Red Saunders Discography

Revision note: We've added photos of Blue Lake 103, on which Red backed Ann Carter.

Red Saunders signs an autograph at the Club DeLisa, April 1942. Photo by Jack Delano.

Theodore Dudley "Red" Saunders was born in Memphis on March 2, 1912. He became a permanent resident of Chicago in 1923. Here is how he described his early days to Art Hodes. (Hodes is being euphemistic about the TOBA, an abbreviation usually glossed as "tough on black asses.")

After attending St. Benedict the Moor (a Catholic boarding school in Milwaukee) and Tilden Tech in Chicago, Saunders became a professional musician in 1928. Of St. Benedict's Red recalled to Hodes, "That's where I took my first drum lession--10 cents a lesson; white teacher. I was about 13 years old." He also remembered John Philip Sousa coming and directing the band once while he was at Tilden Tech. His first gig was with pianist Stomp King, while he was still in school. Of King he said merely, "He wasn't good, but conditions were bad, and he could get musicians to hustle." At times King could call on musicians of the caliber of Darnell Howard or Omer Simeon, even though his modus operandi was to scour for work in joints in the "outlying towns"; the musicians would get paid, if at all, from passing the hat.

Subsequently Red worked for five years with Ira Coffey's Walkathonians, a band that (as the name suggests) played for Walkathons; he took the drum chair during a Walkathon at the Chicago Coliseum. These were a variant on the dance marathons that became popular during the Depression; couples walked around a track in a large hall, day after day, with only short rest breaks, and the last couple standing won a prize. The revenue source for the Walkathons was the substantial crowds that gathered to watch the event. The Coffey band toured extensively. It was on one of these tours that Red met his good friend Count Basie in 1932; the tours also seem to have cured him of any desire to spend time on the road. He didn't so much as mention the Walkathons to Hodes.

On July 4, 1933, the Walkathonians opened at the Convention Hall in Atlantic City. At this point in its history the band consisted of Edgar "Pudding Head" Battle (trumpet, vocals); Clyde Bernhardt (trombone); Norman Mason (alto saxophone); Edmund Duff (tenor sax); Ira Coffey (piano, leader); Red Saunders (drums). It should have been a plum gig, but the all-White Musicians Union local interfered, leaning on the promoter to give two weeks' notice to everyone but Coffey (whose knowledge of the Walkathon routines was deemed too hard to replace). The other musicians found work in New York and New Jersey, and rejoined Coffey in October at the Airport Inn in Camden, NJ. But Red Saunders had hit the road with Curtis Mosby's revue Harlem Scandals; he did not return to the Walkathonians, and was replaced by Harry Dial. (See I Remember by Clyde Bernhardt, published in 1986, pp. 113-115.)

Red continued with Mosby (who was out of Los Angeles) in the Change Your Luck show. Albert McCarthy in Big Band Jazz gives the following roster: Leroy Huston, Gene Prince, Theodore "Wingy" Carpenter (tp); Baron Willie Moorhead (tb); William Johnson, Clester Wells, John Mitchell (reeds); Wilbert Baranco (p); William Dirvin (g); Julius Harris (b); Red Saunders (d). It is interesting to see Red in the company of Wilbert Baranco, who in the mid-1940s was one of the first employers of the young Charles Mingus. After the Mosby tours wound up, Red returned to Chicago, where he had no trouble finding work; the pay scale was another matter... In 1934, he and trumpeter Guy Kelly were in one of the later bands led by Hartzell Strathdene "Tiny" Parham (McCarthy is the source for this connection as well). According to the Hodes article the Parham band played "one, two days" a week at the Savoy Ballroom. "I got $8 a night at the Savoy."

Red slowly climbed the ladder of Depression-era Chicago gigs. "Then I started at the 29 Club (47th and Dearborn). I got $14 a week; and you know when I asked for a raise (I asked for $15) I got fired. Yeah, those were days. The Annex at 23rd and State. Jimmy Cobb [trumpet] played there. And Chippie Hill. And Albert Ammons down the street at the Claremont." He described the regimen:

By early 1937, Red was in the house band at the Club DeLisa, then a three-year-old club on the South Side. The band was under the leadership of Albert Ammons, soon to become famous as a boogie-woogie pianist. Ammons' drummer, Jimmy Hoskins, couldn't hold his liquor, fell off the bandstand one time too many, and was replaced by Saunders. Then Ammons was pushed out because he couldn't read the arrangements required to back some of the acts in the floor show, which the DeLisa management was trying to build up. Leadership was assumed by Dalbert Bright (clarinet, alto sax; Bright was an alumnus of Tiny Parham's 1929 band as well as Albert Ammons' 1936 band, and Red described his musicianship as "very good"). Then Bright left to join Horace Henderson's big band (where he would remain till 1940).

On July 10, 1937 the Chicago Defender ran a story headlined, "Horace Henderson's Band Moves in as Swingland's Big Feature," which concluded as follows: "Red Saunders took over Delbert [sic] Bright's hot spot at the DeLisa Cafe July 8, with Porter Derrico, piano; Frank Owens, sax; Ike Perkins, guitar; Lawrence "Mickey" Simms, bass; Orlando Randolph, trumpet, and "Red" Saunders kicking the hides." Within the first year of Red's run, Leon Washington (after a stint in Earl Hines' big band) had taken over from Frank Owens. In the Chicago Defender for July 16, 1938, Jack Ellis proclaimed (in his regular column, "The Orchestras"): "Red Saunders is still packing them in at the DeLisa Cafe. Leon Washington is kicking plenty of tenor sax in Red's band, and how!"

