Paul Gayten - Ain't Nothing Happenin'

The more you listen to this man, the more you are aware  of how great he and his bands were, easily on a par with even Louie Jordan and his ensemble. Just as Jordan was always an underrated horn player, you will discover than Gayten was a terrific piano player as well as a singer and band leader.

Between this set and the one offered previously you have pretty much all Gayten's Deluxe and Regal sides, his entire 'sweet spot'. After this material, Paul accepts an executive position at Chess and is far less active as an artist although his Chess sides are also worth seeking out even though it is no longer a working band.

Once again some of these tracks feature the great singer Annie Laurie, but many others feature another Gayten discovery, singer and occasional female impersonator Larry Darnell. I won't go into a lot of detail yet about Darnell, he's getting his own post which will also give you more Gayten. Paul was really the first king of New Orleans R&B, Dave Bartholomew, Lee Allen, and Roy Brown all come out of Gayten and he influenced every piano player in a town full of bad-ass piano players!

Regal Records in New Orleans

Paul Gayten... the original Dude of New Orleans R&B (notice that is capital D dude). Before Dave and Fats and even Roy and Fess, there was Gayten. Sharp as a tack in a big Cadillac with a large and super tight, super disciplined band, ala Louie Jordan.

"Gayten was born in Kentwood, Louisiana, the nephew of blues pianist Little Brother Montgomery. In his teens he played piano in local bands while also setting up his own group, Paul Gayten's Sizzling Six, which featured future bebop saxophonist Teddy Edwards.

During the war, he led a band at the Army base in Biloxi, Mississippi. He then moved to New Orleans and, with a new trio, established a residency at the Club Robin Hood. In 1947 the trio recorded two of the first New Orleans hits of the R&B era, "True (You Don't Love Me)", and "Since I Fell for You", the latter featuring singer Annie Laurie. Both made the R&B top ten. Gayten also backed singer Chubby Newsom on her hit "Hip Shakin’ Mama".

In 1949 he expanded his combo into a nine-piece orchestra and moved to Regal Records. There, Gayten wrote the #1 R&B hit "For You My Love" for Larry Darnell, and recorded "I’ll Never Be Free" with Annie Laurie. His orchestra toured widely, for a period adding saxophonist Hank Mobley and singer Little Jimmy Scott, and appearing on double bills with both Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. In 1952 he moved to Okeh Records.

In 1953 he decided to quit as a touring bandleader and joined Chess Records as a talent scout, producer, promotion man, songwriter and part-time musician and recording artist. He discovered Clarence "Frogman" Henry and produced his first hit, "Ain't Got No Home", in 1956, later going on to co-write and produce his biggest hit, "But I Do", in 1961. At Chess, Gayten produced Bobby Charles' "Later Alligator" and played piano on Chuck Berry’s "Carol". In 1956 he also had one of the biggest hits of his own career with "The Music Goes Round And Round", followed up by "Nervous Boogie".

In 1960 he moved to Los Angeles with his wife Odile to run the Chess operations there. In 1968 he set up his own label, Pzazz, which recorded Louis Jordan, among others. He continued to live in Los Angeles with Odile after retiring in the 1970s, and died there in 1991.