The Legendary Parkway Label

Revision note. We have updated our coverage of guitarist/drummer/vocalist Leroy Foster.

Parkway is one of those small Chicago postwar blues labels that developed a legendary reputation based on a handful of recorded sides. In all, the label was in business for little more than 4 months and produced only 23 recordings, of which 14 were released at the time—four by the Baby Face Leroy Trio, four by the Little Walter Trio, two by Memphis Minnie, two by Sunnyland Slim, and two by harmonica-blowing Robert Jenkins. Just four singles are known to have come out on Parkway. But what extraordinary records they were.

The Baby Face Leroy Trio (featuring vocals by Leroy Foster) and Little Walter sides were recorded in one 8-tune session (which we have broken down below, for readability, into Pk1 and Pk2). Most outstanding of the four Baby Face sides was the two-part "Rollin’ and Tumblin’," which ranks as one of the most exhilarating products of the Chicago postwar bar-band blues explosion (Muddy Waters and Little Walter were both in the band). The notable Little Walter Trio release featured blues harpist Little Walter on "Just Keep Lovin’ You" and "Moonshine Blues." Two other Little Walter sides were sold to Regal and not released on Parkway.

The Memphis Minnie session produced four sides, two of which were released on Regal. At the end of the session, Minnie's long-time associate Jimmy Rogers got a chance to cut as a leader, though his effort was left in the can, to emerge two decades later under rather mysterious circumstances. Another session featured Sunnyland Slim on four sides, two of which were put out by Regal. Because nothing from these sessions ever came out on Parkway, they have been incorrectly credited as new recordings done in Chicago for Regal at, er, variable dates.

The Robert Jenkins R&B sides were recorded at a separate session and released on Parkway. Finally, 4 sides cut by jazz trombonist Bennie Green, in the last known session for the company, never saw release anywhere and may be lost.

Monroe "Ray" Passis, who headed Chord Distributors at 2320 South Michigan, founded the label in January of 1950. Two African-American brothers, Ernie and George Leaner, who were managers at Chord Distributors, were assigned to run the label. Billboard, in its February 4, 1950 issue, datelined January 28, announced the formation of the firm and said that Passis has "set up his own Parkway disks, which will be exclusively a blues and rhythm diskery. Passis will operate the label as a separate subsidiary under Hit Record Distributors, 2320 South Michigan Avenue."

This is a complicated set-up for such a small label. But Hit Record Distributors, it appears, was the Leaner brothers’ proprietary firm under Chord. It had the same address as that of Chord, and Passis in a 1984 interview with blues researcher Jim O’Neal said the Leaners operated Hit Record (but mangled some of the details). The Billboard article listed the Parkway officers as Passis, president; Ernie Leaner, vice president in charge of artists and repertoire; and George Leaner, in charge of sales and promotion. The article related that the label already has "two artists on its tee-off release," namely the Little Walter Trio and the Baby Face Leroy Trio.

Passis's statement to O’Neal in 1984 that the Leaners had no association with Parkway and had left his firm two years earlier is incorrect, stemming from his imperfect effort to recall events many decades earlier. In fact, the name of the label probably came from the Leaners. South Parkway was not only the main north-south thoroughfare through the black community, but located on the street was the famed Groove Record Shop (4708 South Parkway), which the Leaner brothers had once operated with their sister, Bernice.

Monroe B. Passis was born on May 11, 1914, in Racine, Wisconsin. By the late 1930s he was in the record distribution business, distributing the Columbia label. According to his daughter, Rene Thaler, Passis produced for six record labels, notably Black & White, recorded Lena Horne, among others, and was an associate producer on Bing Crosby’s "White Christmas." (Thaler was an infant during these years, and some of these stories may be merely family lore.)

After World War II, with the rise of independent labels, there was a concomitant growth in indie distribution firms. Probably in late 1947, Passis formed Chord Distributors to exploit this growing market. He was initially located at 2406 South LaSalle, but by 1949 he had moved several blocks east to join the other distributors on Michigan Avenue, occupying the 2320 address.

In August of 1949 Passis brought George and Ernie Leaner into his firm, and reflecting his background, told Jim O’Neal, "They were nice black boys, I liked them. They were sales men for another company and I brought them into mine." Passis had picked them up from M S Distributing and made Ernie vice president and general manager and George secretary. The article in Billboard presented the story as a major push by Passis into distributing R&B. Getting two young and aggressive African-American talents into his firm was a part of the push, along with adding new manufacturing lines.

Chord Distributors in the March 1948 telephone directory listed its lines as "popular, race, religious, and kiddy records." Passis told O’Neal, "I was interested in the blues. Loved them. I used to go down to Indiana Avenue, 47th Street, 33rd Street, 31st Street, I was all over the South Side; 51st, 53rd, 55th. Traveled up and down that area."

The Leaner brothers were born in Mississippi--George, on June 1, 1917, and Ernie on August 15, 1921. They came up to Chicago in the late 1930s and entered the record business during the 1940s when they joined their sister Bernice in operating the Groove Record Shop. The brothers were nephews of famed disc jockey Al Benson (whose real name was Arthur Leaner). George began working as an assistant to blues producer Lester Melrose in 1946, and both brothers joined M.S. Distributors in 1947. In their move to Monroe Passis’s Chord Distributors they were assuming management positions.

Muddy Waters was born McKinley A. Morganfield, on 4 April 1913, near Rolling Fork, Mississippi. He was raised on Stovall's Plantation, just outside of Clarksdale. His voice and guitar were first heard on Library of Congress field recordings, cut in 1941 and 1942 by folk music researcher Alan Lomax. In 1943 Waters moved up to Chicago, working mainly at house parties, as there was virtually no market at this time for country blues in the clubs. In 1944 he switched from acoustic guitar to electric. As the migration of southern blacks increased after World War II, a market for his style of blues began to develop. To be able to play in the higher-profile clubs, Waters joined Musicians Union Local 208 in September 1945, and by the following year was working regularly with Little Walter and Jimmy Rogers in an informal group called the Headcutters or Headhunters, at times bringing in Leroy Foster on drums. In 1946 Waters made one recording for J. Mayo Williams (which was credited to the wrong artist on release by the 20th Century label) and some recordings for Lester Melrose (which Columbia left in the can).