The original DeLisa band was a six or seven-piece ensemble. A band photo that ran in December 1938 shows a 7-man ensemble.

Our earliest photo of the Red Saunders band. From left, Ike Perkins (guitar), Porter Derrico (piano), Mickey Simms (bass), Red Saunders, probably Hobert Clardy (alto sax), Leon Washington (tenor sax), Orlando Randolph (trumpet). From the Chicago Defender, December 17, 1938, p. 12.

A photo in the Chicago Defender from May 11, 1940 depicted a lineup consisting of Orlando Randolph (tp); Hobert Clardy (as); Leon Washington (ts, cl); Porter Derrico (p); Ike Perkins (eg); Lawrence "Mickey" Simms (b); Saunders (d, vib, ldr). (The Mohr-Flückiger-Demeusy files have the same lineup in 1939 with vocalists Jean Brady and Charles Isom added.) The same photo was used on August 2, 1941, while a different photo of the same band appeared on November 23, 1940.

An article by Red himself appeared in Down Beat on June 15, 1940. In it Red mentioned Charles Isom as his vocalist and stated that when he played vibes, Mickey Simms moved over to the drum chair. Red proclaimed that the band had a library of 50 originals, all fully arranged. The most interesting item in the article is Red's unusually advanced business model:

Red with Micky Simms, bass, Orlando Randolph, trumpet, and a 3-man sax section, with Leon Washington sitting closest to Red, April 1942. Photo by Jack Delano.

In April 1942, photos taken at the DeLisa show that Ike Perkins had left and Red was now fronting a 7-piece band with three saxes, including Leon Washington on tenor. These were taken by Jack Delano and became part of the Office of War Information Photograph Collection; all 10 of them can be seen on the Library of Congress Website (by going to http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/mdbquery.html and typing "delisa" as a query).

Red at the Club DeLisa, April 1942, with Porter Derrico, piano, and dancers.

A rare mention of Red Saunders in the Amsterdam News out of New York City has him entertaining troops at the Great Lakes US Naval Training Center, specifically at Camp Robert Smalls, a segregated facility for Black servicemen.

During his early years at the DeLisa, Red made an occasional brief road trip, during which he reportedly played with Duke Ellington and Woody Herman. There is no mention of Saunders in Timner's Ellingtonia (4th edition), so recordings with the Duke are probably ruled out. Duke obviously knew Red, however, and would served as the honorary chairman during the festivities in January 1953 that commemorated Red's 15 years at the Club DeLisa. Red did make one transcription session with Woody Herman, and this turns out to be his earliest known recording. (Thanks to Allen Welsh for checking Ellington volumes and for alerting us to this Woody Herman session.)

1. Woody Herman and His Orchestra

New York City, April 5, 1944

71939	As Long as I Live [FW voc]	World Transcription 7289/7298
71940-A	Perdido	Brunswick [Br] 03541, Brunswick BL54024, Decca DL 79229, Decca DL 9229, Decca DL8400, Coral CRL56090, Ajaz 231
71941	I Didn't Know about You [WH voc]	Decca 18641, Ajaz 231
	Blue Lullaby	World Transcription 6539/6548, World Disc R650

Our information about this session from Lord's Jazz Discography. While there was considerable fluctuation in Herman's personnel during the first four months of 1944, Cliff Leeman was Woody Herman's regular drummer up through the previous transcription date on March 29, 1944; the next known Herman recording is from the Old Gold Radio Show of August 2, 1944, and it features Dave Tough.

World Transcriptions was owned by Decca, which subsequently put some transcription material on commercial releases. "Perdido," in particular, has been issued on several LPs from Decca, Brunswick, and Coral. The Ajaz series was a chronological-order series of collectors' LPs that flourished during the 1970s.

By mid-1944 we know that his band included Leon Washington, Porter Derrico, Micky Simms, and alto saxophonist Nat Jones (mentioned as a Saunders band member in a short item in Down Beatfor June 5, 1944); the rest of the lineup needs to be recovered. Nat Jones, who was out of the Johnny Hodges lineage, had already worked for Duke Ellington by this time, serving in the Famous Orchestra from June through November 1943; he had also been in the notorious "Dream Band" at the Rhumboogie.

On July 29, Larry Nixon published his brief review of a live show at the Club DeLisa in Billboard. This was more than a little bit unusual, since the Red Saunders band still had no recordings to its name:

In fact, Red's next appearance in the studio was still not with his own band. Red's participation in the two T-Bone Walker sessions probably came about because Marl Young, who arranged numbers for the floorshow at the Rhumboogie Cafe, a few blocks away, had also been writing arrangements for the DeLisa floorshow since 1940 or 1941. While Young was working the Rhumboogie (as arranger and floorshow conductor from the summer of 1942, band pianist from November 1943 to June 1944, and as the bandleader from June 1944 to January 1945), he and other membes of the Rhumboogie house band used to play the Monday morning breakfast dances at the Club DeLisa. T-Bone Walker, who had headlined the Rhumboogie to great success in 1942 and 1943, returned for another run from July through October 1944. Charlie Glenn, the owner of the club, decided to capitalize on T-Bone's popularity and promote the club by starting a new label to record him. See our Rhumboogie page and Charles Walton's online article on Marl Young./a>

