It was around 20 years ago when my friend the late Otto Flückiger taught me that there were much more interesting things from the Chicago jazz scene of the 1940s and 1950s than the Sun Ra related stuff from that time and placethat I was so much interested in. On one day in the mid-nineties he played me several 78rpm records featuring a tenor saxophonist called Tom Archia to introduce me to the chicago way of playing the tenor sax: relaxed and way behind the beat. Of course the best known exponent of this style has to be Gene Ammons. I already knew and loved a bit the early Gene Ammons stuff. But Tom Archia thrilled me right away. What got me is that he was cool and relaxed and immensely sassy at the same time.
Around that time I exchanged Sun Ra related tapes with Ra researcher Robert L. Campbell and used some Tom Archia stuff Otto had taped for me as filler. And Robert was blown away just the same. So we had to know more about this man. Google did not bring up much about him in the mid-90s and so we started with dusting off old (non indexed mostly) discographies and collector’s lists. All the while we were stumbling over other artists from that place and period that we wanted to know more about. And that was the foundation of the Red Saunders Research Foundation. And one of the RSRF’s first projects was a page, dedicated to Tom Archia.
Most of Tom Archia’s playing on records is in an r’n’b context which is a pity as this format restricts him timewise. But in October 1947 at the Universal Recording studio in Chicago it was just him and a rhythm section (with Archia himself singing on one track). Tom is accompanied by Bill Searcy (p), Leo Blevins (eg), Lowell Pointer (b) and Robert “Hindu” Henderson (d). The four resulting tracks landed on three different 78rpm records.
The result is not only a fine session, it is a GREAT SESSION! Hey people, this DESERVES TO BE UNIVERSALLY HEARD!
To help this noble cause, I have put up clips playing the four tracks on youtube. If you listen to all four of them, you may notice that his set of licks is limited. But if you love these licks as much as i do, they’ll never get on your nerves.
The first track of the session was the jumping “Jam For Sam”. If you want to hear one of Archia’s favourite licks , check at 01:24-01:26. Also here as on the other three tracks listen to Leo Blevins’ guitar and the accents he sets.
The second track recorded that day was the boppish “Macomba Jump”. Here one of Archia’s favourite licks appears at 01:34–01:40.
Downfall Blues:
The next track, “Downfall Blues”, was rereleased on a Chess Vintage Series LP in the early seventies (titled “Whiskey” on that occasion). But here you get it in original 78rpm sound to feed your nostalgic needs. The singer is Archia himself and the track unfortunately has some autobiographical notions. Starting with his most favourite lick, his playing is at its most laconic throughout here:
The final tune the band recorded that day is “Slumber”(also rereleased as “Minor Blues” on that Chess Vintage Series LP). Relax, lay back and enjoy this one – and if you wake up, tell me what you think.
Now would someone else please wake up and rerelease all of Tom Archia’s recordings for Aristocrat/Chess? In pristine quality? From the original master disks? Please? Universal? Charly? Some japanese company? Preferably on vinyl?
Mildred “Mitzi” Schlossberg and Oett “Sax” Mallard
at the Crown Propeller Lounge in Chicago, exact date unknown.
Courtesy of the Schlossberg family
Already more than a half a year ago I was informed that Mildred “Mitzi” Schlossberg, co-owner of Chicago’s Crown Propeller Lounge (after which this blog here is named) passed at the proud age of 100. What an interesting life she must have had! I wanted to put up something here at that time, but I have been extremely busy otherwise during the last months.
But all the while I have been on the lookout for souvenirs from the Crown Propeller Lounge and I managed to acquire two very nice items.
The first is a photograph showing Mitzi Schlossberg’s husband Norman Schlossberg with a woman and three men. It comes from Mitzi Schlossberg’s estate, and I found it on ebay. The three men are holding trophies in their hand, but unfortunately the writing on the cups is out of focus.
Crown Propeller owner Norman Schlossberg (2nd from
left) with unidentified others on October 15, 1953.
From the Crown Propeller Collection
The backside of the photograph is stamped Oct. 15, 1953. (Photographer was H.S. Rhoden, 7037 Indiana Ave – if you care). October 15, 1953 was a thursday and I found an ad in the “Chicago Defender” for that day.
From Chicago Defender, Defender, Oct. 10 1953.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
But unfortunately the ad does not give out a hint what the trophies were for. There is a small possibility that the photo was taken during the night between the 14th and the 15th and come from Wednesday night’s regular talent contest at the Lounge – but the prices for winning the “Talent Nite” are given as $25 (1st) and $10 (2nd). Would they be handing out trophies as well?
