Earl King - Let The Good Times Roll

Thanks again to Cliff!

Jasmine does a real nice job with these sets and they usually sound better than their predecessors. Well worth checking against what you already have before you decide which to keep.

Earl King @ Tipitina's 1991

Another unpublished flashback

Earl King at Tipitina's, 1991 by Kingcake on Mixcloud

Earl King was certainly a veteran of the Chitlins Circut. Earl used to travel and perform as Guitar Slim because no-one knew what Slim looked like and Slim wanted to stay home in New Orleans.

This is the best live Earl King show you will ever hear, period. This show was a live WWOZ broadcast from an event called R & B Night at Tipitina's. Earl is with George Porter, Red Morgan and most likely whoever else was in The Running Partners of the time. The opening track is George and The Pahtna's, and then, it's star time ....Earl comes out to sing a thoroughly satisfying program of some of his best known tunes. Earl was a great singer and and a gifted writer with an unusual, lean guitar style. He is one of the very few song writers whom Jimi Hendrix covered (Let the Good Times Roll on Electric Ladyland). Any fan of Earl King or just New Orleans music in general will find this one is a must have.

Earl King - R & B Night at Tipitina's 1991
WWOZ radio broadcast
1 Running Partner
2 Over the Hill
3 Lonely, Lonely Nights
4 Trick Bag
5 Things I Used to Do
6 Always a First Time
7 You and I
8 Time for the Sun to Rise
9 Let the Good Times Roll

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.

Earl King - Come On, The Complete Imperial Recordings

 Another lovely contribution from guitar gus and one that has become rare and expensive:

Hard to figure out how this is no longer in print as it represents Earl's greatest work. For that matter it is a bit of a mystery to me that in this age of label centered reissues, there is no Imperial box and few of the artists outside of Fats have been compiled either. The catalog apparently belongs to EMI who seem to be out to best MCA in the race for worst stewards of a precious trust. Hopefully they will eventually allow Ace or Kent to do what they are obviously unwilling to do.

"...Various independent record labels in New Orleans created and perfected a sound that would cross over from black to white audiences and vice versa. Earl King's work at both Specialty (home of Little Richard and Lloyd Price) and Ace (home to Frankie Ford and Huey "Piano" Smith) were nothing short of outstanding, but it was his work at Imperial (home to Fats Domino) with Dave Bartholomew that truly stands out. That is the subject of a new complete exploration on Okra Tone/Rooster Records.
Included on this retrospective are King’s Imperial hits “Come On (Parts 1 and 2)” (also known as “Let the Good Times Roll,” the motto of New Orleans), “Trick Bag” and “Always a First Time.” All of these sound as fresh and vibrant as the day they were released in the early 1960’s, displaying Bartholomew's exquisite touch and King's keen execution.
Also included in this collection are other historical recordings plus tracks that were never released. The April 13, 1961 sessions, which featured the great pianist James Booker plus Bartholomew and Wardell Quezergue, are particularly enjoyable. These recordings include “You Better Know,” “Mama and Papa,” plus the unreleased “It’s Wrong” and “Case of Love.”
While this is an excellent collection of a sometimes overlooked but unquestionably important artist, the producers sequenced the music in order of its recording date. This subtracts from a natural flow and makes it feel sometimes more like a historical document than a record. But that does not detract from the overall power and enjoyment you will feel when you press play." Charlie Dahan, All About Jazz. 

Hmmm, given that these were all singles I would wish to ask Mr. Dahan what other method of sequencing he would suggest, aside from alphabetical or release date, what other criteria is there and what would constitute his "natural flow"? 

Earl King - Earl's Pearls

Another Guitar Gus contribution and a big one! These Westside sets were hard to find when they were in print and now just forget it! I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that I had yet to do a biographical post for Earl and now it will be paired with his first recordings as it should be.

Earl King (February 7, 1934 – April 17, 2003) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, most active in blues music. A composer of well known standards such as "Come On" (covered by Jimi Hendrix) and Professor Longhair's "Big Chief"...King was born Earl Silas Johnson IV in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father, a local piano player, died when King was still a baby, and he was brought up by his mother. With his mother, he started going to church at an early age. In his youth he sang gospel music, but took the advice of a friend to switch to blues to make a better living.

