The Parrot and Blue Lake Labels

Revision note. We have added several label scans, including both sides of Blue Lake 103 by Ann Carter and the original Parrot 802 by J. B. Lenoir.

Parrot Records was the creation of noted Chicago DJ Al Benson (1908 - 1978). Born Arthur Leaner in Jackson, Mississippi, he arrived in Chicago in 1923. (There is a biographical profile in "Al Benson-The Godfather of Black Radio in Chicago" by the late Charles Walton, available on the Jazz Institute of Chicago website.) In his earlier days, Benson sang, produced shows at a theater in Jackson, worked as a probation officer, and preached. Al Benson began his career as a DJ in 1943, when he stated a gospel show on Chicago radio station WGES. His skill at selling commercial time on his church program landed him an R&B show on WGES toward the end of 1945. Quickly he became one of the biggest powers in the R&B business.

Benson began doing freelance recording in the spring of 1948 (when he taped at least 6 tracks at a live session at the Pershing Ballroom, edited them, and sold them to Aristocrat). He was in the studios a few months later, recording four numbers by the Benson All-Star Orchestra (see the Eddie Johnson pages for details), followed in the fall by a session with the Four Shades of Rhythm.

Benson opened his first company -- it was called Old Swing-Master, after his DJ handle -- in January 1949. Benson was really a front man; the outfit had come into being so his business partner, Egmont Sonderling, who owned Master Records and the United Broadcasting Studios, could issue jazz and R&B masters that Vitacoustic had recorded at his studio and failed to pay for. The label sustained itself by ingesting material acquired from defunct local labels like Rhumboogie, Marvel, Planet, and Sunbeam. Just the releases by the Benson All Star Orchestra, Old Swing-Master 15 and 16, and the Four Shades of Rhythm, Old Swing-Master 23, came out of Al Benson recording projects. And, so far as we can determine, those projects were done before the label was launched. Benson may have done a little freelance recording for sale to other labels while involved with Old Swing-Master; at least the session done at some point in 1949 by the Blues Rockers (later sold to Aristocrat) is thought to be his work. By the end of 1949, Old Swing-Master became inactive except as a conduit for some material Miracle had turned over to Sonderling to settle debts. Sonderling decided to phase out his involvement in the record business, closing down his pressing operation and acquiring radio station WOPA. Consequently Old Swing-Master shut down in June 1950.

Benson couldn't stay away from recording for long. In March 1951, he supervised a session by jazz violinist Eddie South, which he sold to the Chess brothers (see our Eddie Johnson page for details). The session includes Benson himself singing (well, reciting) "I Can't Give You Anything but Love." In 1952 he started a series of recording sessions at Universal Recording, in the hope of selling the material to established companies; a U4300 matrix series was opened for this effort. The Chess brothers were his best (as far as we know, his only) customers, purchasing masters by Willie Mabon, Danny Overbea, and Joe Williams and issuing them on their Chess and Checker labels. Our King Kolax discography presents details of the Williams and Overbea sides.

Benson seems to have had Parrot in mind well before he had amassed the wherewithal to launch his own record company. The very first items to appear with a Parrot label are in the same U4300 matrix series out of Universal.

Our year-by-year lists takes their sequence in part from the matrixes, in part from the numbers on the tape boxes (as preserved on list of tapes transferred to Chess around 1959), in part from the release numbers, and in part from known recording dates. As we do not know exact recording dates for some of the sessions, and the matrixes are not always in sequence with the recording dates that we do know, this yields a somewhat vague ordering. The placement of the Blue Lake issues, with their separate matrix series, within the Parrot sequence poses special difficulties. The earlier Blue Lakes apparently had matrix numbers in the Parrot series originally, but hardly any of these can be recovered.

Nearly all Parrots and Blue Lakes were recorded in Chicago, at Universal Recording. The material that Al Benson purchased from SwingTime in the Fall of 1953 was recorded in Los Angeles (see the section on the Swing Time deal). The Jimmy Rushing session of December 1953 was recorded in New York City. Some sources claim that the Herbie Fields was done there as well, but we are inclined to doubt that.

Whenever possible, we have taken the names of the artists and the titles from the physical artifacts, i.e., the records. Matrix numbers that have been verified directly from the record are marked in bold type.

In November 1952, Al Benson made preparations for launching his own record company. He worked out a deal with the Chess brothers whereby some of his masters that were being released on Checker could be made available in parallel on his own imprint, which he decided to call Parrot. Since Benson had no distribution network yet, the Parrot versions saw little circulation outside of Chicago.

The first of these dual-status items was Parrot 1050, "I Don't Know" by Willie Mabon, which was released in November 1952. (Some copies of Parrot 1050 put the familiar Parrot logo on a blue background unknown from any later release.) Very quickly, however, the record was picked up by the Chess brothers; by the end of the month it was out on Chess 1531, and on Checker 1050 (the latter we assume was a Parrot pressing with a Checker label pasted on). "I Don't Know" hit #1 on the Billboard Rhythm & Blues chart and remained on the charts for 15 weeks. The Parrot release has been confirmed by Robert Javors and Dr. Robert Stallworth; its release date comes from Bernd Kratochwil's article on the Parrot label in the German magazine Rockin' Fifties (Teil 3.1, 1998).

During the first half of 1953, two more singles, Parrot 772 and 775, were accorded this dual treatment. Another was apparently intended to get it: the Browley Guy sides on Checker 779 were eventually sold to Relic Records with other Parrot and Blue Lake material, but we've never seen or heard of a Parrot 779. For a time Benson was actually applying the numbers from another company's ongoing series (Checker started at 750 in 1952) to his own releases. But after 779, Checker and Parrot releases would be entirely independent of one another.

We have not included any other sessions in the U4300 matrix series, because after a few months it stopped being reserved for material that Benson recorded. Much to the confusion of discographers, in January 1953 Chess began slotting in sessions by its own artists, including Muddy Waters, Little Walter--and Danny Overbea after he had signed with the Chess brothers.

The preliminary Parrots featured a piano-playing bluesman, two vocal groups, and a jazz combo.

Willie James Mabon (born October 24, 1925, in Hollywood, Tennessee) was the piano-playing bluesman. He cut his first solo sides for JOB in the summer of 1949; these were actually released as a single on Apollo, under the name Big Willie. Though most of his club gigs during the period were solo or trio affairs, he next recorded with Earl Dranes and The Blues Rockers for Aristocrat. The first session took place at some point in the second half of 1949 (under Al Benson's direction) and the followup in March 1950. When Mabon did his October 1952 session with Benson, he was on the brink of becoming famous for his incisive lyrics. What put him on the map was his reorganized version of a Cripple Clarence Lofton number, "I Don't Know" (see our Session pages for Lofton's 1943 recording). "I Don't Know" was a major hit, though not for Parrot.

Mabon remained with the Chess brothers through 1956, but his sales dropped over time and his exit from the label was not a happy one. He did one session for Federal in 1957. In 1960, he worked a session that was intended for release on the LaSalle label; it also featured Tom Archia on tenor sax. That same year he cut two singles that were released on Tommy Jones' Mad imprint, and he recorded an unsuccesful return session for Chess. In 1962, he was with the Formal label; in 1963 and 1964, he did four sessions for the USA label, one of them with a Red Saunders combo. He took one last shot at recording in Chicago for Checker in 1969. Later on he settled in Europe. Willie Mabon died in Paris on April 19, 1985.

The Parrots were an old-fashioned vocal harmony group, accompanied by what sounds like one of Chicago's top-of-the-line lounge trios, at a time when many still use piano, guitar, and bass. It might be Robert "Prince" Cooper's trio, or Duke Groner's, but there isn't enough soloing by the trio members to support a reliable judgment. The sessions added a drummer who liked to attach a few doodads to his kit, judging from "Weep Weep Weep."

Herbie Fields (born on May 24, 1919 in Elizabeth, New Jersey) was a New York-based multi-instrumentalist who performed on clarinet and alto and tenor saxophone. He ran with some the best jazz musicians in the world in the early 1940s, appearing on some of the private recordings cut at Minton's by his friend Jerry Newman. Fields was a good enough tenor saxophonist to jam with the likes of Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas, and Dexter Gordon, but he was never quite able to reach their level of artistry. Fewer questions were asked about his clarinet and alto sax work; his technical master of the alto sax was particularly impressive. He recorded in 1944 for Signature; in 1945, while a member of Lionel Hampton's band, he made three sessions for Savoy. In 1946 and 1947 he did a series of recordings with a big band for Victor. After a long dry spell, he cut another big-band session for the Decca subsidiary Coral in 1952.

Some say the Herbie Fields sides were recorded in New York City (jørgen Grunnet Jepsen's discography adds that they were from a broadcast, but the sonics just don't bear that out). Bernd Kratochwil has suggested that they were cut in April 1953, while Herbie Fields was working a four-week engagement at the Preview Lounge in Chicago. This is the most plausible date, though in the list of Parrot tapes acquired by Chess in 1959 the file number on the tape box for the Herbie Fields session is 1854, which would put the date in June. But some other Parrot tapes that were consolidated on June 10, 1953 at Universal Recording may actually have been recorded earlier.

