Etta James - The Complete Modern and Kent Recordings

Time to tackle the other "Fillmore Girl", the great Etta James. Born January 25, 1938 as Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles to a 14 year old mother, Etta was subsequently fostered in often abusive homes for most of her early life; she was moved to The Fillmore with her mother at 12 years old. Like her older cousin Sugar Pie DeSanto, she spent her formative teen years in that cultural hotbed.

In Los Angeles she received some Gospel training from James Earle Hines of St. Paul Baptist Church in South Central. As a precocious young girl in San Francisco, she formed a girl doo wop group called The Creolettes (all the girls were mixed). The group got discovered by Johnny Otis who renamed the group The Peaches, and the then 16 year old lead (not 14 as often cited) became Etta James (a wise choice, Jamesetta Hawkins doesn't exactly roll off the tongue) and signed them to the Bihari's Modern Records.

Otis used the group to record his answer to Hank Ballard's hit 'Work With Me Annie', originally titled 'Roll With Me Henry', it was sanitized to 'Dance With Me Henry' then 'The Wallflower' shortly after release. The young singer apparently had enough input into the final product that she was given a co-writer's credit. The song climbed to #1 on the R&B charts and 'Good Rockin' Daddy' was a solid follow up. White singer Georgia Gibbs, in classic Pat Boone fashion, quickly covered the song and stole the potential crossover hit. Still, Etta was put on Little Richard's tour during the period that he was going nuclear and it was likely there that she first acquired the heroin habit that dogged the rest of her life.

The Biharis were clearly impressed by their singer because they recorded far more sides on her than are normally mentioned in most sources. The release dates actually cross over into the Chess era but they were recorded earlier in L.A. Of the 42 tracks here, 6 or so are dreadful, but the rest are fine West Coast R&B with bands assembled from members of Otis' band or from the Maxwell Davis Orchestra. There are even five songs recorded in New Orleans with Dave Bartholomew and the gang from J & M Studios (Side one, 12, 13, 14 Side two 3, 14). Despite their dogged persistence, the Bihari's never strike gold again with Etta, her next success came in 1960 after signing with Chess and moving to Chicago.

At least one longtime friend claimed that at 16 James was dating label mate B.B. King and that it was for her that King rewrote the lyrics to an earlier song to become the mega-hit 'Sweet Sixteen'. It was also during this time that she first met and sang with Harvey Fuqua, who would later be her steady beau and label mate at Chess.

Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown - One More Mile

Here's a solid album from Gatemouth, reminiscent of his Black and Blue days.  For fans of the man, it's essential listening - fans of the blues will probably want to have a listen but it's overall not his best work.  For anyone looking to get into this blues legend, begin with KC's Peacock sessions.

Ripped from mint vinyl at 24/44.1 wav, and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC... enjoy!!!

Rounder Records 2034
1982

Crescent City Bounce 3 & 4

Here is the remainder of this valuable little JSP set. The Earl King material here has been offered on an earlier post but this is likely a more recent remaster so it may be worth comparing the two. The rest of what is presented is a wealth of excellent tracks, many of them the only recorded evidence of these artists.

Nuggets of the Golden Age of Gospel 1945-1958 - Disc A

Powerhouse Gospel On Independent Labels 1946-1959 (Disc C)

 Final Volume

Open to the public...

... a place for everything BUT jazz.  Hope to see you there.  No archive - so grab em while they're hot.  The door is available in the sidebar, right here at Chitlins.

Crescent City Bounce - Archibald, Smiling Joe and Roosevelt Sykes

ARCHIBALD

Born Leon T. Gross, 14 September 1916, New Orleans, Louisiana
Died 8 January 1973, New Orleans, Louisiana
"Singer, pianist. Archibald was one of the last in the long line of New Orleans' original barrelhouse pianists. These piano players were usually semi-professional musicians who often played merely for drinks, or whatever tip was thrown on the piano. Some of them (Champion Jack Dupree, Professor Longhair, Archibald) were recorded, but hundreds more never were.