Anyway here’s some music you might have heard played at the Crown Propeller Lounge on the night the photo above was taken:
In a recording from October 14, 1949 (for Decca), it is trumpeter Tiny Davis’ All Girl Band with Tiny herself (tp,vcl), Birdie Davis (as), Helen Cole (p) and unknown ts, p and b playing “Race Horse”, a nice Boogie Shuffle.
And here is guitarist Rudy Greene playing “Meet Me Baby”, recorded with King Kolax’ band for Chance Records in 1953.
The other nice item I could lay my hands on is one of the typical souvenir pictures made by house photographers in different clubs in Chicago. I imagine they were quickly developed in some small dark room in the club and then sold to the photographed customers. Here we have a couple of people at a table – apparently not all of them enjoying the proceedings.
A Night At The Crown Propeller Lounge, probably
September 1951. from the Crown Propeller Collection
From the Crown Propeller Collection
A pointer to the date this photo was taken is the Crown Propeller sleeve in which it came (above). Sax Mallard as well as violinist Leon Abbey were part of the Crown Propeller’s program together only in September 1951.
From Chicago Defender, September 1, 1951.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
From Chicago Defender, September 29, 1951.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
It is strange though, that they printed an extra sleeve just for these few weeks.
How about some music to this photograph? I can not offer you anything by Leon Abbey or by the Ding Bell Trio, but here is a video that lets you listen to Sax Mallard’s “Teen Town Strut!”, recorded for Checker on May 12, 1952. With Sax Mallard (ts); unidentified (tp); unidentified (ts, bars); William “Lefty” Bates (eg); probably Jimmy Bowman (p); probably LeRoy Jackson (b); probably Sleepy Nelson (d).
This 1953 record from Philadelphia contains solos
by John Coltrane. From the Crown Propeller Collection
The John Coltrane Reference by Lewis Porter, Chris DeVito, David Wild, Yasuhiro Fujioka, Wolf Schmaler – a book you should own if you are a Coltrane fanatic – lists a probably 1953 session by Philadelphia drummer James “Coatesville” Harris that features Coltrane, done for the small Philadelphia label Nestor.
In their notes to that session the authors write: “This 78-rpm record was discovered by Swiss reserachers Otto Flückiger and Armin Büttner. (…) Coltrane is identified by aural evidence only, but we consider the evidence overwhelming. He plays throughout and solos on both tracks.”
What they write is not quite the truth though. It was not Otto Flückiger and me who made this discovery. Instead Otto and his friend the swiss jazz researcher and alto saxophonist Mario Schneeberger had thought that the saxophonist on Nestor 06 sounded very much like John Coltrane back in the 1960s when Otto won this record for a dollar or two in an auction. When Otto played the two tracks for me in the early 1990s, I was convinced that it’s Coltrane playing the tenor here from the first notes emanating from that horn, leading me to inform the Coltrane experts. But the claim for the discovery must go to Otto and Mario.
There is really not much known about the Nestor label which was owned by Herman “Piney” Gillespie, who at different points in time also ran the labels G&M, Piney and Teenage. Gillespie had his home base in Philadelphia, but at least Nestor moved to New York later.
The second Edition of Bob McGrath’s The R&B Indies (2006) lists nine issues on Nestor. And although I have been running a permanent ebay search for “Nestor 78rpm” since 2003, I only ever came up with one Nestor record at all (Nestor 10, incidentally not listed in the The R&B Indies).
In the hope of acquiring more information about the Nestor label (and maybe stumbling over even more Coltrane, not that I do have much hope), I decided to gather all the information that I have here, in the hope of delivering a somewhat complete list of its issues. Many thanks to Bob McGrath whose four volume work The R&B Indies is responsible for about 92 percent of this listing. Some composer credits were taken from 45rpm labels appearing on the internet. There is some music inside of this listing, some youtube clips – yes, and some Coltrane to listen to in an atomic age tenor solo!
———————————-
Nestor Records – a draft
NESTOR 1 to NESTOR 5: No information
NESTOR 6
COATESVILLE HARRIS ORCH. Vocal by Rodney Smith
Coatesville Harris (dr, ldr), Rodney Smith (voc), John Coltrane (ts), unidentified p, g, b, d
Philadelphia, probably 1953
JG-06A Ham Hocks And Hominy (H. Gillespie)
JG-06B Strange Things All The Range (H. Gillespie)
(Information from Fancourt – McGrath: “The Blues Discography 1943–1970” and a copy of Nestor 6 in the Crown Propeller Collection, this record is not mentioned in the 2006 edition of The R&B Indies). Only 78 rpm copies are known.
And here is Coatesville Harris’ band with singer Rodney Smith doing “Strange Things All The Rage”. Watch out for John Coltrane!
