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THE HISTORY OF

New Orleans

Rhythm & Blues

The History of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues Vol. 9 1958 Whirlaway
1.

Whirlaway

Al Tousan

RCA 7192 Jan 1958

2.

Sea Cruise

Frankie Ford

Ace 554 1958 (14)

3.

Don't You Just Know It

Huey 'Piano' Smith & His Clowns

Ace 545 1958 (9)

RP, ART, CW

4.

My Girl Across Town

Lester Robinson & The Upsetters

Montel 1001 1958

The Upsetters

5.

Bad Boy

Larry Williams

Specialty 658 Aug 1958

EP

6.

Arabian Love Call

Art Neville

Specialty 656 Sep 1958

7.

Feeling Alright On Saturday Night

The Velvetiers

Ric 958 1958

8.

Oh,Oh

Eddie Bo

Checker 1698 May 1958

EB, RC, CW

9.

Flat Foot Sam

TV Slim (Oscar Wills)

Argo 5277 Jul 1957

RP, ART, PG, JA, FF, CW

10.

Honeycomb

Edgar Blanchard

Unreleased 1958

11.

Pig Tails And Ribbons

Leonard Carbo

Vee-Jay 291 1958

ART, EF, RM, FF, CW

12.

Hattie Malatti

Lee Diamond & The Upsetters

Vee-Jay 272 1958

The Upsetters

13.

Loud Mouth Annie

Big Boy Myles

Argo 5326 Jun 1958

RP, JR, WM, EB, RC, CW

14.

Don't You Know Yokomo

Huey 'Piano' Smith & His Clowns

Ace 553 1958 (56)

RP, ART, CW

15.

Can't Let You Go, I Love You So

Albert Scott

Vin 1005 1958

16.

Only Sixteen

Tal Miller

Hollywood 1086 1958

17.

Walkin' With Mr Lee

Lee Allen & His Band

Ember 1027 1957

18.

She's Mine All Mine

Eddie Lang

Ron 324 Oct 1958

MR

19.

Dizzy, Miss Lizzy

Larry Williams

Specialty 626 Feb 1958

EP

20.

Everytime I See You

Harry Lee

Vin 1007 1958

21.

I Don't Want To Lose Her

Leonard Carbo

Unissued May 1958

22.

Lottie-Mo

Lee Dorsey

Valiant 10011 1958

ART, HB, RM, CB,

23.

High Blood Pressure

Huey 'Piano' Smith & His Clowns

Ace 545 1958

RP, ART, CW

24.

Roberta

Frankie Ford

Ace 554 1958 (14)

25.

You Can't Stop Her

Bobby Marchan

Ace 557 1958

ART, HS,

26.

Everybody's Carried Away

Earl King

Ace 564 1958

LA, RP, ART, HS, RC, CW

27.

Pleadin'

Mercy Baby

Ric 955 1957

28.

Whole Lotta Lovin'

Fats Domino

Imperial 5553 Sep 1958

DB, CF, EM,WN, FF, CW

29.

Shirley

John Fred

Montel 1002 Sep 1958

DB, CF, EM,WN, FF, CW

30.

Darling

Charles 'Hungry' Williams

Checker 866 Mar 1957

PG

31.

Java

Al Tousan

RCA 1767 Feb 1958

32.

Poinciana

Ahmad Jamal Trio

Argo 5306

The History of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues


1955-1962
Were it not for the son of an Italian-American grocer
named Cosimo Matassa, the New Orleans music
scene as we know it may not have happened. At
the age of eighteen, Matassa persuaded his father
to start selling electrical appliances and records in
the family grocery store, and before long they had a
successful shop by the name of J&M Music on their
hands. Despite the presence of a thriving live music
scene, New Orleans was without a recording studio.
Matassas business acumen led him to purchase the
required equipment and J&M Recording Studios was
set up in a little room in the back of the shop on
the corner of North Rampart and Dumaine Street in
1951. It was the only studio in town during the whole
of the classic era and almost all of the great New
Orleans records were recorded in its ten-by-twelvefoot room, until he moved to larger premises in 1955.
Mac Rebennack (Dr. John) describes what became
known as the Cosimo Sound: Strong drums, heavy
bass, light piano, heavy guitar and light horns...with
the guitar, the baritone and tenor doubling the bass
line. The J&M studio house band has rightly become
as famous as the studios owner. Classic line-ups
included Lee Allen, Alvin Tyler, Clarence Hall and
Herb Hardesty on saxes, Edward Franks or Salvador
Doucette on piano, Ernest McLean, Walter Nelson
and Justin Adams on guitar, Frank Fields on bass and
Earl Palmer or Charles Williams on drums.
Lew Chudds Imperial Records
Imperial had been rolling out the hits since 1949 and
Smiley Lewis was there from the start. His career
stretched from 1947 to 1965 yet I Hear You Knocking
was his only big hit. Smileys own recording of One
Night (Of Sin) was a New Orleans bolero shuffle; but
when Elvis recorded it a couple of years later, the
beat was straightened out and the song rearranged
in the doo-wop style, resulting in a worldwide hit.
Shame Shame Shame was cut in August 1956 and
was included on the soundtrack to the Hollywood

black comedy Baby Doll. Dave Bartholomew was


Imperials producer and A&R rep: We just couldnt
get Smiley started. He always had the best material.
His records would sell great all around New Orleans,
but we just couldnt break him nationally like
everyone else. One of the best records Smiley made
after leaving Imperial was the 1962 OKeh issue, I'm
Coming Down With The Blues. He died 4 years later
after a struggle against stomach cancer.
Dave Bartholomew gets into the carnival mood
with Shrimp & Gumbo, a paion to the iconic Creole
dish, but perhaps the best record he ever made was
a remarkably stark, single-chord, philosophical rap
sung to a rolling drumbeat and little else. He recalled
the circumstances which led him to record Monkey
Speaks His Mind: I was in the Dallas airport, rushing
to catch a plane. Lady handed me this envelope and
said Read this, it could make a good song. I put it
in my pocket. Weeks later opened it up, read it and
thought, what is this? Let me try. He had never met
the woman before nor seen her since and he had
no idea how she came to recognize him. He was
never able to resolve the mystery. Monkey is a prime
example of New Orleans mixed timing. Listen to
drummer Charles Williams powering along in straight
eighths while Justin Adams plays lazy swing triplets.
Fats Dominos hits just kept on coming. Poor Me
was another R&B #1 in 1955, followed by I'm In Love
Again in April 1956. Some of his biggest records,
My Blue Heaven and Blueberry Hill, were rocked up
standards. I'm Walkin was another #1 and was the
record that brought the New Orleans parade band
beat to a nationwide audience for the first time. Jim
Payne: Way back in 1959, Earl Palmer introduced
the concept of playing 16th notes on the bass drum
on the intro to Fats Domino's hit Im Walkin'. You
can also hear it on James Brown's I Got Money, with
Clayton Fillyau on drums, who played with James
through his early period, including the Live At The
Apollo album. That was totally new ground. It was
the birth of what they call the James Brown beat (or
break beat). There was an unfortunate side-effect to
the success of Im Walkin. Ricky Nelson covered it and

had a big hit with it; Chudd was so impressed that


he determined to lure Nelson on to his label. With
Fats and Nelson at his disposal, he very quickly lost
interest in the rest of his artist roster and divested
himself of his other New Orleans acts, much to the
detriment of the citys future music scene.

from 1957, Let The Four Winds Blow: It was just an


audition tape, we were foolin around in the studio
when we did it. Well Lew (Chudd) puts the goddamn
record out. It was all out of time and tempo, the
record just wasnt right, but still did $1 million on it. I
didnt think it was hitting on shit.

I Want To Walk You Home (#1 R&B) and Be My


Guest (#2 R&B) were two of the biggest hits in his
career and were both put out towards the end of
1959. His version of the Broadway tune, I'll Always
Be In Love With You, was recorded in 1958 but not
released until January 1961 when it was included on
the I Miss You So album. Whole Lotta Lovin' again
features the quintessential parade band beat. Fatss
last two smash hits were Let The Four Winds Blow
(#2 R&B) in June 1961 and that perfect blend of
strings and R&B combo, Walking To New Orleans
(#2 R&B July 1960). My Girl Josephine managed just
#7 R&B in November 1960. After 59 hits for Imperial,
he signed with ABC Records in 1961, managing just
6 minor chart entries for them in 7 years.