Virtually all existing sources say that he was born on September 14, 1912. They are probably all copying John Broven ("Walking To New Orleans, 1974). The Social Security Death Index, the Census (1920, 1930) and the U.S. WW2 Enlistment Records all give his year of birth as 1916. (With thanks to Eric LeBlanc for this info.)
Archibald (Leon Gross) learned to play piano at an early age and soon played at local parties and fraternity houses under the name Archie Boy. His main influences included Burnell Santiago, Tuts Washington and Eileen Dufeau. After serving in India during World War II, Archibald returned to his native New Orleans in 1945, where he continued to play the clubs and bars in the French Quarter. Talent scout Al Young signed him to Lew Chudd's Imperial label in 1950, as part of the same wave that also brought Dave Bartholomew and Fats Domino onto the company's roster. On March 23, 1950 Archibald had his first recording session, at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studio, supervised by Dave Bartholomew. The first single that resulted from this session (Imperial 5068) was "Stack-A-Lee", a two-sided workout on the old folk song, which is best known in the version of Lloyd Price (# 1 pop in February 1959, under the title "Stagger Lee"). "Stack-A-Lee" sold well enough to reach # 10 on Billboard's R&B charts in October 1950 and Archibald's future looked promising. A tour of the West Coast was prepared, but this was cancelled when he fell sick with ulcer trouble. Although he had four further singles on Imperial and Colony, Archibald never again had the chance to tour and was not recorded after 1952. "Stack-A-Lee" was to remain his only hit.
His career was hampered by illness and a dispute with the Musicians Union. Johnny Vincent wanted to record him for his Ace label in the late 1950s, but this did not materialize. Vincent said Archibald's voice was gone ; Archibald himself said Vincent did not offer enough money. He continued to play during the 60s and is especially remembered for his long residency at the Poodle Patio Club on Bourbon Street. His powerful New Orleans boogie piano style has undoubtedly influenced many New Orleans pianists, including Fats Domino, James Booker, Huey 'Piano' Smith, Allen Toussaint and Dr. John, but his style never came to grips with the rock 'n' roll age. He died of a heart attack in 1973, leaving behind a small (11 tracks), but high-quality recorded legacy."  Black Cat Rockabilly

Smiling Joe
  Pleasant Joseph, Born in 1907 in Wallace, Louisiana, just outside of New Orleans, known as Cousin Joe and Smiling Joe, he became a professional entertainer during the 1920's, progressing from impromptu street performances to gigs at the Famous Door and other local clubs to recording sessions in New York City. At various times he associated with Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, and Leonard Feather; he shared billings with Cleanhead Vinson, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, and B.B. King; he toured or recorded with Muddy Waters, Gatemouth Brown, Jimmy Dawkins, Earl Bostic, Sidney Bechet, Danny Barker, and many others. In 1972 his album "Bad Luck Blues" was named "Blues Album of the Year" in France.

Roosevelt Sykes
Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906 – July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "The Honeydripper". He was a successful and prolific cigar-chomping blues piano player, whose rollicking thundering boogie-woogie was highly influential.Born in Elmar, Arkansas, Sykes grew up near Helena but at age 15, went on the road playing piano with a barrelhouse style of blues. Like many bluesmen of his time, he travelled around playing to all-male audiences in sawmill, turpentine and levee camps along the Mississippi River, gathering a repertoire of raw, sexually explicit material. His wanderings eventually brought him to St. Louis, Missouri, where he met St. Louis Jimmy Oden.

In 1929 he was spotted by a talent scout and sent to New York to record for Okeh Records. His first release was "'44' Blues" which became a blues standard and his trademark. He quickly began recording for multiple labels under various names including 'Easy Papa Johnson', 'Dobby Bragg' and 'Willie Kelly'. After he and Oden moved to Chicago he found his first period of fame when he signed with Decca Records in 1934. In 1943, he signed with Bluebird Records and recorded with 'The Honeydrippers'.

