Various Artists - The Birth Of Modern Blues

This surprisingly cohesive set collects the complete 1950s recordings of Fenton Robinson, LittleMilton, Little Junior Parker, Earl Forest, Johnny Ace, and Bobby "Blue" Bland for the various Bihari Brothers labels (Meteor, Flair, and Modern) and adds four cuts from B.B. King's 1950 session for RPM Records. The result is a nice anthology of mostly uptown blues tracks highlighted by Robinson's impressive and soulful "Tennessee Woman," Forest's deliciously loose "Rumpus Romp," Bland's early signature tune "Drifting from Town to Town," and King's "B.B.'s Boogie," which finds the guitarist honking along joyously on a semi-improvised vamp. A young Matt Murphy is featured on guitar on Junior Parker's two sides.
(AllMusic Review by Steve Leggett)

Some years ago I was looking for a copy of Little Milton's 'Love At First Sight' and couldn't find it anywhere. I eventually found and purchased an obscure Japanese CD that did have this rarity. And here it is with some other rare recordings. Some, like the B B King sides, are easy to locate but this disc is a pretty expensive buy ...if you can find a copy. 
It sounds like they lifted these sides direct from the vinyl originals but it's very listenable if you are into historic recordings. Anyway...it is what it is...and now available at 'Chitlins' for those that cherish this stuff. Musician details are in the scans - Gus

Johnny Ace - The Memorial Album

 Johnny Ace (June 9, 1929 – December 25, 1954), born John Marshall Alexander, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. Alexander's father was a preacher in Tennessee. After serving in the navy during the Korean War, Alexander joined Adolph Duncan's Band as a pianist. He then joined the B. B. King band. Soon King departed for Los Angeles and vocalist Bobby Bland joined the army. Alexander took over vocal duties and renamed the band The Beale Streeters, also taking over King's WDIA radio show.

Becoming "Johnny Ace", he signed to Duke Records (originally a Memphis label associated with WDIA) in 1952. Urbane 'heart-ballad' "My Song," his first recording, topped the R&B charts for nine weeks in September. ("My Song" was covered in 1968 by Aretha Franklin, on the flipside of "See Saw".)

Ace began heavy touring, often with Willa Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. In the next two years, he had eight hits in a row, including "Cross My Heart," "Please Forgive Me," "The Clock," "Yes, Baby," "Saving My Heart for You," and "Never Let Me Go." In December, 1954 he was named the Most Programmed Artist Of 1954 after a national DJ poll organized by U.S. trade weekly Cash Box.

Ace's recordings sold very well for those times. Early in 1955, Duke Records announced that the three 1954 Johnny Ace recordings, along with Thornton's "Hound Dog", had sold more than 1,750,000 records.


After touring for a year, Ace had been performing at the City Auditorium in Houston, Texas on Christmas 1954. During a break between sets, he was playing with a .22 cal revolver. Members of his band said he did this often, sometimes shooting at roadside signs from their car.

It was widely reported that Ace killed himself playing Russian roulette. Big Mama Thornton's bass player Curtis Tillman, however, who witnessed the event, said, "I will tell you exactly what happened! Johnny Ace had been drinking and he had this little pistol he was waving around the table and someone said ‘Be careful with that thing…’ and he said ‘It’s okay! Gun’s not loaded…see?’ and pointed it at himself with a smile on his face and ‘Bang!’ – sad, sad thing. Big Mama ran outta that dressing room yelling ‘Johnny Ace just killed himself!"

Thornton said in a written statement (included in the book The Late Great Johnny Ace) that Ace had been playing with the gun, but not playing Russian roulette. According to Thornton, Ace pointed the gun at his girlfriend and another woman who were sitting nearby, but did not fire. He then pointed the gun toward himself. The gun went off, shooting him in the side of the head.

According to Nick Tosches, Ace actually shot himself with a .32 pistol, not a .22, and it happened only a little more than an hour after he had bought a brand new 1955 Oldsmobile.

Ace's funeral was on January 9, 1955, at Memphis' Clayborn Temple AME church. It was attended by an estimated 5000 people.

"Pledging My Love" became a posthumous R&B #1 hit for ten weeks beginning February 12, 1955. As Billboard bluntly put it, Ace's death "created one of the biggest demands for a record that has occurred since the death of Hank Williams just over two years ago." His single sides were compiled and released as The Johnny Ace Memorial Album.