Waters began his association with Aristocrat in September 1947, when he was entrusted with two sides at the tail end of a Sunnyland Slim session. There was no market for them. But a second session in December established Waters commercially. "I Can’t Be Satisfied" became a local hit when released in June 1948, and the flip, "I Feel Like Going Home," became a national hit. Aristocrat morphed into Chess in June 1950, and became a leading independent built on the sales of Muddy Waters records.

While building his career at Aristocrat/Chess, Waters was still recording as a sideman for other companies, notably for Tempo-Tone (which put his name on the label) in May of 1949. By the time he made those extraordinary sides for Parkway, the company found it advisable to keep his name off the label as a performer (but credited him as songwriter on "Rollin’ and Tumblin’").

Guitarist Jimmy Rogers was born James A. Lane on June 3, 1924, in Ruleville, Mississippi. He began performing on harmonica. Shortly after arriving in Chicago in 1945, Rogers in short order was performing with Muddy Waters and then Little Walter, and then all three together as the Headhunters. With Walter dominant on harmonica, Rogers switched to rhythm guitar to play with the group. Rogers made his recording debut on Ora Nelle in 1947, backing Little Walter on his single, and recording a number under his own name, which went unreleased. Rogers' next recording opportunities, for Tempo-Tone and JOB (promptly unloaded to Apollo), also went unreleased at the time. Though a regular in Muddy Waters' band, he had yet to appear on any of Muddy's sessions for Aristocrat when the Parkway opportunity cropped up.

Harpist Little Walter in the 1950s would become one of the giants of Chicago’s postwar blues boom. He was born Marion Walter Jacobs on May 1, 1930 (possibly 1928 or 1929 based on more recent research), in Marksville, Louisiana. Walter left his home with his harmonica at the young age of 13 to become an itinerant street musician, going to New Orleans, then up to Memphis, then St. Louis, and finally Chicago in 1946. He took up performing in Chicago’s famed open air flea market on Maxwell Street. The following year he made his first recordings for the tiny Ora Nelle label, owned by a Maxwell Street radio record shop proprietor named Bernard Abrams. Walter backed Othum Brown and Jimmy Rogers on their sides and then took the lead on one number. His next session would be for Tempo-Tone in May 1949, followed by the Parkway sides in January 1950.

The multitalented Baby Face Leroy Foster was born on 12 February 1923, in Algoma, Mississippi. He was one of the pioneers of the post-World War II southern blues resurgence in Chicago, arriving in the city in 1945. His vocals, drumming, and guitar picking can be found on some of the greatest Chicago bar-band blues records. Before joining Muddy Waters' band, he worked with Sunnyland Slim and John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson. He first recorded on two sessions (1945 and 1946) with pianist Lee Brown for J. Mayo Williams; two sides were released on Williams' Chicago label, two (with misleading label copy) on Harlem; and two more ended up on Sid Nathan's Queen label. He also recorded with James Clark for Columbia in 1946. His next appearance on record was probably as the guitarist on two sides that Sunnyland Slim did for the Opera label, under the pseudonym Delta Joe; these could have been done in December 1947, although a 1948 date can't be ruled out. He made his first recording in his own name for Aristocrat in November 1948, when he recorded two titles with Muddy Waters as "Leroy Foster & Muddy Waters." In May 1949, he was in the studio for Tempo-Tone, singing two unreleased sides that heretofore have been totally unknown to discographers. (Foster played guitar on these and several other Tempo-Tone sides, not drums as stated in previous discographies.) Following the Tempo-Tones, Leroy Foster would appear (playing guitar with two hands and as much of a drum kit as he could handle with two feet) on one more of Muddy Waters' sessions for Aristocrat, in September 1949. But he got no opportunity to sing on that occasion, since Muddy was sharing the lead vocals with pianist Johnny Jones. The last time Foster would record with Muddy was for Parkway.

Trombonist Bennie Green was born in Chicago on April 16, 1923. Like so many Chicago-based jazzmen, he graduated from DuSable High School, where he played in the band under Captain Walter Dyett. After graduating from DuSable, he played in local groups, joining Earl Hines' big band in 1942. Unfortunately, this edition of the Hines band, which included Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Sarah Vaughan, did not record. After service in an Army band during World War II (1943-1946), Green returned to the Hines orchestra, remaining there until early 1948. He appeared on two sessions with Hines, one of them made in Chicago for Sunrise. He then spent a little time in Gene Ammons' combo before joining Charlie Ventura's outfit. Green recorded with Ventura for National (October 1948) and RCA Victor (several sessions in 1949); he also appeared with Ventura in a "Just Jazz" concert (May 1949) that was picked up by Decca. "Pennies from Heaven" was his ballad feature with Ventura, but an earlier Ventura group had recorded a version featuring Kai Winding and Green did not get an opportunity to redo the number. He had recently left Ventura when Parkway picked him up, offering him his first session as a leader.

Tenor saxophonist Claude McLin was born in Chicago on December 27, 1925. Also a DuSable product, he was a member of Levi Sayles' "baby band" in 1944, playing alongside Johnny Griffin. He served in the Army from 1944 to 1946, and began working as a leader in the clubs on returning to Chicago. He was also featured in the Sunday dances that McKie Fitzhugh put on at the Pershing Ballroom, where he appeared in tenor battles with Gene Ammons, Tom Archia, Johnny Griffin, Von Freeman, and even his idol, Lester Young. From 1947 through 1949 his band found regular work in South Side clubs. In March 1949, after his combo had played the Macomba Lounge for about a month, Aristocrat used his band to back singer/pianist Laura Rucker. The Green session for Parkway, done at a time when he was scuffling for gigs, was McLin's second studio recording.

