Roburt

Sonny Til may have been going up to New York to record (with Gregory Carroll) in 1960, but he was still based in Baltimore & doing lots of shows locally. He had a revue show that toured & played locally. His entourage included his 'young niece' Virgie Tillman (aka Virgie Till) at the time and she was given her own part of the show. Only trouble was Sonny's wife knew the members of his family and so knew their was no relative called Virgie ... so their marriage was soon over ...

A Doo Wop / R&B / soul story ... . . . . this tale starts in Baltimore in the 1940's. Charlie Carroll was in a group called the Four Buds, who made recordings with the Earl "Fatha" Hines orchestra. Charlie had a younger brother John, who decided to follow him into music. He started his own group, the Metronomes. They went along to the Royal Theatre (1950) when Johnny Otis was the star attraction and Savoy Records' owner, Herman Lubinsky was also in attendance. Lubinsky was looking for a group to back up Little Esther (Phillips). The Metronomes became that group and were soon recording themselves under the name of the 4 Buddies. John Carroll took on the stage name of GREGORY CARROLL and forged a music career with the 4 Buddies, then the Orioles and Dappers. Along the way he also got into production work and song writing. Next he started a duo, Peg & Greg (1957). By 1960, Gregory was producing fellow Balto singer Sonny Til (ex of the Orioles). He got back into singing by starting a gospel group, the Halos. This group included Doris Troy (aka Doris Payne) as a member. Doris went into secular music and by 1963 had a big solo hit with "Just One Look" that she and Gregory Carrol had penned (the 45's B side being penned by Doris, Gregory & Rex Garvin) . . . . . Just weeks later, Henry Glover cut the Flamingos in New York on a song titled "Come To My Party". This song had been written by Gregory Carroll in conjunction with Earl Jackson (Copyright: words & music -- GREGORY CARROLL & EARL JACKSON for Figure Music, Inc. -- 23 JUL 63). Gregory & Earl Jackson have 8 joint compositions registered with BMI . . . . . . . I'm unclear what happened next .... Across New York; early 60's .... ABC-Paramount Records were based out of New York but expanded to also have offices in LA (61) and Chicago. On the soul front, they had signed the Impressions in 1961. They also signed other people up to expand their 'black music' output. They needed extra song writers too on their team & so were offering work to NY based guys (Gregory Carroll & Earl Jackson being prime candidates, though Gregory Carroll was successful enough elsewhere to resist any approach). After cutting the Impressions in New York (1961/62), the group went back to Chicago to start recording there (in conjunction with Johnny Pate). The Impressions were soon ABC's top soul act and Johnny Pate was cutting lots of hits for the label. Because of this, ABC were sending New York black artists to record with him in Chicago .... .... ... SOME TIME PASSES ... ... In late summer 1968, Johnny Pate oversaw a Chicago studio session during which he cuts an EARL JACKSON on a track titled "SOUL SELF SATISFACTION" ... the subsequent ABC 45 would prove to be Earl Jackson's only release on the label and Johnny Pate (when asked) couldn't remember one fact about the song (which he co-penned), the session, the singer or anything at all about the whole affair -- Johnny stated "at the time I was so busy, I'd just go into the studio from 9 to 5 and cut everyone ABC sent for me to work with" ... ... RE: the song's composer credits ... I'm assuming Earl Jackson arrived @ the Chicago recording studio with a 'completed song' ... however Johnny Pate wasn't 100% happy with the thing, so he added his input during the recording session and so ended up with joint credit when the song was registered with BMI. SO .... an EARL JACKSON was a successful song writer in New York before the mid 60's ... ... THEN an EARL JACKSON cut "Soul Self Satisfaction" for NY based ABC Records after the mid 60's ... . . . . . . . . . MMmmmm . . . MAYBE IT'S ALL JUST COINCIDENTAL ... but just maybe ?? ... . . . . . if I'm wrong, then the EARL JACKSON mystery will just continue on ...