NESTOR 7 to NESTOR 9: No information
NESTOR 10
THE STAN MOORE QUARTET
JG-10A The Little Black Sheep (Moore)
JG-10B My Dream (Moore)
(Not listed in The R&B Indies, information from a 78rpm copy in the Crown Propeller Collection), Here is the music (warning: no jazz or r’n’b content!) I cannot find the 78rpm right now, so I might add a picture later.
The Little Black Sheep:
My Dream
NESTOR 11: No information
NESTOR 12
MICHELLE & HIS ORGAN (v. Jimmy Milner)
N-12A Love Is Such A Funny Thing
N-12B Now That You’re Gone
(Information from “The R&B Indies”)
NESTOR 13
MAE PARRISH
Mae Parrish with unidentified tp, tb, ts, g, p, b, d, vocal ensemble on “Function …”
Philadelphia, probably late 1955 or early 1956
N-13A Function On Broadway
N-13B Let’s Make Love Tonight
Information from The R&B Indies, and Fancourt – McGrath: The Blues Discography 1943–1970. Fancourt/McGrath give 1953/1954 as the recording date, but this was probably later. The New York Age of February 11, 1956 noted: “Mae Parrish, sensational blues singer, getting good response from her recent recording of “Function On Broadway” on Nester (sic!) label.”
Here is “Function On Broadway”:
NESTOR 14
FREDDIE CLARK
Freddie Clark (voc), unknown tp, as, p, b, d
N-14A Begging Papa Blues
N-13B Got The Blues
Information from The R&B Indies and Fancourt – McGrath: The Blues Discography 1943–1970 and a 78rpm copy of Nestor 14 in the Otto Flückiger Collection. When I go down to the archive again, I will take pictures of the label. There were 45rpm copies as well. Here’s one from Youtube user stompingsevens:
And if you’d like to hear the flip side too, here’s “Got The Blues” from Otto’s collection.
NESTOR 15
MONTEREYS (Dean Barlow)
N-15A Someone Like You (White-Epps)
N-15B Train Whistle Blues
Basic information from The R&B Indies. Composer credits from 45rpm label shots found on the internet. Nestor 15 was also released as Teenage 1001.
NESTOR 16
TREBELAIRES
N-16A There Goes That Train (R. McGill)
N-16B I Gotta (B. Smith)
Basic information from The R&B Indies. Composer credits from 78 and 45rpm label shots found on the internet.
N-18X45 119 Rosa Lee (M. Childs)
N-18X45 120 No Love (M. Childs)
Basic information from The R&B Indies. Composer credits from 45rpm label shots found on the internet. Here is a vid of “Rosa Lee” from youtube user jdkays:
NESTOR 19 to NESTOR 25: No information
NESTOR 26
BABE BLANCHARD
N-26A One More Time (Ollie Blanchard)
N-26B Sugarfoot Sam
Information from The R&B Indies, composer credit for N-26A from a copy on ebay. This is the first known Nestor with a N.Y.C. adress on the label.
NESTOR 27
THE FOUR FELLOWS
N-27A Remember (G. Payne)
N-17B That Kiss You Gave Me (G. Payne)
Information from The R&B Indies and label shots from the internet.
NESTOR (number unknown)
LLOYD “FAT MAN” SMITH
unknown titles
Information about singer Lloyd “Fat Man” Smith recording for Nestor can be found in the Billboard of April 13, 1957 (dates in brackets added by me):
“Lloyd, the ‘Fat Man’, r.&b. singer and ork leader who has recorded on Peacock (1951/52), Gotham (1950), Nestor (??), Checker (??) and Epic (really Okeh, 1956), has been signed as a disk jockey on WHAT, Philadelphia.”
Some information about Lloyd “Fat Man” Smith can be found here.
——————————————–
If you have information about the unlisted Nestor records or can provide label scans or audio files of records from the list, please contact me via a comment.
Sunbeam 103 from the Crown Propeller collection.
Check Gene Ammon’s solo!
Marl Young (1917–2009), “the only man who fired Charlie Parker” (Young), was a very interesting figure. He was a pianist, arranger, composer and for some time in the 1940s owned a small record company in Chicago. If you heard his name before that might be because Young was also pianist and arranger on three sessions by T-Bone Walker.
Swiss alto saxophonist and jazz researcher Mario Schneeberger, has been working on a biography / discography / solography of Young, which is now published on the jazzdocumentation website. Click here to go directly to Mario’s pages on Marl Young or click here to see all of Mario’s research pages.
There are a few things that Mario could not obtain (marked thusly in the discography), if you have any of those, please contact Mario (his adress can be found on top of the Marl Young pages) or contact me via a comment and I will pass your information on to Mario.