Willie Jones, known in his heyday as the "piano wrecker," was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on February 21, 1920. He served in the military during World War II, and joined Local 208 in Chicago in November 1945. By October 1946 he was working in a combo led by drummer Wally Hayes. He made his first recording with Buster Bennett for Columbia in June 1947. After joining King Kolax's combo, he appeared on Kolax's Opera session (late 1947 or 1948). By October 1948, when he recorded for Aristocrat with Tom Archia's All Stars, he was a regular member of Archia's group at the Macomba Lounge; he was still in residence there when he got the call for the Parkway session. Jones played in the locked-hands style made popular by Milt Buckner, but drew some of his inspiration from 20th century classical music, such as the works of Lukas Foss. Both Sun Ra and Andrew Hill counted him as an influence.

Gene Wright was born in Chicago on May 29, 1923. He first learned the cornet and later switched to string bass. In 1943 and 1944 he led a group called the Dukes of Swing. After returning from military service, he revived the Dukes in 1946. In 1947, he made his first recording for Mercury as a member of Gene Ammons' combo. In 1948, he spent a few weeks subbing for Walter Page in the Count Basie band, then returned to Chicago in October to organize another Dukes of Swing band that included such up and coming musicians as Hobart Dotson (trumpet), Johnny Avant (trombone), Bill Evans (later known as Yusef Lateef, tenor sax), and Sonny Blount (later known as Sun Ra, piano); the group recorded for Aristocrat in December. But Wright disbanded this orchestra around Christmas 1948 and went back on the road with Count Basie until the summer of 1949. At the time of the Parkway session, Wright was once again gigging around town with Gene Ammons' group, among others.

About Dorell Anderson, we know the least. His name often showed up in advertisements as "Darnell," but both Vernel Fournier and Alvin Fielder have verified that his name was Dorell. Anderson came on the scene in the late 1940s, when, according to Fielder, he was considered the number 2 bebop drummer in Chicago after Ike Day. But Anderson had little more success getting recorded than Day did. The Parkway outing is his first known studio session.

The legendary first Parkway session involved most of Muddy Waters’ regular working band: Baby Face Leroy Foster on drums, Little Walter on harmonica. Jimmy Rogers was probably also present, as we will see, but did not play on any of these tracks. Instead, Foster played guitar on some of the sides while operating the bass drum and high-hat with pedals. Waters had been playing in clubs with this lineup in the previous months, and was frustrated by Leonard Chess’s lack of interest in recording it. The session, reportedly, did not take place in a regular studio. Muddy Waters' biographer, Robert Gordon, declared that it took place in a "warehouse." On the Delmark reissues, the location is given as Chord Distributors, but the basis for that attribution is not clear.

The session was reportedly cut on 9 lacquers, which contained alternate takes of all of the pieces except "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "Bad Actin' Woman." The original lacquers are thought to be lost, but copies of three of them are extant. One of the acetates contains all 3 takes of "Boll Weevil," plus a false start to an unknown title; a second contains the single takes of parts 1 and 2 of "Rollin' and Tumblin'," numbered as on the original release; the third includes the last two takes of "Just Keep Lovin' Her."

The overall order in which the lacquers were recorded is still not known. Take 2 of "Boll Weevil" broke down after a minute and a half, in part because the two guitars weren't properly balanced.

But in the absence of better information, we've disassembled the session into the four Leroy Foster tracks, followed by the four Little Walter tracks, and used the matrix numbers that appeared on the first release of each side.

Pk1. Baby Face Leroy Trio | Vocal by Baby Face Leroy* / Baby Face Leroy Trio | Vocal Leroy Foster^ / Baby Face** / Little Walter***

Leroy Foster (eg -2; voc, d); Little Walter (hca); Muddy Waters -1 (eg).

Chicago, January 1950

Blues Classics LP 8 is Chicago Blues: the Early 1950’s (1965); Muskadine LP 100 is On the Road Again (1971); Delmark DL-648 (LP) and DD 648 (CD) are The Blues World of Little Walter (1984 and 1993, respectively).

Leroy Foster on this session was given credit on four sides, two of which made up a remarkable performance of "Rollin' and Tumblin'." He also took the opportunity to rerecord his two Tempo-Tone numbers, "Red Headed Woman" and "Boll Weevil," which he had done in May of 1949. It was undoubtedly gratifying to Foster to see these titles released—or at least given much greater visibility.

"Red Headed Woman" and "Boll Weevil" were paired for release on Parkway 104. "Red Headed Woman" is a spirited workout, and over the pulsating rhythm, Foster sings with a swing in his voice and Walter blows exuberantly. In "Boll Weevil" the proceedings are brought down to a slow tempo, with Walter’s wailing harp establishing the atmospherics around Foster’s insinuating vocals. The first take, with just Muddy's guitar, was rightly not selected for release on account of Foster's mannered vocal. Despite the excellence of the two sides, the release sold poorly. But Parkway rightly felt strong about the Foster sides, and released all of them within a couple of months.