An earlier post ... Jose Feliciano was at his best on covers -- his take on "Golden Lady" is just sublime.

Alan Price had good taste in music. He liked his soul, so the Alan Price Set's initial four UK singles included his covers of "Any Day Now", "I Put A Spell On You" & "Yours Until Tomorrow". While an EP from the group released in France during the same time period featured "Barefootin", "Have Mercy" & "Getting Mighty Crowded".

Two other things to mention .... BG got delusions of grandeur in the mid 60's, wanting his acts to get bookings at the likes of the Copa in New York. For that reason, he signed lots of MOR nightclub acts who were already playing similar clubs. Lots of their Motown recordings were MOR tat, I don't know how their stuff made it thru quality control meetings. The likes of Barbara McNair was one such act (Billy Eckstine another). Their LP's were a mix of good traditional Motown tracks + lots of MOR rubbish. By the early 70's, BG had took his eye off the ball as far as the record side of the business was concerned. He put people in charge who weren't up to the task (Suzanne De Passe, etc). So from that point, lots of shite got released. Also vanity projects were allowed to go forward. Gwen Glenn productions, run by Gwen Gordy, being one such. From what I was told, she'd sign male acts that she wanted to date and then go partying with them for days on end. Not the ideal situation if you wanted good product.

Two latin soul cuts; both being cover versions of the same song ...

BB's original was great bluesy soul ... this runs it so close ... JOSE ... live ... Mr. Excitement doing good again ... opening a few doors too ...

COVAY TRIVIA >> Back in 1963, the London based jazz guys were swopping over to R&B and many clubs in the capital were doing the same. Alexis Korner started up a Blues / R&B club (The Blues Club !) by hiring the Empire Rooms on Tottenham Court Rd. There his band would play + he'd book other similar acts. One such act being the Graham Bond Quartet. Graham himself having just moved from jazz (with the The New Don Rendell Quintet) to R&B. Also with Graham in that jazz band was Phil Kinorra (aka Julien Covey). By the time Graham Bond had started his own R&B band, Julien Covey had also moved on and was playing drums in the Brian Auger Trio, who became the Brian Auger Trinity ... this is Covey (Phil Kinorra) playing drums on this track ..

Am I getting confused or is this not the 45 that only exists coz Paul Mooney got Stan Lewis to press up loads of copies for the UK market ?

Is it a known song (A THING CALLED LOVE) or a new tune with a previously used title ? Sonny's father was career military, so he lived on many US bases in my different countries. He came to the UK sometime between 1960 & 1963 to perform as a singer. He played the Star-Club in Hamburg early on during his time in the UK / Europe but didn't land a record deal till summer 65. With the TNT he played all over the UK ...

I have no idea of which is the rarest or the value of any sought after soul 45's; be they NS, MS, deep soul, sweet soul or whatever. But for me personally, I'd put the likes of ZZ & Co, Tony Fox (Love, Let Love And Be Loved), Bill (Space Lady), Bill Brandon (The Streets Got My Lady) + a few more as my fave MS sounds.

BTW, with regard to the impact seeing them live had on me at the time, I detailed it earlier this year when Tina passed. I posted the piece I wrote on the experience which I put on here a while back ..... thread >> IKE & TINA TURNER; UK -- 1968

Watched 'When Tina Turner Came To Britain' (BBC2) last night. Most on here won't remember or have attended an Ike & Tina live performance in the 60's BUT they were just electric. As a Melody Maker journo stated at the time (during both of the revue's first 2 UK tours), they put on the very best high energy R&B show ever seen in the UK at the time. I got to see them play the Wheel, though they also played the Mojo (66), Leeds (66), Harrogate, Chesterfield (68) and the Casino (68), but the Wheel was an ideal venue for the act. Small stage, packed club, high energy show, exited audience. I managed to get down front near the stage that night and the impact of the Ikettes dancing (& singing) just inches away from my face in their tight mini dresses left a lasting impression. Anyway, the TV documentary pulls together lots of material about those times (as well as later experiences Tina had in the UK). It captures those times as well as is possible + shows lots of historic footage of the revue playing live. If you missed it, I think it should be available on BBC I-Player.