Chudd began distributing Minit Records in 1960


and his success with this venture caused him to
rethink the decision to run down the New Orleans
office and a number of artists were signed, such as
the blues guitarist Snooks Eaglin. As Ford Eaglin, he
made a couple of fine discs in the Ray Charles vein.
Yours Truly features an exceptional guitar solo from
Eaglin, and That Certain Door was his treatment of
the Smiley Lewis song.

I met a kid in Baton Rouge that was singing hillbilly


Roy Haynes. He had this song that me and Dave
(Bartholomew) got interested in but it took me a
long time before I felt comfortable enough to cut
it. The result was I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday,
Bobby Mitchells approximation of the rockabilly
style, with Justin Adams picking single notes in Chet
Atkins fashion. It became a hit locally and when
Fats Domino picked up on the song, it shot into the
Billboard top 20.
The Dukes that recorded in New Orleans for
Imperial from Oklahoma were a completely different
group from those who put backing vocals on Lloyd
Prices Chee Koo Baby in 1954. The eerie rumba Last
Ride was unreleased at the time and was probably
influenced by Sweet Breeze by Vernon Green & The
Phantoms, which was out on Specialty at the time.
Dave Bartholomew is often dismissive of his
production work but never more so than when he
described how he felt about Roy Browns #5 hit

One of the first R&B records to feature the distinctive


tumbao rhythm handclaps on beat two was Ray
Charles 1953 disc Heartbreaker. With the influx of
Latin-influenced records dominating the charts in
1956 and 1957, a new beat emerged in New Orleans,
combining this tumbao rhythm with the backbeat
of rocknroll. Drummers such as Earl Palmer and
Hungry Williams played it in straight eighths,
shedding the jazz 12/8 shuffle feel. It can be heard
on Huey Smiths 1958 disc High Blood Pressure. This
is the surf or twist beat that dominated popular
music from 1958 to 1963. George Blazer Boy
Stephensons New Orleans Twist uses this rhythm
and checks the city's Popeye beat in the lyrics.
Art Rupes Specialty Records
The New Orleans second-line, two-beat, parade
band rhythm pattern, with its three prominent
beats and a skip has become so fully associated
with rocknroll that it is easy to forget its origins,
which are rooted in the Latin son clave. In one of
the classic New Orleans recording sessions in April
1956 for Specialty Records, Frank Fields and Earl
Palmer transformed this beat into one of the staple
rhythmic riffs of rocknroll on Little Richards Rip It
Up and Ready Teddy.

Earl King

Joe Ruffino

Earl Palmer

Eddie Bo

Charles Hungry
Williams

Lee Dorsey

Chris Kenner

Johnny Vincent
Art Rupe

Clarence Frogman
Henry & The Beatles

Max Weinberg wrote: When the pulse of rocknroll


grabs you and wont let go, it becomes the Big Beat.
Thats how it was when Earl Palmer laid into Lucille
sounding as if he were using baseball bats and
kicking a thirty-foot bass drum. Out went the jazz
triplets; Lucille was played four beats to the bar with
heavy snare on beats two and four and hi-hat on
straight eight quavers. Earl Palmer recalled: Little
Richard moved from a shuffle to that straight eighthnote feelingthe only reason I started playing what
they come to call a rocknroll beat came from trying
to match Richards right hand...On Tutti Frutti you can
hear me playing a shuffle. Listening to it now, its easy
to hear I should have been playing that rock beat.
Palmer did the same for The Girl Cant Help It, Keep
a-Knockin and Good Golly Miss Molly, reproducing
the sound of an insistent, pounding parade band.
Long Tall Sally is now better known by the Beatles,
who included it in their stage show between 1957
and 1966. Directly From My Heart came from the
same session as Tutti Frutti but remained unreleased
until 1960, when its gospel strains were considered
more commercially acceptable. Little Richard gave
up rocknroll for God in 1957
Session guitarist Roy Montrell made just one record
for Specialty Records: the rumba-influenced romp,
Mellow Saxophone, coupled with Ooh Wow. The only
other release under his own name was Mudd, which
came out three years later on Minit Records. Montrell
taught guitar to a teenage Mac Rebennack but took
an axe to Macs brand new shiny but very cheap guitar
bought for him by his father, saying, Mr. Rebennack, I
aint teachin your son on that piece of shit.
Edgar Blanchard was a well-respected guitarist
who recorded very little material in his own right.
From a session of instrumentals recorded in August
1956, Specialty Records picked out Stepping High
for release in the wake of the rocknroll instrumental
craze following Bill Doggetts Honky Tonk.
Harmonically, the song is a throwback to the 1920s,
but Blanchards guitar work brings it up to date,
sounding very much like 1956s in-vogue guitarist,
Mickey Baker. He also made some fine instrumentals

for Ric in 1958, including the unreleased Honeycomb


and Knocked Out, under the name of his group the
Gondoliers.
Edgar 'Big Boy' Myles was New Orleanss most
sought after session trombone player but only
occasionally recorded under his own name. He cut
Just To Hold My Hand for Specialty in 56, before
moving on to Argo in 1958 with Loud Mouth
Annie, which features a fine guitar solo from Edgar
Blanchard. His 1960 Ace release New Orleans is very
much in the Ooh Poo Pah Doo party vein but Gary US
Bonds' cover, a #5 R&B hit in October 1960, got all
the plaudits. One of Myless legendary tricks at live
gigs was to peel an orange while delivering a vocal.
Lloyd Price was scarcely out of the charts for the
6 months following his 1st hit on Specialty, Lawdy
Miss Clawdy, but further success eluded him and
he upped sticks and moved to Washington, D.C.
where he formed KRC Records with a couple of
business associates. Before he left town, he cut the
fine Im Glad, Glad, which is spiced with a powerful
rhythmic riff from rhythm section Earl Palmer and
Frank Fields. His first record on the new label, Just
Because, was an adaptation of Caro Nome, an aria
from Verdis Rigoletto, and a licensing deal with ABC
brought him a run of ten hits on the pop charts
between 1957 and 1963.
Art Neville began recording in the mid-fifties
with his group the Hawketts and went on to cut a
dozen or so tracks under his own name for Specialty
between 1956 and 1959. Oooh-Wee Baby was the
first of these to be released in January 1957. Joe
Joseph and Alvin Tyler took the title and tune and
wrote new words to it, converting it into Gee Baby,
a top twenty hit in 1960. Both sides of Arts third
single Arabian Love Call b/w What's Going On are
presented on this set. Neville would achieve wider
fame in the 1960s and 70s as a founding member of
the Meters and the Neville Brothers.
Larry Williams was groomed as Little Richards
rocknroll successor; he was a piano player with

the same raw vitality and shouting delivery and he


ended up composing a handful of standards. His
biggest hit, Short Fat Fannie, used the rhythm of
Fats Dominos Im In Love Again and peppered the
lyric with references to names of songs by Little
Richard, Elvis and Fats. This was possibly the first
of rocknrolls many self referential songs. Williams
certainly had a way with words, rhyming Bony
Moronie with stick of macaroni, neighbourhood
with up to no good. Mainly thanks to records
emanating from New Orleans, the rumba rhythmic
pattern was fast becoming part of the generic sound
of rocknroll; witness Buddy Hollys Rave On, Eddie
Cochrans Twenty Flight Rock, Elviss King Creole, and
Gene Vincents Catman. Larry Williamss Oh Baby
was cut in June 1957 and is another song recorded
in this style. Although recorded in Los Angeles,
Slow Down features a New Orleans big-band sound
using top musicians from the Crescent City playing
the now familiar rock backbeat. By 1957, the hits
had started to dry up on Specialty. Williams third
and final chart entry for the label, Dizzy, Miss Lizzy
could only scrape in at #69 and the follow up, Bad
Boy missed entirely. After five years of prodigious
success with New Orleans music, the disillusioned
Art Rupe began to wind down his operation in 1958
Johnny Vincents Ace and Vin Records
Ace Records was set up in Jackson, Mississippi by
Specialtys A&R rep Johnny Vincent Imbragulio in
1955 after he fell out with his boss, Art Rupe. Ace
became New Orleans's first important record label
even though Jackson is a good 3 hours drive away,
and Vincent's artists were constantly on the road
between the two cities, recording at Diamond
Studios in Jackson and at J.M. Studios in New Orleans.
Earl King's career at Ace suffered a bit of a nose dive
after recording his big national hit, Those Lonely,
Lonely Nights. in 1955 (#7 R&B). Despite cutting some
cracking singles, like Everybody's Carried Away and
Is Everything All Right, he was unable to come up
with another hit until the Imperial release Always

