Africa (The Jungle Song)

The Kornettes

Africa (The Jungle Song)

Minnie Records SP-M-104
1964

The songwriters Allie Mae Brock & Minnie Pearl Brock, two sisters from Chattanooga, Tennessee had records on Gennett and Paramount as early as... 1929. 

The Brock Sisters were among the first duets who opened the field of country singing for women, according to the Jemf Quarterly [Spring 1978]

Milly and Dolly Good, as the Girls of the Golden West, had played a big part in
breaking open the field of country singing for women, and particularly for women duets.
Such duets, drawing on the appeal of blended voices and building up repertoire from the
innovative kinds of music being done by Cliff Carlisle and the Delmore Brothers, now
took center stage. The route to the break from traditional style had been shown in
the 1920s by popular duets like the Boswell Sisters. A taste of the Brock Sisters shows
uptown phrasing and the instincts of jazz-pop:

Oh, a Knoxville girl'd make a
hound dog lose his trail (2)

And a Chattanooga girl'd make a
tadpole hug a whale,

When you take those blues,
those Broadway blues.

Their "Broadway Blues" from 1929 can be heard on YouTube here

But what about the Kornettes I hear you asking? I have no idea. Perhaps some good people from Chattanooga would have some information.

Recorded at Spann Records, 2642a South Broad St., Chattanooga.  Spann Records was formed there by two juke ops Fred Cofer and Alfred Samples.

Bread

The Players

Bread

Power 45-14214

1956

Lyrics by Ernest Torres Chavez, music by Irving Marcus.  

Biography of Ernest Chavez found at IMDb :

Date of Birth     31 August 1927, Watsonville, California, USA
Date of Death     19 September 1992, Palo Alto, California, USA  (brain tumor)

As a five year old boy, the story goes, Ernest Torres Chavez would scale a fence next to the family's first home in North 11th Street in San Jose, California, and quietly enter the house next door. The neighbors then would be surprised to hear the boy making noise on the guitars stored in the back room. The music stayed with him. He left San Jose High School at the age of 17 to join the National Guard, where he played tenor sax at his base in Tacoma, Washington. Released from active duty in 1947, Ernie joined the San Jose jazz combo called Three Bees and a Queen. He played around the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. The group, which also featured pianist Jose Castro and singer Treasure Ford, reached its high point in the early 1950's when it was given second billing at the London Palladium. In the 1950's he settled in Los Angeles, where he played for several years with Cuban-American composer Rene Touzet and his Latin jazz orchestra. He also worked as a member of the house band at the Band Box, a well-known comedy nightclub. It was there that Don Rickles often used Mr. Chavez as a straight man, hurling racial slurs at him while Mr. Chavez chuckled and the audience roared. One night Mr. Chavez came back with a swipe of his own, recalled Rita Chavez-Law who married Mr. Chavez in 1950. "Some day I want to be just like you, Mr. Rickles" he said. "How's that?" Rickles asked. "Vicious." said Mr. Chavez. The audience roared. Rickles never asked him back on the stage after that. Other LA stints included music arrangements for Nancy Wilson and filling in for recording sessions with band leader Harry James. He also had a one-time speaking role in "The Ring". Other bit parts included Musician roles in "strangers When We Meet" and a spot on the TV series "Bourbon Street Beat." After his divorce in early 1960's Mr. Chavez returned to San Jose. He played sax and flute for lounge combos around the Bay Area for 30 years. A working musician until health problems took him off the stage, Mr. Chavez developed a brain tumor and died in 1992.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Richard J. Gonzales, Jr.

Thumpity Thump

Gracie Lind

with

Jim Rollins on guitar

Thumpity Thump

B. Blue - J. Rollins

Fairway Music Corp.

Intro 45-6094
1956

Her only record?

Billboard rev. 24 Nov. 1956

Cash Box rev. 5 Jan. 1957

A Dallas artist, or at least a Dallas recording.

B. Blue is a pseudonym for Bob Belyeu, "a Dallas up-and-coming tunesmith", who was with the Charles Wright Agency.  For guitarist Jim (Jimmy) Rollins, see Wikipedia article

Rocky Road Blues

David Bailey

Rocky Road Blues

Banner 60204

The Bill Monroe classic song.  

 

Guessed date : 1960. Label most probably from Shreveport, Louisiana and owned by Owen Perry, a singer, songwriter, and guitar player popular during the 40's and 50's. Recording artist (Bullet, Four Star, Capitol) from 1947 to 1954.

Next Stop, Paradise

Jesse Pearson

Next Stop, Paradise

Decca 9-31117
1960

"Next Stop, Paradise" penned by Oramay Diamond and Dave Dreyer was first recorded by Teddy Randazzo (Vik Records, 1957) followed in 1959 by a version by Rusty Draper (Mercury Records, 1959)

Songwriter Oramay Diamond was an acrobatic dancer in New York City, adding a strip routine in her show around 1953. According to Billboard (May 16, 1953) 

Ora May, star Morokoff chorine at the Hudson, Union City, pressed into service every
so often to do a strip routine, scored another show-stopper last week with an act in which she cleverly imitated Vicky Wells, Peaches and Georgia Sothern. . . .

Bobby Wayne Pearson (1930-1979) known as Jesse Pearson,  actor, singer, director, and writer.

After releasing two singles on Decca Records with little success, Pearson was heard by composer Charles Strouse, who recommended him for the national tour of the musical Bye Bye Birdie. When Richard Gautier, the original actor playing Conrad Birdie, fell ill, Pearson took the role of the rock idol inspired in Elvis Presley. He repeated his hilarious characterization in the 1963 film version, Bye Bye Birdie.

Further readings:
https://alchetron.com/Jesse-Pearson-(actor)-779646-W#-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Pearson_(actor)
http://musicweird.blogspot.fr/2014/02/jesse-pearson-aka-conrad-birdie.html

Mendocino

Rudy And The Vigilants

Mendocino

Out of Albuquerque, New Mexico on the Del Norte label came this cover of the Sir Douglas Quintet hit (Smash Records, 1968)

Nanette Fabray

 Nanette Fabray

Born Ruby Bernadette Nanette Theresa Fabares

in San Diego, Calif. in 1920
actress, dancer and singer

Nanette Fabray and Chorus performing "Louisiana Hayride"
 in the musical film “The Band Wagon (1953)”