If you would like to hear a bit of what this is about, above and below you find two very rare recordings Young did for his own record company Sunbeam.One featuring Little Miss Cornshucks, the other featuring tenor sax legend Gene Ammons and female impersonator Petite Swanson alias Alphonso Horsley.
(Click to enlarge) Sleeve for souvenir photographs from the Crown Propeller Lounge, unidentified date. From the Crown Propeller collection
The Crown Propeller Lounge – after which this blog is named – was one of Chicago’s most important venues for R’n’B and Jazz during the 1950s. You can read more about it on my old blog entry here. After reading that post, Mike Medina (aka WayoutWardell) contacted me and identified more of the people pictured in this gorgeous photo, donated to the Crown Propeller blog by the Schlossberg family (also check the comments section over there for more interesting information from Mike).
(Click to enlarge) Dancer Lupita Peruyero, Joe Louis, Norman Schlossberg, Sarah Vaughan, King Kolax and Mitzi Mars at the Crown Propeller, probably 1952. Courtesy of the Schlossberg family
I had recognized trumpeter King Kolax and boxer Joe Louis with Crown Propeller owner Norman Schlossberg and Mike added the name of dancer Lupita Peruyero (far left) who was a regular at the Crown Propeller and knew that the lady on the far right is singer Mitzi Mars – of which I had presented some music in my old blog entry about the CP.
From Chicago Defender, May 31, 1952.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
Mike also kindly allowed me to use the photo of this bautiful foursome at the Crown Propeller in 1945 – a time when the main audience of the CP was still white.
Enjoying an evening at the Crown Propeller Lounge, 1945.
From the collection of Mike Medina.
If you are interested in photographs from Chicago’s South Side, you definitely should check Mike’s Flickr page. It was also Mike who alerted me, that the sign of the Crown Propeller lighting up can be seen in the opening sequence of the old “Crime Stories” TV series. I managed to find that one on youtube. I edited the CP part and let it run backwards and forwards – the way it possibly was. I guess there was something in the middle as well (a crown, maybe?) – I leave it to your imagination.
Ending up our second visit to the famed Crown Propeller Lounge is photo of a young couple at the bar, probably in the 1950s. This was stuck in the souvenir envelope pictured at the very top of the envelope.
From the Crown Propeller collection
Who might they have listened to on that evening? Rudy Greene maybe, the “King Of The Guitar”?
Welcome to the second installment of the loose series featuring some of the jazz and r’n’b tenor saxophonists that played in the clubs of Chicago in the 1940s and 1950s.
Although when talking about tenor saxophonists from Chicago one usually thinks of the Lester Young school of playing, relaxed, cool and way behind the beat, this town definitely had more to offer.
Eddie Johnson featured with the Jo Pernell Combo. Chicago Defender, August 2, 1952.
From Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”.
The late Eddie Johnson (1920–2010) for example cited Lester Young as his greatest influence, yet that is not too obvious if you listen to his records. You can read all about Eddie Johnson at the page dedicated to him at at the Red Saunders Research Foundation by the way. After playing in lesser known bands for a while, Johnson joined Louis Jordan’s Tympany Five in early 1947, staying until the end of the year. In 1951 and 1952 he recorded some sides for Chess Records, before the label began to concentrate on Blues. In 1958 Johnson recorded as a sideman in a large James Moody group, and in 1964 he replaced Paul Gonsalves in the Duke Ellington Orchestra from time to time, when Gonsaves had problems related to substance abuse. After his last session for Chess in 1952, it took almost thirty years before Johnson recorded under his name again – for Chicago based Nessa Records. (he also recorded under his own name for Delmark in 1999).
But here’s Eddie in his younger days. “Twin Rock”, played by Johnson (ts), Claude Jones (p), Johnny Pate (b) and Oliver Coleman (d), was recorded for Chess at the Universal Studios in Chicago on September 12 1952. Billboard had this to say: “Instrumental is carried nicely by Johnson’s sax. It’s pleasant enough and could get some juke action”. So judge for yourself:
The next track I am offering you is special for different reasons. Eugene “Gene” Wright, later bassist with Dave Brubeck’s Quartet, had a nice band called Eugene Wright and his Dukes of Swing for a while in the 1940s. Red Holloway played with the Dukes of Swing as did Yuseef Lateef (at that time still known as Bill Evans). Neither Holloway nor Lateef were on the session from which I am offering you a piece here. But the band’s arranger and pianist who is playing on “Music Goes Round And Round” is none other than Sonny Blount – later known as Sun Ra! Another interesting figure also on this session is trumpeter Hobart Dotson – who later recorded with Sun Ra and with Charlie Mingus (somebody should definitely do an english language Wikipedia entry for Dotson!)