In Chicago, Sykes began to display an increasing urbanity in his lyric-writing, using an eight-bar blues pop gospel structure instead of the traditional twelve-bar blues. However, despite the growing urbanity of his outlook, he gradually became less competitive in the post-World War II music scene. After his RCA Victor contract expired, he continued to record for smaller labels, such as United, until his opportunities ran out in the mid 1950s.

Roosevelt left Chicago in 1954 for New Orleans as electric blues was taking over the Chicago blues clubs. When he returned to recording in the 1960s it was for labels such as Delmark, Bluesville, Storyville and Folkways that were documenting the quickly passing blues history. He lived out his final years in New Orleans, where he died from a heart attack on July 17, 1983.

 

Sweet Soul Music 1964

 Da Beat Goes On! Back to that theme of the British Invasion arriving on the shores of a desolate American music scene and sweeping away the remains of the earlier R&B and Rock movements here in the States....I don't know about you but this looks like some pretty fertile ground that was allegedly swept over....ya know what? I remember 85% of THIS music far better than I do the 1964 Beatles or Dave Clark Five (Well...Okay, I was pretty familiar with the DC5), or Rolling Stones of that era. When you look at the rather stunning quality of what is here, and add what would be evident in similar compilations in other genres, the overwhelming success of the Brits is a little mystifying to me. Of course I don't exactly represent mainstream America music tastes either so to me the early 60's were an incredibly fertile time in Jazz, Blues, R&B and Soul and the British Invasion interrupted and marginalized what should have been a Golden Age....

Tommy Ridgley - Crescent City Bounce

 Tommy Ridgley (October 30, 1925 – August 11, 1999) was an American R&B singer and bandleader in New Orleans, Louisiana.Born Thomas Herman Ridgley, he released his debut single "Shrewsbury Blues" in New Orleans in 1949 for Imperial Records. In the 1950s he formed his group the Untouchables, and recorded for labels such as Decca, Atlantic and Herald. His 1952 release "Tra-La-La" on Decca was later covered and made famous by Pat Boone.

In the 1960s he signed with the local Ric Records, and released some singles which were to become local hits, but none of them broke through to create a stir nationally. These sides included "Double-Eyed Whammy" and "I've Heard That Story Before", a remake of the song first recorded for Herald.
During the 1970s and 1980s, there were fewer recording opportunities for Ridgley, however, he continued to record for local labels, and continued to perform. He kept performing at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival every year from 1972 until his death.

In the 1990s, he released three newly recorded albums. How Long? came out on the Sound of New Orleans label in 1990, and She Turns Me On followed two years later on Modern Blues Recordings. He was supported by musicians such as George Porter, Jr. and Raymond Weber on 1995 album Since The Blues Began from Black Top Records. It also featured guest guitarist Snooks Eaglin and turned out to be one of the most solid efforts in his career, but this became his last recorded album. He suffered from kidney failure in his last few years, and died from lung cancer in 1999.

The New Orleans singer, Sammy Ridgley is his younger brother.

Wilson Pickett - The Evil Pickett

As most of us are aware, Wilson Pickett's voice was one of God's most powerful gifts to soul music.   KingCake already made an initial post on this blog of a collection of Pickett's pre-Atlantic sides from the mid-60s: "It's Too Late."  I also assume that most of us have core 60s collections of Wilson Pickett on Atlantic from Memphis, Muscle Shoals, and Philadelphia.  If you don't, then I highly recommend that you rectify that situation right away.

What we have here is a fabulous and intriguing private collection put together by none other than Opal Lee Nations.  A handful of the big hits and other Atlantic tracks are here, most likely selected on the basis of being Opal's personal favorites.  But there are also a lot of rare gems.  Altogether, we get a portrait of the Great Wicked One that is different than anything commercially available.  This is a Pickett collection that I reach for as often as any, and I hope that you will too.  