a First Time charted for him in March 1962. Cosimo


Matassa: I think Earls strength would be in coming up
with little figures that fit ... a good little piece of lyric
and a little figure to go with it. Dave Bartholomew
was keen on Come On, the number that King used
to close his live gigs with. When his contract was up
with Ace, King signed with Imperial and cut the song
with Bartholomew in October 1960. Earl King: All the
people wanted the guitar players to play that little
interlude I was playing...Hendrix did almost the exact
version except for the improvisation. The Rex issue
titled Darling Honey Angel Child was recorded for
Ace just before King left for Imperial.
The first thing you notice about Huey 'Piano' Smith
and the Clowns is that all the singing is in unison.
Huey recalled: No harmony singing for us, there
were so many harmony group records around, but
we sold records. Little Liza Jane sold moderately
well but Huey realised he was going to have to find
himself a top-notch singer. My voice wasnt that
good but I could get by with a few catchy lines...As it
turns out, I did a verse, Izzacoo (Junior Gordon) did a
verse and Dave Dixon did a verse. Huey had played
on a session with female impersonator Bobby
Marchan in 1954 and a couple of years later, they
recorded Hueys song, Chicken Wah Wah together
under Marchans name. Bobby ended up becoming
the lead singer and de facto leader of the Clowns
while Huey stayed back in New Orleans in the studio.
Huey first hit the charts in 1957 with a song title
based on Chuck Berrys Roll Over Beethoven. Rockin
Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu (#5 R&B,
#52 Pop) was Aces first pop success. The follow up
Free, Single And Disengaged pinched a riff from
The Griffin Brothers' 1951 track, Shuffle Bug and
is notable for its drumming. Johnny Vincent was
keen on their chugga-chugga drum sound, the
old parade beat which Clowns drummer Charles
Williams specialised in; here he also incorporates the
Latin cascara rhythm.
One of the defining features of late New Orleans R&B
is a piano playing technique that involves a kind of

bouncing between right and left hand. A familiar


lick is the double oom-pah (oom-oom-pah-pah):
two notes in the left hand followed by two in the
right hand as in Fats Dominos Im In Love Again and
Hueys Don't You Just Know It (#4 R&B, #9 Pop). The
song was constructed out of a catch phrase used by
the Clowns driver Rudy Ray Moore (later a successful
soul singer) and peppered with infectious partystyle call-and-response figures and memorable
nonsense lines. High Blood Pressure was on the flip.
A minor hit (#56 Pop) was Don't You Know Yokomo,
and continuing with the illness motif of his earlier
material, Huey only just missed out in 1959 with
Would You Believe It (I Have A Cold).
It is a testament to Bobby Marchens vocal range
that he sang as a female impersonator before joining
the Clowns. Johnny Vincent gave him the chance
to record five singles under his own name but the
1958 disc Rockin' Behind The Iron Curtain b/w You
Can't Stop Her is essentially another Clowns disc
with Marchans name on the label. Marchan left the
Clowns in 1959 and signed with Bobby Robinson's
Fury Records, with whom he had a #1 R&B hit with
his version of the Big Jay McNeely number There Is
Something On Your Mind.
Huey Smith with Sea Cruise and Bobby Marchan
with its flip Roberta, were both victims of a stitchup by Johnny Vincent, who decided to erase their
vocals from the original versions of the songs,
replacing them with new vocals by the Algiers-born
singer, Frankie Ford. Vincents instincts proved to
be right, though, and the sea cruise soundscape
was made complete with the addition of bells and
foghorns; the record climbed as high as #14 Pop in
February 1959. The follow-up Alimony was good
too, just scraping into the Hot 100 at # 97 in August.
Long playing records were something of a novelty
still in the late 1950s and companies only generally
released compilation LPs by big selling artists. Hueys
album Havin' A Good Time was released in 1959
featuring all the tracks that had previously been

issued on singles by the Clowns. In the 1960s, it


became more normal for record companies to release
albums containing tracks that had not previously
been issued on 45. Smiths second LP For Dancing,
featured such album-only cuts as Suzie Q, with
Charles 'Hungry' Williamss stirring, parade band snare
drum breaks, and Somewhere, which features Smiths
characteristic bouncing hands piano style. Antoon
Aukes: The entire repertoire of Huey Piano Smith
and the Clowns is a case study in New Orleans mixed
timing. . . the loose group singing, the horn riffs, the
piano licks and Hungry Williams hi-hat patterns: they
each seem to have their own rhythmical articulation
which created that joyous party feel in every song.
The vocalist on Somewhere is none other than Benny
Spellman. Smiths later work for Ace was consistently
good, including the Vincent-produced dance hit,
Popeye (#51 Pop) on which Smith himself is absent,
and the funky Talk To Me Baby from 1962, with new
lead singer Curley Moore.
Huey Smith was in the studio in 1956 to cut a new
song he had just written, Blow Wind Blow. Johnny
Vincent let Junior Gordon (Izzycoo Cougarten)
handle the lead vocals and released it under the
latters name. Perennial drummer Charles Williams
is there again, teasing out second-line rhythms
underneath the rumba beat. Call The Doctor was
Juniors only other 45, released six years later on Jay
Pee in the style of Chris Kenner.
Roland Cook was the original bassist with Huey
Smith playing on all his recordings between 1953 and
1957. Smith played piano on Cooks only release I've
Got A Girl; Tell Me Baby was cut in 1956 but remained
unissued until its inclusion on a CD compilation.
Cook was a well-respected session player and
accompanied Earl King on his early recordings. He
signed with Lou Krefetzs Poplar Records in 1958, but
the company never released anything and he went
back to session work. Roland Stone (Roland LeBlanc)
cut two versions of James Wayne's 1951 Louisiana
classic, Junco Partner; the first in 1959 as Preacher's
Daughter; the second, Down The Road, came out on
his Just a Moment album in 1961.

Clarence Frogman Henry

Dave Bartholemew

Champion Jack Dupree

Eddie Bo

Bobby Marchan

Upsetters

Earl king

Art Neville

Bobby Charles

Benny Spellman

Amos Milburn released no less than fifty-three


singles during a spell of almost fifteen years at
Aladdin Records. He spent the latter part of these
years in New Orleans, where he cut six tracks with the
studio band, one of which was a rousing rocknroll
version of his 1948 hit Chicken Shack Boogie.
Aladdin finally let his contract run out in 1958 and
he was picked up by Ace, who paired him up with
Charles Brown. Educated Fool was cut in April 1959
and sounds like a typical Clowns record with its
infectious hand claps and horn riffs provided by Lee
Allen and Red Tyler. On the B-side was Browns song
I Want To Go Home whose melody, arrangement and
gospel changes Sam Cooke later used as a template
for the classic Bring It On Home To Me.
Alvin Red Tylers baritone and Lee Allens tenor
sax formed the backbone of Dave Bartholomews
Imperial session band. Tyler cut two singles under
his own name for Ace, Snake Eyes and Happy Sax,
and one album Rockin' and Rollin' in 1960, which
featured his version of the Don Azpiazu classic, The
Peanut Vendor. Tyler formed Parlo Records with
George Davis and Warren Parker, producing the
million-selling Aaron Neville hit Tell It Like It Is. The
distributors never paid out on the hit; the company
folded and Red became a full-time liquor salesman.
Mac Rebennack, latterly known as Dr. John, had a
couple of singles on Ace. The first, the groovy piano
instrumentalMercy, was recorded in 1959 under the
name Gene & Al's Spacemen. The second, Sahara
b/w Good Times (1961) was another instrumental
coupling, this time under his own name, arranged in
the style of Allen Toussaint.
Danny White and the Cavaliers were one of the
most popular live bands in town in the late fifties,
so popular and well-paid that he didnt initially feel
the need for a recording career. He did cut Lets Play
for Ace in 1956, but Vincent chose not to release it.
Allen Toussaint recalls: Danny inspired me to write
some songs but unfortunately we werent recording
him at the time, so I gave the tunes to K-Doe. Im