I'd loved to have gotten to hear these two ... TOMMY TATE singing Sam Dee's AFTER ALL ANN NESBY (ex Sounds of Blackness) singing the Masqueraders I AIN'T GOT TO LOVE NOBODY ELSE

The BBC did us proud showing this series (all 3 hours of it). Last night they did it again; hours of Aretha Franklin footage. Lots of it new to me ... the duets show was eye opening. It's well known that the likes of Rod Stewart & Elton John have always loved soul music. But to see the pure joy they got from singing / playing with Reffa was truly heartening. I was left with the impression that Reffa asked Rod what song he wanted to sing with her; hence "This Old Heart Of Mine. Then, I assume she picked "People Get Ready" as their second joint effort. He obviously loved singing a Curtis classic with her. BTW, so many black owned US TV stations had their own music shows back in the 60's / 70's. So thousands of soul singers, groups got to be on TV, even if only in their local area. TROUBLE WAS ... those shows weren't considered as 'historically important' back in the day, so just about all the footage was recorded over & is thus lost to us all. One such show ... from BALTIMORE in 1967 ... the local group name checked in the show's blurb was Denny & the Hitchhikers. Denny left them, so they recruited Kenny Hamber to be their replacement lead singer, moved to New England and landed a record deal (in the 70's) with ABC.

Just 59c for every 45 ... @ 8417 East 4th St Oakland ...

Sly was a top DJ for some years in the 60's on two SanFran black music radio stns ...

One off the above CD (17 from ...) ...

A couple more from Oak ..

I presume this is a UK cut version of Brenton Wood's big hit ...

Seems like this bunch were from Torquay ...

Other examples of the studio's output ...

Their recording studio was closed as recently as 2001; so I guess some who still work for the company would have knowledge of it ... MORE INFO here ... RG Jones Sound Engineering - Wikipedia >> //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RG_Jones_Sound_Engineering

Not really soul -- UK R&B group / beat group related though. R G Jones studios in Morden & then Wimbledon cut lots of stuff in the 60's, 70's and even later (D-_influence, etc.). Though R G Jones acetates crop up at times on Evilbay and the like and you can even get hold of some of the outfit's Oak Records 45's and EP's, it still seems to be shrouded in some mystery. Has a full list of 'R&B related acts' RG Jones acetates & Oak Records releases ever been compiled ?? With their 'releases' only ever being made available as one-offs or as pressing runs of 99 copies, tracking down facts as to who many of the acts involved even were is hard (even more so, who were the members of the groups involved). Of course a few are well known to record collectors; Chris Farlowe, the Bo Street Runners, the Rats (from Hull, with Mick Ronson being a member). But others remain a complete mystery to me ... the Joybelles cut gospel tracks but seems much closer related to the Sally Army than to the Winans. What's the Chester Harriot 7 like (chef Ainsley Harriot named his 1st kid Chester Harriot; was the recording guy a relative of his ), was the Ray North Trio's "Blues in Three" a jazz or blues track ? Who were the Five of Diamonds, The A-jaes, the Wild Oats & the Thyrds for instance ? Anyone here shed much light on this subject ? The company (R.G Jones) is still a going concern, anyone approached them to see what documents, details from those times are still known ?

POSTED ON FACEBOOK BY THE MASQUERADERS ... It is with utmost regret to inform you that our beloved brother, and fellow Masquerader, Sammie “Sam" Lee Hutchins passed away this morning. He was a lead singer for the 1970s Masquerader soul music group for over sixty years. Prior to joining the group, he had a successful solo career. Sam was an amazing musician, singer, and world-renowned performer.