"Rollin’ and Tumblin" was based on an old blues theme, first recorded in 1929 by Hambone Willie Newbern as "Roll and Tumble Blues" for OKeh. (Muddy Waters had already used the tune, though not the words, for his "Down South Blues" recorded for Aristocrat.) The number is a two-sided recording, labeled Part 1 and Part 2. But unlike most such releases that are divided into parts, "Rollin’ and Tumblin’ was not one song, but rather two takes of the song, one with sung lyrics and the other with wordless moaning. The song exhibits a powerful drive built on Muddy Waters slide guitar playing. We’re going to quote the description of the song as it appeared in Tony Glover, Scott Dirks, and Ward Gaines’ Little Walter biography:

The tone is set by an insistent instrumental lead-in, guitar and harp together playing the sinuous, hypnotically droning riff. Foster sings with passion as Muddy moans wordlessly behind Foster’s vocals, and Foster even quotes the "Baby’s going to jump and shout, when the train come wheeling up, and I come walking out" verse that Muddy used in his hit "I Can’t Be Satisfied" a year and a half earlier. Walter plays with fire, sometimes echoing, sometimes answering Muddy’s biting lead lines. The take is so hot that they immediately continued on with another take, this one with wordless vocals, Foster and Waters moaning in unison lines, Foster taking the high end. Walter carries the lead melody on a few choruses, his harp tone fat and funky. The result is a compelling two-sided release, with an insistent groove that just won’t quit.

The original Parkway release listed the moaning take as Part 1 and the lyrics take as Part 2. However, the Little Walter authors are probably correct, as well as Delmark Records, which in its Blues World of Little Walter album reversed the Parkway designations. While the take with the lyrics show a cleanly developed lead in, the lead in on the moaning take is somewhat messy and unfocused, as though the musicians were interrupted and then allowed to resume what they had started.

The "Rollin’ and Tumblin’" release on Parkway 501, which came out in March, was such a remarkable production that it even caught the attention of the Chicago Defender, which usually ignored all citified country blues artists—the most representative of these being Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and Baby Face Leroy. In his "About the Records" column for March 11, Edward Myers treated it as some exotic specimen, saying "The first record I’d like to mention is ‘Rollin’ and Tumblin’’ on [the] Parkway label with Parts one and two. This record is unique in that it has the sound and beat of African chant. Must have been taken from one of our earliest American Negro folk songs. The second part takes on a vocal that is typical blues." The next three records discussed in the column were by artists more typically covered by Myers—Mahalia Jackson, Sonny Stitt, and Bud Powell.

East Coast record man Fred Mendelsohn, who operated Regal in 1950, picked up the first Parkway session from Passis. According to Mike Rowe in his history of Chicago blues, this was to settle a debt. (As we shall see, Mendelsohn got hold of a lot more of Parkway before all was said and done.) By 1953, Regal was history and Mendelsohn had resurfaced at Herald Records; meanwhile Little Walter had become a huge star in the R&B world. So Mendelsohn put out four of the Parkway sides under the name Little Walter. Two of these were the Baby Face Leroy Trio’s "Boll Weevil" (H-512) and "Rollin’ and Tumblin’ Pt. 2" (H-514), the latter renamed "Rollin’ Blues." Virtually all of the surviving Heralds are 78s, but according to Barry Soltz, both of the Heralds that bore Little Walter's name also came out on 45s.

The following year Mendelsohn was at Savoy, and he took the Parkway sides there with him. Thus, "Red Headed Woman" reappeared in 1954 on Savoy 1122, which was released on both 78 and 45 rpm. The flip was the Little Walter track, "Moonshine Blues" (renamed "Moonshine Baby"). Both sides were credited to Foster under the name of "Baby Face." At a later date, probably in 1956, Savoy reissued the single on 45 rpm as Savoy 1501.

Pk2. Little Walter Trio | Vocal by Little Walter* / Little Walter Trio^ / Little Walter** / Baby Face***

Little Walter (voc; eg -1; hca -3); Muddy Waters (eg); Leroy Foster (eg -2; d).

Chicago, January 1950

Blues Classics LP 8 is Chicago Blues: The Early 1950’s (1965); Nighthawk 102 is Chicago Slickers, 1948-1953; Muskadine LP 100 is On the Road Again (1971); Delmark DL-648 (LP) and Delmark DD 648 (CD) are The Blues World of Little Walter (1984 and 1993).

Parkway released only two the Little Walter tracks, "Just Keep Lovin' Her" (H-511) and "Moonshine Blues" (H-517), both as by the Little Walter Trio. Chicago bar band blues in the immediate postwar era was very much a folk form, where musicians used verses, melodies, and riffs from other songs to build new songs, and the songs on the Parkway session were fully or partly derivative. Extraordinarily, on three of the four Walter sides the greatest blues harmonica talent in the world put down his harp to play guitar. Even though Walter's guitar sound is heavy, almost doom-laden, his lead work on these sides is more than acceptable.

The one song where his harmonica prevailed was the best of the four, the highly propulsive and swinging "Just Keep Lovin' Her," which was a remake of his Ora Nelle side from 1947. The issued take is clearly the better of the two still extant; take 3 is noticeably shortened because the band muffed the beginning. On "Moonshine Blues" Walter sings about his girl’s fondness for moonshine, using the melody from a 1938 Sonny Boy Williamson song, "Whiskey Headed Woman." Muddy Waters took the lead over on the instrumental chorus. "Muskadine" represented an even heavier borrowing, in which the Walter used the melody, chorus, and one of the verses from Robert Junior Lockwood’s 1941 tune "Take a Little Walk with Me." The last Walter number, "Bad Actin' Woman," is a medium tempo blues that Glover, Dirks, and Gaines describe as a journeyman effort, saying that it borrowed "generic verses from the blues stockpile."

The Little Walter tracks, like those of Leroy Foster, had a rather convoluted history, following Fred Mendelsohn from label to label. Under Mendelsohn’s Regal imprint, two of the trio’s sides that never saw release on Parkway, "Muskadine Blues" (H-516); and "Bad Actin' Woman" (no H number, but given the number R-1357 by Regal), appeared in September 1950.

In 1953, with Little Walter riding high as a solo artist for Chess with the number one "Juke" and other hits under his belt, Mendelsohn, now ensconced at Herald, thought he might be garner some by releasing some of the Parkway sides. He put out two singles as by "Little Walter." One single paired "Muskadine Blues," which Herald retitled as "Take a Walk with Me" (H-516), with "Just Keep Lovin' Her" (H-511). The other "Little Walter" single, as explained in the Foster section, actually consisted of two of Foster’s numbers.

