I'm Fat, That's That !

Kuumba
with the Olympia Brass Band

I'm Fat, That's That!
V.J. Boulet, Flat Town Music, BMI

Arranged by Milton Batiste

Maison De Soul 45-1028
1985

This is Sylvia "Kuumba" Williams on Maison De Soul (House Of Soul), a Ville Plate, Louisiana label owned by veteran music man Floyd Soileau. Composer of "I'm Fat" is Valery Junior Boulet, pianist and songwriter, who was once a member of The Riff-Raffs, the Bobby Page's band.

Sylvia "Kuumba" Williams (1941-2001).

A native of New Orleans, graduated from Grambling State College. She travelled throughout the South with the Free Southern Theatre, assisting New York directors Gilbert Moses and Bob Costley.  Her profesional debut was with The New Orlans Repertory Theatre then run by June Havoc.  Havoc reportedly gave her the nickname “Kuumba,” a Swahili word for creativity.

Sylvia Williams, who starred as “Big Bertha” Williams in Vernel Bagneris’ musical One Mo’ Time. She stayed with the show during its three-year Off-Broadway run, which began in 1979, and then toured with it in London, Germany, Greece, Italy, France, Australia, Sweden and the Bahamas. In London, she met Queen Elizabeth II.

The show brought her other honors, including a portrait by Andy Warhol. Her image also graced the poster for the musical (see above the cover of One Mo'Time' Showbill cover). "Her face became our logo," Bagneris said.

Ms. Williams traded on her success in One Mo’ Time overseas by singing on the European jazz circuit. Like many jazz musicians before her, she settled in Sweden, living there ten years, learning how to speak Swedish and acting in classical plays with the likes of Max Van Sydow, the renowned Ingmar Bergman actor.  Eventually, though, she returned to New Orleans, where she spent most of her life

Big Bertha : You've Got The Right Key But The Wrong Keyhole

(From the original cast album "One Mo' Time" issued
by Warner-Bros; artists on that album are not individually credited)

Junior Jordan And The Rock-A-Boogie 7

 

Junior Jordan And The Rock-A-Boogie 7

Down Boy! Down Boy!

The Rock-A-Boogie Piggy (Booglie Wooglie)
 
Arranged and conducted by Stan Free

Roc Records #901
January 1958

Here is an intriguing record. Almost no information on the artist, neither before 1958, nor after. The only mention of Junior Jordan can be found the Billboard magazine (issue dated 27 March 1958) who teach us that he played club dates in a ski suit during the New York blizzard in the winter of 1957-1958 and has adopted the winter wear as his permanent performance garb. We also learn that Roc is his own label and that George Goldner distribute his platter.

Both songs were composed by Roy Jordan. The A-side, Down Boy! Down Boy!, on 16 January 1958, and the B-Side, also composed by Roy Jordan, is an old ditty from 1941 brought up to date : Booglie Wooglie Piggy retitled Rock-A-Boogie Piggy.

 

Credited to Roy Jacobs, a pen name pseudonym, The Booglie Wooglie Piggy has been recorded, among others, by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, vocal refrain by Tex Beneke and The Four Modernaires (Bluebird Records), by the Andrew Sisters (Decca), and by Les Brown and his Orchestra, vocal chorus by Doris Day (OKeh Records).

Roy Jordan (b. New York 1916 - d. 1998) was a prolific songwriter.  Gene DePaul and Sid Bass were the main composers associated with him, as Roy Jordan or Roy Jacobs, from 1939 until the fifties. His songs have been recorded by Glenn Miller, The Andrew Sisters, Billie Holliday The Ink Spots, The Four King Sisters, Johnny Long, The Mills Brothers, The Merry Macs, Una Mae Carlisle, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Ella Mae Morse, The four Tunes, Eileen Barton, etc.

Not much is known about his life. And when his ex-wife Kappi Kaplan died in 2008 (then wife of Lenny Ditson), her obituary failed to have a word about Roy, yet the father of her daughters. I would think it the thing usually done ?

★

My first idea, considering the autorship of the songs and the last name of the artist and of the composer, was that Junior was the son of Roy, or perhaps a close relative.  I did find he married a young music agent/song plugger) named Kappi Kaplan [born 1917] around 1940. 