On his Parrot sides, Fields played alto, tenor, and baritone sax. The personnel given in Lord's Jazz Discography and in earlier sources was Lee Katzman on trumpet, Eddie Bert on trombone, Joe Black on piano, Rudy Cafro, electric guitar, Dan Martucci, bass, and Phil Arabia, drums. Shirley Klett has shown that this was actually the lineup for a six-day gig at a club in Providence in September 1952, and that Eddie Bert never worked with Fields on any other occasion! According to Klett, Rudy Cafaro has confirmed being on Parrot 775; Joe Gatto, who worked with Fields earlier, confirms that Joe Black is on piano; Lee Katzman denies being on trumpet on the record, and Leonard Gaskin believes that the trumpet player was actually Jimmy Nottingham. So the revised lineup is Jimmy Nottingham (trumpet), unidentified (trombone), Joe Black (piano), Rudy Cafaro (electric guitar), unidentified (bass), and unidentified (drums). If there is a rub, it's that Jimmy Nottingham is known to have worked with Fields from early 1950 through early 1951, and his presence in Fields' April 1953 combo is unverified.

"Harlem Nocturne" (Parrot 775), which showcases Field's command of the alto sax, is a juke box jazz number that sounds quite competitive with the sides that Tab Smith was laying down for United, or that Earl Bostic was cutting for King. In fact, was an early success for the new company; it spent one week on the Billboard pop charts, at #24 during the week of September 12, 1953. Where "Harlem Nocture" was a movie3 composer's tribute to Johnny Hodges, "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" was actually written for him—again, Fields scintillates on the alto.

On "Mr. Jump," whose title tells all, Fields plays tenor sax and baritone sax in the ensembles via overdubbing. Cafaro, the trombonist, Nottingham, and Fields (on tenor) are the soloists. Released the in the summer of 1954 on Parrot 806, it did not enjoy the same level of sales.

After Parrot, Herbie Fields cut more sides for Decca in 1954 (in New York) and 1955 (in Los Angeles). He resettled in Miami, where he cut an LP for RKO Unique with his local combo in 1956. His last recording was a 1958 LP for RKO Unique that included a string section. Herbie Fields committed suicide in his Miami home on September 17, 1958.

Browley Guy, whose name has been variously misrendered as "Brawley," "Briley," or "Brownley," was a 1936 graduate of Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago. Guy had previously appeared on Miracle with Sonny Thompson and his Sharps and Flats, Eddie Chamblee's group and Leon Abbey's trio (1947 - 1949), then on two sessions for States in 1952, the first with the Guy Brothers Orchestra and the second with a Paul Bascomb group. A crooner, Guy led an old-fashioned vocal group that was particularly known for schmaltzy ballads; on his session for Al Benson he used another lounge trio (piano, guitar, and bass) for accompaniment. To our knowledge, this was his last recording session.

We know of 14 tracks in all from this preliminary phase. The formal launch of the new label took place in July 1953, and the first sessions to be released exclusively on Parrot took place in May or June.

After these fits and starts, Parrot opened a continuous number series, independent of Checker, with 780 and 781. Parrot began displaying such wares (with trade advertisements that proclaimed "New Label") in July 1953. However, advertisements for Parrot 775, which was part of the joint venture, were also appearing that month (July 25, to be exact). In December 1953, a long article about the new record label came out (it is reproduced at left, courtesy of the Simon Evans / Man in Japan collection). Oddly, this still mentioned the the same artists as the "New Label" advertisement (Mabel Scott and The Chocolateers) but added singer Joe Williams, who started recording for Parrot in September. And the only Joe Williams title to be mentioned was "Every Day I Have the Blues," which was indeed recorded by Al Benson, but in 1952, before he launched Parrot (see our King Kolax page for details). Not so oddly, the article avoided mentioning that Al Benson owned the label--there was a good deal of sensitivity about DJs being involved in the record business, and Benson had previously caught flak for his role in Old Swing-Master.

Members of different vocal groups that recorded for Parrot or Blue Lake told Robert Pruter (Doowop: The Chicago Scene) that Al Benson "seemed to run the company alone, almost as a hobby. He was president, administrator, A&R man, producer, and in Chicago, distributor." It looks like he took things too easy. When two members of The Fascinators, a band from Detroit, complained to Benson that they could not hear their record in their hometown, Benson gave them some copies of the record and added the address of a distributor! (See The Fascinators' session below, in the 1955 listing.)

In an interview with Charles Walton (see "Al Benson-The Godfather of Black Radio in Chicago" in Bronzeville Conversations), DJ Lucky Cordell recalled that Benson would not only select the records that each of his DJs was to play, he would physically stack them in the desired order:

Benson's most obvious weakness, to me, was that he did not have the ability to delegate authority; he had to run it himself. You cannot run your agency, do your radio program, interfere with all the DJs and their programming, run your newspaper and so on. He had someone running his newspaper but he was forever interfering with him. If he had the ability to delegate authority, the man could have been filthy rich.

Benson seems not to have monitored his matrix numbers closely. Unissued tracks were sometimes left without one. Benson started 1953 with a U4300 series that he had used for material sold to Chess and Checker, but the series was quickly taken over by the other company, and he dropped it for good after the Browley Guy session. When it was time for Parrot's formal launch, at least three of Benson's sessions tapped into a common matrix series that Universal used with various small labels, including Chance and JOB; in June 1953 it had reached U2550. But then he tagged two more items from the Mabel Scott session with numbers in a later series and did the same with two items from the Herbie Fields session.

In August, Benson settled on the 53100 series, in which the first two digits were to represent the year of recording and the last three were to represent the sequence of releases. This system was adhered to for the remainder of 1953; while he was at it he attached 53100 series numbers to a couple of Mabel Scott sides recorded in June. From May or June through the end of the year Benson laid down 120 tracks that are listed here.

According to Donn Fileti, the E prefix on a few items recorded in 1953 stands for Eagle Records. Eagle was intended to become a Benson subsidiary, but plans for it were abandoned. (Of course, collectors can prove us wrong by producing a 78 or a 45 with an Eagle label on it!) E53135-E53138 are on the same master tape and presumably came from the same recording session.

The first sessions for the new label included Red Saunders' band backing two of the acts that they accompanied at the Club DeLisa. The Chocolateers were a three-man comedy ensemble. "Peckin'" is an eccentric Swing dance number, well suited to Red's band, and the arrangement leaves some spots for Red's musicians. "Bartender Blues" is strictly a slapstick routine with band accompaniment (there is a loud clatter from the tom-toms whenever one of the Chocolateers pretends to go upside another's head). The number was advertised as "Bartenders Ball," the label of Parrot 781 gives the title as "Bartender Blues." The remaining two sides from this session (which was apparently not among those dealt to Chess in 1959) have never seen the light of day.

Mabel Scott was a glamor-girl singer based in Los Angeles. Born Mabel Bernice Scott in Richmond, Virginia, on April 30, 1915, she performed in Europe during the early years of World War II, then sang briefly with Jimmie Lunceford's big band. She made her first recordings in 1948 for the Los Angeles label Exclusive Records; her biggest hit with them was "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus." The Parrot sides were made during an engagement in Chicago: as duly noted in the Chicago Defender, Mabel Scott was the star attraction at the Club DeLisa for the week of May 16, 1953, in a revue called a "A May-Hey Day." On Scott's Parrot sides, the Red Saunders band is joined by guest trumpeter King Kolax. The standout title, "Mr. Fine," is an ironic ode to an abusive boyfriend. Mabel Scott continued to record for Decca and King and in the mid-1950s was appearing in Las Vegas as a pianist and entertainer. Her last records were made for an Australian label in 1955, while she was touring Down Under with a revue that also included the Chicago-based doowop group The Moroccos (see our Al Smith page for more on their involvement). For a brief period in the late 1950s, she was married to blue balladeer Charles Brown (1922 - 1999). Eventually she became an active church member and gave up performing. She died in Los Angeles on July 19, 2000.

The session done by blues guitarist L. C. McKinley poses a lesser dating problem. The recording sheets from Universal indicate the date as June 10, in the same style and handwriting as the Browley Guy, Chocolateers, and Mabel Scott sessions. However, Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier's blues discography has given May 19, 1953 as the date for this session. Bob Koester reports that around 1962, a Blue Lake 78 by L. C. McKinley was in the possession of United Distributors in Chicago. However, the only gap in the Blue Lake release number series is 110, and even dedicated collectors like John Tefteller have never seen a Blue Lake 110. The first confirmed release of anything from the session was on a Relic CD in 1989.