For the biographical details on Wilson Pickett, I refer you to the previous post by KingCake. Pickett started his career in Gospel under the main influence of Julius Cheeks of the Sensational Nightingales.  He joined one of the great young gospel quartets, the Violinairies, in the late 50s.  The Violinairies already had a dominant lead singer in Robert Blair, and there unfortunately would appear to be no Violinairies recordings with Pickett leads.  There is one Violinairies track on this compilation where Pickett is supposedly singing background vocals, but even that is disputed and (if true) not really audible.   But Wilson Pickett did sing lead on a great 45 with the Spiritual 5.  Opal included that 45 on the collection as well as a later gospel song (Run On), recorded in 1968.   This gives us a short and concise portrait of Wilson Picket, the gospel singer.  And what a gospel singer he was!   R&Bs gain was certainly Gospel's loss. 

Wilson Pickett began his secular career with the Falcons where he scored a hit with the scorching "I Found A Love."  Opal has gathered here the remaining Falcons 45s featuring Wilson Pickett leads, many rare and difficult to find.  We have a number of the pre-Atlantic solo tracks recorded after Pickett left the Falcons, some of which duplicate the collection posted by KingCake.  The unmistakable guitar of Robert Ward graces many of these and the Falcons tracks.  The collection leads off with a stirring live version of If You Need Me from 1964.  All in all, there is much to savor on this selection by Opal Lee Nations. 

Jimmy Liggins - Specialty Records

Part two of this important pair from Guitar Gus.

wiki "Jimmy Liggins (October 14, 1922 – July 18, 1983) was an American R&B guitarist and bandleader. Liggins was born in Newby, Oklahoma, United States. He started out as a professional boxer at age 18 under the name of Kid Zulu, then he quit boxing and took up driving his brother Joe's outfit around on tour. Following the success of his brother, Jimmy Liggins started his own recording career as a singer, guitarist, and leader of the 'Drops of Joy', on Art Rupe's Specialty label in 1947. One of his early releases, "Cadillac Boogie" was a direct forerunner of "Rocket 88", itself often called the first rock and roll record.

Recordings such as "Tear Drop Blues" (1948) and, later, "I Ain't Drunk" (1953), featuring leading saxophone players such as Maxwell Davis, made him one of the most successful bandleaders in the jump blues period of the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Liggins left Specialty in 1954, recording "I Ain't Drunk" (1954), later covered by Albert Collins, at Aladdin, before fading from the scene. His wild stage presence and manic delivery also had a direct and lasting impact on Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and Elvis Presley.

Liggins died in July 1983, at the age of 60, in Durham, North Carolina."

Joe Liggins - Specialty Records

The first of a pair from Guitar Gus, let's go back to the early days of R&B with a look at the Liggins brothers; first up is older brother Joe.


wiki "Joe Liggins (July 9, 1915 – July 26, 1987) was an American R&B, jazz and blues pianist, who was the frontman in the 1940s and 1950s with the band, Joe Liggins and his Honeydrippers.

His band was often a staple on the US Billboard R&B chart in those years, with their biggest hit being "The Honeydripper", released in 1945. That single topped the R&B chart, then called the race chart, for 18 weeks. More than 60 years later, "The Honeydripper" remains tied with Louis Jordan's "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" for the longest-ever stay at the top of that chart. It logged a reported two million sales.

Liggins was born in Guthrie, Oklahoma, United States, and moved to San Diego, California in 1932. By the time he moved again, to Los Angeles in 1939, he began playing with various groups, including Sammy Franklin's California Rhythm Rascals. When Liggins asked him to record his song "The Honeydripper", Franklin declined, prompting Liggins to start his own band, which created many more hits in the next years, including "Got a Right to Cry" and the widely covered songs, "Tanya" and "Roll 'Em". Earl Hooker is noted for his cover of "Tanya". The original Joe Liggins and His Honeydrippers recordings were issued on the Exclusive Records imprint of brothers Leon and Otis Rene. Joe Liggins' Honeydrippers was formed in the basement of the Los Angeles home of the saxophonist Little Willie Jackson, who co-founded the group and who, at the time of his death in 2000, was the last original surviving member of the Honeydrippers.

In March 1954, the band took part in a benefit show held at the Club 5-4 in Los Angeles for the wife of Stan Getz.