2. T-Bone Walker with Marl Young and His Orchestra^ / T-Bone Walker with Marl Young's Orchestra

Quality Recording, Chicago, October 10, 1944

QB-3305-1B	Sail On Boogie ^	Rhumboogie 4000B^, Rhumboogie M-33-1, Blues Boy BB 304, Mosaic MR9-130, Mosaic MD6-130 [CD], Indigo IGO CD 2123, History 20.1948-H [CD], Classics 5007 [CD]
QB 3306-1A	I'm Still in Love with You ^	Rhumboogie 4000A^, Rhumboogie M-33-2, Blues Boy BB 304, Mosaic MR9-130, Mosaic MD6-130 [CD], Rhino R2 79894 [CD], Indigo IGO CD 2123, History 20.1948-H [CD], Classics 5007 [CD]
3307	?
3308-2	You Don't Love Me Blues	Rhumboogie 4003-B, Blues Boy BB 304, Mosaic MR9-130, Mosaic MD6-130 [CD], Indigo IGO CD 2123, History 20.1948-H [CD], Classics 5007 [CD]
3309-1	T-Bone Boogie [ens voc]	Rhumboogie 4002-B^, Blues Boy BB 304, Mosaic MR9-130, Mosaic MD6-130 [CD], Indigo IGO CD 2123, History 20.1948-H [CD], Classics 5007 [CD]
3310-1	Mean Old World Blues	Rhumboogie 4003-A, Blues Boy BB 304, Mosaic MR9-130, Mosaic MD6-130 [CD], Rhino R2 79894 [CD], Indigo IGO CD 2123, History 20.1948-H [CD], Classics 5007 [CD]
3311-2	Evening	Rhumboogie 4002-A^, Blues Boy BB 304, Mosaic MR9-130, Mosaic MD6-130 [CD], Rhino R2 79894 [CD], Indigo IGO CD 2123, History 20.1948-H [CD], Classics 5007 [CD]
3312	?

Until recently, discographies dated this session May 1945 (which was the beginning of T-Bone Walker's last run at the Rhumboogie Cafe). However, the minutes of the Musicians Union Local 208 Board meeting on August 2, 1945 indicate that the session took place on October 10, 1944, toward the end of T-Bone's previous run. T-Bone was accompanied by Marl Young's big band at the club, but a smaller group was handpicked for the recording date. (One suspects that Eddie Johnson, a popular soloist in the band, was kept off the date because he had given the bandleader trouble in the past. Young used Rhumboogie veteran Moses Gant instead.) Release was held up for months, in part because of a dispute between Charlie Glenn and Marl Young over copyrights to the songs (Young had gone ahead and copyrighted four of the numbers without telling Glenn).

The studio has also remained obscure, but it appears that the source of the QB 3300 matrix series that Rhumboogie used was Quality Recording, an outfit that flourished for a couple of years at 206 South Wabash (it was listed in the 1945 and 1946 Chicago telephone books).

Rhumboogie 4000, 4002, and 4003 were 78-rpm singles released in August 1945, November 1945, and early 1946 respectively. (The first T-Bone Walker single was actually advertised as 4001; we don't know whether this number appears on any 78s, but every one that we have seen shows 4000.) Rhumboogie M-33 was actually a reissue; although the same brown Rhumboogie label is employed, the 78 was pressed in vinyl, and therefore was produced, probably by Mercury, after the demise of the Rhumboogie operation (around 1949 would be a good guess). Mercury seems to have taken over Rhumboogie's distribution in October or November 1945, and to have held on to at least some of the Rhumboogie masters after the record company went inactive in 1946. Blues Boy BB 304 was a Swedish T-Bone Walker LP titled The Inventor of the Electric Guitar Blues. Mosaic MR9-130 (LP) and MD6-130 (CD) is a boxed set, released in 1990 under the title The Complete Recordings of T-Bone Walker 1940-1954. Rhino R2 79894, Blues Masters: The Very Best of T-Bone Walker, is a 2000 issue, as is Indigo IGO CD 2123, T-Bone Blues. The Indigo series appears to consist of bootlegs and has an uncertain country of origin. Classics 5007, T-Bone Walker 1929-1946, is a French reissue from 2001.

Matrix numbers and release information are drawn from the Mosaic booklet. No personnel are given by Mosaic, except for Walker and Young. However, the lineup is identical to that of the December 19, 1945 session as described in the booklet to the Mercury Blues 'n' Rhythm box: two trumpets, three saxes (consisting of two altos and a tenor), and rhythm. The altoists do not solo on the October 1944 tracks, but otherwise the soloists sound the same on both sessions.

Marl Young was leading the band at the Rhumboogie during this period. Nat Jones and Micky Simms were members of the Saunders band at the Club DeLisa, and it is possible that some of the other participants were as well (for instance, Nick Cooper, who we know was in the Saunders band in 1947-1948). Moses Gant had a Rhumboogie affiliation dating back to 1942, when he joined the Milt Larkin band, but his regular place of employment in October 1944 isn't known.

By early 1945, the Saunders outfit had reached big-band strength. Saunders told Hodes, "The band varied. At its lowest I had eight men. Tops was 13--four reeds, five brass, three rhythm [not counting himself]." But this was temporary; he would soon be leading a sextet.