L. C. McKinley, whose rarely used first name was Larry, was born in Winona, Mississippi on August 10, 1913. He arrived in Chicago around 1940. In 1951 and 1952, he recorded as a sideman with pianist Eddie Boyd for JOB; that's his guitar work on Boyd's biggest hit, "Five Long Years." McKinley was obviously a disciple of Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker, both in his guitar attack and in the textures of his vocals. What's less Walker-like about McKinley's session for Parrot (which was his first as a leader) is the way tenor saxophonist Lorenzo Tucker (well, maybe that was his last name--Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier call him Lorenzo King) provides most of the fills and solos. Tucker basically carries "Rosalie Blues," while McKinley's guitar picking plays a secondary role.

L. C. McKinley went on to record as a leader for States in January 1954 (one single, two more sides unissued at the time). In 1955 he had a somewhat more extended stay at Vee-Jay: two sessions that led to two singles. He worked regularly as a sideman at the 708 Club on East 47th Street for much of the 1950s. His last recording as a leader was "Nit Wit" for Bea & Baby in 1959. He died in Chicago on January 19, 1970.

Kratochwil gives the date for Curtis Jones' sides in the U2500 series as May 19, 1953. That makes eminent sense, as they were made by the same band: Curtis Jones (piano), L. C. McKinley (guitar), Lorenzo Tucker (tenor sax), Ransom Knowling (bass), and Lawrence "Judge" Riley (drums).

Pianist Curtis Jones was a blues veteran by this time. He was born in Naples, Texas, on August 18, 1906, and moved to Chicago in the early 1930s. Before World War II, he recorded frequently in sessions organized by Lester Melrose. Jones' first session, for Parrot, done on May 19 and shared with L. C. McKinley, produced his last commercial single. "Cool Playing Blues" features the leader in typically relaxed voice and McKinley's guitar support is pure T-Bone. Lending the proceedings a somewhat old-fashioned flavor, the bass player and drummer had been on countless sessions for the Melrose combine during the 1940s.

Tenor sax player Nature Boy Brown is better known to us as J.T. Brown, the name he used on most of his other recordings. He was born John T. Brown in rural Mississippi on April 2, 1910. Brown worked down South with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels before moving to Chicago. There his bleating tenor sax made him a popular sessionman, working behind such bluesmen as Roosevelt Sykes, St. Louis Jimmy, and Elmore James. He recorded a fair number of sides as a leader. These notably including an opening-day session for United in July 1951 which sold well in the early going, and another for the same label in January 1952 (both included trumpeter King Kolax). Unfortunately, his decision to use a non-Union alto saxophonist on the January 1952 session got Leonard Allen and Lew Simpkins into a heap of trouble with Musicians Union Local 208 and iced his prospects with that company. Brown joined Elmore James' touring band, the Broomdusters, in June 1952 and appeared on three of their sessions for the Bihari brothers' labels Meteor and Flair; Brown worked three instrumental sides and one vocal as a leader.

This Parrrot session from August 10, 1953 took place when Brown was on hiatus from the James band, whose leader often returned to his home in Mississippi for extended periods. Meanwhile, Brown was pulling them into the Chicago nightspots that year, notably at Ralph's Club (2157 West Madison) and Jimmy's New Apex Lounge (in suburban Robbins), so one can understand why Benson wanted to record him. But there must have been second thoughts, as these sides lay unreleased until Relic put them out in 1989. We don't know why: Brown is in good form vocally on "I'm Wise" and tenoristically throughout. Brown is accompanied by trumpet and alto sax (as on his ill-fated session from 1952), piano, bass, and drums. We think that Brown's old band-mate King Kolax joined in on trumpet. And the rhythm section could well have been Curtis Jones, Alfred Elkins, and Judge Riley from the first session of the day--but some comparative listening is still required.

J. T. Brown went on to record for JOB around January of 1954. Eventually, he received forgiveness from Leonard Allen at United, where he was able to return for a session in 1956, but the company was in decline by then and the session was left in the can. In the late 1950s, Brown often gigged with Elmore James when the guitarist was in town. In 1959 Brown recorded a single for the tiny Atomic-H label. J. T. Brown died in Chicago on November 24, 1969, not too long after a memorable performance of his "Black Jack Blues," on a Blues Horizon album with the British group Fleetwood Mac.

Leo Parker (born on April 18, 1925 on Washington DC) had risen to prominence in the Billy Eckstine band of 1945; he was the first bebopper to play the baritone sax, and a prime inspiration to Mac Easton of the Red Saunders band. After reeling off a string of recordings for Savoy and Apollo in the late 1940s, he dropped to a much lower profile in the early 1950s as he struggled with a serious heroin habit. Still, he was able to record in Chicago for Chess (see our Eddie Johnson page), United, and Parrot. In the summer of 1953, Parker was interested in settling in Chicago; on August 20, he and his agent appeared before the Board of Musicians Union Local 208, asking permission for him to join. (He was allowed to do so, with the interesting restriction that he not be allowed to work the Flame Lounge for an entire year! Was some effort afoot to bring him in and push out Melvin Moore's house band, which had been in residence at that nightspot for over a year?) His Parrot session, with a pianist, bassist, and drummer still unidentified, was mysteriously left in the vault by Al Benson and remained unknown until it appeared on a Chess Vintage Series LP in 1972. The list of Parrot masters acquired by Chess gives us the correct matrix numbers on these sides for the very first time (we did guess that they ran from 53107 to 53110), and confirms that they were recorded the same day as the J. T. Brown and the second Curtis Jones sessions. Leo Parker did not stay long in Chicago after all, and he was out of circulation for long periods during the remainder of the decade. Not long after cutting a comeback LP for Blue Note, Leo Parker died of cancer in New York City, on February 11, 1962.

The standard date for the Coleman Hawkins session is clearly wrong. Following all existing discographies, John Chilton's book The High and Mighty Hawk puts this session on May 27, 1954, while Hawk was headlining at the Beehive in Chicago. But the releases on Parrot 783 and 784 took place in September or October of 1953. And their matrix numbers are early in the 53100 series, sandwiched between a batch of sessions from August 10 and another bach of sessions from September. The date wasn't May 27, 1953, either. Coleman Hawkins was pictured in the Chicago Defender of June 4, 1953, annoucing a gig at the Beehive slated to start on June 12 of that year (Hawk's contract for 4 weeks was accepted and filed by Local 208 on June 18). Hawk moved to the Toast of the Town on August 7; members of his band on that job--Laurell Howell, Tom Phillips, and guitarist Leo Blevins--were hauled in front of the Board of Local 208 on August 20, 1953 because of some dispute arising out of Hawk's gig. (Unfortunately, Local 208's Secretary William Everett Samuels, who had a gift for taking down beefs using the speech patterns of the contending parties, was on vacation, and his stand-in didn't bother to describe what the dispute was about.) Our conclusion: Hawk's Parrot session took place in August, during the Toast of the Town engagement. The gig was over by the end of the month, judging from the fact that Leo Blevins next picked up a job as a leader at the Paris Club (contract posted September 3). (The matrix numbers 6994-7001 were affixed to these tracks after Savoy purchased them in 1956; Al Benson attached Parrot matrix numbers only to the four sides that he decided to release.)

Coleman Hawkins, the father of the jazz tenor saxophone, should need no introduction here. Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on November 21, 1904, Hawk broke in with Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds in 1920. He began recording with Fletcher Henderson's big band in 1923 and by the middle of the decade was a star soloist. The 1950 - 1954 period was a down time for Hawk, who, like many other Swing-era stars, was having a tough time getting recorded; his 12 sides for Parrot are one of his biggest bodies of work from this period. Since Al Benson usually cut 4 sides to a session, and sometimes reduced his target to 2, he must have been thinking of putting out an LP on Hawk. But if that was the plan, nothing ever came of it. (Incidentally, Benson committed one of the all-time great bloopers when he rendered "I'll Follow My Secret Heart" as "I'll Follow My Sacred Heart"!)

The Hawk releases that we have heard back him with organ, piano, guitar, bass, and drums. We thought the organist was Lonnie Simmons, who was in the midst of a long-running gig at the Club DeLisa at the time, and would record his own session for Parrot in a couple of months. But Craig Browning notes that the organist sounds like the legendary Les Strand (who was credited, in an entry in Leonard Feather's encyclopedia, with making his debut on a Coleman Hawkins recording for "Peacock"). Comparing these sides with Les Strand's 1957 LP for Fantasy, and Lonnie Simmons' own session for Parrot, Browning says that Simmons "plays with more block chords and heavier vibrato than does Les Strand" (email, December 21, 2004). The guitarist solos on "Blue Blue Days"; he appears to be Leo Blevins, who was on Hawk's Toast of the Town gig. On "What a Difference a Day Made" Hawk's accompaniment swells to include a rather square choir, though unlike their counterparts on Charlie Parker's "Old Folks," they sing nothing but scat syllables. The choir, still restricted to nonwords, resurfaces on the second ballad, "I'll Follow My Secret Heart." The pianist gets a solo on this number. "I'll See You Later" is a straightahead jazz performance. Strand clogs the texture a bit, and his solo is definitely pre-Jimmy Smith, but Hawk keeps the number aloft.