Downbeat Magazine published in August 1952 an article (This Jordan Rolls behind Patti's Pages) about Kappi Jordan, Patti Page's "disc jockey exploitation gal". On top of the article, there is a picture of Kappi and her three daughters, Kim, 10, Leslie, 8½, Noele, 7. No mention of a son.

★

If not a son of Roy, then could it be Roy himself?

I think it's a strong possibility. especially since Roy Jordan, essentially a songwriter and not a singer, has cut two originals for Manor Records, making his debut as a vocalist, so we are informed by Billboard (26 February 1949).

Record info found here

No need to say, this Manor 78 RPM is a quite obscure release and not available for a listening anywhere. Mention of "Lay Me Out In Me Green Suit, Mudder" can be found in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (January 31, 1949) :

Have you heard the title of the newest novelty song-one Tin Pan Alley expects to be a "sleeper?" Hold on, now. It's called "Lay Me Out In Me Green Suit, Mudder." Ray Jordon wrote it in two hours on a train from New York to Erie, Pa. Track followers are excited about a filly in Liz Whitney's stable. A potential world beater, they think.  

Audio files are from volumes 2 & 7 of Twisted Tales From The Vinyl Wasteland, a CD series issued by Trailer Park, a compilation label run by Mark Lee Allen (a reference!)

Rolling Like A Stone

 

Jerry Foucha

Rolling Like A Stone

b/w  If It’s Better

wr. & arr Herbert S. Jones, Shenell Publishing Co.
Directed by Eddie Williams

Trajon Records Co.
710 So. Galvez St.
New Orleans, La.

1963

⚜

According to mickey rat (at 45cat) the label (and Trajon Pub. Co.) were owned by Gaspar L. Trapani & Herbert S. Jones.  Herbert S. Jones also registered something called The Galvez & Poydras Social & Pleasure Club as a business in 1963.

Jerry Fouche discography

Trajon 101 - If It’s Better / Rolling Like A Stone - 1963
Nola 728 - Music Time / Come On, Baby - 1966
Hot Line 913 - I Believe In Miracles / Wake Up - 1967

I ❤ My Mother In Law

 

National Mother-in-Law Day on the fourth Sunday in October honors that special woman who brought the love of your life into this world.  Gene Howe, the editor of a local Amarillo newspaper, initiated this holiday in honor of mothers-in-law. Modeled after Mother’s Day, the first observance was celebrated on March 5, 1934, in Amarillo, Texas.

Let's celebrate this special day right now, HERE

Champion Jack Dupree - Mother-In-Law Blues
Cuzzin Tom Graham - I'm In Love With My Mother-In-Law
Danny & The Country Penetrators - She-s My Mother-In-Law
Earl & Joyce Songer and the Rocky Road Ramblers  - Mother-In-Law Boogie
Gary Paxton - Mother-In-Law
Jamo Thomas & The Party Brothers - Jive Mother-in-Law
Jim Nesbitt - Mother In Law
Joedy Lea - The Devil Paid Me (With a Mother-In-Law)
Johnny Maxwell And The Rhythmmasters - Ole Satan's Mother-In-Law
Johnny Winter - Mother-in-Law Blues
Junior Parker - Mother-in-Law Blues
Little Mack Simmons - Mother in Law Blues
Mack McGuire - Mother-In-Law Blues
Martin Mull - The Mother In Law Song
Oboe - Mother-In-Law Trouble
Red Buttons - Oh- My Mother-in-Law
Rocky Volcano - Belle-Maman
Rod Bernard - My Old Mother In Law
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars - Mother In Law
The Volumes - Oh My Mother In Law
The Wallace Brothers - My Mother-In-Law
 

 

Leave Me Alone

 

Grenadene

Leave Me Alone

Grenadene Records
12024 Ruggs Loop Rd.,
Everett, Washington

[1974)

Grenadene "Janet" Cruce (1942-2009)

 Grenadene went to school in Seattle until her senior year and then graduated from high school in Langley, WA. She worked for Flukes for a few years and then spent a few years being a wrangler in Eastern Washington. She rode horses and competed until her mid 20's. She then became an entertainer for a number of years, traveling all over the U.S. and also Japan. She played and sang for a number of bands and then went out on her own as a one piece band.