I've finally found a collection of Buddy Ace's Duke singles! They have not yet received any modern remastering so they are still mixed for jukeboxes, but it is better than nothing.
Born Jimmy Lee Land in Jasper, TX, on November 11, 1936, bluesman "Buddy Ace" was known as "The Silver Fox of the Blues". His name was changed to "Buddy Ace" by Duke's Don Robey after Johnnie Ace's younger brother (St. Clair Alexander) had no success with the handle. Lee Land started out singing in gospel groups (at least one of which also contained Joe Tex) before going into R & B in the early 50s. He toured in Bobby Bland and Junior Parker's bands before he finally got a record contract of his own with Duke/Peacock in 1955. In the mid-'60s, Ace had several R&B hits including "Nothing in the World Can Hurt Me (Except You)" and "Hold On (To This Fool)," but he never scored a major breakthrough. Buddy relocated to Los Angeles in 1970 (after the sale of Duke and death of Don Robey) and later moved to Oakland; he spent much of this period touring in and around the Bay Area. (including Eli's Mile High Club, Jack's and Larry Blake's) Ace continued to perform and record into the '90s with 3 albums released on Leon Haywood's Evejim imprint. Ace passed away on December 26, 1994, at 58 while performing in Waco, TX.
15 comments:
Thanks KC
A new name for me and I really like this stuff !
Classic period performances
Cheers
Great stuff KC. And this Robey dude is some producer, no?
Interesting comment, from what I've read Don Robey did some of the production himself but Duke/Peacock also had in-house producers like Johnny Otis, Bill Harvey, Joe Scott, and later Willie Mitchell before he went to HI. There is no production credit indication in my discography so I have no idea who was involved in his recordings.
I'll be honest KC, I was being half facetious in saying that - but only half. I was thinking of the D. Malone writing credits on Duke and Peacock recordings which was some feat for a man who never wrote a tune in his life.
Ira Tucker has some harsh things to say about him but, maybe most interestingly, Bobby Bland won't hear a word against him despite what went on with publishing and production credits. Which is maybe the most important point of all - Bland certainly thinks so. Without Robey, whatever his motivation, the music wouldn't have been out there. It's fair comment and it's more than I've ever achieved, so I'm in no position to criticise. Credit where it's due...
Given the times, the area, and the fact that he was a black businessman in a white controlled industry, we shouldn't be all that surprised that Robey ran things with a tight-fistedness every bit the equal of his Jewish counterparts with a thuggish component thrown in.
One thing musical you can certainly credit him with is the move to full R&B band accompaniment to Gospel, a hallmark of Peacock Gospel at Robey's insistence.
KingCake! You have made my day, my week, my month, my year... As I wrote in an earlier post, this kind of collection has been at the top of my want list for a long time.
The BB Bland influence is present throughout. It would be interesting to know the recording dates of all of the tunes, but one can almost hear the year in each tune by associating it with the chronological development of the arrangements in BBBland's repertoire.
Practically all I know of Buddy Ace is what I've gleaned from this site. Many thanks for adding to my education.
Please re-up. All the links are dead, and this disc (which seems to be a British bootleg) is unavailable in the states. Thanks so much in advance.
Great stuff, thanks....
Wayne
Fantastic , Thank you !
Thanks for this - an unexpected Treat on Halloween!
Great collection. Thanks!
http://www.embedupload.com/?d=3CGZCNGMMW
Brilliant thank you!
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