To complicate matters, Browning suggests that the tracks that were given matrix numbers 6994 through 6999 by Savoy later on came from a different session than those later numbered 7000 through 7003 (including all 4 sides that Parrot issued at the time). The piano is out of tune on 6994 through 6999, in tune on the 7000's.

Hawk is the dominant figure, soloing eloquently on his Parrot sessions. We just think Al Benson would have done better musically--and saved on session expenses--by sticking to four rhythm, and losing the choir that he included on the ballads. Hawk would soon rebound from this period of lowered exposure; in his fifties, he would record extensively, often working with modernists like Thelonious Monk, Randy Weston, and Max Roach. He died in New York City, on May 19, 1969.

The Crume Brothers were a gospel-singing family from Chicago that occasionally branched out into secular R&B. At various times, Dillard Crume, Jr., sang and played guitar, keyboards, and (later on) electric bass; Leroy Crume sang tenor and played guitar; Arthur Crume sang and played rhythm guitar; and Rufus Crume sang and played bass. On February 7, 1952, Leroy Crume posted a 2-week contract with Musicians Union Local 208 for a gospel show on radio station WSBC. We don't know exactly which members of the Crume clan were on their Parrot sides; nor is there confirmation that any of the 6 sides they recorded for Parrot (in a long session split between their sacred music and the distinctly profane stylings of Jo Jo Adams) were ever released. (Note that when we list two artist identifications or titles for unissued sides, the first comes from the list of Parrot masters acquired by Chess and the second is from Donn Fileti's sources.)

It is possible that "Reverend Crum & the Golden Keys," who cut "He'll Fix It for You" on Atlantic in 1955, were the same folks, though this needs verifying. Dillard "Croom" Jr. and the "Croom" Brothers were responsible for a secular release on Vee-Jay ("It's You I Love b/w "Rock n' Roll Boogie") in 1958. Arthur Crume also recorded for Vee-Jay with one of the later editions of the well-known gospel group. Some of the Crumes sang with the even more renowned Soul Stirrers for Specialty in the late 1950s, after the departure of Sam Cooke. In 1969, the Crume Brothers recorded for Checker as the Soul Stirrers; in 1973, three of the Crumes went to Jewel Records as the core of a latter-day Soul Stirrers aggregation (Dillard produced and arranged their LPs). On the R&B front, in 1964 the Crume Brothers cut two R&B singles for Atlantic, and from 1965 to 1971 they recorded gospel under their own name for Checker. During the Checker years, Dillard even moonlighted playing electric bass on "Egg of the Hen" and "All Money Spent," from a Koko Taylor session in 1966. (What we know about the Crumes comes from the notes to Charly CRB 1106, R&B Volts from the Vee-Jay Vaults.)

Jo Jo Adams was born in Alabama on August 18 of an unknown year (Dick Penny has estimated it as 1918). During the 1940s and 1950s, he was one of Chicago's best known nightclub entertainers. Locally renowned for his rough voice, his street-wise swagger, and his astonishing wardrobe of loudly colored tuxedos, "Doctor Jo Jo" was a recurring attraction at the Club De Lisa and the Ritz Lounge in the 1940s. Between 1946 and 1952 he recorded for Melody Lane/Hy-Tone, Aladdin, Aristocrat (where he was backed by Tom Archia's band), and Chance. A standup blues shouter, he was frequently employed as a Master of Ceremonies for shows, which in the top night spots he played often took the revue format. Throughout 1953 he was ensconced at the Flame Show Lounge (809 East Oakwood), presiding over the Jo Jo Show, a revolving set of acts. Joe Williams, who would soon make his own sessions for Al Benson, was one of them.

This Parrot session from September turned out to be Adams' very last. Four tracks were laid down, one of which was apparently rejected. The two chosen for release, "Call My Baby" b/w "Rebecca," were midtempo jump blues, both in the same key. Jo Jo's vocal style is somewhat lacking in passion, but there is more than adequate compensation in the daring instrumental backing. This was provided by an uncredited Red Saunders unit, playing equally uncredited and extremely unconventional arrangments. These are obviously the work of a fellow who, as Sonny Blount, had been associated with the Club DeLisa since 1946; he had just recently changed his name to Sun Ra when this session was made, and was around 18 months away from launching his Arkestra.

After this session, Jo Jo Adams continued to emcee at the Flame Lounge for most of the next three years, surviving a couple of ownership changes (we know his birthday because the Flame threw a party for him on August 18, 1955). His nearly continuous run was spelled by two appearances at Budland and a couple of stretches at the Club DeLisa.

The last incarnation of the Flame Lounge closed its doors around the end of 1956. Jo Jo Adams next took up the MC role at Budland, where he was in residence most of the time from June 1957 through April or May 1959. His last run as MC was at the Green Door, for several months in 1959. As the floor shows died out and rock and roll and soul music made his blues sound increasingly dated, Adams continued on the scene but found work increasingly difficult to get. Jo Jo Adams died on February 27, 1988. Dick Shurman, who saw him shortly before he died and made a futile attempt to interview him, described him as "a true casualty of the streets."

Born Joseph Goreed in Cordele, Georgia (on December 12, 1918), ballad and blues singer Joe Williams was an established local attraction in Chicago by the time he recorded for Benson. After years of serious dues paying and a couple of very obscure reacordings for tiny labels, he had become a headliner at the Club De Lisa, cutting a number of sides for Columbia and OKeh with the Red Saunders band (1950-1953). He had also made a 1952 session with King Kolax that Benson sold to Checker Records.

For his September 28 session, Joe was once again backed by a Red Saunders ensemble (and as was customary Benson gave Red no credit on the label). We believe that two sides were originally given the matrix numbers 53125 and 53126, and were done not long after the Jo Jo Adams session--which also included a Red Saunders ensemble. According to Bob Porter, a tape box among the holdings of Savoy Records included "It's Raining Again" and "Always on the Blue Side" and bore the date September 28, 1953 on the outside. The Chess tape list actually puts Joe Williams tracks in the same tape box as the four numbers by the Pelicans (the box number is 2059), but by 1958 or 1959 the Williams numbers had been removed. The other four titles by Wiliams and Saunders use the same ensemble, and sound similar, but there is a good chance they were actually cut at the December 31 session, along with instrumentals by the band.

Arrangements for the Joe Williams numbers were again provided by Sun Ra. We have a well-founded suspicion that the Joe Williams numbers with no composer listed--"It's Raining Again" and "Always on the Blue Side"--were actually composed by The Ra as well. Joe Williams got his big break around Christmas 1954, when he left Chicago to join the Count Basie Orchestra; he continued to perform and record extensively until shortly before his death, in Las Vegas on March 29, 1999.

A vocal group called the Pelicans recorded the same day as Joe Williams and Red Saunders. They were the first doowop ensemble to record for Benson since he launched Parrot as an independent operation. The Pelicans were led by Roger Heard and came from Detroit. Of their four sides recorded on September 28, 1953, two found release at the time: "Aurelia" and "White Cliffs of Dover." "Aurelia" is a deep sounding ballad and it got a few plays in Chicago, Detroit, and New York. There was a real person behind the song, Aurelia Brown. Heard was dating her and put his romantic inclinations into the ballad. His efforts bore fruit because they eventually got married. Regarding "White Cliffs of Dover," the Pelicans became one of the earliest groups during the 1950s to turn this World War II pop icon into an R&B tune. The group's deep vocal stylings to a bongo-driven Latin beat were a pioneering effort at R&B reconstitution—or is that destruction?—of standards.

The Pelicans were not accompanied by the Red Saunders unit that one might expect. "White Cliffs of Dover" uses just a rhythm section, with the guitarist getting the most attention. On "Aurelia," however, a tenor saxophonist who owes a lot to Coleman Hawkins accompanies Heard's pleading vocal and takes a brief solo. This is Paul Bascomb, making his debut on Parrot. Bascomb and his rhythm section weren't entirely in their comfort zone backing this vocal group--the balances on the two released sides are awkward--but they would orient themselves soon enough. The other players on the date were Roland Faulkner (guitar), probably Malachi Favors (bass), and Vernel Fournier (drums). Norman Simmons was Bascomb's regular pianist at the time, but we aren't at all sure that he was on this date.

Tenor saxophonist Paul Bascomb was a veteran Swing and R&B tenor player out of the Hawk lineage. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, on February 16, 1910, Bascomb came to the fore in the mid-1930s when he attended Alabama State University and built the Bama State Collegians up into a big band (which later moved to New York City and renamed itself the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra). During the late 1940s, Bascomb led bands based in New York. From 1950 to 1952, he was in residence in Detroit, at a club called El Sino--a locale duly commemorated, though not correctly spelled, in one of his 1955 titles for Parrrot (see below). His excellent Detroit unit recorded in Chicago for States at three different sessions in 1952. In January 1953, Paul Bascomb took up residence in Chicago, buying a house at 4722 South State Street. His initial attempt to join Local 208 in Chicago was rebuffed on January 22, for reasons that seem inexplicable today; an established musician was obliged to take a day job and (in order to avoid angering the Union) to refuse offers from several different clubs. Finally, on June 4, 1953, he was allowed to join the Union local in Chicago (for a cash payment of $50, according to minutes of Local 208 Board meetings now housed in the Chicago Public Library).