Joe joined his brother Jimmy at Specialty Records in 1950, where he gained more hits including: "Rag Mop", "Boom-Chick-A-Boogie", "Pink Champagne", and "Little Joe's Boogie". His songs were mostly a blend of jump blues and basic R&B. With Roy Milton, he was an architect of the small-band jump blues of the first post-war decade. Liggins often toured with such acts as Jimmy Witherspoon, Amos Milburn and the jump blues shouter H-Bomb Ferguson. His 1950 releases, "Pink Champagne" and "I Gotta Right to Cry," both sold over one million copies and were awarded gold discs.

Although Liggins' success stopped in the late 1950s, he led a big band until his death following a stroke, in Lynwood, California, at the age of 72."

Nuggets of the Golden Age of Gospel 1945-1958 - Disc A

Good morning! More Sunday morning Gospel Goodness from Opal Louis Nations! This set documents Gospel performances from well known names of Gospel and popular music.

"A 105-track celebration of the beauty, spirituality and spontaneity that set postwar gospel apart from any music ever heard before it. Let these shake your soul: The World Can't Do Me No Harm Sister Ethel Davenport with Brownie McGhee; Mother's Song Five Blind Boys of Alabama; Jesus Is the Name Willie Mae Ford Smith; Same Train Golden Gate Quartet; One Day Angelic Gospel Singers & Dixie Hummingbirds; There Is Rest for the Weary Wynona Carr; No Matter How You Pray Mahalia Jackson; Didn't It Rain Sister Rosetta Tharpe; Jesus Remembers Claude Jeter & Swan Silvertones; Pilgrim of Sorrow Sam Cooke & Soul Stirrers, and more!"

Jimmy Reed - Found Love

It is hard for me to believe that this is the first Jimmy Reed post here, I LOVE me some Jimmy Reed, but sometimes you overlook the obvious.

"There isn't a bad track on Found Love. Not only are some of Jimmy Reed's biggest hits included -- "Baby What You Want Me to Do," "Big Boss Man," and "Hush Hush" -- but the title track is particularly notable, as it contains a one-note harp wail that proves to be vibrant, heartfelt, and timeless. As with most of Reed's albums of this period -- and most blues albums of this era -- the album contains material from across over a year's worth of sessions, from the spring of 1959 through the summer of 1960, with one track ("I Ain't Got You") pulled from a 1955 session. Eddie Taylor is playing a lot of the lead guitar, but Lefty Bates is also heard on many of the cuts, and Willie Dixon, no less, is playing bass on "Meet Me," "Big Boss Man," and "Come Love." Earl Phillips is responsible for all of the drumming, and Mary Lee "Mama" Reed is heard on the backing vocals of "Baby What You Want Me to Do." Reed's catalog has seen numerous reissues of varying quality across the decades, but the Collectables label did an admirable job in 2000, reissuing both Reed's library and that of John Lee Hooker from the same label with great sound quality and original packaging at a budget price." AMG

wiki - Reed was born in Dunleith, Mississippi, in 1925, learning the harmonica and guitar from Eddie Taylor, a close friend. After spending several years busking and performing in the area, Reed moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1943 before being drafted into the US Navy during World War II. In 1945, Reed was discharged and moved back to Mississippi for a brief period, marrying his girlfriend, Mary "Mama" Reed, before moving to Gary, Indiana to work at an Armour & Co. meat packing plant. Mama Reed appears as an uncredited background singer on many of his songs, notably the major hits "Baby What You Want Me to Do", "Big Boss Man" and "Bright Lights, Big City".

By the 1950s, Reed had established himself as a popular musician and joined the "Gary Kings" with John Brim, as well as playing on the street with Willie Joe Duncan. Reed failed to gain a recording contract with Chess Records, but signed with Vee-Jay Records through Brim's drummer, Albert King. At Vee-Jay, Reed began playing again with Eddie Taylor and soon released "You Don't Have to Go", his first hit record. This was followed by a long string of hits.

Reed maintained his reputation despite his rampant alcoholism; sometimes his wife had to help him remember the lyrics to his songs while recording. In 1957, Reed developed epilepsy, though the condition was not correctly diagnosed for a long time, as Reed and doctors assumed it was delirium tremors.


