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Post by Hiram on Aug 18, 2010 16:37:14 GMT -5
Allen: The B side was "Thirteen Women and Only One Man in Town" Here's one you should know right off the top of your head. What was the B side to Miller's "Moonlight Serenade? I'm gonna jump in on this one. King Porter Stomp, issued on Bluebird Records.
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Post by Chuck T on Aug 18, 2010 20:58:30 GMT -5
If memory serves it was Sunrise Serenade.
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Post by Hiram on Aug 18, 2010 22:11:55 GMT -5
Your memory is excellent. I had in my mind that both Moonlight Serenade and King Porter Stomp were released in 1939. Miller's version of Stomp was actually released in 1938. It was the "B" side of My Reverie, vocals by Ray Eberle.
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Post by Hiram on Aug 18, 2010 22:38:20 GMT -5
Big Joe Turner has to fit somewhere in the discussion of influential musical artists. Doc Pomus was quoted as saying "Rock and roll would have never happened without him."
I wouldn't say that about any single artist, but obviously Turner had a hand in what became rock and roll.
Roll 'Em Pete, recorded for Vocalion Records in 1938 by Turner and his musical partner, pianist Pete Johnson, was one of the first songs to feature a back beat and a straight rhythm. The song is an up-tempo boogie woogie number that became Johnson's signature number.
Shake, Rattle and Roll was originally cut by Turner in 1954 for a fledgling record label, Atlantic Records. The cleaned-up version by Bill Haley and the Comets was released later the same year.
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Post by Chuck T on Aug 18, 2010 22:49:13 GMT -5
Hiram: Do you remember who Paula Kelly replaced in the Moderaires???
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Post by Hiram on Aug 18, 2010 23:04:17 GMT -5
The Modernaires started as three guys from Buffalo, NY., but they weren't called The Modernaires just yet. They added a fourth guy and were then hired by Fred Waring as The Modernaires. Paula Kelly married one of the guys and made it a quintet. Once they hooked up with Glenn Miller they were a major hit. I don't recall reading that Kelly replaced anyone. Am I wrong?
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Post by Jim Boylston on Aug 18, 2010 23:04:37 GMT -5
Turner's version is about a thousand times better than Haley's cover.
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Post by Hiram on Aug 18, 2010 23:20:48 GMT -5
Hiram: Do you remember who Paula Kelly replaced in the Moderaires??? Chieftan,
Are you thinking about Marion Hutton? She sang with the Miller Band, and did sing with the Modernaires, but Paula Kelly joined the group first, then later married one of the group members. Hutton sang with Miller beginning in 1938, the Modernaires joined the band in 1941 as a quintet. Hutton was with the Miller band until she got pregnant and then sang with the Modernaires upon her return.
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Post by Hiram on Aug 18, 2010 23:25:48 GMT -5
Turner's version is about a thousand times better than Haley's cover. I can't think of any 1950s cover versions that were superior to the original recordings. They were basically bland, less risqué versions that were marketed by the major record labels.
I was in college when I heard my first Big Joe Turner record and it knocked me out...felt like a one-eyed cat peepin' in a seafood store!
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Post by Chuck T on Aug 18, 2010 23:26:09 GMT -5
Yes, Hutton. I just could not remember her name. I saw Kelly with the Modernairs when I was about seven or so. It was one of those intermission stage shows that they used to have in the "downtown" (read first run) theaters.
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Post by Hiram on Aug 18, 2010 23:32:24 GMT -5
The Modernaires were great. Marion Hutton was great, Ray Eberle was great. I couldn't sing but I played trombone because of Glenn Miller. When I was a kid back in the '60s, I used to play all my folks' records: Miller, the Dorseys, Benny Goodman, Crosby, Sinatra. I had no idea that I was listening to "old music," I just knew it all sounded fantastic.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Aug 19, 2010 7:41:49 GMT -5
Turner's version is about a thousand times better than Haley's cover. I can't think of any 1950s cover versions that were superior to the original recordings. They were basically bland, less risqué versions that were marketed by the major record labels.
I was in college when I heard my first Big Joe Turner record and it knocked me out...felt like a one-eyed cat peepin' in a seafood store! Agree on both points! That was the result of keeping black artists off the air and covering their songs with those relatively bland versions Hiram mentions. I love Turner and regard him as a real R&R pioneer. It got just as bad, if not worse, with the revolt against rock & roll in the 50s and radio stations, particularly in the South, banned playing the music. That was followed by in introduction of squeeky-clean "rock" stars who were beyond bland, but regarded as non-threatening. It marked what some still call "the day the music died," referring to Buddy Holly's death, but encompassing the old saw that the music died when Elvis went into the army, Chuck Berry went to jail, Little Richard went to the ministry, and Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old cousin (of course, Poe did exactly the same thing but, unlike Jerry Lee, at least his marriage wasn't also bigamy). Luckily, the music survived in other hands and those old, seminal recordings are still with us. Allen
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Aug 21, 2010 12:05:15 GMT -5
I have to agree, Allen. No disrespect to Pat Boone, but his homogenized version of "Tuti Fruiti" makes me want to choke and puke, especially when compared to "Little Richard" Penniman's fire-breathing, balls-out, raunch 'n' rollin', no-holds-barred version of this song. But Little Richard was too wild and flamboyant (and dare we say, he looked "gay") for white America. Those were sad times in our music history to be sure.
And I dare say a lot of this attitude continued until the so-called British Invasion. I was one of those dumb-arsed white-bread kids who was drawn more to the music groups like The Animals and early Yardbirds brought over, but never realized at the time that much of this music was our own home-grown, native black blues. Stuff originally done by the likes of Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Slim Harpo, Howling Wolf, Robert Johnson, and so on. Maybe someone can take issue that these white groups cashed in on those black artists, and it may be true to some degree, but thank God they did. It opened up my own eyes, and many others, to a music form and artists that I'm still as passionate about 46-plus years after those groups and their records hit the airwaves. It's one of the reason why I took up the guitar, and why I'm still deeply immersed in the blues.
Paul
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Post by Chuck T on Aug 21, 2010 12:36:26 GMT -5
Paul, Allen, Hiram: I had a rather unusual introduction to people like Joe Turner et al. There was a guy on radio in the mid fifties in D.C. who used the name Lord Fauntleroy Banby. It was a "Black" station. I can't remember the stations call letters, but I will never forget that name. My father used to listen to the race results after dinner, but forbad me to listen to this station otherwise. I suppose he thought the material would stunt my growth or something. Well when you are eleven or twelve, forbidden meant it was much more attractive. We were also lucky in those days to have the Howard Theater in D. C. which was a magnet for Black artists. I think if my folks knew of some of the stuff we did in those days including sneaking into the Howard, I would still be on resriction.
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Aug 21, 2010 12:49:35 GMT -5
Well, I grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire. In 12 years of public school, I had all of one black classmate, and that was in the 3rd grade. I can only recall there being something like three black families in the entire city back then, and if you look at my high school year book from 1967, all 400-plus faces are white. Not much black influence in anything where I grew up.
Now, 45 miles south of me was Boston, but in those days it might as well have been a million miles away. Ironically, Boston, with its Defacto Segregation, busing and other highly charge issues, was one of the most prejudicial cities in the country. Not all of the hate was in the deep south, trust me. So, even with a major city nearby, you didn't hear much black music back in northern New England when I was growing up in the '50s and '60s.
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