Bascomb quickly recruited a band and took a 2-week gig at the Capitol Lounge (contract accepted and filed on June 18). The next month he took a gig at the Strand Show Lounge, 63rd and Cottage Grove (the contract was accepted and filed by the Union on July 16). According to Norman Simmons (in conversations with Art Zimmerman, and in an interview published in Cadence, March 2000), Bascomb really took over an existing band that had been organized by Gus Chappelle (who doubled on trombone and vibes) along George Shearing lines. Under Chappelle's leadership the band had been in residency at the Strand the previous year (Chappelle's first contract with the Strand was accepted and filed by Local 208 on May 15, 1952). When Bascomb became the leader the other musicians were Simmons (piano), Roland Faulkner (electric guitar); Malachi Favors (bass); and Vernel Fournier (drums). There is an extant photo of this band with up and coming baritone saxophonist Pat Patrick replacing Faulkner; Patrick was attending Florida A&M University at the time, so he was only available for a while during the summer.

Paul Bascomb's first studio work since moving to Chicago was an uncredited appearance backing Dinah Washington on a session for Mercury, which took place on August 13, 1953 and produced two sides. Our thanks go to Yves François Smierciak for identifying this as a Bascomb product (the leader takes tenor sax solos on both sides). On the Mercury date, Chapelle was absent and Bascomb's regular band was beefed up with two trumpets and an alto sax. Since a baritone sax was present, and not a guitar, the session was obviously done while Pat Patrick was in the band.

On August 27, 1953, the Strand Show Lounge ran an ad in the Defenderannouncing "Paul Bascomb and His Great Little Band, Beginning Wed., Sept. 9th." A Defender ad from September 24, 1953 has Paul Bascomb's Quintette, plus Bobby Dalton "direct from Zizzy [sic] Johnson's Revue Detroit" playing at the grand opening of the Club Relax (6239 Cottage Grove; Bascomb's contract had been posted on September 17). Bascomb seems to have divided his time between the Strand and Club Relax for a while (indefinite contracts with both establishments were accepted and filed by Local 208 on October 15, 1953). On November 5, Bascomb posted yet another contract with the Strand; he seems to have left Club Relax around this time, being replaced on the gig by pianist King Fleming.

On October 11, 1953, Benson taped his way through no fewer than 12 gospel tracks, by three different ensembles. Just two sides, by the Victorettes, are known to have been issued; but others might have slipped out without our knowing it.

The Victorettes, an all-female ensemble, interested Benson enough to be called back for a second session in the summer of 1954. According to gospel expert Bob Marovich, they grew out of a "church choir" called the Victory Singers, founded by Mary Etta McNairy in Chicago in 1948. Directed by Jeannette Sims (possibly McNairy's sister, though this is yet to be confirmed), the choir "appeared in concert and on local Chicago radio shows and began touring other cities in the midwest" (according to McNairy's obituary in the Michigan Chronicle). Sims and McNairy moved to Detroit in 1950 and reorganized the Victory Singers with new members from the Detroit area. The group was renamed the Victorettes; in addition to touring throughout the country, they had a weekly Sunday radio broadcast ("Southland Spirituals") on radio station WJLB. Mary L. Morris, Mary McNairy's grandniece, told Bob Marovich that she was the Victorettes' "mascot" and often sang with the group.

Marovich suggests that Parrot recorded the Victorettes because, although the group was now based in Detroit, its two principal singers (Mary McNairy and Jeannette Sims) were still quite popular in the Chicago black church community and were likely invited back to sing at local programs. In any event, Benson had already begun recording Detroit-based talent two weeks earlier, when he brought in the Pelicans.

For information on the other two groups recorded on October 11—the Sunset Four Gospel Singers, and the Oliver Lynch Singers (first name misspelled "Olive" in more than one source)—we will be most appreciative. Hayes and Laughton's Gospel Discography suggests that the Sunset Four were a later edition of a group that had previously recorded as the Sunset Jubilee Singers (for Hub and Duke in 1946, and for OKeh in 1951) but also as the Sunset Four (for Haven in 1946). However, there is no assurance that the quartet that recorded for Benson was a continuation of the same group, as the other Sunset sessions had all taken place in New York.

The Rockettes, who cut one session for Benson, were a doowop quartet who (unusually for that time) employed a female lead on some of their numbers. She can be heard on "Love Nobody"; "I Can't Forget" has a tenor lead. Unfortunately we know nothing more about thm They were accompanied by a Red Saunders unit with Sonny Cohn (trumpet), Leon Washington (tenor sax), Earl Washington (piano), the same guitarist who was on the Jo Jo Adams session, Jimmy Richardson (bass), and of course the leader (drums). Cohn's highly charged trumpet lead on "Love Nobody" closely resembles his work on the Jo Jo Adams session; on "I Can't Forget" the horns have much less to do and the solo space goes to the guitarist. The list of tapes dealt to Chess assigns the Rockettes tape a file number that places their session in the October 11 marathon (the Sunset Four tape was numbered 2084, the Victorettes 2085, the Rockettes 2086, and the Oliver Lynch Singers brought up the rear with 2087).

Lonnie Simmons began his musical career as a tenor saxophonist, recording with the Savoy Sultans in New York City. After moving to Chicago in the early 1940s, he was featured more and more often on the organ. In 1949 he led a band at the Beige Room for several months (on July 25, 1949, Down Beat's Chicago Band Briefs column noted that "Lonnie Simmons' band seems to be there permanently"). From 1950 through 1956 he was a nightly attraction at the Club DeLisa. For this November 1953 session, he overdubbed his own Swing tenor sax lines over his organ trio; he seemed rather fond of the simulated vibraphone sound that he could get out of his Hammond B-3. Simmons would record very little afterwards, though he appeared on two pop outings for Mercury behind Jean Swan in 1956 (see our Red Saunders discography for these). Not long after leaving the DeLisa, he acquired a stready gig, which he basically held for the rest of his life, playing organ in an Italian restaurant in Chicago.

Lonnie Simmons recorded four sides at his October 15 session. "I Can't Get Started" and "Black Orchid" were released on a Parrot single. "Lonnie's Blue" (identified on the master list from c. 1959 as "original ballad") appeared on a Chess Vintage Series LP in 1972. What the Chess tape list calls "Love of Mine" (possibly "This Love of Mine," which had been made famous by Frank Sinatra, and was being recorded by a lot of people in 1952 and 1953, including the Chess brothers' house tenor saxophonist Eddie Johnson) remains unissued.

Later in October, Paul Bascomb was back, with his entire Strand Lounge band, for the "Jan" session. Norman Simmons had recently written and arranged a Latin-flavored jazz number piece that he called "Jan," but Leonard Allen at States wasn't interested in recording it. Simmons had even written lyrics for the piece, in case a vocal recording would be more attractive to the company. Al Benson, however, did express interest, so Bascomb asked to be let out of his contract with States (which hadn't scheduled a session for Bascomb for over a year) so he could cut the number for Parrot.

Its place in the matrix series indicates that "Jan" (an instrumental with a rhumba beat that covered both sides of a 78) was cut in October 1953. According to the Chess tape list, the tape box carried file number 2114, putting it a few days after the Lonnie Simmons session, which got box number 2094. Norman Simmons has said that "Jan" was done early in the year, but this doesn't check out, because Bascomb was blocked by Local 208 from working in Chicago until June 4, 1953, and didn't put together his Strand band until July.

For the "Jan" session, we know the complete lineup, thanks to the recollections of Norman Simmons and the late Vernel Fournier: Paul Bascomb (tenor sax), Gus Chappelle (trombone), Norman Simmons (piano), Roland Faulkner (electric guitar), Malachi Favors (bass), and Vernel Fournier (drums) were joined by one Pepe on congas (this may be the Peppi Brown who later worked with Malachi Favors in a trio led by pianist Andrew Hill). "Jan" is one of the first recordings that Malachi Favors made, and the first one on which he can be heard to advantage, contributing a mighty ostinato. Benson released "Jan" on Parrot 792, and gave it what, by his standards, was a big push. But in his Cadence interview (March 2000, p. 11), Norman Simmons complained that Al Benson didn't take full advantage of the record's commercial prospects:

Well, the guy who recorded it... he doesn't care what happens to his records. He only presses a certain amount and that's it. ["Jan"] got to be number seven on the charts, but he just stopped pressin' them. But that record established me as an arranger. From then on, I was kind of known for that.

By the way, we have no idea which chart "Jan" reached number 7 on. Shortly after "Jan" was released, Benson told a writer for a trade magazine that the record had sold 7,000 copies--which may or may not have been true, but in any case is hardly the same thing.