Red's first recordings as a leader were made during his only long absence from the Club DeLisa (a period of nearly two years). A story in Down Beat for August 1, 1945 gives the explanation for his departure. Apparently Red really wanted to entertain the troops overseas and signed up to do a tour with the USO. However, some members of Red's big band "couldn't pass the physical for an overseas tour." (Altoist Nat Jones jumped ship at this point, joining a combo led by Stanley Williams.). After a month without steady work (during which time Leon Washington moved over to Capt. Walter Dyett's DuSable-ites), Red regrouped with a sextet and took a job at the Capitol Lounge on State Street on July 9, 1945 (his 4 week contract, with 3 week option, was accepted and filed by Local 208 on July 19). Even so, Red seems to have been thinking about something bigger: "Saunders, however, still has big-band ideas... Since opening the Capitol, the USO has proposed a tour in the states and Saunders may reorganize to entertain the GI's..." The Stateside USO tour never came off either.

The same Down Beat that mentioned Red's stay at the Capitol Lounge (and reviewed some of their nights there) also commented that the band was "being romanced by Joe Sherman to move into the Garrick when Saunders' contract expires August 6, if the Capitol's three-week option isn't picked up." Besides the favorable attention that the Saunders combo was drawing at the Capitol Lounge, the Garrick was motivated by outside offers being extended to the popular Red Allen-J. C. Higginbotham combo that had been in residency for over two years. Red did move there as soon as his 4 weeks at the Capital were up; his 6-week contract (plus options) with the Garrrick was accepted and filed on August 2, 1945. For the rest of Red's engagements before he returned to the DeLisa, see below.

Meanwhile, Red's place at the DeLisa was taken by a band led by trumpeter Jesse Miller. Miller's contract was accepted and filed by Musicians Union Local 208 on May 17, 1945; his band opened on June 9 and held down the job through the middle of Febrary 1946. Following that Fletcher Henderson (first with Marl Young, later with Sonny Blount at the piano bench) was in residency from February 18, 1946 to May 18, 1947.

From July 9 to August 6, 1945, Red worked the Capitol Lounge with a sextet consisting of George "Sonny" Cohn (trumpet), Antonio Cosey (alto sax and clarinet), Leon Washington, Porter Derrico, and Micky Simms.

Sonny Cohn (born in Chicago on March 14, 1925) was a new addition; freshly back from military service, he had been working in Captain Walter Dyett's DuSable-ites before joining Red, who got the recommendation from Leon Washington. Sonny Cohn grew up on the West Side, picking up the trumpet at the age of 9, when he began playing an instrument that belonged to his father, a postal worker. As a teenager, he was a member of Frances and her Rhythm Kings, a trio that featured his sister Frances on piano and George Rhodes at the drums.

The new Saunders band was reviewed in the "Bands Dug by the Beat" column (Down Beat,August 1, 1945). "Saunders, a personable front man, is an exceptionally fine drummer and the fine spirit and drive the six-piece outfit obtain comes mainly from his drums.... Majority of the solos go to tenorman Leon Washington, who plays with more [of] a jazz conception than the others. One night Eddie Johnson was found subbing on tenor--his solo on Sunny Side of the Streetwas one of the greatest this reviewer has ever heard for the tune. Trumpet man is 18-year-old Sonny Cohn and real comer. Kid is featured on such stuff as Fiesta in Blues." (Red found it useful for publicity reasons to shave a couple of years off Sonny Cohn's age.) The only objection the reviewer had was that the front line tended to play too loudly in the small club, as if overcompensating for being downsized.

The Garrick Theater Lounge picked up Red's sextet during the second week of August 1945. A photo of the lounge in Dempsey Travis' book, An Autobiography in Black Jazz, shows several advertisements in the front window for Red Saunders featuring Leon Washington and Sonny Cohn. Red settled in for a long run. On October 13, 1945, Down Beatmentioned him in a story titled "Chi's Randolph St. Has No Shortage of Combos." According to Down Beat,"Leading the parade, and it's just that at the Garrick Bar and the Downbeat Room, is Red Saunders' fine six-piece crew, with Red on great drums."

When Red made his first session as a leader he was still working with the same combo at the Downbeat Room of the Garrick Lounge. The alto saxophonist has been carried in the discographies as Antonio "Cosie" (meanwhile, the Down Beat reviewer called him "Tony Casey"). In fact, Antonio Cosey (1907 - 1951) was the father of Chicago guitarist Pete Cosey, known for his many recordings in the 1960s and 1970s (including studio work for Chess Records and prominent solo work on some live Miles Davis recordings made shortly before Miles went into temporary retirement). Cosey spent a good portion of the 1930s in Europe and made several records during this stay overseas.

3. Red Saunder's [sic] Sextette

Chicago, December 7, 1945

S5855	Hallelujah (Youmans-Grey-Robin)	Savoy 596-B
S5856	Red's Boogie Woogie (Saunders)	Savoy 596-A
S5857	Chicago Jam (Saunders)	Savoy (unissued)
S5858	Sweet Lorraine (Parrish-Burwell)	--
S5859	Memories of You (Blake-Razaf)	--

Our basic information comes from Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier's 1994 blues discography. However, Leadbitter et al. give the wrong A side; they identify it as "Trust in Me," though their matrix number is correct. Michel Ruppli's Savoy discography gets it right, and the listings for the other three items are derived from Ruppli.

Savoy 596 was a 78-rpm single released in 1946. Though the sound we have heard off the original 78 is tinny and shallow, the two issued tracks feature Saunders and Leon Washington (duly featured on the labels), and give some sense of the abilities of both. Washington (born in 1909, already on wax with Frankie Franko's Louisianians in 1930) attacks an uptempo "Hallelujah" (part Swing and part Bop, just like the Red Norvo recording) in the manner of Don Byas.

