Matt The Cat presents the soul that came before rock n’ roll: 1950s rhythm and blues. Each week, this underrated and rollicking music plays on that old Rockola Jukebox in the back.
This week, the entire “Juke In The Back” is loaded with records from the catalog of Duke/Peacock Records. Don Robey started Peacock in 1949 in order to record Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, whom he also managed. In 1953, Robey took over Duke Records (which was owned by David J. Mattis and Bill Fitzgerald) and a R&B empire was born. Matt The Cat shares the history and music, which features some of the greatest R&B talents of all-time, including: Bobby “Blue” Bland, Johnny Ace, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Big Mama Thornton, Junior Parker and more.
The “Juke In The Back” is loaded this week with records by one of R&B’s greatest and most underrated bandleaders, Lucky Millinder. He worked with vocalists as varied as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Wynonie Harris, Annisteen Allen, Bull Moose Jackson and Big John Greer, but Lucky Millinder is mostly forgotten by today’s audiences. Dizzy Gillespie actually played trumpet in Millinder’s Band in the early 1940s for a brief time. Even though Lucky Millinder is not remembered well today, his records certainly helped lay the foundation that would soon become Rock n’ Roll. Dig on some of greatest records, this week on the “Juke In The Back” with Matt The Cat.
It’s staggering, the number of R&B groups that have been left out of the history books and off radio station playlists just because they don’t fit into an accepted category of “cool.” The Ray-O-Vacs is one of those groups. Though they made the R&B charts 3 times, that didn’t guarantee them inclusion. They were more “middle-of-the-road” than the gospel-tinged groups that were gaining popularity in the early 1950s and they weren’t a vocal group, so they can’t be classified with the emerging doo wop scene of the day. That’s probably why the Ray-O-Vacs are just a footnote in the history of Rhythm & Blues, but this week Matt The Cat brings them into the spotlight on the “Juke In The Back.” Formed in Newark, New Jersey in the late 1940s, The Ray-O-Vacs did produce a unique and light jive sound with Lester Harris (real name Harry Lester) on vocals and tubs, “Flap” McQueen on bass, Joe Crump on piano and a smooth and ever-present saxophone played by “Chink” Kinney. They had a hit right out of the gate with “I’ll Always Be In Love With You” for the tiny Coleman label in early ’49 and then scored again with a double-sider for Decca in 1950. The hits stopped coming and Lester Harris left the group for a solo deal with RCA Victor in ’52, but his replacement, Herb Milliner continued voicing some solid singles. They hung it up after one more shot in ’55 with vocalist Bill Walker for the small Kaiser label and their reputation was sealed for those in the know, especially in Pittsburgh. Dig out those jukebox nickels and get ready to dig on the sound of the Ray-O-Vacs on this week’s R&B spectacular, better known as the “Juke In The Back.”
The Hollywood Flames recorded for nearly 20 different record labels and had numerous personnel changes over their 18 year history, but they always remained popular in their native Southern California. Formed in 1949 at a local talent show, David Ford was the only member of the group to remain for its entire existence. Bobby Byrd, who was there from the beginning, remained until he began to have solo hits as Bobby Day. Other notable R&B names, Curtis Williams, Earl Nelson and Gaynel Hodge, passed through the Hollywood Flames revolving door of vocalists and helped round out their sound. The name of the group changed almost as many times as the record labels and personnel, but there was a constant quality to the records they made. Though they only touched the national chart in a big way with “Buzz-Buzz-Buzz” in 1957 for Ebb records, the Hollywood Flames cut some fantastic sides for Specialty (as the Four Flames), 7-11 (as the Jets), Money (as The Turks) and Class (as Bob & Earl and Bobby Day & The Satellites). This week, Matt The Cat tries to make sense of this group’s very confusing and convoluted history and along the way, discovers some of the best West Coast R&B Vocal Group records every made.
Lionel Hampton’s big band was a training ground for so many of the all-time great musicians: Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Dexter Gordon, Joe Morris, Dinah Washington, Wes Montgomery, Little Jimmy Scott and Clifford Brown. His musical education began on drums and piano while attending the Holy Rosary Academy, near Kenosha, Wisconsin, but it was his exploration of the xylophone that would prove the most fruitful. For when Hamp jumped from the xylophone to the vibraphone, the course of modern jazz was forever enriched. He became the first to use the vibes on a jazz record with Louis Armstrong in 1930, thus paving the way for future vibe virtuosos: Johnny Otis, Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson. Benny Goodman selected Hampton to join his Goodman Trio, making it an interracial quartet, which was ground-breaking in 1936. Hamp and pianist Teddy Wilson helped break the color barrier in popular music. Forming his own big band in 1940, with the help of his business partner and wife, Gladys Hampton, Hamp would score a hugely influential hit in ’42 with “Flying Home,” featuring the honking sax of Illinois Jacquet. That record would open the door to the R&B sax honkers of the Rock n’ Roll era and would forever be Hamp’s theme song. His biggest hit came in early 1946 when “Hey! Ba Ba Re Bop” topped the Harlem Hit Parade for 16 solid weeks! He followed that up with the #5 smash, “Blow Top Blues,” featuring Dinah Washington on vocals. Beyond the hits and musical influence, Lionel Hampton was a humanitarian and supported many charities that brought low income housing projects to Harlem and elsewhere. President Bill Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Arts in 1996 and the University of Idaho named their annual jazz festival after him. There is a lot to be said about the hugely influential Lionel Hampton and this week, Matt The Cat does his best to present a full picture of this renaissance man. So grab some nickels and some jive and meet us at the “Juke In The Back.”