The Five Thrills were the most prolifically recorded vocal group on Parrot, but on surveying their legacy one wonders why. Most all their "original" tunes were thinly disguised covers of records of the day (for instance, "Rocking at Midnight" rips off "Good Rockin' Tonight" by Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris and "Ride Jimmy Ride" rips off "Mailman Blues" by Lloyd Price) and their other material lacked any sort of distinctiveness. The Five Thrills were Levi Jenkins (bass and piano), Gilbert Warren (lead/tenor), Oscar Robinson (baritone), and brothers Fred Washington (baritone) and Obie Washington (second tenor). Gilbert Warren would improve markedly, but his work on some of October sides wouldn't have gotten himn through the initial audition on American Idol; his lead work on the ballad "All I Want" is painfully out of tune. Nonethless, the group got to play some prominent clubs, notably Martin's Corner (1900 West Lake) along with singer Gloria Valdez. Gloria's husband, Paul Bascomb, was responsible for backing them on their Parrot sessions.

The group's first session, which produced 8 sides, was apparently done on a different date, later in October. The instrumental lineup is just Bascomb, an unidentified trumpet player, piano, guitar, bass, and drums. The horns are used sparingly (though Bascomb's tenor sax can be heard on "Ride Jimmy Ride," which was selected for release on Parrot 796, he sits out most of the tracks). We think Vernel Fournier was at the drums and Roland Faulkner on the guitar, but the pianist may not have been Norman Simmons, and the bassist stays in the background.

The Chess tape list from around 1959 also indicates that the two parts of "Jan" came from a different tape box from the Five Thrills items. (Oddly, Chess was given a session sheet but not the actual tapes, leading the compiler to give a box number for "Jan," while tagging the Five Thrills items as "not recorded." But of course the tapes by the Thrills did survive after all.) According to the Chess list, the vocal group was initially called the 5 Esquires. Only approximate titles were given, most of which were changed on release: 53153 as "Nothin' but Feeling," 53154 as "Our Love to Be the Same"; 53155 as "Mailman Blues"; 53156 as "Midnight Blues"; 53159 as "My Baby's Gone"; and 53160 as "Heartaches." Paul Bascomb fans would be especially interested in the never-released 53158, titled "Lizar's [sic] Blues" on the Chess list. Donn Fileti's documents indicate that it was an instrumental. In fact, "Liza's Blues" was a number that Paul Bascomb had previously recorded with his Detroit band for United, on August 25, 1952.

Benson continued his activities in the studio during November 1953, but until the session by Albert King at the end of the month, nothing that was recorded saw release. Either the performances or the sonics must have been unsatisfactory; in any event, the only surviving documentation for the next two studio outings is the Chess tape list.

At some point in November, Benson cut four gospel tracks with an artists (or artists) that the Chess list does not identify. (Again Chess apparently just got the list of tracks for a tape that was left out of the batch.) One of the titles may be "God Shall Wipe All Tears Away," which had been recorded for Aristocrat by the Reverend "Singing Sammy" Lewis, back in 1949. Lewis was on the scene; in 1954 he would record for Vee-Jay, and in 1956 he made a stop at United. But his presence here is entirely conjectural; tapes need to be found and auditioned before we can say anything further.

Next, Benson brought in one of his top jazz artists, pianist Ahmad Jamal. Born Frederick Russell Jones in Pittsburgh, on July 2, 1930, he quickly acquired the nickname Fritz. But he went as "Freddy" during World War II, when a Germanic name lacked appeal. Later, after converting to Islam, he would drop his birth name entirely (to the extent of vehemently denying he'd ever been called Fritz Jones).

Jones arrived in Chicago in 1950; as they would do later to Paul Bascomb, the leadership of Musicians Union Local 208 put him through the wringer before allowing him to contract for gigs locally. Even after he finally obtained clearance from the local, some time went by before he was able to find gigs as a leader. On December 16, 1950, the Defender ran an ad and a photo with caption for bassist Israel Crosby's band appearing at Jack's Back Door (5859 South State). The photo named Fritz Jones on piano and Johnny Thompson on tenor sax. Crosby had filed an indefinite contract for the gig on October 19, 1950. While looking for jobs for his trio, Jones also spent some time playing piano in the Freeman brothers band.

In April 1951, Jamal finally got a job as a leader; his indefinite contract with Jimmy's Palm Garden was accepted and filed by Local 208 on April 19. On this occasion his name was listed as "Frederick" Jones. As Fritz Jones, he posted an indefinite contract with Harry's Show Lounge on June 7; and on July 5 when he filed a new indefinite contract with the same venue. On July 5, the Local 208 Board heard a complaint from bassist Tommy Sewell, who had just been fired from Jones' trio, obviously while it was working at Harry's:

Members Fritz Jones and Thomas Sewell appeared before the Board, as notified, with reference to Sewell's complaint that Jones had no reason for dismissing him from his group. (Board meeting minutes, p. 3)

Sewell was bitter because he had been working with Jones for several years, and took a day job after they arrived in Chicago and were unable to get steady work. He claimed that he had been given notice because Jones' wife didn't like him.

Jones stated he had no personal likes or dislikes for Sewell. He explained that he gave Sewell notice because he refused to cooperate with the style of music that he wanted to play. He stated that Sewell insisted on playing solos on his bass violin in a BeBop way. The last week of his notice he was late on every set, and did everything possible to humiliate and embarrass him. (p. 4)

The Local 208 Board found in Jones' favor.

On August 2, 1951, Local 208 accepted and filed Fritz Jones' contract with the 113 Lounge; the management at the 113 was evidently pleased with his group, because on September 20, he filed a new contract for 5 months. During his residency at the 113, Jones signed a recording contract with OKeh's Chicago operation. On October 25, still going as Fritz Jones, he recorded 4 sides with Ray Crawford on guitar and Eddie Calhoun on bass.

On January 17, 1952, Fritz Jones posted a contract for 4 weeks with options at the Blue Note. But just over a month later, he and his wife filed a name change petition with a Cook County court, which stated:

That the place of nativity of Frederick Russell Jones is the state of Pennsylvania and that the place of nativity of Virginia Wilkins Jones is the state of Illinois. That the age of F. R. J. is 21 years and that the age of V. W. J. is 25 years. That F. R. J. has resided in the state of Illinois for 2 years and that V. W. J. has resided in the State of Illinois for 25 years last past... Their names may be changed to Ahmad Jamal and Maryam Mezzan Jamal... Witnessed by Eddie A. Calhoun, February 18, 1952.

The petition, which nails down a significant event in Jamal's life, was unearthed by Rutgers-Newark graduate student Alexia Kinni under the supervision of Lewis Porter.

On April 17 Ahmad Jamal filed his first contract under his new name (for 2 weeks at the Pershing Lounge, a venue that he would eventually make famous; he would post an extension for 4 more weeks on May 1). Meanwhile, pre-release advertisements and record sleeves from OKeh had been referring to the "Fritz Jones Trio," but when the first release from the October session, on OKeh 6855, came out in March or April 1952 his new name was on it. On May 5, Ahmad Jamal made a second four-tune session for OKeh with the same trio.

Jamal filed another, indefinite, contract with the Pershing Lounge on January 22, 1953, as his OKeh record deal was about to run out. OKeh had thrown in the towel on its Chicago operations, and like Red Saunders, another ex-OKeh artist, Jamal moved over to Parrot. Benson obviously expected a lot out of the pianist, who cut 6 titles for him in November 1953, we assume with his working trio. The tapes were still extant in 1958 or 1959, because the Chess list includes a file number for this session, but something must not have gone right. Jamal would return in January 1954 for another session, at which his trio remade "But Not for Me" and "Excerpts from the Blues." The November 1953 session was unknown to discography until the Chess tape list surfaced recently.

After concentrating on jazz, vocal groups, and gospel for a time, Benson turned his attention back toward the blues in November.

From our point of view today, the biggest name among the Parrot bluesmen is Albert King. The guitarist and singer was born in Indianola, Mississippi, where he may or may not have been related to B. B. King, on April 25, 1923. But he was an unknown when he made these sides--the very first under his own name--on November 30. King was backed by rhythm guitarist John Brim, pianist Johnny Jones, and unidentified bass and drums. Dick Shurman astutely noted that the tracks "demonstrate that while Albert's relatively unadorned vocal style and acidic guitar tone were fairly well defined, he hadn't yet developed much dynamics or distinctiveness in his songs." While King sings "Little Boy Blue" with assurance, he was not going to become a star performing a song that Robert Johnson played but never recorded. King failed to break in on the Chicago scene with these sides and worked in Arkansas for a time before moving his base of operations to St. Louis, where he would make his next recordings as a leader for Bobbin in 1958. Albert King found his niche in the 1960s when he signed with Stax Records, where he became one of the giants in the blues field. King died in 1992.