From Chicago Defender, December 18, 1948. Wonder who is who?
But what about the tenor saxophonist we can hear here? His name is Melvin Scott. That you may never had heard of him before may well be based on the fact that this seems to be his only recorded session. On the Willie Jones page of the Red Saunders Research Foundation, you can find some photos featuring Scott.
“Music Goes Round And Round” was recorded in December 1948 for Aristocrat Records, the forerunner of Chess Records. Billboard wrote: “A jump version of the Riley-Farley japery. It’s old enough – and the times are musically out of joint enough – to come back. Who knows?”
Melvin Scott only has a few bars here before baritonist Van Kelly takes over, but these bars sure are hot:
Part 3 of the second installment comes from a favourite of mine, the unjustly forgotten tenor player John Neely (1930–1994):
John Neely (right) with Lionel Hamton, at Kunsthaus Luzern,
March 1, 1961. From concert review in “Luzerner Neue Nachrichten”
Neely’s fluid, light hearted and relaxed phrasing is more typical of the style saxophonists from Chicago are known for. You can hear that well on Count Basie’s “One O’Clock Jump” as recorded by the band of pianist King Fleming around March 1954. You’ll hear John Neely, King Fleming, bassist Russell Williams and drummer Aubrie Jones. The singing is possibly by the band members except for the female voice who probably is Lorez Alexandria or Ethel Duncan. You can find more information about this session on the King Fleming page of the Red Saunders Research Foundation where there also some photos of John Neely:
There are very few solos known by Neely – and all are great. My friend, the late jazz researcher Otto Flückiger heard Neely when Neely was in Lionel Hampton’s orchestra during its 1961 European tour – and loved his playing right away. It took 36 years before Otto was to hear another John Neely solo again – King Fleming had told Robert Campbell that it was John Neely playing those wonderful lines on Fleming’s Blue Lake outing.
I love this record so much that I had to acquire the red wax 45rpm when it turned up for sale:
From the Crown Propeller Collection
But although it looks gorgeous, the 78rpm sounds much better, so I put that one up.
Someday – I hope soon – I will do a posting on Neely, presenting you two solos with the Hampton band which Mario Schneeberger and me recently discovered to be by Neely.And of course watch this space for further installments of the Chicago Tenor Sax series (go here to read and hear the first part)!
Sleeve for souvenir photographs from the Crown Propeller Lounge, probably 1940s.
Courtesy of the Schlossberg Family
The Crown Propeller Lounge – after which this blog is named – was one of Chicago’s most important venues for R’n’B and Jazz during the 1950s. The town’s larger talent appeared here as well as every other R’n’B star coming through town (and a lot of jazzers): Tiny Davis, Wynonie Harris, The Moonglows, Stomp Gordon, Jo Jo Adams, Big Maybelle, Ray Charles, The Flamingos, Andy Tibbs, Danny Overbea, Nellie Lutcher, Valaida Snow, Amos Milburn, Johnny Hodges and his Orchestra, Big Joe Turner, Sonny Stitt, Jimmy Rushing, Al Hibbler, T-Bone Walker, Dizzy Gillespie, Arthur Prysock, Bill Doggett, The Orioles, Illinois Jacquet … A program quite to my liking, I must say, so that’s why this blog is named Crown Propeller’s blog.
Some weeks ago I was contacted by a lady, who is married to the grandson of Mildred “Mitzi” Schlossberg and Norman Schlossberg, who used to own the Crown Propeller Lounge. The lady asked me, if I had any material she might use for making a birthday collage for Mitzi who turned 97 (!) in January. I could help her just a little, since (other then say for the equally famous Club DeLisa) photographs and memorabilia from the Crown Propeller are rather rare.
One of only two known photographs showing the Crown Propeller Lounge from outside (the other one is here). Judging from the cars in the picture, this photo was taken after the closing of the Lounge in 1959 (photo taken from Sandor Demlinger’s and John Steiner’s beautiful book “Destination Chicago Jazz”). To the right of the Crown Propeller one can see the entrance to Crown Liquors, another business owned by the Schlossbergs.
I asked her to be on the lookout for memorabilia from the Crown Propeller when she was going to her husband’s grandmother’s house and she promised to do so. Then some weeks later I could not believe my eyes when I got a mail from that lady containing some gorgeous photos, which I am presenting you here, courtesy of the Schlossberg Family. I have added some music typical of the Crown Propeller’s programming to go along with it as well as some advertisements featuring the people in the photographs.