10

speaking about Mother-In-Law and Certain Girl


that was Dannys style. There was something very
influential about Dannys style that was absorbed
by a lot of artists that had records here. It wasnt
until 1961 that White had a record out Somebody
Please Help Me on Dot. Connie LaRocca snapped
him up the following year for her Frisco Records,
and released the soulful Wardell Quezergue
arrangement, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye.
Shortly after the release of Joe & Anns Gee Baby,
Joe was arrested and Ann disappeared too. A #108
pop placing gave Vincent the headache of finding a
new Joe & Ann to cut follow ups. Cliff and Ed Thomas
had just recorded Shame and they were chosen
along with one of their sisters for the next releases
Will You and Curiosity. The duo briefly carried on
its phantom career at Hermitage Records with the
soulful Popeye beat record Runnin' & Foolin'.
Vincent's subsidiary label, Vin Records, put out
thirty or so records between 1958 and 1961 by
artists such as Elton Anderson, Frankie Lee Sims,
Calvin Shields and Ray Washington, whose jaunty
rocker I Know was produced by Rebennack in 1960.
He is better known as Guitar Ray and it was under
this pseudonym that he cut Keep On Trying for the
local Invicta label. Some of the more obscure artists
released on Vin in 1958 were Albert Scott, who
released just one single, Can't Let You Go, I Love
You So and the rockabilly singer Harry Lee. Lee
cut Everytime I See You in 1958 and Hair Of Gold
in 1959 for the label. Jimmy Mullins was drummer
with Frankie Lee Sims's band; as Mercy Baby, he
made Rock And Roll Baby in 1957, before releasing
Pleadin in 1958 for Vin in a downhome style with
the assistance of some fine guitar work from Sims.
Joe Ruffino's Ric and Ron Records
Ruffino set up his twin labels in 1958 at premises in
Baronne Street, New Orleans, bringing in top local
musicians Mac Rebennack, Edgar Blanchard, Eddie
Bo and Harold Battiste as staff arrangers. Eddie Bo

(Edwin Bocage) began his career on Ace in 1955


followed by a five-disc spell at New York-based
Apollo Records. Earl Palmers characteristic parade
band shuffle powers I'm Wise along while the rest of
the band get into a rumba groove. Little Richard had
the hit version, which he retitled Slippin and Slidin
but Al Collins cut the original for Ace as I Got The Blues
For You. Hey, Bo was a sprightly instrumental with a
cascara beat, recorded a couple of years before The
Champs brought that beat to the worlds attention
in Tequila. Chess picked up Bos contract in 1957,
releasing Indeed I Do on Checker and Oh Oh on Chess.
Bo was in his purple period at Ric Records, where he
cut nine singles between 1959 and 1962. His third
single for the label, Tell It Like It Is, borrows from
Smiley Lewiss Jailbird and has John Boudreaux's
stirring New Orleans parade beat running right
through it. At some point during 1961, the kids
in New Orleans developed a dance based on
mannerisms adopted from Popeye the sailor man.
The Popeye beat was a mixture of Earl Palmers 4
to the floor drumming (as heard on Fats Dominos
1949 Fat Man) and Charles Hungry Williamss work
with Huey Smith. The resulting rhythm is what
Rebennack called New Orleans fonk cha-cha. One
of the very best records of this type to come out of
the city was Now Lets Popeye but the beat can also
be heard on Bos Baby I'm Wise, a 1962 update on
I'm Wise. The AFO Combo provided the backing for
most of Eddies Ric material, such as Roamin-itis and
I Got To Know. Bo worked for over forty different
record labels in his lengthy career but is probably
best known for funky tracks like Hook It And Sling It
and Check Your Bucket.
Local white singer Lenny Capello made a few
records for Ric with the Dots, one of which, Tootles,
was recorded in the style of Larry Williams. Joe
Jones cut the Reggie Hall song You Talk Too Much
for Roulette, but the label did nothing with it, so he
offered it to Ric. It became Ruffinos only national hit,
but proved problematic when Roulette boss and
noted mafioso Morris Levy decided he wanted a
piece of the action. Needless to say, Roulette got the

sales at Rics expense. The rare alternate 45 version


is presented here.
One of the great New Orleans party records that
never made it at the time was Feeling Alright on
Saturday Night by the Velvetiers who made just the
one disc for the label in 1958. It is rumoured to have
been by Huey Smith & the Clowns moonlighting
under another name, but who knows? And listen
out for Huey (or whoever) quoting Champion Jacks
1941 Junker Blues.
Al Johnson's Carnival Time has become one of
the most requested songs at the annual Mardi Gras
festival. Recorded in 1960, it was released while
Johnson was drafted into the US army. When he
came out, he realised he had unwittingly signed
away the ownership to all his music and had to
support himself by working as a cab driver, while
struggling to reassert his rights. After Ruffino's
death, he managed to get a federal court to rule in
his favour.
Eddy Lang (Edward Langlois) was only fifteen in
1951 when he began playing guitar with Jessie Hills
House Rockers. His first release My Baby Left Me came
out under the name Little Eddie on Bullet Records;
he then moved to RPM Records in 1956, scoring a
local hit with Come On Home. Ace Records picked
him up after this but Johnny Vincent hasnt happy
with the tracks Mac Rebennack produced, so he
leased them to Ron Records, with Easy Rockin and
Shes Mine All Mine coming out in 1959. The latter
had the typical New Orleans heavy snare and bass
drum sound which Gary U.S. Bonds picked up on
and used on New Orleans. Paul Marvin (Marvin
Geatreaux) recorded the Mac Rebennack song
Hurry Up for Ron in March 1959: 'Marvin sells this
wild effort in driving Jerry Lee Lewis style backed
solidly by the band. Side has a sound and a chance
for some coin.' (Billboard)
Robert Parker is best known for his mid-sixties
soul classic, Barefootin. He began his career as
tenor saxophonist with Professor Longhair and was

11

present on the latters early sessions for Mercury, Star


Talent and Atlantic, notably on the 1949 recording
of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He cut a couple of
instrumental singles for Ron, the first of which was
the two-parter All Nite Long in 1959, followed by
Across the Tracks a year later.
Professor Longhairs career had been in the
doldrums ever since Atlantic had dropped him from
their roster in 1953. Apart from occasional gigs, hed
practically given up on the music business, trying his
hand at being a card shark for a while, even ending
up sweeping the floors in a record shop. After a
minor stroke, Byrd drifted away from music, until Los
Angeles label Ebb Records released three singles
during 1957: No Buts No Maybes, Look What You're
Doin' To Me and Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand, his
only single released in the UK. Ebb was owned by
Leonora Rupe, who formed the company with the
money she received as a divorce settlement from
her ex-husband Art. Byrd came back in 1959 with
a session for Ron Records that resulted in two fine
discs, Cuttin' Out and the joyous Go to the Mardi
Gras, a rerecording of Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
The original drummer on that session, John
Boudreaux, returns here in fine form with a rousing
bout of parade band drumming in what is generally
considered to be the finest recorded version of the
song. Boudreauxs sticks can also be heard on classic
hits such as Mother-In-Law, Land of a Thousand
Dances, Ya-Ya and Ooh Poo Poo Pa Doo. Apart from
Big Chief, the record many commentators see as
the swan song for New Orleans R&B, the sixties were
a pretty barren time for the Professor, but better
things were to come starting with a successful
return to live performances at the Jazz and Heritage
Festival in 1971.
Tommy Ridgley first started recording in 1949 with
Shrewsbury Blues for Imperial Records. He was never
a big-selling artist but he gained moderate success
with further releases on Decca (Tra-la-la) and Atlantic
(Jam Up). He cut six discs for Herald between 1957
and 1959; When I Meet That Girl (a rocking take-off
on The Irish Washerwoman) was the only one to gain