This week, the Juke In The Back features one of R&B and Rock n’ Roll’s greatest acts, James Brown. Born into a poor community in South Carolina, James Brown worked his way to the very top in the entertainment business, but it wasn’t without a struggle. As we’ll hear on this week’s program, Brown had to suffer through a mess of unsuccessful records, in order to find his “sound.” His first single for Federal Records, “Please, Please, Please” caught fire and shot into the R&B top 5 in 1956, but it was a blessing and a curse. He wouldn’t make the charts again for almost 3 years. But once “Try Me” topped the R&B lists in early 1959, Brown was on a roll that would extend over the next 20 plus years. Matt The Cat highlights James Brown and the Famous Flame’s string of early singles for Federal as we bear witness to an artist trying to find himself. Along the way, we discover some pretty great and almost forgotten songs and performances. The early recordings of the “Godfather of Soul” are featured on this week’s “Juke In The Back.”
The “Juke In The Back” takes a deep look at The Delta Rhythm Boys, one of R&B’s early influences. Bass singer Lee Gaines assembled the original quartet while at Langston University in Oklahoma. After they all transferred to Dillard in New Orleans, things started to really happen. Dillard’s new music program was headed by Professor Fredrick Hall, who worked with the group, writing arrangements for them. Calling themselves the Fredrick Hall Quartet, they met a Buenos Aries DJ and toured South America before moving to New York City and establishing themselves on Broadway. Now calling themselves the Delta Rhythm Boys, they got a recording contract with Decca Records, a daily national radio program with CBS, a motion picture deal with Universal and occasional performances on the Amos and Andy radio program. The Delta Rhythm Boys had more exposure than virtually any other singing group. They never scored the hits like the Mills Brothers or the Ink Spots, but the Deltas were everywhere. They only had one huge national hit on their own with 1947’s “Just A-Sittin’ and A-Rockin’,” but sang on hits by Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmy Lunceford and Ruth Brown. Matt The Cat also presents the Delta Rhythm Boys singing stellar R&B for Atlantic Records, both as themselves and under a pseudonym. So get ready for some superb vocal harmonies with the Delta Rhythm Boys on this week’s “Juke In The Back.”
This week, the “Juke In The Back” features a rhythm & blues vocal group from Winston-Salem, NC that not only influenced James Brown, but quite possibly the entire soul movement of the late ’50s into the 1960s; The “5” Royales. They began their career as a six man gospel group called The Royal Sons Quintet. They kept their six member lineup even after they changed their name to the “5” Royales. They had legal battles with Hank Ballard’s Royals and their own label, Apollo Records, but managed to score two #1 smashes during 1953. Their sound was unique, their harmonies air-tight and their chief songwriter was also their guitarist, Lowman Pauling. His guitar playing influenced Eric Clapton, Steve Cropper and countless other guitar legends. The “5” Royales were much more than just a ’50s R&B vocal group and this week, Matt The Cat & the “Juke In The Back” are going to tell their story.
At the end of the Second World War, economics forced the big bands to trim their once great size and thus, the Jump Blues combo was born. Between 1946-1954, rhythm and blues laid the tracks for what was to become Rock n’ Roll. So how come, 70 years later, this vibrant and influential music is still so unknown to so many?
Matt The Cat is going to change that with the radio program, “Juke In The Back.†These were the records that you couldn’t hear on the jukebox in the front of the establishment. To hear all this great 1950s rhythm & blues, you had to go to “Juke In The Back.â€
At the end of the Second World War, economics forced the big bands to trim their once great size and thus, the Jump Blues combo was born. Between 1946-1954, rhythm and blues laid the tracks for what was to become Rock n’ Roll. So how come, 70 years later, this vibrant and influential music is still so unknown to so many?
Matt The Cat is going to change that with the radio program, “Juke In The Back.” These were the records that you couldn’t hear on the jukebox in the front of the establishment. To hear all this great 1950s rhythm & blues, you had to go to “Juke In The Back.”