(Click to enlarge) Norman Schlossberg (2nd from left), Mitzi Schlossberg
(center) and unidentified others at the Crown Propeller, possibly
late 1940s. Courtesy of the Schlossberg family
The – undated – photo above was contained in the beautiful souvenir cover seen at the top of this post. It is possible that this photograph was taken in the 1940s when the Crown Propeller ran a musical policy that was different from what the lounge later became known for.
Usually the time span for the Crown Propeller’s existence is given as 1951–1959. This seems to be based on an ad from Chicago Defender of August 4, 1951 announcing the opening of the Crown Propeller (strangely enough regarding the newspaper’s date) on August 3rd with singer Ethel Duncan and violinist Leon Abbey’s trio.
From Chicago Defender, August 4, 1951.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
But the Crown Propeller Lounge had existed before that. The earliest mention I could find is in Billboard of November 14, 1942, where Everett Hull and Victory Boys are announced to appear at the Crown Propeller for four weeks. Billboard of December 19, 1942 mentions Don Jacks as returning to the Crown Propeller on January 12. Other acts mentioned in Billboard as playing at the Crown Propeller are in 1942 trumpeter Johnny Gibbs with singer Dolores Janis (December ), and in 1943 The Victory Four (Everett Mull, Leon Shash, George Mitchell, George Michaels), Don Jacks (March 20: “picked up another four month holdover at the Crown Propeller”).
From the Billboard Yearbook 1943
The Billboard Yearbook 1944 mentions Don Jacks as having had a two-and-a-half-year engagement at the Crown Propeller, so the Crown Propeller may already have existed in 1941.
There are no mentions for the Crown Propeller in Billboard’s regular issues of 1944 and 1945. The issue of December 14, 1946 mentions Little Sans and Lee Trio at the Crown Propeller, in Billboard of January 15, 1947 the same aggregation is mentioned as having extended four weeks at the CP.
I do not know if the changing of musical policy at the CP came with a changing of venues or if it always had been on 868 East 63rd. From the mentions in Billboard during the fourties I can only gather that it had always been on the South Side of Chicago. Anyway after the (re-)opening on August 3rd, 1951, the Crown Propeller was never looking back to the days of accordeon-and-fiddle bands again.
R’n’B and Jazz – the Crown Propeller takes a new direction.
From Chicago Defender, August 11, 1951.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
The next photo the lady married to the Schlossberg’s grandson send me is also undated. It shows The 4 Tunes (also known as The Four Tunes), a very famous vocal group in the early 1950s about which you can find a lot of information in Marv Goldberg’s article.
(Click to enlarge) The 4 Tunes (left) and some fans at the Crown Propeller,
date unknown. Courtesy of the Schlossberg family
I can find no reference for a 4 Tunes appearance at the Crown Propeller, so the photo has to remain undated for now.
One of The 4 Tunes’ greates hits was “Marie”, recorded for Jubilee in 1953. It’s one of my favourite uptempo R’n’B vocal group pieces when I am appearing as DJ Crown Propeller at the Klub Helsinki. Here is a nice clip from youtube user ilbmlb51 showing the original 78 rpm playing:
The next photo that the lady send me is really fantastic:
(Click to enlarge) Dancer Lupita Peruyero, Joe Louis, Norman Schlossberg, Sarah
Vaughan, King Kolax and Mitzi Mars at the Crown Propeller, probably 1952.
Courtesy of the Schlossberg family
Second person from left is boxer Joe Louis, World Heavyweight Champion from 1937 to 1949. Behind him is CP owner Norman Schlossberg and the man front right is local trumpeter and bandleader King Kolax (1912–1991) who is known to the wider jazz world for employing John Coltrane for a while in the late 1940s. There is a lot more to know about Kolax though, and you can find it all on the King Kolax page of the Red Saunders Research Foundation. The woman in the middle is Sarah Vaughan (see comments section) and the one on the right also looks familiar to me, she might be a singer or some other celebrity.There are several possibillities regarding the question when the photo above was taken. Judging from the known ads for the Crown Propeller, Vaughan never was part of the program there. But she was in town several times each year, mostly as part of some jazz package tour . As for King Kolax and his Orchestra: He played at the Crown Propeller in January 1952:
From Chicago Defender, January 19, 1952.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
And then again in March:
From Chicago Defender, March 22, 1952.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
In May 1952 Kolax was also at the Crown Propller, when Sax Mallard (about whom more later) was also on the bill.
From Chicago Defender, May 31, 1952.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
From Chicago Defender, June 14, 1952.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
Then Kolax’ band was acting as house band from mid 1954 to January 1955. One of the CP’s main attraction at that time was still the “Aqua-Tease” of sea nymph Atlantis with whom the Crown Propeller had started in 1951. In 1954 Kolax joined Atlantis in the 500 gallon tank for a photo published in Jet magazine in September.