12

any success, and that only in the local area. When


he signed to Ric Records, Joe Ruffino attempted to
cash in on the Stroll dance craze by billing Ridgley as
the 'New Orleans King of Stroll'. The third of his eight
singles for the label was a recording of his own song
Double Eyed Whammy.
Johnny Adams sang gospel with the Soul Revivers
and Bessie Griffin's Consolators and it wasn't until
the age of 27 that he was persuaded to try his hand
at secular music by his neighbour, Dorothy LaBostrie,
composer of Tutti Frutti. There was this guy from
down the hall...and he was really something. It was
Johnny Adams. He was working as a roofer at the
time and singing in spiritual groups at night. I asked
him if he wanted to sing rocknroll, but he said he
couldnt because all his friends would get mad at
him. Most of Adamss recordings are in the soul
idiom, but the gospel-influenced Who's Gonna Love
You is pure New Orleans R&B. Come On was cut at
the same session as his first single, I Wont Cry.
Ric and Ron Records were wound up in 1962 but
history has been kind to the music he produced
thanks to researcher Jeff Hannusch and Rounder
Records, who purchased the labels and have produced
consistently high quality reissues over the years.
Joe Banashak's Minit, Instant and Alon Records
Banashak owned a record distribution company
operating out of Houston in 1957 and at one time
had both Johnny Vincent and Joe Ruffino working
for him. He founded Minit Records in 1959 together
with prominent local DJ Larry McKinley, signing
Jessie Hill, Benny Spellman, Irma Thomas and Aaron
Neville from their very first audition. Harold Battiste
had been earmarked as production manager for
the label but his work with Specialty prevented
him from taking up the post, so Banashak turned
to pianist Allen Toussaint, who had accompanied
singer Allen Orange at the first audition. Toussaint
had already cut an album for RCA and had previously

13

Fats Domino

Guitar Slim

Smiley Lewis

Joe banashak

The ShaWeez

Frank Fields &


Dave Bartholenew
Fats Domino &
Dave Bartholenew

arranged sessions for Ember, including saxophonist


Lee Allens 1958 instrumental hit Walkin With Mr. Lee.
Now at Minit, he was able to utilise his songwriting
talents along with his production role.
Cosimo Matassa: Two guys, Murray Sporn and
Danny Kesler came to New Orleans... looking for
talent. They ran an ad and they were lined up round
the studio for 3 days...so they said, man, were
wasting our time with all these people, how about
a session with this guy? (Allen Toussaint was the
pianist on the session). The resulting album, The
Wild Sounds Of New Orleans, came out in June 1958
under the name Al Tousan. Whirlaway and Java
were pulled from the album as singles. The following
year, Toussaint signed a four single deal with Seville
Records, releasing a series of lively instrumentals,
such as Chico and Moo Moo.
In August 1959, Toussaints first production for Minit
was a session with Ernie K-Doe (Ernest Kador).
Toussaints gospel piano changes coloured both
Theres A Will Theres A Way and its beautiful flip, Make
You Love Me. K-Doe scored four straight hits on the
pop charts in 1961. Benny Spellman contributed the
deep bass voice on the biggest of them, Mother-inLaw, which was the first record produced in the city
to top the Billboard national pop charts. Te-Ta-Te-TaTa was a lesser hit but both sides of the next single I
Cried My Last Tear b/w A Certain Girl made it into the
Hot 100. The eighth of Doe's eleven Minit singles, I
Got to Find Somebody, is one of Toussaint's funkier
productions from that era and the singer sounds just
as comfortable in the Popeye groove as he does on
its flip, the more soulful Beating Like A Tom Tom.
Aaron Neville's recording career started with a
bang - his first release on Minit, the Toussaint song
Over You was recorded towards the end of 1959 and
was a #21 R&B hit early the following year. He had
to wait until 1966 for his next hit, Tell It Like It Is. He
cut seven further records for Minit, none of which
managed to emulate the success of Over You.

14

Jessie Hill was initially a drummer, gigging with


Professor Longhair in his lean years and later with
Huey Smith & His Clowns. Hills first single for Minit
was the two-parter Ooh Poo Pah Doo; John Broven
described it as the rhythms of the New Orleans
Spiritual churches colliding head-on with the calland-response patterns of the hottest R&B record
of 1959, Ray Charles's Whatd I Say. It turned out to
be the first of a series of party records which set
the charts alight in 1960, with Gary US Bonds New
Orleans and Chubby Checker's The Twist following
on in the same vein. Hill's creating a disturbance
in your mind catchphrase was lifted from Charles
Browns Educated Fool; the exuberance of its singer
and the party feel of the production helped to make
this Minits first commercial success in April 1960 (#3
R&B, #28 Pop). Jessie's follow-up Whip It On Me was
almost as good but only managed #91 Pop. After
that came another even funkier party record Scoop
Scoobie Doobie and a song he wrote with his old
boss, Professor Longhair, Oogsey Moo. The lyrically
humorous The Pot's On Strike was cut at Hill's last
session for Minit in February 1962. He continued
to record throughout the sixties for various labels
such as Downey, Wand and Chess, but with limited
commercial success.
Benny Spellman started out singing with the
Clowns before inking a solo contract with Minit in
1960. The minor key Ammerette, makes a pretty
successful attempt at aping the pop R&B of Little
Willie John's Fever. He is probably best known in
the soul fraternity for the uptempo dancer Fortune
Teller, which scraped into the national charts at #80
in February 1962. The B-side, Lipstick Traces (On
A Cigarette) is almost as well known and features
backing vocals from Irma Thomas and Willie Harper.
It was as secondary vocalist singing the baritone
title phrase on K-Doe's smash hit Mother-In-Law that
Spellman really made his name. Benny was none too
impressed at getting no credit or royalties on what
is generally considered to be the stand-out hook
of the song, so he jumped ship and cut Roll On for
Ace Records. Spellman sang the baritone responses
to another lead singer, Roland Stone just like hed

done on Mother-In-Law; this time he got the label


credit, but the record bombed so he still didnt get
any royalties.
Chris Kenners first single, Grandma's House was
on Baton in 1956 and his 1957 Imperial single Sick
And Tired is another example of mixed timing, or
flattened-out double shuffle. Rocket to the Moon was
his only release for Ron and Don't Make No Noise
was cut for Pontchartrain in 1959. I Like It Like That
was the real game changer both for Kenner and the
Instant label: the record reached #2 consecutively
Pop & R&B. Something You Got was a huge hit locally
but he had to wait until mid 1963 for his next success,
Land Of 1000 Dances (#77 Pop). The sleazy, laid-back
and funky backing was recorded in April 1962 by the
AFO Combo. This was the team Toussaint used as
he forged a new production approach that couldn't
have been more different from Dave Bartholomew's
now dated ensemble, riffing sound.
The Showmen came down to New Orleans from
Norfolk, Virginia to record for Minit in May 1961.
Their first single It Will Stand was played to death by
local DJs on its release, resulting in a #61 pop hit. The
Wrong Girl and Comn Home were fine follow-ups,
but neither managed to emulate the success of It
Will Stand. The groups next issue True Fine Mama
evokes the sound of an earlier era of New Orleans
music with its trumpet-led Dixieland arrangement.
The Showmen's singer, General Norman Johnson
had considerable success in the 1970s as lead singer
of Chairmen Of The Board, after teaming up with
Motown's crack production team of Holland/Dozier/
Holland, who guided them through a run of eight hit
singles on the Invictus label.

Wilbert Smith was the original sax player with Little


Richard's touring band the Upsetters. With Richard
giving up music for the church, the Upsetters were
left to carve out a career for themselves. They
made a couple of soulful singles for Minit as Lee
Diamond, with Smith handling the vocals on the
first disc It Won't Be Me. The Larry Williams-styled
Hattie Malatti came out on Vee-Jay and begins in
an unusual manner with an unaccompanied guitar
lick that sounds like something from the 60s. Smith
continued recording in the sixties and is probably
best remembered as the co-composer of Tell It Like
It Is. Unfortunately, he was arrested and jailed before
he could complete the lyrics.
Calvin LeBlanc and Willie Harper were members of
the Del-Royals who cut three singles for Minit in
1960. After the group split, LeBlanc recorded two
45s for the same company as Calvin Lee, the second
of which was his version of Fats Domino's Valley Of
Tears. He resurfaced later in the 60s with one disc
apiece for Sansu and Josie. Willie Harper's release
But I Couldn't was the first on Banashaks Alon
Records in 1961. One of Allen Toussaint's interesting
arrangement techniques was to orchestrate riffs for
horn sections using parallel voicings. This became
one of the defining features of British rock music
when the technique was transposed to guitar on
such songs as the Kinks' You Really Got Me.
The demise of Minit came about at the start of
1963. Allen Toussaint got his draft papers for the US
army, so the hits dried up. In addition, Banashak had
cashflow problems, so when Lew Chudd offered to
buy him out, he felt that the time was right.
AFO (All For One) Records

Raymond Lewis played bass with the Clowns and


recorded an answer record to Prince La La's She Put
The Hurt On Me in September 1961 with I'm Gonna
Put Some Hurt On You. The latter was given a new
lease of life by the Meters in 1968 who recorded
a super funky version for Sansu Records with Art
Neville on vocals.