By 1954, with Mendelsohn at Savoy, a Leroy Foster release attributed to "Baby Face" showed up on Savoy 1122, mistakenly pairing Little Walter's "Moonshine Blues," which was called "Moonshine Baby," with "Red Headed Woman." The single was reissued in 1956 as Savoy 1501.

Now we have two blues mysteries. Passis told Jim O'Neal that Sunnyland Slim had recorded for the label--so what happened to the sides? And Memphis Minnie was identified as a Parkway artist in a Down Beat item--so what happened to hers? In fact, the Slims and Minnies have been hiding in plain sight for all these years, wrongly attributed to the Regal label. Fred Mendelsohn issued some material from them, and eventually passed the sides on to others. The reissues have all misidentified the tracks as having been recorded by Regal (when there is no evidence that Mendelsohn actually recorded anything in Chicago for Regal), and fudged the dates. Jimmy Rogers also recorded for Parkway, but not on the Leroy Foster sesson as we had previously thought--instead, he sang one number at the end of the Memphis Minnie session. Our thanks to Wayne Goins (communication of December 13, 2007) for helping to sort out these messes.

Pk3. Memphis Minnie and her Jumping Boys / Jimmy Rogers ^

Memphis Minnie [Lizzie Douglas] (voc, eg); Little Son Joe [Ernest Lawlars] (eg); Jimmy Rogers (voc ^); Little Walter (hca ^); Sunnyland Slim (p); Ernest "Big Crawford" (b); Leroy Foster (d).

prob. Chord Distributors, Chicago, late January 1950

This session has previously been dated 1949 in many discographies (though Fancourt and McGrath hedge it and say "1949/50"). In all cases, it has been credited as recorded by Regal.

However, as Wayne Goins has pointed out, there is no evidence that Fred Mendelsohn of Regal did any recording of his own in Chicago. Whereas Mendelsohn definitely did acquire some, if not all, of the mortal remains of Parkway when that company closed down. What's more, Memphis Minnie was announced in a press release as a Parkway artist.

Only two sides were released in 1950, on Regal 3259 (it would be nice to know the month of release, and whether it preceded the Little Walter on Regal). However, another side first appeared on a Savoy LP when Fred Mendelsohn was working there.

The studio ambiance is unusual, with lots of whooping and hollering in evidence (for instance, on "Kid Man Blues" where Minnie breaks out in raucous laughter after vocally imitating a train leaving the station). Most likely, these sides immediately followed the legendary Baby Face Leroy and Little Walter sessions. This would also make sense of the story that Jimmy Rogers arrived late for the session; he is not playing on the Leroy and Walter sides.

What's more, the drumming seems to be work of Leroy Foster, mainly relying on his feet. Discographers haven't previously recognized that the drummer is present, albeit recessed, on all of the tracks.

The single track by Jimmy Rogers, "Ludella," has proven enigmatic. First released on a bootleg LP in the 1970s, it seems to have been shorn of nearly all of its instrumental introduction (what's left comes in just before Rogers starts singing, and quits after a mere 2:00). The lead guitarist isn't Jimmy Rogers or Muddy Waters. But the lead work does sound identical to what we can hear on the Memphis Minnie sides. Wayne Goins suggests it is Minnie's husband and duet partner, Little Son Joe.

Jimmy Rogers had worked with Memphis Minnie in the late 1940s, and claimed to have recorded with her, but the when and where stubbornly resisted identification. Here finally, is the session.

Pk4. Sunnyland Slim

Sunnyland Slim (p, voc); Oliver Alcorn (ts); Robert Jr. Lockwood (eg); Ernest "Big" Crawford (b); Alfred "Fat Man" Wallace (d).

These sides have always been credited as new recordings for Regal, but with suspiciously varying dates (July 19, 1949 or April 19, 1951?). April 19, 1951 does seem about right for the release date on Regal 3327.

Given Slim's role in the Memphis Minnie/Jimmy Rogers session, these numbers could have concluded the marathon in late January. Or they could have been made on a later date in the same venue--note the room sound on "Orphan Boy Blues" and "Sunnyland Train." The personnel are as listed in Fancourt and McGrath. Robert Jr. Lockwood is easily recognized, and the drummer on this session is definitely not Leroy Foster.

The next (indeed, the last) sesion to produce an actual Parkway release featured Robert Jenkins, of whom we know very little.

Pk5. Robert Jenkins and Trio

Robert Jenkins (hca -1); Gene Pierce (eg); unidentified (eg); unidentified (d).

Chicago, early 1950

These sides have developed far less reissue interest; so far their only reapperance has been on an LP released in the 1970s by George Paulus, under the title Negro Rhythm. We draw here on the personnel listing that appeared in Leadbitter and Slaven.

Chris Bentley's review of the LP reissue in Blues Unlimited (1978) was none too encouraging about the Jenkins sides:

...this record is super-rare and deservedly so. After a loud explosion-type noise at the beginning...the listener is subjected to a boring couple of minutes of monotonous drumming, two-note boogie guitar providing the rhythm and a lead guitar producing Hawaiian-type licks. Anyone thinking this is anything like Elmo's classic ["Hawaiian Boogie"], beware: it's more like a senile Steve McGarrett. "Part 2" is at least redeemed by a good harp player who is emasculated in mid-stride.

Helge Thygesen (email communication, June 9, 2006) is more sympathetically inclined, at least toward Pt. 2: "the harmonica side is not that bad in my opinion. Maybe because it is so unlike anything else from the Chicago blues scene I find it interesting and I enjoy listening to it. It is a more primitive recording than anything else to come out on Parkway."