Another artist who needs no introduction here is Mr. Five by Five, Jimmy Rushing, born in Oklahoma City on August 26, 1903 (though some sources have said 1902). Rushing first recorded in 1929 with Walter Page's Blue Devils; he attained nationwide prominence beginning in 1936 with the Count Basie band. Rushing had been leading a 7-piece jazz group at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City, but it broke up in 1952, and his Parrot recordings were cut with the Frank Culley combo. "Floorshow" Culley was an alto and tenor saxophonist active on the R&B circuit. On the Parrot single, Rushing sings his signature number, "Mr. 5 X 5," and shouts a slow blues with rather gimmicky stop-time vocal breaks, "Clothes Pin Blues." (The unaccompanied stop-time vocal lines might sound more persuasive without the heavy reverb that was added to many recordings in those days.). The main instrumental soloist on both sides is Frank Culley on tenor sax; trumpet, piano, guitar, bass, and drums complete the lineup. Jimmy Rushing recorded regularly up to his death in New York City on June 8, 1972.

The Jimmy Rushing sides are claimed by Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier 1994 to have been made in Chicago. But "Floorshow" Culley's home base was New York City, and Rushing's other recordings during the period were all made in New York. We got the original matrix numbers, which confirm the New York origin, from a copy in the collection of Richard Reicheg. (The matrix numbers that discographies give for this session were attached by Chess at some point in the early 1960s, when the Chess brothers were considering reissuing the tapes.)

The final session of the year produced the first single to come out on Al Benson's new Blue Lake label. It featured the Red Saunders band playing what, for it, were aggressively modernistic treatments of "Summertime" (redone to a Latin beat) and "Riverboat." Sun Ra was once again responsible for the arrangements.

Three instrumentals are known from this session: "Sumertime" and "Riverboat" were released on Blue Lake 101, while "Lawdy Miss Lucy" was held back and did not appear on record until 1972, when it was used on a Chess Vintage Series LP.

Were any vocal features for Joe Williams included? Because all 6 Joe Williams sides in the company vaults were sold to Savoy in 1956 there is no way to know what their original matrix numbers were. We are inclined to think that at least two of the Williams tracks were actually done at the December 31 session. Meanwhile, only two out of the six came from a tape box with September 28 on it (or so Bob Porter notes his liner notes to a Savoy reissue LP). The December 31 session seems to have occupied a 6-item stretch in the 53100 matrix series, from 53179 through 53184, so more than two of the Williams items could have been done then (with a somewhat smaller ensemble than was used on the instrumentals).

When most of the remaining master tapes were leased to Chess in 1959, "Summertime" and "Riverboat" were in tape box 2453, along with "You Ought to Quit It" and "Lovin [sic] Daddy Blues" by Ann Carter. But the notation on the list attributed the vocal items to Joe Williams! That strongly suggests that some Williams items were once in the box. What's more, the box number is too high for the December 31 date, which would yield a tape box number around 2250. We suspect that the instrumentals were put in with the two Ann Carter items, themselves recorded several months later, after the Joe Williams tapes were sold.

A source of trouble for us is a session by the gospel group, the Willie Webb Singers. Four sides were issued with Parrot matrix numbers, but these are not from the main Parrot matrix series, and the session cannnot be found on either the Chess tape list or the among the tapes that were sold to Relic Records. The Webb singles are poorly documented in general; Richard Reicheg supplied the information about the second one, Parrot 106, from a copy in his collection. Willie Webb was important enough, however, to be covered in Horace Clarence Boyer's book How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel.

Willie Webb was born in Mississippi in 1919. He moved to Chicago at a young age and in the mid-1930s became a charter member of the Roberta Martin Singers. Webb was a virtuoso pianist and organist. In 1949, he formed a mixed group called the Willie Webb Singers, in which he did not feature himself as a lead vocalist. (The matrix numbers on his Parrot sides look as though they came from the original U000 matrix series at Universal Recording, but U700 numbers from that series would have to indicate a recording made in 1947--which is too early.) In 1950, Webb was the choir director of the 44th Street Baptist Church. We know because he filed a claim with the Board of Local 208 against the minister, the Reverend Elijah Thurston, and Sylvia Hoston, a member of Local 208 who presumably played piano or organ there. His later career remains a blank to us.

During his first year of operation, Al Benson did not content himself with recording new material. He struck a deal with Jack Lauderdale, the owner of the Los Angeles-based Swing Time label. Presumably Lauderdale was interested in leasing material to Parrot because Swing Time lacked adequate distribution in Chicago; he must have also hoped to benefit from Benson's on-the-air promotion. The deal encompassed a single by guitar-playing bluesman Lowell Fulson, who had been mainstay of the Swing Time operation since the label was created in 1949. Also included were a single by bluesman Alex "Playboy" Thomas, and two by R&B singerMarvin Phillips. The single by bluesman Ernest Lewis (known on some of his other recordings as West Texas Slim) probably also came from Swing Time. In all 10 sides were leased.

As always, Benson's matrix numbering practices were inconsistent. Two of the Marvin Phillips tracks ("Anne Marie" and "Honey Baby"--which Swing Time hadn't issued) were inserted into the 53100 series at 53171 and 53172. The Chess tape list put "Salty Dog" at 53173 and "Sweetheart Darling" at 53174. But Benson didn't show these numbers on the Parrot release, and they ended up being used for two Mabel Scott sides instead. (How tracks that were the property of another label were available for Chess and later Relic to acquire is an interesting question, but we won't try to answer it here!)

Benson released all of the 10 sides that are known to have been included in the Swing Time deal. The first batch of singles (Parrot 785 through 787) came out in September 1953, followed by Parrot 791 and 795 in January 1954. So the deal appears to have been in force for about six months. Swing Time was in decline by this time; Lauderdale's company would issue just 6 more singles after the Playboy Thomas on Swing Time 340, and neither Parrot 791 nor 795 would have a counterpart on Swing Time at all. The company was defunct by October 1954, when one of the trade papers (as per that year's Gart volume) reported that Lauderdale had sold a bunch of R&B tracks with Christmas themes to Hollywood Records. And Al Benson would not be motivated to license material from other labels in the future.

The Blue Lake subsidiary was formed just after New Year's Day, 1954. The first Blue Lake release, 101, was assigned matrix numbers in a new series: 54-101 and 54-102. (Because the session took place on December 31, 1953, the material on Blue Lake 101 appears at the end of the previous list; we think the original matrix numbers were 53179 through 53184. See also above for the material on Blue Lake 102, which was recorded on September 28 of that year, and probably fit into series at 53125 and 53126.) The matrix system got confused at this point, as the Parrot matrices did not switch over to 54xxx but continued the 53100 series. Maybe Benson expected Blue Lake to release over 80 sides in 1954 (!). That's what it would have taken for the Blue Lake matrix numbers to catch up with the Parrot matrix numbers.

As it turned out, the Parrot 53100 series was used right up to the session of March 14, 1955, whereupon Parrot suddenly introduced P 55224 on Parrot 814. After Blue Lake 112, which carried the Parrot-style numbers BL-55228 and BL-55229, Blue Lake went over to a BL-55100 series that appeared to pick up where the 54100s left off (matrix numbers from 55129 through 55142 are known). Meanwhile Parrot continued on through the 55200s to 55285.

Al Benson must have been keeping a more watchful eye on his finances in 1954; he recorded just 62 new sides, and got out of the business of leasing from other labels. Nonetheless, he was able to bring some significant new artists into his operation.

In January 1954, Parrot made its second try with pianist Ahmad Jamal, producing significant jazz results. By this time Jamal's trio was holding forth at the Kitty Kat Club; his contract for 3 weeks with an option was accepted and filed by Local 208 on December 17, 1953; a contract for another 3 weeks was posted on January 7, 1954, and still another would be filed on March 4. Jamal's trio would continue at the Kitty Kat for much of the year; they were still there in October.

"But Not for Me," "Seleritus" (an original ballad), "Excerpts from the Blues" and "It Could Happen to You" were done with a trio that included Ray Crawford on electric guitar and the celebrated Chicago-born bassist Richard Davis. Jamal's style is already recognizable on these numbers--so Sun Ra's later charge that Jamal ripped off his rendition of "But Not for Me" lacks credibility. A fifth item from this session, "Joon's Tune," was never released and is known to us only from the Chess tape list.

Al Benson was in no great hurry to issue the material: the first single release, on Parrot 810, seems to have appeared in December 1954. But he sensed enough commercial potential to call the trio back in May 1955 for the only LP to be released on the Parrot label, and again in the fall of that year for a follow-up session that was never released. After his run at Parrot ended, Jamal recorded LPs for Epic and for the Chess brothers' new jazz subsidiary Argo. Major commercial success came to Ahmad Jamal in 1958, when his new trio with Israel Crosby on bass and Vernel Fournier on drums made the Live at the PershingLPs for Argo.

Next came a gospel session by the Peace Makers, of whom we know very little. Two sides were released and another two were probably recorded, judging from the matrix numbers, but the session was not included in the Chess tape list. We have located a photo of the group, but no other information about them.