King started to play guitar at age 15. Soon he started entering talent contests at local clubs including the Dew Drop Inn. It was at one of those clubs where he met his idol Guitar Slim. King started imitating Slim, and his presence gave a big impact on his musical directions. In 1954, when Slim was injured in an automobile accident (right around the time Slim had the #1 R&B hit with "The Things That I Used To Do"), King was deputized to continue Slim's band tour, representing himself as Slim. After succeeding in this role, King became a regular at the Dew Drop Inn.

His first recording came in 1953. He released a 78 "Have you Gone Crazy" b/w "Begging At Your Mercy" on Savoy label as Earl Johnson. The following year, talent scout Johnny Vincent introduced King to Specialty label, and he recorded some sides including "Mother's Love" which created a little stir locally. In 1955, King signed with Johnny Vincent's label, Ace. His first single from the label "Those Lonely, Lonely Nights" become hit reaching #7 on the US Billboard R&B chart. He continued to record during his five year stay at the label, and during that time, he also he started writing songs for other artists such as Roland Stone and Jimmy Clanton.

In 1960, Dave Bartholomew invited King to record for the Imperial Records. At the label, he was backed by host of musicians including Bob and George French, James Booker, and Wardell Quezergue. It was at this label he recorded his signature songs "Come On" and "Trick Bag". The former of which remained a much covered standard for decades especially for Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Anson Funderburgh. The latter has also been widely covered including versions by The Meters and Robert Palmer.

King also co-wrote a number of songs with Bartholomew, either under his own name or under the pseudonyms of "Pearl King" and "E.C. King". One of the best known collaborations between Bartholomew and King is the rhythm and blues standard, "I Hear You Knocking", originally recorded in 1955. The latter song is variously credited to Pearl King and E.C King as the co-writer, with Bartholomew.

King recorded for Imperial till 1963, but he went without a recording contract for the remainder of the 1960s. During this time, he mostly concentrated in producing and songwriting for local labels NOLA and Watch. His compositions from this era includes Professor Longhair's "Big Chief", Willie Tee's "Teasin' You", and Lee Dorsey's "Do-Re-Mi". He also went to Detroit for an audition with Motown Records and recorded a few tracks in the mid 1960s. Three tracks from the session appeared on the Motown's Blue Evolution CD released in 1996).

In 1972, he was joined by Allen Toussaint and the Meters to record the album Street Parade. Though Atlantic initially showed interest in releasing it, they eventually declined. The title cut "Street Parade" was released as a single from Kansu label at the time, but the rest had to wait till 1982 to see the light of the day, when the album was finally released by Charly Records in the UK.

During the 1970s, he recorded another album That Good Old New Orleans Rock 'n Roll which was released by Sonet in 1977. He also appeared on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1976 album.

In the early 1980s, he also met Hammond Scott, co-owner of Black Top Records, and started to record for the label. The first album Glazed, backed up by Roomful of Blues was released in 1986, and a second album, Sexual Telepathy came in 1990. It featured Snooks Eaglin as a guest on two tracks, and also Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters backed him up on some tracks. His third from the label Hard River To Cross (1993) was backed by George Porter, Jr., David Torkanowsky, and Herman V. Ernest, III.

In 2001, he was hospitalized for an illness during a tour to New Zealand, however, that did not stop him from performing. In December of the same year, he toured Japan, and he continued to perform off and on locally in New Orleans until his death.

He died on April 17, 2003, from diabetes related complications,  just a week before the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. His funeral was held during the Festival period on April 30, and many musicians including Dr. John, Leo Nocentelli and Aaron Neville were in attendance.

Earl King - New Orleans Blues

How about some Earl King with the mighty Meters, Allen Toussaint and that Sansu horn section that usually included Gary Brown and Clyde Kerr and a rotating cast of other guys. This album has been out under the names Street Parade and A Mother's Love as well as New Orleans Blues but never seems to stay around for very long. A damn shame too because this is some of the best of all Earl's work; it was the one he seemed to personally like best, at least that's what he said in a interview I recall hearing a year or so before he died. Most of the songs are Earl's of course but a couple are penned by Toussaint. The Meters give it all a funky under layer but most of these tunes lean more towards blues and r & b than the pure NOLA funk usually associated with the Funky Four. There are 3 or 4 more tracks from these sessions that haven't been included for some reason but ya takes what ya gets.