Bob Porter says that the complete session was still extant in the Savoy vaults in the late 1970s and is presumably still available for reissue. Thanks to Daniel Gugolz for a tape of the three unissued tracks, which have circulated among collectors. "Chicago Jam" is a very different version of the boogie woogie; Derrico stays in the groove more successfully, and Leon Washington is the dominant soloist; Red also gets a powerful drum solo. "Sweet Lorraine" and "Memories of You" both give Leon a chance to do his Hawk thing; why ballad performances of this quality have remained unissued is a puzzlement.

The success of T-Bone Walker's first release on Rhumboogie (Rhumboogies were now being distributed by the up-and-coming Mercury operation) led Charlie Glenn, who ran the label, to bring T-Bone back to Chicago for a second recording session with the same forces led by Marl Young.

4. T-Bone Walker and Marl Young's Orchestra / T-Bone Walker^

Quality Recording, Chicago, December 19, 1945

3307?, 409-2, 1036-SW, IM-493	My Baby Left Me (Walker-Glenn)	Mercury 8016-A, Old Swingmaster 11A^, Imperial 1561451, Mosaic MR9-130, Mosaic MD9-130 [CD], Polygram 528292 [CD], Indigo IGO CD 2123, History 20.1948-H [CD], Classics 5007 [CD]
3312?, 410-2, IM-494	Come Back to Me Baby (Walker-Glenn)	Mercury 8016-B, Constellation CS-6, Imperial 1561451, Mosaic MR9-130, Mosaic MD9-130 [CD], Polygram 528292 [CD], Indigo IGO CD 2123, History 20.1948-H [CD], Classics 5007 [CD]
3313?, IM-495	I Can't Stand Being away from You (Walker)	Constellation CS-6, Imperial 1561451, Mosaic MR9-130, Mosaic MD9-130 [CD], History 20.1948-H [CD], Classics 5007 [CD]
3314?, 411, 1040-SW, IM-496	She Is Going to Ruin Me [Fast Woman*] (Walker) [ens voc]	Old Swingmaster 11B^, Constellation CS-6, Imperial 1561451*, Mosaic MR9-130, Mosaic MD9-130 [CD], Polygram 528292 [CD], Indigo IGO CD 2123, History 20.1948-H [CD], Classics 5007 [CD]

The history of these sides is even more tangled than we realized in past editions of this discography. They have racked up a lot of mileage in 50 years, and various enterprising persons have sold 3 or 400% of them!

With Marl Young as leader and the same ensemble as on the May 1945 session, it is clear that these sides were cut for the Rhumboogie label. The original Rhumboogie matrix numbers are lost, but there are gaps in the Rhumboogie 3300 series at 3307 (perhaps a remake of something that didn't go well in May), 3312, 3313, and 3314.

Rhumboogie had some kind of affiliation with Mercury--at least a distribution deal--by November 1945. The 400-series matrix numbers that Mercury put on them date from October 1946, which is presumably when Mercury 8016 came out on 78 rpm.

When Egmont Sonderling started his Old Swing-Master label in January 1949, with DJ Al Benson as his front man, he made a deal to (license? buy?) the now-dormant Rhumboogie material, and released two sides in March 1949 on Old Swingmaster 11, a 78-rpm single. The 1000-series matrix numbers belong to Old Swingmaster.

While Sonderling was phasing out his record businesses, Old Swing-Master went belly-up in June 1950, amid talk of another release drawn from this material. Shortly thereafter, it appears that Sonderling unloaded the sides to Imperial, which was T-Bone's label at the time; on September 22, 1952, Imperial slapped on matrix numbers of its own (IM-493 through 496, according to Michel Ruppli's volume on The Aladdin/Imperial Labels; the Mosaic box has IM-453 through 456, but these were actually used for sides by Smiley Lewis and Tommy Ridgley). Imperial never released them, but after many mergers and acquisitions, they appeared years later on an Imperial LP put out by French EMI, and finally in a Mosaic box that was mostly derived from material controlled by EMI.

After Sonderling phased out his involvement in the record business and moved into radio, Al Benson, who was doing freelance recording but not quite ready to open his ownParrot label, sold the masters to Art Sheridan of Chance Records, probably in 1952. (According to the late Marcel Chauvard, they were duly listed in the Chance company files, though no new matrix numbers were attached and we have no evidence that Chance released them.) A decade later, Ewart Abner Jr. (of Chance and Vee-Jay fame; he had just been kicked out of Vee-Jay after a management battle) and Art Sheridan (one-time owner of Chance Records) started a company called Constellation. It put out a series of LPs consisting mostly of Chance material. CS-6 was a various-artists blues collection, titled A Bucket of Blues Vol. VI, that was released in 1964. The other tracks were by John Lee Hooker, J. B. Lenoir, and Sunnyland Slim (all of them from the Chance archives).

"I Can't Stand Being Away from You" was issued for the first time on this LP. Most likely it was passed over for release in the 1940s because the second half of the piece is a Swing-band arrangement; consequently it puts less emphasis on T-Bone's vocals and guitar than its session-mates do. Constellation misspelled another title as "She's Gonna Rain Me."

Imperial 1561451 was a various-artists LP issued in France in 1985 under the title Hot Leftovers. Mosaic MR9-130 (LP) and MD6-130 (CD) is a boxed set, released in 1990 under the title The Complete Recordings of T-Bone Walker 1940-1954. Polygram 528292 is an 8-CD box set titled Mercury Blues 'n' Rhythm Story 1945-1955 and released in 1996. Indigo IGO CD 2123, T-Bone Blues is a bootleg release from 2000 with an uncertain country of origin. Classics 5007, T-Bone Walker 1929-1946, is a French reissue from 2001.

