

Ya left us way too soon…

 

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July 21: A great day in the EVOLUTION OF ROCK ‘n ROLL…

  Louis Jordan, Joe Liggins and Wynonie Harris had been bringing the “Jazz Age” into the “R&B” Scene for years by the time “Jazz” great Peggy Lee caught the “Fever” from Detroit’s Little Willie John and made it her own...

—They were all greats in what was known as “Race Music” at the time, but became the genre generally known as Rhythm & Blues!

1946

"Choo Choo Ch'Boogie"

 Louis Jordan’s #1 R&B hit also goes to #7 on the pop chart…

1950

Joe Liggins #1 R&B hit goes to #30 on the pop chart… 

1952

 

Wynonie Harris hits #5 on the R&B chart with "Lovin' Machine"

1958

 

Peggy Lee's faithful cover version of Little Willie John's "Fever" enters the Top Forty, where it will peak at #8

On the same day that Peggy Lee was on fire with “Fever”

 

 Jerry Butler & the Impressions usher in what would soon be known as “Soul Music” when they hit #11 with the single...

 "For Your Precious Love"

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 AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED 

July 5, 2001: Ernie K-Doe, who scored a number one hit in 1961 with "Mother-In-Law", passed away at the age of 65…

 (February 22, 1936 - July 5, 2001)

Alan Toussaint

ERNIE-K-DOE, born Ernest Kador, Jr., was a rhythm and blues singer best known for his 1961 hit single, the Alan Toussaint penned "Mother-in-Law, " which went to #1 on the Billboard pop chart in the U.S.

R.I.P. ERNIE-K-DOE

THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED 

APRIL 18, 1924: CLARENCE "GATEMOUTH" BROWN HITS THE PLANET: Although primarily known as a rhythm &blues artist, Brown's music truly defied any simple description...

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown

 (April 18, 1924 — September 10, 2005)

Blues guitarist and fiddler Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown was born in Vinton, Louisiana, but raised in Orange, Texas. His professional musical career began in 1945, playing drums in San Antonio, Texas…

He was tagged with the moniker "Gatemouth"  by a high school instructor who claimed young  Brown had a "voice like a gate". Brown used it to his advantage throughout his career...

A true musician's musician, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown mastered the guitar, fiddle, drums, viola, harmonica, piano, mandolin and bass. Gatemouth's smooth blend of Texas style swing with Jazz, Country and Cajun music has altered the definition of the Blues. His versatility singles him out as an architect of modern Blues sounds.

"Gatemouth" on Piano

Although primarily known as a rhythm & blues artist, Brown's music truly defied any simple description. Influenced by big bands and horn players, Louis Jordan and others, his work on the guitar and fiddle exhibited the music he grew up hearing along the Gulf Coast…

One evening in 1947, when Gatemouth was in attendance at a T-Bone Walker concert in Don Robey's Bronze Peacock Houston nightclub,

Walker became ill,  and Brown took up his guitar and quickly wrote and played "Gatemouth Boogie," right on the spot! This was the beginning of a long association between Gatemouth and Robey…

In 1949 Robey founded Peacock Records in order to showcase Brown's virtuoso guitar work.

Johnny Ace on Duke

 Brown's "Mary Is Fine"/"My Time Is Expensive" was a hit for Peacock in 1949. A string of Peacock releases in the 1950s were less successful commercially, but were nonetheless pioneering musically. (Peacock combined with Duke in 1952).

Particularly notable of Gatemouth’s Peacock releases was the  instrumental "Okie Dokie Stomp", in which Brown solos continuously over a punchy horn section…

Other instrumentals from this period include "Boogie Uproar" and "Gate Walks to Board”

His final Peacock release (1959) showcases his gutsy violin playing:  "Just Before Dawn"

In the 1960s Gatemouth made several appearances on the television show Hee Haw and, in 1966, Brown was the musical director for the house band on the short-lived television program, The !!!! Beat…

 

AND ALL OF THE ABOVE WAS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THIS INCREDIBLE ARTIST’S CAREER…

Check out Gatemouth’s Bio on
“All About Jazz”

And his Obituary
 as reported on CBS: 

And his New York Times Obituary:

R.I.P. Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown...

 You Earned The Rest!

THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, MAN…

Bessie Smith "Empress of the Blues" (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937)

Bessie Smith

 (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937)

Nicknamed The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists…

Bessie’s father, a Baptist preacher, died before she could remember him. By the time she was nine, she had lost her mother and a brother as well.

To earn money for their impoverished household, Bessie Smith and her brother Andrew began busking on the streets of Chattanooga as a duo: she singing and dancing, he accompanying her on guitar. Their favorite location was in front of the White Elephant Saloon

at Thirteenth and Elm streets in the heart of the city's African-American community.

(From Wikipedia)

In 1912 Bessie joined a traveling show as a dancer and singer. The show featured Pa and Ma Rainey, and Smith developed a friendship with Ma. Ma Rainey was Bessie's mentor and she stayed with her show until 1915…

Check out Ma in 1926 (excuse the quality of this 86 year old recording)...

According to an article written by redhotjazz.com, "Bessie Smith was a rough, crude, violent woman. (Who became) the greatest of the classic Blues singers of the 1920s…"

In 1915, Bessie joined the T.O.B.A. vaudeville circuit and gradually built up her own following in the south and along the eastern seaboard.

In 1923 she made her recording debut on Columbia, accompanied by pianist Clarence Williams.

Clarence Williams

They recorded "Gulf Coast Blues" and "Down Hearted Blues."

The record sold more than 750,000 copies. Throughout the 1920s Smith recorded with many of the great Jazz musicians of that era, including Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, Coleman Hawkins, Don Redman and Louis Armstrong. Her rendition of "St. Louis Blues" with Armstrong is considered by most critics to be one of finest recordings of the 1920s…

A film of the same name was released in 1929; based around her 1925 recording of the song with Louis Armstrong…

By 1931 the Classic Blues style of Bessie Smith was out of style and the Depression, radio, and sound movies had all damaged the record companies' ability to sell records so Columbia dropped Smith from its roster. In 1933 she recorded for the last time under the direction of John Hammond for Okeh…

On September 26, 1937, Smith was critically injured in a car accident while traveling along U.S. Route 61 between Memphis, Tennessee, and Clarksdale, Mississippi. Her lover, Richard Morgan, was driving and, probably mesmerized by the long stretch of straight road, misjudged the speed of a slow-moving truck ahead of him, swerving at the last moment and side-swiping the truck. Bessie’s arm was amputated and she died of her injuries…

Jazz writer/producer John Hammond, in an article in the November 1937 issue of Down Beat magazine, inferred that Bessie died due to a failure of a “Whites Only” hospital to treat her…

This rumor has been discredited… The first people at the scene of the accident were a Memphis surgeon, Dr. Hugh Smith (no relation), and his fishing partner Henry Broughton. Dr. Smith recounts the story as, "The Bessie Smith ambulance would not have gone to a white hospital, you can forget that. Down in the Deep South cotton country, no ambulance driver, or white driver, would even have thought of putting a colored person off in a hospital for white folks."

R.I.P. BESSIE SMITH,...

“THE EMPRESS OF THE BLUES”

LEARN MORE

ABOUT BESSIE SMITH...

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From Cab Calloway to Frank Zappa: March 3rd is significant in the EVOLUTION OF ROCK 'n ROLL...

March 3, 1931 through 
March 3,1979
in the
Evolution of Rock ‘n Roll…

1931: Cab Calloway records



"Minnie The Moocher"

March 3, 1947: Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens by Louis Jordan reaches No1 in the Billboard R'n'B Singles Chart in the USA.

March 3, 1952: Lloyd Price cuts "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" for Specialty Records in New Orleans. It tops the R&B and Best Seller charts for seven weeks.

Check out Lloyd talkin’ about how this tune came to be:

March 3, 1956: Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on the Billboard charts when "Heartbreak Hotel" debuts at #68. Although many staff members at RCA Victor believed that the release was a mistake, the song would rise to #1 on the US Pop chart for 8 weeks and spend 17 weeks at the top of the Country chart. Many years later, "Heartbreak Hotel" would be ranked #45 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

March 3, 1956: "Please, Please, Please," James Brown's first single for Syd Nathan's Federal label (a King subsidiary), is released, thereby launching the career of this legendary soul singer.