Jet, September 16, 1954.
From Chicago Defender, November 13, 1954.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
Probably his success at the Crown Propeller lead King Kolax to record for Vee Jay in December 1954 (and later in Sepetember 1955). Parts of these sessions are said to having been arranged by Sonny Blount, later known throughout the cosmos as intergalactic band leader Sun Ra. “Vivian” from December 1954 is one of the tracks of which some people – including me – think they might be a Ra arrangement. The band consists of Kolax (tp), Harold Ousley (ts), Prentice McCarey (p), “Cowboy” Martin (b), and Leon Hooper (d, perc).
In October 1956 King Kolax returned to the Crown Propeller for two weeks (Della Reese was followed by Louis Jordan and then by Charles Brown who brought their own bands):
From Chicago Defender, October 20, 1956.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
Kolax was also engaged by the Crown Propeller in February 1957, but it is not clear how long this gig lasted.
The next photo the lady send me send me shows another local Chicago legend: Saxophonist Oett “Sax” Mallard (1915–1986). This photo also could have been taken on different dates.
(Click to enlarge) Mitzi Schlossberg and Oett “Sax” Mallard
(with retouched glasses) at the Crown Propeller, exact date unknown.
Courtesy of the Schlossberg family
Sax Mallard, about whom you can find a lot more information on the Sax Mallard page of the Red Saunders Research Foundation, made his name recording blues with people like Roosevelt Sykes, Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy in sessions for RCA-Victor in the 1940s. For a while in 1943 Mallard substituted for Otto Hardwick in Duke Ellington’s orchestra. Starting in 1947 for Aristocrat Mallard had the chance to record some tracks under his own name.
Here is a video of a copy of Checker 750 from my collection. “Slow Caboose”, a typical tenor sax fuelled piece of jukebox fodder, was recorded in January 1951 with Sax Mallard (ts) an unidentified trumpeter, probably Jimmy Bowman piano; probably Ernest “Big” Crawford on bass and Osie Johnson drums (Johnson also does some dramatic baritone singing on another side from this session). This one is so echo-filled that you might imagine yourself being in deep in dub land.
Mallard’s band was the Crown Propeller’s house band at different times, starting with some months in 1951 and 1952.
From Chicago Defender, September 1, 1951.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
From Chicago Defender, September 29, 1951.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
From Chicago Defender, November 24, 1951.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
During the early fifties Sax Mallard backed quite a few singers and r’n’b vocal groups on records.
In March 1953 he went to Chicago’s Universal Recording studios where his group was backing Mitzi Mars in a session for Checker Records:
From the Crown Propeller Collection.
One of Mitzi Mars’ tunes with Sax Mallard’s band backing her – “Roll ‘Em” – was uploaded on youtube by youtube user Rosenda Moore:
From November 1953 to summer 1954, Mallard’s Combo was the Crown Propeller’s house band again. During this time the Crown Propeller’s main attractions were people like Jimmy Witherspoon, Billy Brooks, Scatman Crothers, Lowell Fulson, Ray Charles, Big Maybelle, Wynonie Harris, Amos Milburn and Valaida Snow.
From Chicago Defender, November 29, 1953.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
From Chicago Defender, January 9, 1954.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
.
Sax Mallard’s last appearances at the CP took place in August 1957 (two weeks) and again from December 1957 on (length of engagement unknown) At that time the Crown Propeller was already in decline. The club closed in 1959 and by early 1960 the Schlossbergs had moved to Florida.
Finally the lady married to the Schlossberg’s grandson send me another nice photo of Mildred “Mitzi” Schlossberg. Obviously this was taken in a year where January 17th was a tuesday which points to 1950 or 1956. Neither an “Amateur Night” nor a “Crazy Auction” is mentioned in the Crown Propeller ads for 1956. So I would say 1950.
(Click to enlarge) Mitzi Schlossberg and probably not Cary Grant at the
Crown Propeller Lounge, probably 1950. Courtesy of the Schlossberg Family.
Again I have to thank the Schlossberg Family for these beautiful photographs that allow a rare glimpse inside the Crown Propeller. The lady married to the Schlossberg’s grandson has promised to look if she can find anymore memorabilia of the Crown Propeller Lounge. If she does, I will keep you all informed.