In spite of his numerous hits, Reed's personal problems prevented him from achieving the same level of fame as other popular blues artists of the time, though he had more hit songs than many others. When Vee-Jay Records closed down, Reed's manager signed a contract with the fledgling ABC-Bluesway label, but Reed was never able to score another hit.

In 1968 he toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival.

Jimmy Reed died in Oakland, California in 1976, of respiratory failure, eight days short of his 51st birthday. He is interred in the Lincoln Cemetery in Worth, Illinois.

Dinah Washington - The Queen Sings 1948-1951

Here are  parts 3 & 4 of this marvelous Proper set covering the first 7 years of recordings featuring The Queen.  (Thanks Cliff) For me these R&B years are some of my favorites (of course the 1954 Jam sessions are way up there too) of her too short career.

Like most singers of the age, Ms Dinah is covering tunes from all sorts of genre's but I think you can make a strong case that the music that she, Helen Humes and Billie Holiday are singing between 1944 and 1950 is as much R&B as it is Jazz. A scan through the titles here shows at least as many Blues/R&B songs as there are standards and Pop songs. Her version of Percy Mayfield's Please Send Me Someone To Love comes not even a year after the original, making it one of the earliest covers of that classic.

"Dinah Washington recorded a stunning amount of material in her too-short career (when she died in Detroit in 1963 she was only 39 years old -- somehow she still managed to find time for seven marriages), most of it during her lengthy association with Mercury Records between 1948 and 1955. Washington seemingly tackled everything under the sun in the recording studio, cutting jazz, R&B, blues, and pop sides with an assortment of small groups, trios, sextets, and increasingly, toward the end of her life, with large orchestras, and if she seemed to be gradually fading into blander and sleeker arrangements as time went on, her voice always remained focused and coiled, and her bluesy phrasing has influenced far more singers than most folks realize. This four-disc, 109-track set includes every side commercially released under Washington's name between 1944 and 1951 (each of the four discs has been previously released by Proper as a stand-alone album), opening with tracks recorded with Lionel Hampton and closing out with a couple of delightful selections recorded with the Ravens. Much of what is here falls to the R&B side, revealing a somewhat rougher style that will be revelatory to listeners only familiar with her later more smoothed-out pop material. This lady could sing anything in any style and make it her own (just listen to how she claims Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart" here). This box is an absolute treasure trove from one of the best singers of the 20th century." AMG

Gospel Celebrities & Celestial Lights

 Yet another Gospel wonder compiled by the great Opal Louis Nations. Pretty much an all star affair that would serve as a fine template to begin a Gospel collection simply by exploring each of the artists appearing here. So much here I can't mention all but in particular note Morgan Babb (the vocal style copied by O.V. Wright) and the amazing Joe Hinton.

"This two disc release from specialist label Fantastic Voyage mostly features formative gospel music and sanctified blues from between 1949 to 1959 and the sheer diversity and quality contained within its 52 tracks makes it a musical treasure trove of the highest order. As its title boasts, a plethora of celebrities of their time - both gospel and secular - are featured here with legends such as the Staple Singers, the Golden Gate Quartet, Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the Five Blind Boys Of Alabama making appearances alongside the likes of Little Richard who appears here in accomplished blues singer mode. Elsewhere, a fascinating insight into the gospel roots of eventual mainstream big-timers such as Lou Rawls and Sam Cooke is given - the latter checks in with a delightful, previously unissued take of "Jesus, Wash Away My Troubles" - whilst pre-teen cuts from future stars Bobby Womack and Candi Staton in "The Bible Tells Me So" and "Too Late" add further historical value. As with many retrospective compilations, what makes this release stand out is the number of unexpected nuggets that grab the listener's attention. For example, the privilege of hearing previously unreleased live performances of "Jesus Brought Me" and "I Found Joy" by Dewey Young and the Swan Silvertones for the first time cannot be underestimated whilst the simply exquisite doo wop exposé "Ladder Of Prayer" at the hands of the vastly underrated Joe Hinton is the icing on the cake of this superlative and essential release. (Lins Honeyman; Cross Rhythms)