Guitarist John Brim was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on April 10, 1922. He moved to Indianapolis in 1941 and Chicago in 1945; from 1952 onward he lived in Gary, Indiana. Along with his wife Grace (who played harmonica and later took up the drums), Brim made recordings for Detroit-based Fortune (1950), Random (1951), JOB (1951-52), and Checker (1953). "Rattlesnake," from Checker sessions in January 1953, brought together Brim's laid-back vocals with Little Walter's blazing harp work. Taken for granted in its day because it was an obvious knockoff on "Hound Dog"--in fact, it was quickly yanked from circulation because Duke Records was behaving litigiously--it is now recognized as a classic of the Chicago blues. A second Checker session, in May 1953, produced the amiably salacious "Ice Cream Man," which was passed over for release altogether. No wonder Brim started looking for another label. The Parrot sides were done in March 1954 (we find this date, which was given on a 1971 Chess Vintage Series LP, much more plausible than the December 1953 date that appears on the Relic reissues). Making a very rare sideman appearance on this session was Jimmy Reed, whose first big hit for Vee-Jay had been recorded but not yet released, on harmonica. Eddie Taylor was the second guitarist, and Grace Brim was at the drums. With "Tough Times," Brim gave Benson something he rarely got out of his blues artists--a hit.

Brim didn't stay with Parrot either. He recorded two sessions for Chess in 1955 and 1956, then for the next fifteen years he was out of the recording studio, though he continued to work in the clubs. He resumed recording in 1971 with a single on his own label, and then recorded for Wolf (1989), Tone Cool (1994), and Anna Bea (1999). Grace Brim died in June 1999, and John died on October 1, 2003.

Jazz pianist and bandleader King Fleming was born Walter Fleming on the North side of Chicago, on May 4, 1922. In 1942-1943, not long after graduating from McKinley High School on the West Side, he led a popular Swing band in Chicago. After service in the Navy, he recorded in Los Angeles with groups led by Johnny Alston and King Perry before returning to Chicago in November 1946. Despite regular work in the clubs and occasional recording gigs as a session pianist, his Blue Lake session was his first as a leader. In November 1953 Fleming returned to Chicago after another stay in Los Angeles; the Blue Lake session was made before April 1954, and judging from the fact that there is a two-track gap in the 53100 matrix series at 53196 and 53197, we figure it was done after the second Ahmad Jamal and the John Brim, which would put it around March of 1954. So far as we can determine just the two released tracks were recorded. Al Benson had begun saving money by recording two-tune sessions and paying the musicians half the Union scale for them. This was strictly contrary to Musicians Union rules, which prescribed a minimum of four sides per session; in July 1955 Benson would be called on the carpet by Local 208 for engaging in this practice.

Fleming's combo on this occasion consisted of the distinctive Lestorian tenor saxophonist John Neely (1930 - 1994), bass player Russell Williams, and drummer Aubrie Jones. Jazz singer Lorez Alexandria (1925 - 2001) made her recording debut on this session; she sings solo on "Williams' Blues" and participates in the bop-oriented vocal ensemble on that number as well as "One O'Clock Jump." King Fleming performed regularly at the Kit Kat Club from 1955 through 1959, doing some session work for Chess that produced just one single under his own name; he also led a big band that used arrangements by a younger pianist named Muhal Richard Abrams. In 1957 his combo backed Lorez Alexandria on her first two LPs for King. King Fleming finally achieved his breakthrough on record when the Chess brothers signed him to their Argo label in 1960 and he went on to make three highly distinctive trio LPs for them. King Fleming's trio still performs regularly in the Chicago area; he released a CD on Southport in 1996 and a second in 2000.

Al Benson wasn't through with the Five Thrills. He brought them back for a second session, probably in March. This time the regulation four tunes were cut; again a Paul Bascomb unit provided the accompaniment.

In January 1954, the Bascomb band had taken up a gig at the Heatwave (contract accepted and filed on January 21). In late March, Bascomb began 2 weeks at the Jewell Lounge, 5114 Prairie Avenue (contract posted April 1). He and his musicians would be back at the Heatwave in May (indefinite contract posted May 20, 1954). In the fall of the year, Bascomb would be working at Martin's Corner on the West Side. We are not sure who was in his band at this juncture. Stanley Dance, in his notes to Bad Bascomb, the reissue of Bascomb's United recordings on Delmark DL- and DD-431, mentioned that Bascomb's Chicago bands included Rozelle Claxton (piano), Johnny Avant (trombone), and Marshall Thompson (drums). There had been some turnover since Bascomb recorded "Jan" the previous fall, but we have no contemporary documentation of his personnel in March 1954. Besides the leader's tenor sax, what we hear on the seession is a pianist (perhaps Claxton), a guitarist (probably Roland Faulkner), a bassist, and a drummer (perhaps Marshall Thompson).

Two sides from this session were released in May on Parrot 800, and duly attributed to the Five Thrills. But somewhere along the way Benson got a notion to change the vocal group's name to the Earls. So it was the group name under which the two previously unreleased sides have been issued. (The Chess tape list simply says Five Thrills and gives the titles as "It's a Shame" for P 53198 and "Bitter Dreams" for P 53199.) The original tapes for this session were stolen many years ago from the Chess vaults, and reissues have had to rely on a bootleg Parrot LP from the 1970s that marked the first release of the two sides attributed to the Earls.

The single by tough R&B vocalist Ann Carter on Blue Lake 103 is one of the rarest things that Benson ever put out. On "You Oughta Quit It," which has appeared on two unauthorized reissue packages, Carter was accompanied by what sounds like a Red Saunders unit with two trumpets and two saxes (alto and tenor). But more research will be needed; it would be nice able to hear the flip. The Carter sides use a different front line from the Joe Williams sides cut on September 28, 1953. They are also different from instrumentals cut on December 31—unless the two trombonists and Mac Easton laid out when Carter came on. The Chess tape list puts the Saunders instrumentals and the Ann Carter vocals on a single four-tune tape. And they refer to Joe Williams as the singer on the Carter titles. The actual tape box number is 2453, which indicates a recording date around May or June of 1954. (The Victorettes tracks from August 12, 1954 are in box 2646 and the Ahmad Jamal session of January 1954 is in box 2266. The tape box number for a December 31, 1953 session would be around 2250.) We think that after Joe Williams titles from December 31, 1953 were removed, the instrumentals by the Red Saunders band from that date were tossed into the same box as the Ann Carter tracks recorded later.

Saunders would return to the studio again, for another Blue Lake session behind Lou Mac, who took over from Ann Carter in the tough female vocalist department, and Walter Spriggs. These were done several months later (the tape box number is 2914), and employed two smaller groups.

When Benson picked up Sunnyland Slim (born Albert Luandrew in Vance, Mississippi, on September 5, 1906) he was adding a legendary name to his blues roster. Sunnyland inaugurated his recording career as a leader in August or September 1947 with sessions for Hy-Tone and Aristocrat. The Aristocrat was a historically crucial event, as it also introduced a guitarist named Muddy Waters to what was still a small, struggling independent label. Slim would cut one more session each for Aristocrat and Hy-Tone; sessions followed for Victor (as Doctor Clayton's Buddy), Opera (as Delta Joe--these were reissued on Chance), Tempo-Tone, Mercury, JOB (where he was a regular at sessions from 1949 through 1954, and probably owned a piece of the company), Regal, Apollo, his own Sunny label, Airway, and Vee-Jay. Benson put him on wax as activity was temporarily winding down at JOB, and Slim was getting ready to bail out of that enterprise. Meanwhile, Vee-Jay was unsure of the commercial prospects for down-home blues, and decided not to release any of the sides from Slim's February 1954 session (which were among the best that he had ever recorded).

Featured on Slim's first single, Blue Lake 105, was "Going Back to Memphis." "Memphis" is an overheated, chaotic sounding version of "Rollin' and Tumblin'," and all the stronger for it. Deejay Sam Evans, who owned several shops, told blues historian Mike Rowe that he "just couldn't stock enough" of the record. There is no consensus as to the musicians on this session: Snooky Pryor (harmonica) and Eddie Taylor (guitar) have been cited, and as both recorded with Slim for Vee-Jay and appeared on other sessions for Benson they are plausible choices. There are actually two guitars on the number (Floyd Jones, who had recorded with Slim for Chance and Vee-Jay, is a pretty good candidate for the lead player)—no bass or drums. And the somewhat rugged recording quality (metaliic piano, fuzz-toned lead guitar, and distorted amplified harp all piled on one another in a manner not characteristic of Universal Recording) makes one wonder whether Benson could have acquired the session from Joe Brown or some other entrepreneur now forgotten. A more pensive but still blazing rendition of "Devil Is a Busy Man" rounds out one of Benson's best blues singles.

In what looks to have been a separate two-tune session, Sunnyland Slim cut a second single, Blue Lake 107. On "Shake It Baby" and "Bassology," both familiar tunes from his repertoire, Slim was accompanied by a harmonica player, two guitars, and a string bass. Somebody with a couple of maracas provided the shaking on "Shake It Baby." The recording quality is less congested than on the previous session, providing headroom for the cleaner, more fluent lead guitar. A reasonable guess would be that Eddie Taylor is the lead player and Floyd Jones is on second guitar. The bass player, whose slap playing is inevitably featured on the instrumental boogie "Bassology," appears to be Slim's old buddy Big Crawford. The only negative on this session: a harp player given