BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
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Long before screaming guitars and their respective amplifiers pushed their way toward the center of blues bandstands in the 1950's, there existed the swingin' jump groups that controlled the sweaty dance floors across America. These hard driving bands usually consisted of several steaming hot horn players, a tightly-knit rhythm section of piano, bass and drums with an occasional guitarist...and always the majestic front man - the Blues Shouter.
Vocalists supreme, such as Roy Brown, Wynonie Harris, Big Joe Turner, Louis Jordan, Jimmy Rushing, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, H-Bomb Ferguson, Walter Brown and scores of others, ruled the radio airwaves and dominated early R&B record sales across the first blues nation from the late 1930's through the mid 1950's.
These gifted blues shouters worked their magic above the unamplified bands, long before the use of high-wattage PA systems. I had the privilege of playing many gigs with Big Joe Turner, Roy Brown and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson early on in my career. I can personally testify that their voices didn't really need microphones on stage, but they used them anyway. Their honed vocal prowess, coupled with their astounding phrasing of compelling lyrics were musically riveting for the band, as well as the audiences. Oh, the magnificent stories these unparalleled singers told to this young, hungry-to-hear piano player....
Respected veteran jazz musicians were frequently employed in these combo settings, creating their own distinctive brands of early R&B, which eventually fathered what later became Rock N' Roll. These powerful jump bands toured across the states in places like Kansas City, Harlem, Houston, Chicago, Cincinnati and Los Angeles, frequently selling out to packed-to-the-walls dance halls and auditoriums filled with ecstatic fans who could not still their feet.
Many young, upcoming artists during the 1940's such as Little Walter Jacobs, Jimmy Rogers, Louis Prima and Elvis Presley were highly influenced by these compelling blues shouters, including their dynamic sex-charged lyrics and impressive stage antics.
Most of the “authoritative blues writers” of the last thirty-plus years have focused considerably on the Chicago post war artists, paying little attention to the incredible talent and influence of these hard-swinging musicians and singers of the early R&B school. Many of the jump band musicians were equally at home in both the Jazz and R&B worlds.
Genius saxophone players such as Maxwell Davis, Illinois Jacquet, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Sam Butera, Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons, Willis Jackson, Earl Bostic, Leo Parker, Lee Allen (and many others) and brilliantly sublime pianists such as Milt Buckner, Sonny Thompson, Charles Brown, Pete Johnson, Vann Walls, Lloyd Glenn, Jay McShann, Nat Cole, Bill Doggett (and plenty more) were largely responsible for the amazing musical arrangements and euphoric style that have become historically significant for any serious student of Blues, R&B and early Rock 'N Roll architecture.
I would be remiss to exclude several very influential guitarists such as Oscar and Johnny Moore, Bill Jennings, Tiny Grimes, Irving Ashby, Barney Kessel, Billy Butler and several others. Another, more detailed article focusing on “musicians only” shall be a future worthy effort.
There is an abundance of truly significant recordings left by these amazingly gifted, but neglected artists of a gloriously creative era in American music. It is not only important for them to be remembered and acknowledged for their deeply foundational influence on a magnificent art form, but also for us to glean from their sterling performances by honoring their venerable traditions in order to effect the future of musicians that are not yet born.
“Have you heard the news - there's good rockin' tonight!” ~ Roy Brown, 1947
Your musical archaeologist, Fred Kaplan
Suggested listening:
Wynonie Harris - Rockin' The Blues (4cds, Properbox20)
Bullet Records Rhythm & Blues (Spv9982)
Roy Brown - And New Orleans R&B (4cds Jsp7756)
Johnny Moore & 3 Blazers- Be Cool! The MODERN & DOLPHIN'S Sides (Ace1148)
Suggested reading:
“Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues." - By Arnold Shaw
“Nervous Man Nervous: Big Jay McNeely and the Rise of the Honking Tenor Sax” - By Jim Dawson
Copyright 2022 BLUES JUNCTION Productions. All rights reserved.
BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
info