disc 1:
1. Mother Take Your Rest - The Soul Seekers 2. Jesus, Wash Away My Troubles - Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers 3. Dedication To Mother - Rev. Morgan Babb & The Philco Singers 4. Low Is The Way [Original Version] - The Staple Singers 5. Walk Around Me (My) Lord - The Sensational Wonders (A.K.A. The Mighty Clouds Of Joy) 6. When He Spoke [Live] - Mahalia Jackson 7. On Revival Day - Marie Knight & The Sensational Nightingales 8. I've Got A New Home - Nightingale & The Dixie Nightingales 9. I'm Tired - Ethel Davenport With Brownie Mcghee 10. Coming Up Thru The Years - The Five Blind Boys Of Alabama 11. When He Calls Me - Marion Williams 12. Robe Of Calvary - The Orioles 13. Amazing Grace [Instrumental] - Jesse Fuller 14. Ladder Of Prayer - Joe Hinton 15. Too Late - Candi Staton & The Jewel Gospel Trio 16. I'll Live Again - The Dixie Hummingbirds 17. This Same Jesus - The Staple Singers 18. God Has Promised [Fragments, Live] - George Mccurn & The Pilgrim Travelers 19. I Want To Go To Heaven And Rest - Nappy Brown With The Selah Singers 20. I Can Hear The Angels - Sister Rosetta Tharpe & The Harmonizing Four 21. I May Never Pass This Way Again - The Zion Travelers 22. I'm A Pilgrim - The Golden Gate Quartet 23. Big Wheel - The Gospel Clefs 24. Just A Little Talk With Jesus - The Jordanaires 25. Search Me Lord - Betty Hutton Presents Odessa Mccastle & Catherine Burkes With The Antioch Evangelist Temple 26. Steal Away To Jesus - The Gospel Clefs

disc 2:
1. On The Rock - The Soul Seekers 2. Cold Cold Ground - Rev. Morgan Babb & The Philco Singers 3. Living For My Jesus - Ollie Nightingale & The Dixie Nightingales 4. Since He Lightened My Heavy Load - The Staple Singers 5. Beautiful City - The Zion Travelers 6. Each Day [Live] - Mahalia Jackson 7. Book Of Revelations - The Gospel Clefs 8. In The Upper Room - Lavern Baker & The Alex Bradford Singers 9. I'm Serving The Lord - The Soul Seekers 10. This Old World (That Great Judgment Day) - Goldia Haynes With Joe Liggins 11. Have Thine Own Way - The Golden Gate Quartet 12. Satisfied With Jesus - Marie Knight & The Sensational Nightingales 13. Hark From The Tomb - Jesse Fuller 14. Last Mile Of The Way [Take 2] - Sam Cooke, Paul Foster & The Soul Stirrers 15. Be Ready When He Comes - Ann Cole & The Colemanaires 16. Somebody Touched Me - Judy Guions & The Drinkard Singers 17. Say A Prayer For The Boys In Korea - Little Joe Cook & The Evening Star Quartet 18. Ocean Of Prayer - The Sims Brothers (A.K.A. The Sims Twins) 19. Believe In Me - The Zion Travelers 20. Today (Evening Song) - The Dixie Hummingbirds & The Angelic Gospel Singers 21. Talking About My Mother [Alt. Take] - Little Richard 22. Strange Things Happening Every Day - Bill Doggett Quintet With Sister Dorothy Willett 23. The Bible Tells Me So - 10-Year-Old Bobby Womack & The Womack Brothers 24. Won't Be Back - Lou Rawls & The Chosen Gospel Singers 25. This May Be The Last Time [Original] - The Staple Singers 26. Jesus Brought Me / I Found Joy [Fragments, Live] - Dewey Young & The Swan Silvertones

Dinah Washington - The Queen Sings 1944-1947

Dinah is some of the earliest music I remember hearing at home, my Mom has always been  a fan. I've not read enough about her to be able to do any better than the wiki for now:

"Ruth Jones was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States, and moved to Chicago as a child. Dinah became deeply involved in gospel and played piano for the choir in St. Luke's Baptist Church while she was still in elementary school. She sang gospel music in church and played piano, directing her church choir in her teens and being a member of the Sallie Martin Gospel Singers. She sang lead with the first female gospel singers formed by Ms Martin, who was co-founder of the Gospel Singers Convention. Jones' involvement with the gospel choir occurred after she won an amateur contest at Chicago's Regal Theater where she sang "I Can't Face the Music".