In early March, Passis joined with J. Mayo Williams in forming a personal management firm, presumably to manage the unsigned acts he had recorded for Parkway. The same month, however, the Leaner brothers left Chord Distributors to set up their own distribution firm, United Record Distributors, the country’s first major black-owned distribution firm. Years later, Ernie Leaner recalled that Monroe Passis needed him more than he needed Passis:

There was another fellow named Monroe Passis, who had a place called Chord Distributors, who was on his last leg in business. He didn't really have the financing. He was at one time a sales manager for a company called The Sampson Company [3201 S. Michigan], which distributed Columbia Records. He really didn't have a feel for what the Black thing was all about. Black recordings were called race records, which later became rhythm and blues. Monroe had some good lines, such as Atlantic and a few others. I brought over a number of the labels that M.S. was distributing when I left. George and I made Monroe, in almost a couple or three months, very healthy. (Interviewed by Charles Walton, November 1979)

Passis soldiered on with the label a little while longer, signing in April the Blues Rockers, a band that included pianist Willie Mabon. They had recorded for Aristocrat in late 1949. The item in Billboard that mentioned this signing also stated that Passis was considering signing trombonist Bennie Green, which would constitute his first "jazz acquisition" according to the magazine.

Green was recorded, while we have no evidence of Parkway sessions by the Blues Rockers.

If the personnel list that has come down to us is correct, the Bennie Green session featured some of the best young jazzmen in Chicago.

Pk6. Bennie Green's Band

Bennie Green (tb); Claude McLin (ts); Willie Jones (p); Gene Wright (b); Dorell Anderson (d).

Chicago, April 10, 1950

This enigmatic listing is drawn from Tom Lord's Jazz Discography. Lord got it from Walter Bruyninckx. Bruyninckx seems to have derived his, in turn, from Jørgen Jepsen, who identified the group as "Bennie Green's Band" but listed only "Pennies from Heaven." The three unidentified titles were mentioned in the Jazz Directory for February 1952, and incorporated into Bruyninckx' discography. Our thanks to Howard Rye for tracing the history of this discographical entry back to 1952.

We have subsequently located a contemporary announcement of the recording session, a two-paragraph blurb in Down Beat for May 5, 1950. It ran on page 4 under the title "Record Distributor Waxes Benny Green":

Chicago--Record distributor Monroe Passis, whose Parkway label has heretofore been limited to such artists as Muddy Waters, Memphis Minnie, Sunnyland Slim, and so on, planned to record Benny [sic] Green's new band for its first pop release.

Among the four sides cut April 10 was Pennies from Heaven, tune most closely associated with former Ventura trombonist Green.

The alleged release number (with no B side title) and the band personnel must have come from another source not yet traced.

Was a Parkway 1 ever released? If so, does anyone possess such a rare artifact? Could tapes still be extant?

The Parkway session of Muddy Waters was considered a bit of moonlighting by Leonard Chess. While he was not named as a performer on the record, his fervent guitar playing and verbal whoops and interjections ("Play a long time!") made Muddy's presence obvious. Little Walter and Leroy Foster each referred to him by name on the records, and the company was indiscreet enough to give him composer credit for "Rollin' and Tumblin'." Some of the musicians told Chess about the session. Said Passis, "They went and told him what they had done and Chess said, ‘Let’s record it and kill it.’" Chess immediately brought him into the studio to record a version of "Rollin' and Tumblin'" with bassist Big Crawford for release on Aristocrat. The genuinely two-part recording was excellent, but it did not match the primal energy of the Foster version. Nonetheless, Waters was surging in popularity at this time and there is little doubt that his version outsold the Foster version.

This February session also produced "Rollin’ Stone," the first Waters side to be released on the Chess imprint. Waters by this time had emerged as the preeminent blues artist from Chicago. In July 1950, the Chess brothers acknowledged the broader lesson of the Parkway episode when they began including Little Walter on Waters' recording sessions; Jimmy Rogers was included in Muddy's sessions from October 1950. During 1951-1958 recording for Chess, Muddy Waters put 15 songs on the national R&B charts. In the 1960s, Chess tried to broaden Waters’ audience with folk-styled and rock-styled albums, which were sometimes commercial if not critical successes. Remaining with Chess after the sale of the company and the death of Leonard Chess, Waters eventually signed with Blue Sky, where under the production aegis of Johnny Winter he recorded four albums in a more traditional manner during 1977-81. Waters died on 30 April 1983, in Westmont, Illinois.

After his Parkway session, Jimmy Rogers signed with Chess Records, which used his smooth vocals on many terrific recordings, beginning with "That's All Right" from an August 1950 session under his own name. Rogers continued as rhythm guitarist in the Muddy band until 1955, appearing on most of Waters' Chess recordings during that period, and recorded under his own name for Chess until 1959. He was mostly retired from the music business during the 1960s, but returned to recording in 1972 on the Shelter label. Other LPs followed, for Black and Blue (1973), JSP (1982), Antone's (1990), and Bullseye (1994). Rogers died in 1997.

Little Walter after the Parkway recordings concentrated on his harmonica to the greater benefit of the blues world (he made just two further appearances on guitar, on two sides cut with Muddy Waters in 1951). But he would not record as a leader again for some two years. From July 1950 to August 1952, Walter performed and recorded with the Waters band; he was also used on Chess sessions with Jimmy Rogers, Floyd Jones, Eddie Ware, Memphis Minnie, and John Brim. After he recorded his gigantic hit, "Juke," for Checker in May 1952, however, he went on to one of the most successful recording careers of any Chicago blues artist, scoring 14 Top Ten R&B hits. By the end of the 1950s, his hitmaking was at an end. The 1960s saw blues decline in the black community, along with Walter’s decline into alcoholism and bar fights. Walter died on February 15, 1968.