The very first record label to be owned by AfroAmerican musicians, AFO, was established as a
collective in June 1961 by saxophonist Harold
Battiste with the AFO Combo, Chuck Badie, John
Boudreaux, Melvin Lastie, Roy Montrell and Alvin
'Red' Tyler. Battiste was the brains behind the whole

15

project and he recalls: 'the purpose of AFO Records


all along was, first of all, to demonstrate that we
had a music here that people needed to pay more
attention to... it was about recognizing that we had
a grass-roots talent base here that needed to be
recognized by the business community.' Within a
few months of its formation, it found itself with two
hits on its hands: Prince La-La's She Put The Hurt On
Me and Barbara George's I Know.
In his autobiography Hoodoo Moon, Mac Rebennack,
ever an astute observer of New Orleans music, makes
the case for the pivotal place of AFO productions not
only for New Orleans but for the whole of American
music. AFO was the breeding ground for the new
sound... The arrangements on these and other tunes
changed the way music was being played in the
United States...The kind of phrasing the AFO horn
section laid down influenced R&B and rock and
roll horn charts...On the bass, Richard Payne was
coming up with a funk groove that matched some
of the new drum rhythms. Chuck Badie picked up on
it ... the sound wafted over to Sam Jones, who was
Cannonball Adderleys bass player, and seeped into
mainstream jazz.
Barbara George's I Know was based on the spiritual
Just a Closer Walk with Thee and was AFOs biggest
hit nationally. It featured the Popeye beat, reaching
#3 Pop and #28 R&B. David Lastie's staccato trumpet
solo on the record impressed Herb Alpert so much
that he based his entire subsequent sound around
it. Sadly, AFO came a cropper after cutting a deal
with Juggy Murray to have this and other tracks
distributed on his Sue label, which ended in their
losing George, their star recording artist. Harold
Battiste had produced Lee Dorseys first disc LottieMo for Valiant Records. Bobby Robinson, Murray's
rival in New York, loved this record so much he
signed Lee Dorsey for his label Fury, but Battiste and
the AFO Combo continued working with Dorsey, to
Murrays considerable annoyance. The partnership
became acrimonious and Juggy Murray left with
Barbara George, claiming in Billboard in April 1962 to
have paid AFO $25,000 for her contract, which they

16

denied. The truth will never be known definitively,


but AFO had no more hits, and neither did Barbara
George despite Murray's best efforts. AFO put out
a total of thirteen singles and two albums before
being wound up mid-1963.
Willie Tee was spotted as a promising pianist while
still at school and his music teacher, Harold Battiste,
allowed him to sit in on piano at selected live gigs.
When AFO Records was established, Battiste gave
Tee the chance to record a couple of singles in 1962,
the first of which was the self-composed Always
Accused b/w the mournful minor key All For One.
Jimmy Jules (Charley C. Julien) cut a number of
tracks for AFO during 1961 with Harold Battiste
as producer. Two of these were leased to Atlantic,
resulting in an October 1961 release for the single
Talk About You. Jules was also known as Pistol due
to his carrying around a pistol in his coat pocket.
An enormous amount of music was recorded and
not released at AFO but remained in the can until
British Ace Records reactivated the catalogue with a
series of fine CDs in its Gumbo Stew series. One such
gem was The Turquinettes Tell Me The Truth.
Chess, Checker & Argo
In 1956, Bill Haley covered Bobby Charles Later,
Alligator in a much lighter arrangement, changing
the beat from New Orleans shuffle to two-step
rock and the result was a #6 spot on the pop charts.
Charles evidently took note of the Haley version
and crafted Take It Easy, Greasy in a similar style.
Why Can't You is more in the Fats Domino mould
and is now considered to be one of the forerunners
of swamp pop. Charles recorded extensively for
Chess Records but became better known as a
songwriter for artists such as Fats Domino (Walking
To New Orleans, Before I Grow Too Old) and Clarence
Frogman Henry (But I Do). Henry originally wrote
his big Argo hit Ain't Got No Home (#3 R&B) with
Shirley and Lee in mind. When he cut the demo,
there was no female vocalist around so he supplied

Amos Milburn

Barbara George

Bobby Marchan

17

Earl Palmer

Little Richard

Little Richard

Lloyd Price

Lee Allen

TV Slim

Mac Rebennack

Huey Smith

Fats Domino

Allen Toussaint

the falsetto voice himself. He recalls how the record


took off: A disc jockey called Poppa Stoppa here in
New Orleans was pushin' Troubles Troubles for the
A-side and he flipped it over to Ain't Got No Home
and the people was crazy over it. After its success,
Henry must have thought he had it all cut out for
him, but it was 5 more years before he was back in
the charts with But I Do (#9 R&B #4 Pop). The intro
was sketched out by tenor player Nat Perilliat and
the AFO Combo provided the backing to Allen
Toussaint's arrangement. Lonely Street (#19 R&B
#57 Pop) uses the familiar Louisiana tune that Chuck
Berry famously lifted from Clarence Garlow's Route
90 for Sweet Little Sixteen.
New Orleans drummer Vernel Fournier was in
the Ahmad Jamal Trio, who recorded the At the
Pershing album for Checker in 1958, from which the
single Poinciana was taken. This is one of the first
recorded examples of New Orleans rhythms being
used on a modern jazz record. Fournier plays closed
hi hats on beats 1 and 3 making it sound like the
Disco beat, way before Disco was born.
Oscar Wills had been a semi-pro blues guitarist
for over twenty years before he recorded his most
celebrated composition, Flat Foot Sam in 1957
at the age of 41. Wills's main occupation was in
running a television repair shop, which is where he
got his nickname, T.V. Slim. The record came out
initially on the Shreveport-based label, Clif Records,
but after heavy plugging on local radio, it was leased
for national distribution to Chess Records. Leonard
Chess had a hunch that it would sound much better
if it was re-recorded in New Orleans, so a session
was set up with a band that included Robert Parker
on sax and Charles 'Hungry' Williams on drums. This
second version was released on Argo but under his
own name, Oscar Wills.
For You My Love was a hit for Larry Darnell in
1949 but its writer, Paul Gayten, decided to cut
it himself while he was A&R executive at Chess.
Charles Hungry Williams propels the track along

18

with his characteristic Latin rocknroll drumming,


and Edgar Blanchards muted guitar notes double
the cymbal rhythm throughout before he tears into
a fine distorted solo. After Bill Doggetts surprising
success with Honky Tonk in August 1956, the search
was on for the next big rocking blues instrumental.
Gayten made several attempts, most notably with
Drivin Home and Nervous Boogie, but to no avail.
He never had a hit under his own name during
his five year stint with Chess, despite recording
many fine, rocking tracks like You Better Believe It.

Al Reed: The change came when Funky Charles


started playing the drums, that was when all the shit
changed...He was the funkiest thing out...I remember
when Charles broke his leg and he was playing
with his right leg in a cast. Earl King: (His) playing
emanated out of the calypso type stuff...he used to
play with that Cuban guy, Rico...every Latin rhythm
he could play. Charles Hungry Williams cut a few
tracks under his own name. So Glad You're Mine was
recorded for Checker at the end of 1955 and Darling
came out in 1957 on the same label. Aside from
playing with Huey Smiths Clowns, Williams was in
big demand as a session drummer, more so after Earl
Palmer moved out to the West Coast in 1957. Along
with fellow New Orleans drummers Earl Palmer, John
Boudreaux and James Black, Williams is credited with
laying the foundations for the development of funk
music. He met James Browns drummer, Clayton
Fillyau one night in Florida in 1960 and explained
to him some of the intricacies of New Orleans
percussion techniques. He is reported as saying to
Fillyau: I dont care where you put it (the double
downbeats) on those drums, remember where 1
is, and youll never lose the time. (Earl Palmer was
actually the first musician to use the expression
funky in referring to a syncopated and danceable
beat). Real Gone Jam was recorded under the name
of Tommy Ridgley but is a showcase for Hungry
Williams. Ridgeley: Hungry was on drums. This
particular beat was his style. Nobody could duplicate
what he was doing.