Up to the late 1950s you could usually tell where a tenor saxophone player may come from geographically. This goes especially for tenorists from Chicago, where the dominant way of playing was very relaxed and way behind the beat. The most famous exponent of this school who was also widely known outside of Chicago was of course Gene Ammons. But in the 1940s and 1950s this town had a whole lot of great or at least very interesting tenor saxophonists – some of which are well known, some more or less obscure. Not all of them are members of the Lester Young school though: Von Freeman, Dick Davis, Sax Mallard, Claude McLin, Eddie Johnson, John Neely, Johnny Griffin, Clifford Jordan, Tom Archia – and the list goes on.
If I start to listen to tenor players from Chicago,I might end up doing so for days. So I decided to let my readers in on the fun and present in a loose series some of the best jazz and r’n’b tenor saxophonists that played in the clubs of the Windy City in the 1940s and 1950s. I will try to use original 78 rpms for this purpose, but this probably will not work in very case, as there are some things of which I only have bad tape copies or the like.
The first installment of this series has to start of with Gene Ammons, of course. “Hey Mr. Freddy”on Aristocrat 8001 was recorded in February 1949 by group that included Ammons, singer and pianist Christine Chatman, Leo Blevins on guitar, bassist Lowell pointer and legendary drummer Ike Day. It was for the first time reissued in 2003 on a CD by the french company Classics, all the previous compilers of Ammon’s output for Aristocrat/Chess had overlooked this track.
Not really from Chicago, but from close enough Gary Indiana comes John “Schoolboy” Porter (born in 1926). Porter recorded for Chicago based Chance Records from 1950 to 1952. Then he appeared – as guitarist! – on a Roosevelt Sykes session for United, also in 1952. After that he opted for a career in the military. Porter has an interesting sound, most of his records pair jukebox groovers with sentimental ballads as was usual during these days. “Kayron”, recorded in 1950, was a fine piece of bop from Chicago with – I think – a really great solo by Schoolboy (search for it on youtube, someone has put it up). On the shuffling “Schoolboy’s Boogie” which was recorded in September 1950, Porter is accompanied by pianist Jesse Hart (who also sang, but not on this track), bassist Walter Broyle and drummer Carl Scott.
If you want to know more about John “Schoolboy” Porter, you should check the Chance Records page at the Red Saunders Research Foundation. On the other hand if you know anything about what Porter is doing nowadays, it would be nice if you would let me know.
Now for today’s third featured Chicago tenor man. After having recorded with Earl Hines in the mid 1930s saxophonist Leon Washington joined drummer Red Saunders’ house band at Chicago’s famed Club De Lisa in 1937, staying with Red until the late 1950s.
Smiling Ladies at the Club DeLisa, unknown date.
From the Crown Propeller Archive (click to enlarge)
Leon Washington isa totally overlooked saxophonist. Red Saunder’s band is mostly interesting not for Washington’s solos but for the fact that Sun Ra wrote arrangements for it. Understandably so, since the Saunders orchestra was essentially a show band and Leon rarely had an opportunity to shine. Elaborate boppish playing was not asked for in between singer’s verses.
In 1954 and 1955 Washington and McKinley Easton, Saunders’ baritone man, did some work for the very small Theron label. You can read all about Theron on the Theron page of the Red Saunders Research Foundation. On “Forward Blow” which was recorded in 1954, Easton and Washington show what they could do if let loose
Watch this space for further installments of this series!
Yesterday the jazz world heard of the passing of trumpet legend Donald Byrd. But until now the only source for this sad news is Byrd’s nephew, confirmation from other relatives is still missing.
If it’s true that Donald Byrd passed, he would have reached the age of 80. Not widely known – although mentioned in standard discographies – is the fact that Byrd started his career at a very early age. Byrd can first be heard on two 78rpm records by the tenor saxophonist Robert Barnes for Fortune Records, a company based in Detroit. Although some discographies note 1947 for these recordings (Byrd would have been 15 then), it was probably recorded in 1949. judging from the date on which one of the resulting records was mentioned in Billboard.
Of the four sides with “Sahib Byrd” apparently released I can offer you two here. Unfortunately the record this was dubbed from broke some dozen years ago and was glued. When played now it skips and jumps at several points, although I really tried my very best to fix the problem (if someone has a better sound file, please let me know)
Although “Bobbin’ At Barbee’s” is designated as the b-side of Fortune 113, it’s the side with a solo by Byrd, so I put it in first place. Billboard (June 18, 1949) did not like it very much: “Just noise – hardly any music”, is all they had to say.
At least Billboard had more words for the a-side, “Black Eyed Peas”,which features Barnes exclusively: “Good opening riff dissipates into another loud honking tenor sax solo of little quality or distinction.”
Here is a little blindfold test for all the Boppers out there (certain people who might guess that they are meant are not allowed to take part). So who might be playing the cute little arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie’s Night In Tunisia on this 78 rpm record?
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