The release history is drawn from the Mosaic box. However, Mosaic, following previous discographies, gives only "1945-1946" for the date and states that the band is the same group of unknowns as on the Rhumboogie session. (It does sound like the same lineup as before, though the recording quality is much better on this session than on the indifferently-pressed Rhumboogie 78s that are the only remnant of the previous one, and Micky Simms and Red Saunders are more clearly heard.) The date and personnel are from the Mercury Blues 'n' Rhythm box, which also supplies the Mercury matrix number 411 for "She Is Going to Ruin Me"; the Mercury annotators give Nat Jones' first name as "Nathan."

Meanwhile, Red enjoyed steady work with his sextet at the Garrick Lounge. He was signed to another contract for 11 weeks (posted with Local 208 on December 20, 1945). On March 25, 1946, Down Beat's Chicago Band Briefs listed Saunders at the Garrick. On April 8, Down Beat ran a photo of the band with a long caption: "Red Saunders Garrick's Star. Red Saunders is the current dynamic attraction at Randolph street's Garrick Bar. Red, acclaimed one of the top drummers by all who hear him, has had his fine six-piece combo at the Garrick's Downbeat Room since last August. With Red are Mickey Simms bass; Porter Derrico, piano, Sonny Cohn, trumpet, Tony Casey [sic], alto, and Leon Washington, tenor. Group has been pulling more business than Red Allen-J.C. Higginbotham group..." Sonny Cohn's recollection: "We did well at the Garrick and stayed there almost as long as Red Allen did. It was one of the first of the real jazz clubs where people came to sit down and listen to the music. We'd play 40 minutes and 20 minutes off. There was no show; we had a little [sheet] music but we mostly played head arrangements or features for the guys in the band" (Peter Vacher, The Sonny Cohn Story, Jazz Journal, September 1963, p. 5).

On May 6, "Chicago Band Briefs" reported that altoist Nat Jones was rejoining Saunders at the Downbeat Room. This was the band that recorded for Sultan Records.

5. "Red" Saunders and his Band

Chicago, May 1946

S-109-1	Red, the Be Bop Guy ("Saunders") -1		Sultan 2501B
S-111-1-1 or S 111-1-2	Vi, Tell Me Why (Dean-Saunders)		Sultan 2503A

Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier, 1994 list this session. Earlier on, Jepsen was more correct about the titles, mentioning "Red, the Be-bop Guy," instead of "The Be-bop Guy." Both sources wrongly claim that the session was cut in Detroit. True, Sultan Records was run by one Morton Sultan in Detroit, but all of the company's artists were associated with clubs on Randolph Street in Chicago's Loop, and the company's recording sessions, which are all in the same matrix series, took place in Chicago.

An advert for the Sultan label in the June 8, 1946 issue of Billboardclears up some details. The Sultan gimmick was "double-header hits," which meant sides by two different bands. "Red, the Be Bop Guy" was the B-side of Sultan 2501 (not 2502 as listed in discographies); the A-side was "Orientale" by the Eddie Wiggins Sextette. "Vi, Tell Me Why" shared its "double-header" disc with "Sonny's Boogie" by Sonny Thompson, who was billed for the occasion as "Prince of the Ivories."

Sultan 2501 and 2503 were 78-rpm singles, released in June 1946. The debut release of 3 singles was also the last for the Sultan label, which was still in business as late as 1950 but apparently never issued anything else. If the Saunders band recorded more items for Sultan (we wonder about matrix S-110 and S-112), these appear to be lost. A copy of Sultan 2501 in Tom Kelly's collection supplies the label copy (including the revelation of a unique Red Saunders vocal on "Red, the Be Bop Guy") and the matrix number. "Vi, Tell Me Why" appears on one side of Sultan 2503 (a copy in George Paulus' collection has the -1 suffix after the matrix number; Dani Gugolz' copy has the -2; these may simply be different stampers.)

Unsuspected for many years was the presence of an unnanounced musical guest on "Red, the Be Bop Guy." A dub supplied by Tom Kelly reveals that Sultan was indulging in false advertising when it attributed the vocal to Red. The vocalist is none other than Buster Bennett and the tune is a fairly fast blues of the "celebrity roast" variety.

The words are obviously Buster's, and could well have been improvised at the session--but Red took the composer credit. Some of the riffing between Buster's vocal lines would reappear when Red's combo backed Big Joe Turner in October.

Sonny Cohn has a prominent trumpet lead in the introduction and the tag. In the middle of the piece, there are two 12-bar solos on the alto saxophone. The first solo, stuffed with 8th and 16th notes in the mid-1940s Tab Smith manner, is obviously the work of Nat Jones. The second 12 bars are strictly gutbucket and enunciated with a rasp--Buster's doing. And the second solo ends with a rest (to give Buster time to take the sax out of his mouth and resume singing). Buster also briefly joins the closing ensemble. Our thanks to Armin Büttner for catching Buster's presence on this side.

Nary a trace of bebop can be found on "Red, the Be Bop Guy," but the band eventually mastered the style (see the Supreme session below).