Earl King - New Orleans Blues
Sansu 1972, Tomato 2005 [uber std mp3]

01 Mother's Love
02 Part of Me
03 Am I Your Dog
04 Fallin'
05 I'm Gonna Keep on Trying
06 Love Look Out for Me
07 Mama & Papa
08 Medieval Days
09 Some People
10 Street Parade
11 Do the Grind
12 Real McCoy
13 Up on the Hill
14 This Is What I Call Living
15 You Make Me Feel Good

Earl King - Sexual Telepathy

In the early 90's the great Earl King had one last burst of creativity and did two killer albums for Black Top Records that gave us 23 mostly new songs from one of the greatest singer/songwriters New Orleans has ever known. The first of these was 'Sexual Telepathy', which features my all time favorite EK song 'Time for the Sun to Rise'. That song is playing right now and it still gives me a little chill...too, too pretty. Earl is backed three bands: a NOLA allstar group, Ronnie Earl's Broadcasters and his own Antone's House band. Every arrangement is super tight, and Mark Kazamov's Kamikazi Horns rock the session on every tune. Earl's singing is stronger than ever and the songs...oh, the songs.

I promise this will put some glide in yo stride, a dip in yo hip and some stuff in yo strut. If you ain't hip to Earl King then you'd best get busy!

Earl King - Sexual Telepathy

Black Top Records 1990

1) Old Mr Bad Luck
2) I'll Take You Back Home
3) A Weary Silent Night
4) Time for the Sun to Rise
5) No One More for the Road
6) Going Public
7) Love is the Way of Life
8) Sexual Telepathy
9) Happy Little Nobody's Waggy Tail Dog
10) Always a First Time
11) Make A Better World

Earl King vocals, guitar, songs, George Porter Jr bass, Kenny Blevins drums, Ron Levy organ, Snooks Eaglin guitar, Ronnie Earl guitar, Mark Kazamov sax solos, Mr. Excello tenor sax, Keith Winkling trumpet, Saxy Boy tenor sax, Dickie Reed piano, organ, Steve Gomes bass, Per Hanson drums, Derek O'Brian guitar, Floyd Domino organ, Sarah Brown bass, George Raines drums

Earl King - Hard River to Cross

Numba two of the fine Black Top Earl King releases came out some four years later and is every bit the equal of 'Sexual Therapy'. Just one mind f*** band of New Orleans big boys on this one. George Porter Jr and Dave Torkanowsky head up a cast of heavyweights that also includes Snooks Eaglin, Herman Ernest III, Sammy Berfect, and a revamped version of Mark 'Kaz' Kazimov's Kamikazi Horns. I actually read a review by a truly clueless and nationally published individual (who shall remain nameless) this morning in which he stated that Earl's singing was his weak point and didn't seem to come easily. Who the hell was he talking about and what the hell was he listening to? This man was an absolutely killer singer! Now if you were going to criticize his guitar playing I'd have to go along, but to cap on his singing just proves you ain't listening. At least he recognized that the songs were especially good. If you are just digging the crap out of these be aware that there is a glorious live recording of Earl from Tips about 2 months back on this blog.

Earl King - Hard River to Cross
Black Top Records 1994


1) Medieval Days
2) Seduction
3) Hard River to Cross
4) Clairvoyant Lady
5) It Hurts to Love Someone
6) No City Like New Orleans
7) You Better Know
8) Big Foot
9) Your Love Means More to Me Than Gold
10) I'm Still Holding On
11) Handy Wrap
12) Love Can Save the World

Earl King vocals, songs, guitar, George Porter Jr bass, production
Dave Torkanowsky piano, organ, keyboards, production,
Sammy Berfect organ, Snooks Eaglin guitar,
Herman 'the German' Ernest drums, Mark Kazimov all sax solos
Ernest Youngblood Jr tenor sax, JB Goode tenor sax,
Keith Winking trumpet, Rick Trolsen trombone