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.