The Billboard ad and the label for "Vi, Tell Me Why" mention "Nat Jones on the sax," rendered on the label as "Nat Jones on Sax." Vi Kemp, a contortionist and singer, was Red Saunders' wife. She is mentioned in many subsequent Chicago Defender advertisements for the Club DeLisa (May 17, 1947, December 18, 1948, and December 31, 1949, among others). "Vi, Tell Me Why" was a rather sappy ballad dedicated to Vi, but not featuring her. As promised, Nat Jones has the schmaltzy alto sax lead and the frilly conclusion; there is also a brief trumpet lead from Sonny Cohn.

The Down Beat writer stated that the the Saunders band "which had been at the Downbeat Room for over a year," had taken an out of town gig. In his "Swinging The News" column in the October 12, 1946 Defender, Al Monroe declared that "Red Saunder's [sic] terrific drumming at Kelly's Stables in New York where he is co-starred with Savannah Churchill may net him [a] Hollywood contract." Cohn recalled that "When the Garrick closed down, we went to New York for 6 weeks and worked the Kelly's Stables. Working opposite us we had the Mary Osborne Trio." (Vacher, p. 5).

Also in September 1946, pianist and arranger Marl Young, who had recently left the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra then performing at the Club DeLisa (long hours backing the DeLisa shows did not mix well with the law school courses he was taking at the same time), went into business with his brothers and opened a new record company, Sunbeam. Since Red Saunders had appeared on Young's sessions for Rhumboogie, and Nat Jones worked the Sunbeam sessions, some have thought that Red could be the drummer on the Sunbeam sides by Marl Young and his Orchestra. However, our current knowledge of Saunders' whereabouts in September and October and of the drumming Marl Young releases on Sunbeam effectively rule Red out. See our page on the Sunbeam label for details.

Because Red's band was in New York for 6 weeks, it is now clear that the two Joe Turner sessions were actually recorded there, not in Chicago as previously thought. (Strangely enough, Big Joe headed to Chicago to work the Club DeLisa as soon as the sessions were finished, which has contributed to confusion about the location. Red, of course, was not at the DeLisa in October 1946; Big Joe was accompanied by Fletcher Henderson when he appeared there.) Previous discographies (including previous versions of this one) have credited Talmadge "Tab" Smith with the Johnny Hodges-inspired alto work on the next two sessions. This attribution would fit not only the style of the alto playing but the fact that Tab Smith's band was resident in New York City at the time. However, Sonny Cohn recalled in his 1963 interview that Porter Kilbert joined Red Saunders in New York City. And in fact, we have no evidence of Porter Kilbert spending a whole lot of time in Chicago, until the Saunders band returned there at the beginning of 1947. Also a Hodges-style altoist, Kilbert was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on June 10, 1921. Already a veteran of bands led by Benny Carter and Roy Eldridge, he added a significant solo voice (a little more incisive than Nat Jones') to Red's combo.

6. Joe Turner and His Boogie Woogie Boys / Joe Turner and His Boogie-Woogie Boys^ / Joe Turner with Orch. Accomp. #

New York City, October 11, 1946

NSC172	Still in the Dark (Turner) #	National 9106, Savoy MG14012, Realm [Br] RM 229, Savoy SJL2223, Savoy SJC 405, Savoy Jazz SV-0265 [CD], Classics 1034 [CD]
NSC173	Miss Brown Blues (Turner)^	National 4011-A, Savoy MG14012, Realm [Br] RM 229, Savoy SJL2223, Savoy SJC 405, Savoy Jazz SV-0265 [CD], Classics 1034 [CD]
NSC174	Sally Zu-Zaz (Turner)	National 4016-B, Savoy MG14012, Realm [Br] RM 229, Savoy SJL2223, Savoy SJC 405, Savoy Jazz SV-0265 [CD], Rhino / Atlantic 71550 [CD], Classics 1034 [CD]
NSC175	Rock o' Gibralter (Turner)	National 4016=A, Savoy SJL2223, Savoy Jazz SV-0265 [CD], Classics 1034 [CD]
NSC175 [alt.]	Rock o' Gibraltar Blues (Turner)	Savoy MG14012, Realm [Br] RM 229, Savoy SJC 405, Document DOCD-1008

Red Saunders had previously worked with Albert Ammons, as we know. National 4011 and 4016 were 78-rpm singles released in 1947; National 9106, which is pressed on vinyl, followed around 1949. The titles and band credits have been variously rendered in secondary sources. We show them as the appeared on the original 78s, misspellings and all; our thanks to Michel Chaigne for the label information. (We take the word "Blues," appended to some of the titles with a dash, as a generic designation rather than part of the title proper.) On the Rhino/Atlantic Joe Turner package, the title goes "Sally Zu-Zazz-Blues"; elsewhere, "Sally Zu Zazz" has prevailed. "I'm Still in the Dark" has been the usual reissue title.

Thanks to Daniel Gugolz for alerting us to the alternate take of "Rock o' Gibraltar Blues." Apparently this take was used on Savoy MG14012. Document DOCD-1008 was released in 1994 as Albert Ammons (1936-1946): Alternate Takes, Radio Recordings, Ammons' Unissued Home Recordings. Classics 1034 was released in 1999 as The Chronlogical Joe Turner, 1946-1947.