After winning a talent contest at the age of 15, she began performing in clubs. By 1941-42 she was performing in such Chicago clubs as Dave's Rhumboogie and the Downbeat Room of the Sherman Hotel (with Fats Waller). She was playing at the Three Deuces, a jazz club, when a friend took her to hear Billie Holiday at the Garrick Stage Bar. Joe Sherman was so impressed with her singing of "I Understand", backed by The Cats and The Fiddle, who were appearing in the Garrick's upstairs room, that he hired her. During her year at the Garrick - she sang upstairs while Holiday performed in the downstairs room - she acquired the name by which she became known. She credited Joe Sherman with suggesting it. Hampton's visit brought an offer, and Dinah went to work as his female vocalist in 1943 after she had sung with the band for its opening at the Chicago Regal Theatre. She sang with the Hampton band for two years.

She made her recording debut for the Keynote label that December with "Evil Gal Blues", written by Leonard Feather and backed by Hampton and musicians from his band, including Joe Morris (trumpet) and Milt Buckner (piano). Both that record and its follow-up, "Salty Papa Blues", made Billboard's "Harlem Hit Parade" in 1944.

She stayed with Hampton's band until 1946 and, after the Keynote label folded, signed for Mercury Records as a solo singer. Her first record for Mercury, a version of Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'", was another hit, starting a long string of success. Between 1948 and 1955, she had 27 R&B top ten hits, making her one of the most popular and successful singers of the period. Both "Am I Asking Too Much" (1948) and "Baby Get Lost" (1949) reached Number 1 on the R&B chart, and her version of "I Wanna Be Loved" (1950) crossed over to reach Number 22 on the US pop chart. Her hit recordings included blues, standards, novelties, pop covers, and even a version of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart" (R&B Number 3, 1951). At the same time as her biggest popular success, she also recorded sessions with many leading jazz musicians, notably Clifford Brown on the 1954 live album Dinah Jams, and also recorded with Cannonball Adderley, Clark Terry, and Ben Webster....
(this is as far into her career as we are going in this set)
....Washington was married seven times. Her husbands were John Young (1942–43), George Jenkins (1946), Robert Grayson (1947), Walter Buchanan (1950), saxophonist Eddie Chamblee (1957), Rafael Campos (1961), and pro football player Dick "Night Train" Lane (1963). She had two sons: George Kenneth Jenkins and Robert Grayson.

Early on the morning of December 14, 1963, Washington's seventh husband Lane went to sleep with his wife, and awoke later to find her slumped over and not responsive. Doctor B. C. Ross came to the scene to pronounce her dead. An autopsy later showed a lethal combination of secobarbital and amobarbital, which contributed to her death at the age of 39. She is buried in the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.

Sweet Soul Music 1963

 When you start from way back in 1945 and do these one at a time, it gets increasingly difficult to find anything to say, but the year 1963 makes me think....I've read pieces where the period just prior to the British Invasion is described as a near vacuum which the new music rushed in to fill....Hmmm Bobby Bland, Mary Wells, Ruby & The Romantics, Otis Redding, The Miracles, Chuck Jackson, Jackie Wilson, Baby Washington, Marvin Gaye, Solomon Burke, Etta James, Garnet Mimms, Little Johnny Taylor...hardly what I would call a vacuum and that is just within the narrow focus of this compilation. The sad truth is, however, that many of the folks on this disc would be scuffling for work just a year or two down the road. 

Looking down the list I am struck by how little blues there is compared to previous years.