Other Labels
With the amount of hits rolling out of New Orleans
in 1956, everybody wanted a piece of the action.
Cosimo Matassa: Record companies were running
from all over the world to record something ... (but)
I dont think nobody from New Orleans made any
money.' After leaving the Los Angeles-based label
Flair Records in 1954, Clarence Garlow only made
half a dozen further records, the last of which, Sound
The Bell was cut for Louisianas Goldband Records
sometime in 1957 and features Katie Webster on
piano. His crisp guitar tone cuts through the track
like ice, leaving the rhythm section sounding as if it
was recorded out in the yard.
In March 1956, Elvis Presleys first release on RCA,
Heartbreak Hotel, went to #1 in the national charts.
RCA looked to capitalise on the new market for
rhythm and blues and they launched a new imprint
in April, Vik Records, which was to specialise in R&B.
Amongst the many artists they signed were Mickey
(Baker) & Sylvia, who hit with Love Is Strange in
January 1957, and Champion Jack Dupree, whose
first track for them was Dirty Woman. Dupree was
one of the first bluesmen to leave his native country
for a more (racially) accepting climate when he
moved to Europe in 1959; Ici Mo-Mo was recorded
in London in 1960.
The Upsetters backed up Lester Robinson in
1958 on My Girl Across Town, kicking off Sam
Montalbanos Baton Rougebased Montel Records.
The record sold well enough for him to cut local
teenager John Fred (Gourriers) self-composed
Shirley as the labels second release. The disc did
surprisingly well and shot up to #82 on Billboards
national charts, helped no doubt by the fact that the
backing musicians were none other than the J&M
studio band, who had just completed work on Fats
Dominos Whole Lotta Loving. Fred is of course better
known for his work in the 60s with the Playboys but,
to his credit, he never strayed far from his Louisiana
roots. Judy In Disguise slowed down (without the 60s
sound effects) is pure New Orleans Popeye.

The Spiders were the most successful New Orleans


harmony group and featured brothers Chuck and
Leonard Carbo. When they split in 1956, Leonard
cut one solo disc for Atlantic before recording Pig
Tails And Ribbons for Vee-Jay, backed with the J&M
studio band. I Don't Want To Lose Her, a re-write of
the Spiders hit I Didnt Want To Do It, was cut at the
same session but was unreleased at the time. Four
years were to pass before Leonard was signed to
Instant by Allen Toussaint, where he cut two more
singles as Chick Carbo, Two Tables Away and In
the Night. Brother Chuck signed for Matassas Rex
Records in 1959 and the Rebennack song Be My
Girl was the first release under the name, Chuck
Carboand His Band. Matassa: Rex was really just a
local thing. I named it after the citys most popular
carnival crew.
In January 1958, Big Al Downing cut what is
considered to be one of the shortest ever rock'n'roll
records: Down On the Farm was released by White
Rock Records and comes in at just 91 seconds.
His second label Carlton Records sent him down
to Cosimo's Studio in 1959, and with a band that
included Red Tyler, Mac Rebennack and Hungry
Williams, he recorded the Fats Domino-styled When
My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again. Downing was
one of surprisingly few Afro-Americans who enjoyed
success with rockabilly and country music.
Boogie Bayou Shuffle was recorded by the Bill
Parker Band for Eddie Shuler's Goldband Records,
which was based in Lake Charles and concentrated
on recording local Cajun, rockabilly and swamp pop
artists. Pianist Tal Miller cut Mean Old Kokamoo for
the label in 1957 but the follow-up Only Sixteen was
leased to Hollywood Records. Another of Shuler's
labels was Trey Records, which put out a couple of
discs by guitarist Elton Anderson, including the
Louisiana swamp rock'n'roll record, But I Love You.
Anderson's first 45, Roll On Train, had been the first
record to be released on Vin in 1958. In the 60s, the
guitarist made some fine records for Lanor Records
with Mac Rebennack and Wardell Quezergue.

19

Lee Allen was born in Kansas and came to New Orleans to study at Xavier University. He began playing
with Paul Gayten before becoming a member of the
J&M studio band. Eddie Mesner approached him to
cut a solo disc for Aladdin, and though Rockin' at
Cosmo's was not a success, it heralded the start of a
new career specialising in pop instrumentals. Herald
Records was run from New York by Al Silver and Sidney Braverman. Lee Allen signed for their sister label
Ember in 1957 and had a couple of hits for them in
1958 with Tic Toc and Walkin With Mr. Lee. Allen:
We were on a big show with Fats Domino... Id come
up with this little riff of mine and these guys from
New York City said why didnt I record that. [Later]
the guy from New York called up and said, You got a
hit (#54 Pop). Tic Toc didnt do as well, #92 Pop, and
strangely, neither disc made it on the R&B charts.
The follow up Cat Walk with its Latin cascara rhythm
didnt hit at all.
The long playing 33rpm album was slow to catch the
publics imagination. Modern Records were one of
the first indies off the mark with their modestly titled
A Collection of Popular Recordings series in 1950, but it
wasnt until 1956 that they began to tap the teenage
market with a series of attractively priced albums on
the Crown imprint at $1.49 each. Jimmy Beasley was
one artist who benefitted from this new policy with
an LP recorded in New Orleans with the Bartholomew
band entitled Fabulous. Initially released in mid 1957,
the album was repackaged in 1961 as Jimmy Beasley
Twist to cash in on the popular dance craze and a
number of tracks from his 1957 sessions were added
including Rhumba Rock. Apart from a single session
in 1965, Beasley made no further recordings.
Shirley Goodman was just thirteen years old when
she started her singing career. In 1952, she and her
friends somehow managed to persuade Cosimo
Mattassa to record them with the J&M studio band
behind them. Eddie Mesner heard the tape, signed
her up with school friend Leonard Lee, and only a
few weeks later, Aladdin Records had a top ten hit
on their hands with Im Gone. Things went quiet
for Shirley & Lee, giving them time to get back to

20

school. Then in the summer of 1956, Feels So Good


hit the R&B charts and then riding along the wave of
the rocknroll craze, Lees song Let The Good Times
Roll made #1 R&B in July 1956.
Modern Records sent one of their top-selling
artists, Etta James down for a session with Dave
Bartholomews band, and they came up with the
doo-wop-sounding Im A Fool c/w Tough Lover,
which was more in the Little Richard mould. It didnt
click with the record-buying public though. Little
Richard had that market completely sewn up with
no less than eight titles in the charts in 1956.
Popular local vocal group the Sparks won a battleof-the-bands contest and travelled to New York,
where they cut a couple of tracks for Decca Records.
The arrangement of Merry Merry Lou betrays their
New Orleans roots with its parade band beat and
Fats Domino-style vamping. An interesting postscript to the story is that Gene Pitney heard the song
and converted it into Hello, Mary Lou. The writer, Fr.
Cayet Mangiaracina, is still collecting royalties for
it which he donates to the religious mission of the
Dominicans. Last year it was $35,000, Mangiaracina
said in 2001. About three or four years ago, I got a
check for $90,000.
Millard Leon Willie West's first records were in the
swamp pop style for Dorothy Lee's small Rustone
label based in Houma, LA. A Man Like Me, his fourth
single, was based on a B.B. King song of (almost)
the same name but sung in a Little Richard style.
West later sang with the Meters and worked for
Frisco and more notably Deesu, where he struck
up a partnership with Allen Toussaint and Marshall
Sehorn. Fairchild was probably his best work, a fat
slice of New Orleans funk that he made in 1970 for
Josie Records backed by the Meters.
Swamp pop was a mixture of Louisiana R&B and
rocknroll, early practitioners being Huey 'Cookie'
Thierry and the Cupcakes. Thierry's first disc
was with Allen Toussaint for RCA in 1958 but the
Cupcakes had a local hit on their first recording

