Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Breaking In A New Heart





Bennie Dixon And The Rebels


Bennie Dixon, Celann BMI

Soma 1455


Bennie/Benny Dixon
(from the cover of his album on Studio 5)



Benny Dixon on YouTube :


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Raymond's Beat(s)


Ray McArthurs Hill Stoppers
Vocal Hayward Norred


Norred - Dixon - Thompson
Flag Music Pub. BMI

Flag 116

1958



Ray McArthur and the Generals


Ray McArthur-Haywood Norred
Flag Music Pub. BMI

Mac Arthur Records 101M

1962


Sax player Ray McArthur was one of The Escorts on Judd Records (#1014 : My First Year / Clap Happy, 1959).   Afterwards The Escorts backed guitarist Wade Cagle on Sun Records (4 songs recorded in 1960 in Memphis, two released in 1961 on Sun 360).  It is said that the Escorts were from Pensacola, Florida.

In 1961, there was a much obscure release on Q-T Records as by Ray McArthur and His Generals, pressed by Rite Records :  Come Back Baby / Irish Rock,  possibly a second issue or unissued Flag recordings from 1959 ?

In 1962, Ray McArthur launched his own Mac Arthur label ( "We Shall Return" says the label).  Second release on the label was Conner Cagle with the Generals.( see the Calico Wall )

The Mac Arthur label was probably out of Georgia,  based of the initials HG printed on label.  Master identification letters HG stands for the mysterious Harry Gorlin,  owner of the Druid publishing company (BMI) and almost certainly also owner of Trumpet Records  (P.O. Box 62, Atlanta, Georgia).  His initials, probably indicating the ownership of the masters, are found on a number of tiny Georgia labels such Lyon, Lenox, Shane, Young and also indeed on Trumpet.

Perhaps, I wonder,  Mr Gorlin was the theater agent who posted the following ad from the same P.O. Box 62 in Atlanta in 1953  :

GIRL TO WORK WITH A LARGE, SAFE  snake in act in theaters. Experienced or not experienced.  Salary and expenses. Tour starts March.  Send photograph and particulars. 
Billboard, March 7, 1953

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Rockin' Guitar

Jimmy McBride

(J. Brandon, Monument Music BMI)

Madison Records

1958

The initial release on the label.   

Nothing is known of Jimmy McBride.  

The song is from the pen of Brit Johnny Brandon, aka (in the UK) as The King of Zing who, in the early 1950s pre-rock ’n roll days, was the British heart-throb with countless radio, television and personal appearances across the country.  Apart from singing Johnny also composed songs for the likes of Jessie Matthews and Vera Lynn.   He starred in hit West End musical “Love from Judy” and made the Top Ten charts with his self-penned “Tomorrow”.

Wanting to achieve more, Johnny emigrated to New York in the mid-1950s with his life-long partner Robert Richardson.   In the States, he slowed down his singing career and got involved in record production and wrote musicals.  Notable off-Broadway successes include “Billy No-Name” and “Cindy”.
 

Madison Records owner,   Larry Uttal, owned and operated several record labels (Bell, Amy, Mala, Private Stock) in the sixties and seventies.  He folded Private Stock in 1978, moved to London and entered the film business. On his return to New York, he entered the travel business.  Mr. Uttal was active in the Gay Men's Health Crisis and the National Gay and Lesbian Caucus.   He died of AIDS in November 1993.   He was 71.


Friday, December 14, 2012

At The Hop



Richard Maltby and his Orchestra


A. Singer - D. White - J. Madera
Sea-Lark Music Enterprises & Singular Music Pub. BMI

Big band instrumental version of the Danny and the Juniors hit





Richard Eldridge Maltby, Sr. (1914 – 1991) was an American musician, conductor, arranger and bandleader, most notable for his 1956 recording (Themes From) The Man With the Golden Arm".

After studying briefly at Northwestern University's music school, he left college to become a full time musician. He played trumpet with several big bands, including those of Little Jack Little, Roger Pryor, Bob Strong and Henry Busse, as well as also doing some arranging.   In 1940, he took a job as an arranger for the orchestra of the Chicago-based radio station, WBBM, before moving to New York in 1945 to become an arranger-conductor on network radio, where he worked with Paul Whiteman.   In 1942, Benny Goodman recorded his composition "Six Flats Unfurnished."

During the post-war years, he made several recordings for subsidiary labels of RCA Victor, and in 1954, finally scored a Top 40 hit with "St. Louis Blues Mambo".    In 1955, he began leading his own dance band, with which he had his Top 20 hit, "(Themes From) The Man With the Golden Arm," in the spring of the following year.   He left RCA for Columbia Records in 1959, then moved to Roulette Records a year later.   He stopped recording on his own during the mid-1960s.

A heart condition in his later years forced him into retirement, and he underwent several operations prior to his death. He died in 1991, aged 77.        

source: Wikipedia


Saturday, December 1, 2012

The Bop


 Niki Stevens

Jack Stern and his Orchestra feat.

Buddy Cole -piano & organ; 
Alvino Rey - guitar; 
Nick Fatool - drums; 
Clint Neagley - sax & clarinet; 
Don Whitaker - bass; 
Jack Stern - trumpet


Flint & Stern, Ridgeway BMI

Ridgeway Records

1956

The Ridgeway label was a short-lived offshoot of Ridgeway Music, a publishing company affiliated with BMI and owned by Charlie Adams and Pee Wee King.    Maestro Jan Garber was their partner in the Ridgeway label.


Niki Stevens

After completing high school in her home town of San Francisco Niki Stevens made her professional singing debut at the Royal Hawaiian Club in Palo Alto, California.   She returned to San Francisco and joined a singing group locally known as the Doubledealers.   Then she was invited to join a well known vocal group, The Cheerleaders.   With this group she toured the country, appeared in the motion picture "Starlift"  and recorded on the Decca and Capitol labels.   She left the group to tour as soloist with the Chuck Foster Orch.  

This record is her first solo recording. 

She recorded again, in 1958, for Rip Records  ( "Johnny Blue"/"Roses Without Thorns" )  another Hollywood label, owned by Rochester, NY entrepreneur Dick Puccio.

I have no trace of further recordings made by her.