After leaving Muddy's group for good, Leroy Foster cut three sessions for JOB in 1950 (later reissued on Chess), 1951, and 1952. He backed Mildred Richards and Snooky Pryor on their 1950 sessions for JOB; backed J. B. Lenoir on his debut session (made in 1950 for JOB but dealt to Chess); and accompanied Sunnyland Slim on two sides cut in October 1950 for the Sunny label. Foster's 1952 sides remained unissued for decades, and he never recorded again, dissipating his career in alcoholism. He died in Chicago, on 26 May 1958.

Parkway's failure to do anything with his first session as a leader did no discernible harm to Bennie Green's career. He didn't hang around town waiting for his single to be released. By April 26, he was in New York City recording with Gene Ammons for Prestige; on May 18 and 19 he was part of an all-star ensemble that backed Sarah Vaughan for Columbia. In fact Green would record in Chicago just once more, when he made four titles with strings for Prestige in 1952. In his next opportunity as a leader, Bennie Green recorded 4 sides for Jubilee in August 1950; all of these were released. In 1951 and 1952 he led sessions for Prestige. From 1951 to 1953 he was a member of Earl Hines' last big band. Green then worked for over a decade as a leader of quintets; he shared the front line with such tenor saxophonists as Frank Foster, Charlie Rouse, Jimmy Forrest, and Johnny Griffin. After leaving Hines in 1953, he made a 10-inch LP for Decca. He did three LPs for Prestige (1955 and 1956), four for Blue Note (1958 and 1959), and one each for Vee-Jay (1959), Enrica (1960), Time (1960), Bethlehem (1960), and Jazzland (1961), and made numerous sideman appearances in the studio. His last sides as a leader were done for Prestige in 1967. For two stretches in 1968 and 1969 he performed and recorded with Duke Ellington. Later in 1969, he settled in Las Vegas, where he worked regularly in hotel bands. He made his last appearance on record in 1972, during a Newport in New York festival, and died in San Diego on March 23, 1977.

After Parkway sessions, Claude McLin's fortunes improved for a while when Chess recorded his version of "Mona Lisa" in July 1950--it would be his only hit. "Tennessee Waltz," cut in October 1950, was intended as a follow-up but Schoolboy Porter's rendition on Chance outsold it. McLin also appeared on a fan's tape recording of an October 1950 Charlie Parker set at the Pershing Ballroom. After another session for Chess in 1951, McLin became fed up with the lack of steady work in Chicago; early in 1952, he moved his family to Los Angeles. There he found plentiful gigs in clubs and occasional studio work, appearing on an Amos Milburn session for Aladdin (1954) and cutting for small labels such as Golden Tone (1958), Dootone (also 1958), his own Mac-Jac enterprise (1960), and Allegro (1962). But his final effort, for Dootone in 1963, found him attempting garage rock. The demand for Claude McLin's music dried up after 1965 and he took a job driving a bus for Avis Rent-a-Car at the Los Angeles International Airport. Claude McLin retired from Avis around 1993 and died in Los Angeles on July 21, 1995.

Willie Jones remained at the Macomba until the club burned down in October 1950. For the next decade he enjoyed steady work in various Chicago-area clubs with quartets and trios. He picked up occasional studio gigs backing doo-wop groups (the Five Blue Notes for Sabre in 1953, the Five Echoes for the same label in 1954 and the Flamingos for Chance that same year, the Flamingos for Parrot later in 1954, and three sessions for Parrot/Blue Lake in 1955). He got his sole opportunity to record as a leader, for Vee-Jay in 1954; "My Thing" and "My Other Thing" are precursors to the music of Cecil Taylor. Willie Jones also appeared on the LPs that Clark Terry and Paul Gonsalves cut for the Chess brothers' Argo label in 1957. Jones continued his piano playing and singing in the clubs during the 1960s and early 1970s (regrettably, his vocals were never recorded). His last appearances on record were with Tommy "Madman" Jones for the saxophonist's M&M label (1963 and early 1970s). After 1972, Willie Jones' health declined; he died of arteriosclerosis in Chicago on December 31, 1977.

Gene Wright next recorded with Gene Ammons, on the saxophonist's last session for Aristocrat (May 1950). He was Ammons' regular bassist until May 1951, appearing on both of the tenor man's sessions for Chess. Subsequently, he moved to the West Coast, where he worked with Buddy DeFranco, Red Norvo, and Cal Tjader. He reached the height of his fame as a member of Dave Brubeck's quartet from 1957 to 1967, acquring the nickname "Senator" along the way. In his later years Wright has been active as a musician, a teacher, and a composer.

Dorell Anderson remained on the scene until the mid-1960s. Although somewhat more durable than Ike Day, he had a comparable series of run-ins with the Union:

Erased member Dorel [sic] Anderson, 9233 South Wentworth Avenue, appeared before the Board requesting permission to work with Union members and pay his $100.00 fine in weekly installments.

Anderson was given a severe reprimand by the Board for his lax attitude.

On motion, the Board ruled that Dorel Anderson shall be given permission to work and pay his $100.00 fine weekly on the following conditions:

1. Anderson shall not be permitted to draw or make tabs.
2. His salary shall be collected by the business agent and brought into the Local.
3. If he insists on doing things detrimental to himself, he can be dismissed and the entire balance of his fine becomes due and payable immediately.
4. He shall not have the benefit of any notice, which means the first time he is late or fails to appear on an engagement, he shall be dismissed immediately. (Board meeting minutes of Local 208, November 18, 1954, p. 1)

Dorell Anderson can be heard to advantage on a 1965 Charlie Parker memorial concert that was recorded by Mercury's Limelight subsidiary. Not long after that, he was murdered; according to Alvin Fielder, his body was found in the Chicago River.