March 3, 1957: So now Lloyd Price is 19 years old, did his stint in the army and he comes up with "Just Because," Lloyd Price's post-Army debut for the ABC-Paramount label, enters the singles charts, peaking at #3 R&B and #29 pop.

AND: "Maybe" by the Chantels hits #15 on that same day...

March 3, 1959: The Drifters, with new lead vocalist Ben E. King, record their breakthrough hit, "There Goes My Baby", at Atlantic's studios in New York. The song will become the group's first of 16 Billboard Top 40 hits.

And on March 3, 1962,
"Twistin' Postman" by the Marvelettes goes to #34…Check out this all the way  live recording!!!

March 3, 1966: Lou Christie's "Lightnin' Strikes" is certified gold

March 3, 1969: Bob Dylan hits #7 with "Lay Lady Lay"

March 3, 1973: The Spinners hit #4 with "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" and do it live on SOUL TRAIN!

Just about this time, DISCO (sucks!) hits the Scene and Frank takes advantage…

March 3, 1979: Frank Zappa releases 'Sheik Yerbouti,' a double album that contains the disco parody single "Dancin' Fool"

R.I.P. FRANK  

~YOU ALWAYS KEPT US UP ON WHAT’S REALLY HIP!!!

A LOTTA STUFF HAPPENED

 IN THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK ‘n ROLL

ON MARCH 3^RD

OVER THOSE  48 YEARS!!!  

James Brown and also The Cadillacs Score Big on February 4, 1956 ~ In The Evolution of Rock 'n Roll...

In March of 1954, a Harlem vocal group called The Cadillacs  
released a GREAT ballad about a girl named Gloria and although it was a major Doo-Wop hit at the hops, it never achieved real popularity at the time…

On February 4, 1956, The Cadillacs did enter the Billboard Pop Chart with "Speedo", which will top out at #17 and become a Doo-Wop classic.

Here they are doing Speedo and a few others in this mini-documentary...

 

  SO, WHAT ELSE HAPPENED ON FEBRUARY 4, 1956--THE SAME DAY THAT THE CADILLACS ENTERED THE BILLBOARD CHARTS??? 

It was on February 4, 1956 when James Brown And The Famous Flames recorded 

"Please, Please, Please" at King Studios in Cincinnati.

  The single would go on to become a Billboard #5 R&B hit, selling over a million copies, but nine subsequent releases would fail to live up to the success of their debut.  

It would take over two years for the group to return to the charts with the #1 R&B hit, "Try Me". 

And with that hit, the man who would become “The Godfather of Soul” got the world to think about what’s coming next…

 
FIFTY-SIX YEARS AGO IN THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK ‘n ROLL… 

ROCK ‘N ROLL: 1922 Style with Trixie Smith

Trixie Smith was born in Atlanta, GA in 1895 and worked the minstrel shows and Chitlin Circuit...

 On January 20 in 1922,  a blues singing contest was held at the Inter-Manhattan Casino in New York City. Trixie Smith won first place and a silver cup with her song "Trixie's Blues"  

Miss Trixie Smith, was immediately signed to the recently founded Black Swan Records and started making recordings…

One of the first tunes she recorded was  "My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)" (1922),  written by J. Berni Barbour, of historic interest as the first secular recording to reference the phrase "ROCK 'N ROLL".

Although her early reference to Rock ‘n Roll is certainly memorable, she is most remembered for "Railroad Blues," (1925) a song that featured one of Smith's most inspired vocal performances on record, and "The World Is Jazz Crazy and So Am I" (1925). Both songs feature Louis Armstrong on cornet.

She recorded prolifically between 1925 and 1929—For example:

In the early 1930s, Trixie Smith’s career took a turn to the stage and big screen--She appeared in four movies: God's Step Children (1938), Swing! (1938), Drums o' Voodoo (1934), and The Black King (1932)--and her Blues singing career waned.

 She did produce seven tracks for Decca between 1938 and 1939:

A remake of Railroad Blues, re-named “Freight Train Blues” was one of them…

And the reefer smokers’ favorite,
 “Jack I’m Mellow” another…

Trixie Smith died in New York in 1943, after a brief illness, aged 48

R.I.P. TRIXIE SMITH—YOU WERE WAY AHEAD OF YOUR TIME!!!