Edgar Blanchard &


The Gondoliers

Lew Chudd
& Ricky Nelson

21

Bobby Mitchel
& The Toppers

Champion Jack Dupree

Lloyd Price

Little Richard

Ernest Kador

Tommy Ridgely

Smiley Lewis

together, Mathilda in 1959 for George Khourys Judd


Records. Shelton Dunaway took the lead and the
label credits on Mary Lou Doing The Popeye. The
disc was cut at the height of the Popeye dance craze
and was picked up nationally by United Artists.
James Booker: 'Don Robey came to New Orleans
looking for an A & R man in 1959...He offered me
good money but I wouldn't take the job... and
anyway he hired (Edward) Frank. Frank and myself
had seen a movie together called The Pusher. The
drug pusher in the film's name was Gonzo'. The
organ instrumental Gonzo came out on Peacock in
November 1960 and reached #43 pop.
Joe Barry was a Cajun from southern Louisiana, who
recorded swamp pop for local label Jin in 1958. I'm a
Fool to Care and Teardrops in My Heart were national
hits on both R&B and pop charts in 1961. A 1962
spell at Huey P. Meaux's Princess label produced two
singles, Little Papoose and Little Jewel of the Vieux
Carre but there were no royalties for Barry. Meaux
not only had a reputation for ripping off his artists;
he also spent time in prison on paedophilia and
child pornography charges.
Lee Dorsey was working in a car body repair shop
when he was offered the chance to cut Lonely
Evening and Rock Pretty Baby for Cosimo Matassas
label, Rex Records. Next stop was Banashaks
Valiant Records; Dorseys first release Lottie-Mo
for them benefitted from a classy Harold Battiste
production and got plenty of airplay locally, leading
to a distribution deal with ABC. The Ray Charles-style
piano playing on Lottie-Mo attracted the attention
of Fury Records boss Bobby Robinson, who signed
him up while on a promotion trip down South. Ya Ya
went national in September 1961 (#7 Pop) followed
closely by the superior Do Re Mi, not as successful
but still a very creditable #27 Pop. The flip, People
Gonna Talk, was a lazy New Orleans groove that
foreshadowed the style Dorsey would adopt during
his soulful period in the mid-sixties. Behind the 8
Ball was just as good but despite a powerful, brassy
arrangement, somehow managed to miss out on a

22

chart entry. Dorsey then drifted from label to label


until Marshall Seehorn got him together with Allen
Toussaint on Amy Records. More than a dash of
New Orleans R&B can be detected in such classics
as Working in a Coalmine, Holy Cow and Get Out Of
My Life Woman.
The End of New Orleans R&B
According to Dr John, it was the unions who
definitively brought down the curtain on the music
scene in New Orleans in the early 60s by imposing
hefty fines on unsegregated recording sessions in
the city. The white and black unions, Local 174 and
496 were involved in turf wars over mixed sessions.
As a result, many musicians left to find work on the
West Coast, some to Memphis, others to New York.
Another factor was the demise of all the major local
labels. Ric and Ron folded in 1962 after the death of
Joe Ruffino. Ace Records went into terminal decline
following the liquidation of their distributors VeeJay, producing just a dozen or so records in 196364. Joe Banashak shut down the Minit label early
in 1963 and Imperial was sold to Liberty later that
year. Despite the Beatles and the Rolling Stones
championing R&B in America, their arrival almost
immediately led to the implosion of the entire
genre, and soul music's emergence in 1964 was the
final nail in the coffin of New Orleans R&B.
Nick Duckett London 2014

Appendix
The Musical Gumbo some of the qualities that
make New Orleans R&B so unique.
Low, greasy, horn sections of baritone and tenor
saxes playing chords in unison.
Percussive, staccato, piano rhythms played in
triplets and rolling piano arpeggios.
A tendency to play R&B in a slower tempo with a
more laid-back feel.
A preference for traditional eight or sixteen-bar
harmonic song structure over the twelve-bar blues
format.

Guitar: Walter Papoose Nelson WN, Smiley Lewis SL,


Irving Banister IB, Justin Adams JA, Ernest McLean
EM, Roy Montrell RM, Edgar Blanchard EB, George
French GF, George Davis GD, Mac Rebennack MR
Bass: Frank Fields FF, James Prevost JP, Clemont
Tervalon CT, George Davis GD, Lloyd Lambert LL,
Roland Cook RC, Chuck Badie CB
Drums: Cornelius Coleman CC, Earl Palmer EP,
Charles Hungry Williams CW, John Boudreaux
JB, Oscar Moore OM, Robert French RF, Smokey
Johnson SJ, James Black JB
The Upsetters: Nathaniel Douglas: gtr; Olsie
Robinson: bs; Clifford Burks: tenor sax; Wilbert
Smith: tenor sax; Grady Gaines: tenor sax; Charles
Connor: dms

Two-bar rhythmic phrasing similar to that found in


the Caribbean, e.g. the Cuban son clave
A unique rhythmic tension derived from bands
playing mixed timing, i.e. straight time and shuffle
time simultaneously

Discography
Our incomplete discography lists the appearance
on disc (where known) of the following important
musicians
Horns: Dave Bartholomew DB, Wendell Duconge
WD, Frank Mitchell, FM, Buddy Hagans BH, Herb
Hardesty HH, Joe Harris JH, Clarence Hall CH, David
Lastie DL, Robert Parker RP, Julius Shakesnider JS,
Alvin Red Tyler AT, Lee Allen LA, Big Boy Myles BBM,
James Rivers JR, Wardell Quezergue WQ, Clarence
Ford CF, Melvin Lastie ML, Nat Perrilliat NP

Bibliography
John Broven, Rhythm & Blues In New Orleans
Jeff Hannusch, The Soul Of New Orleans
Jeff Hannusch, I Hear You Knocking
Dr. John, Under a Hoodoo Moon
Tony Scherman, Backbeat
Rick Coleman, Blue Monday
Ernest Borneman, Creole Echoes
Antoon Aukes, Second Line
Don Rouse, New Orleans Jazz and Caribbean Music
Al Rose, Storyville, New Orleans
Lichtenstein and Danker Musical Gumbo: The Music
of New Orleans

Piano: Fats Domino FD, Huey Piano Smith HS, Edward


Frank EF, Little Richard LR, Edwin Bocage EB, Salvador
Doucette SD, Roy Byrd RB, Art Neville AN, Warren
Myles WM, Allen Toussaint AT, James Booker JB,

23

The Rhythms
Try to speak aloud the rhythm of the beats 1 &2 & 3
& 4 & while tapping the accented beats () with your
hands. Start slowly, repeat several times, speeding
up gradually, then listen to the tracks. Some of the
names for these rhythms are my own. Each bar has
at the beginning and end and the individual beats
in the bar are separated by (Quarter note pulse =
walking bass one note per bar)
Common Patterns in Jazz and R&B
Swing (triplet/swing time)tss t-t tss t-t

Oke-She-Moke-She-Pop (Joe Turner 1953);
Lawdy Miss Clawdy (Lloyd Price 1952)
Jazz/R&B Backbeat

Big Mamou (Smiley Lewis 1953); Aint It A
Shame (Fats Domino 1955)
Latin Patterns derived from 1st bar of the Son
Clave
Tresillo (Rumba)

New Orleans Joys (Jelly Roll Morton 1923);
Witchcraft (Spiders 1955)
Charleston

Black Snake Blues (King Oliver 1927 middle eight)
Two-bar patterns derived from whole of the
Son Clave
Son Clave


Besame Mucho (Edmund Hall 1944); Carnival
Day (Dave Bartholomew 1950)
New Orleans Double Downbeat

Lady Be Good (Eureka Brass Band 1951)
New Orleans Second Line Two-Beat

Big Noise From Winnetka (Bauduc/Haggart
1938); 3times 7 =21(Jewel King 1949)

24

Ragtime (1)


Hold That Tiger, I Got Rhythm
Ragtime (2)

Travelin Blues (Lovie Austin 1926); Maple Leaf
Rag; We Like Mambo (Huey Piano Smith 1955)
New Orleans R&B*
over

Mardi Gras In New Orleans (Professor Longhair 1950);


Jock-A-Mo (Sugar Boy Crawford 1954)
(*complex rhythm with syncopated marching beats
superimposed over rumba or son clave pattern)
Thanks to Antoon Aukes and also to Mandy Bolster
for editing suggestions

Roy Brown

Shirley & Lee

Clarence Garlow

Fats Domino

25

Tommy Ridgley

Little Richard

Professor Longhair

Paul Gayten

Bobby Marchan

Guitar Slim

Compilation & Sleeve Notes Nick Duckett


Consultant Stewart Tippett

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