The departure of the Leaner brothers led Monroe Passis to reconsider his commitment to the label, and to the record distribution business. Not only did he lose two managers, he probably lost a considerable part of his business as the brothers steered clients to their new United Record Distributors setup. ("No-compete" clauses weren't in use in the music business of the early 1950s.) Parkway ceased recording in April 1950, and probably fizzled quickly after the May 5 mention in Down Beat, the last contemporary reference that we have been able to find. The label was definitely defunct by September, when Fred Mendelsohn released two Little Walter sides from the first session (one of them previously unissued) on Regal. And the December 1950 telephone book shows no listing for Chord Distributors, which presumably had closed its doors. Most likely all of the unsold Parkway 78s were destroyed when Chord was shut down.

Passis moved into running trade shows. From the 1950s through the 1970s, operating Transworld Exhibits, he was one of the leaders in the business, running the annual discount store trade show, and handling the huge housewares show on Navy Pier. He died on January 29, 2004, in Rancho Mirage, California.

During the 1950s, Ernie and George Leaner prospered with United Distributors. From 1962 to 1968, George operated the Oneder-ful/M-Pac/Mar-V-lus label complex, recording such hard soul acts as McKinley Mitchell, Harold Burrage, Otis Clay, Five Dutones, Sharpees, Johnny Sayles, and, Dorothy Prince, as well as huge dance record star, Alvin Cash. Blues artists recording for the company included Lonnie Brooks, Big Daddy Rogers, and Andrew Tibbs. Following the closing of Oneder-ful, Ernie Leaner teamed with his son Tony to form Toddlin’ Town, which experienced moderate success recording such proto-funk acts as Bull and the Matadors and Thomas East before closing in 1971.

As the majors reclaimed a greater share of the record business, the Leaner brothers were forced to shut down United Distributors in 1974, turning the operation into a one-stop. They also opened up a chain of retail shops. However, by the end of the decade, both George and Ernie were largely out of the music business. George died September 18, 1983, in Chicago; and Ernie died April 17, 1990, in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The records live on. The original Parkways are extremely rare today, and have become highly sought-after collectors' items: "Rollin’ and Tumblin’" in 2005 was being offered at a starting bid of $2,000. The same auction was offering the Little Walter on Regal for a minimum bid of $1,000. Those who are not enamored of paper and plastic at those prices fondly appreciate the great music from the legendary Parkway sides. Today's listeners are fortunate that the sides from the first session were dealt to Fred Mendelsohn, who preserved the masters and many years later sold them to Delmark. Mendelsohn also preserved the masters of the Memphis Minnie and the Sunnyland Slim sessions. We can only hope that the masters from the Robert Jenkins and Bennie Green sessions were not discarded.

More Parkways?

A few other Chicago blues sessions, vaguely dated between 1949 and 1951, were partly issued on Regal, or on labels that Fred Mendelsohn worked at after Regal folded. A St. Louis Jimmy session, usually dated 1949, is probably correctly attributed to that year because the matrix numbers assigned by Mendelsohn have a D for DeLuxe instead of an R for Regal. (Regal was founded in 1949 on the ruins of DeLuxe; Mendelsohn's partners were the Braun brothers, who had previously run DeLuxe.) There is no particular reason to believe that Mendelsohn recorded the session, but it pre-dates Parkway and therefore had to come from another source. However, two Roosevelt Sykes sessions may have been done for Parkway. A 6-tune session with just Sykes and drummer Jump Jackson is dated March 1950 by Fancourt and McGrath; if accurate, the date comes from Parkway's brief span of activity. A further session of 4 or more tunes, on which Sykes and Jackson are joined by J. T. Brown on tenor sax, is said to be from April 1951. While the principals were all in Chicago at the time, the date is no more trustworthy than the date that's been affixed to the Sunnyland Slim session now listed above. To be continued...

Sources

We relied heavily on researchers who preceded us in writing about Parkway. The best and most astute history of the first Parkway session appeared in Tony Glover, Scott Dirks, and Ward Gaines, Blues With a Feeling: The Little Walter Story (New York: Routledge, 2002). For quotations from and information about Monroe Passis we made heavy use of Jim O’Neal [liner notes essay] The Blues World of Little Walter, Delmark DD-648, 1993, plus email correspondence he shared with us with Monroe’s daughter and Eric LeBlanc. For biographical information on Bennie Green, we consulted the entry on him by Mark Gardner in Barry Kernfeld (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2nd edn., London: Macmillan, 2002, Volume 2, p. 85) and his section in Tom Lord's Jazz Discography, Volume 8 (Redwood, NY: Cadence Jazz Books, 1994).

We found good background on the first Parkway session from Muddy Waters’ viewpoint in Robert Gordon’s Can’t Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2002): 99-100. Also indispensable was Mike Rowe, Chicago Breakdown (London: Eddison Press, 1973): 74-76.

Primary sources included "Leaners Leave M&S for Chord," Billboard, 13 August 1949; Edward Myers, "About the Records," Chicago Defender, 11 March 1950; "Music—As Written," Billboard, 11 March 1950; "Music—As Written," Billboard, 15 April 1950, p. 28; and "Record Distributor Waxes Benny Green," Down Beat 5 May 1950, p. 4.

For discographical information on the blues items we turned to Mike Leadbitter and Neil Slaven, Blues Records 1943-1970, Volume One, A to K (London: Record Information Services, 1987); Mike Leadbitter, Leslie Fancourt, and Paul Pelletier, Blues Records 1943-1970, Volume Two, L to Z (London: Record Information Services, 1994). Helping us to determine what was on the labels we relied on Bob McGrath’s The R&B Indies Volume One (West Vancouver, Canada: Eyeball Productions, 2000), and The R&B Indies Volume Two (West Vancouver, Canada: Eyeball Productions, 2000).

We owe to Wayne Goins the point that none of the Chicago blues recordings that appeared on Regal were actually recorded for that label. Goins has convincingly argued that two blocks of material (one by Sunnyland Slim and another by Memphis Minnie) were of Parkway origin.

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