7. Joe Turner and His Boogie-Woogie Boys ^ / Joe Turner | Orch: Acc: *

New York City, October 12, 1946

NSC176	Milk and Butter Blues	Savoy MG14012, Realm [Br] RM 229, Savoy SJL2223, Savoy SJC 405, Savoy Jazz SV-0265 [CD], Classics 1034 [CD]
NSC177	That's What Really Hurts (Turner) ^	National 4017, Savoy MG14012, Realm [Br] RM 229, Savoy SJC 405, Savoy SJL2223, Savoy Jazz SV-0265 [CD], Classics 1034 [CD]
NSC178	I'm Sharp when I Hit the Coast ^	National 4011-B, Savoy MG14012, Realm [Br] RM 229, Savoy SJC 405, Savoy SJL2223, Savoy Jazz SV-0265 [CD], Classics 1034 [CD]
NSC179	New Oo-Wee Baby Blues (Wee Baby Blues)* (Turner-Johnson)	National 9100, Savoy MG14012, Realm [Br] RM 229, Savoy SJL2223, Savoy SJC 405, Savoy Jazz SV-0265 [CD], Rhino / Atlantic 71550 [CD], Classics 1034 [CD]

Our basic information comes from Michel Ruppli, The Savoy Label. Ruppli gives the title of the last track as "Ooh Wee Baby Blues" but the Savoy 2-LP set gives it as "New Wee Baby Blues." The Rhino Joe Turner box actually follows the original label to National 9100: "New Oo-Wee Baby Blues (Wee Baby Blues)." The Savoy LP label rendered it as "Ooowee Baby." Ruppli gives "That's When It Really Hurts," but the label to National 4017 has it as "That's What Really Hurts."

National 4011, 4016, and 4017 were 78-rpm singles released in 1947; National 9100 and 9106 were pressed on vinyl and released around 1949. On the B-side of 4011, the title is "I'm Sharp when I Hit the Coast"; the Savoy LP and all subsequent listings have misrendered the title as "I'm in Sharp...". The band identification on 4011 is courtesy of Michel Chaigne.

After Savoy acquired National (which had gone under in 1951), all 8 sides from the two sessions were released on LP as Savoy MG14012, and the Blues'll make you happy too. This LP was in the Savoy Religious Series (!) and came out in 1960. MG14012 was given a straight reissue in 1965 on Realm RM 229, Joe Turner Sings the Blues Volume 2, and in 1985, under the original title, on Savoy Jazz Classics SJC 405. All titles from MG14012 were also reissued on Savoy SJL2223, a 2-LP set titled Have No Fear, Big Joe Turner Is Here, in the late 1970s. All titles from that 2-LP set, except 5 tracks recorded in late 1947, were reissued in turn in 1995 on Denon/Savoy Jazz SV-0265 [CD], with the same title. Two titles from these sessions were included in the 3-CD box on Rhino 71550, titled Big, Bad, and Blue: The Big Joe Turner Anthology. Classics 1034, a CD titled Joe Turner 1945-1947, was issued in 1999.

Only Ammons and Saunders are identified in Ruppli, or in the liners to the Savoy 2-LP set (which were written by Pete Welding but not credited to him). The Savoy liners correctly note that Ammons was only present on the first date. They suggest Perkins' presence, which seems correct. Leon Washington and Sonny Cohn were identified by ear; the bassist is old-fashioned and rather plunky, as Simms was on the 1945 session. While the pianist does sound rather like Porter Derrico on his known recordings, it is much more likely that Rudy Martin traveled to New York with the Saunders band.

Pete Welding was the first to suggest, in the liners to the Savoy 2-LP set, that the Hodges-like altoist was Tab Smith (1909-1971). This is is a tempting identification, and not just for the above-mentioned reasons. When Tab began his popular series of recordings for United in 1951, he wasn't carrying other horn players in his working bad, so in the studio his front-line partners were... Sonny Cohn and Leon Washington! They appeared on his first 4 sessions, through June 11, 1952. However, Porter Kilbert sounded a lot like Tab in 1946, and he joined Red during the run on 52nd Streeet.

Red's combo did not return immediately to Chicago. While the door was open, he was not yet at the Band Box on November 18, 1946, when Down Beat ran a small story titled "Band Box Sticks to Sepia Orks for Draw." The gist was that the club "which has done badly with such bands as [Ina Ray] Hutton and [Freddie] Slack, may stick to a Negro band policy. Seems like there are practically no white bands that draw more than flies." The Chicago Herald-American for November 27, 1946 reported that Joe Sanders had opened at the Band Box the previous week.

In the meantime, Red and his combo made a stop in Detroit, where the Michigan Chronicle advertised them for 3 straight weeks, December 14, 21, and 28, at Club Zombie, located at 8825 Oakland. The ads promoted "Red Saunders and his great entertainment band" with "the original 'Hey-Bob-a-Le-bop' Girl, D's own, Tina (Push 'em-Up) Dixon" for "2 shows nitely, 11-1, Sun 3 shows" and "Beginnning Fri Dec 13, held over by popular demand, The Willie Anderson Trio." (Our thanks to Lars Bjorn for the references. Sonny Cohn recalled in his 1963 interview [Vacher, p. 5] that the band "worked in Detroit for about three or four weeks" but placed this trip after the engagement at the Band Box.) Club Zombie had opened on November 29.

Red and band returned to Chicago at the beginning of January 1947 (his contract with the Band Box had already been signed and included in Local 208's list of contracts accepted and filed on December 19, 1946). The January 15, 1947 issue of Down Beat mentioned that he was now at the Band Box. "Randolph Street, usually the mecca for music hot, is almost barren." The only exceptions the writer noted were the Saunders combo and two little units next door at the Brass Rail.

An advertisement from the Chicago Defender of February 22, 1947 refers to the club as "Red Saunders Band Box," suggesting a substantial investment on his part. As of this date, the lineup included "Red Saunders and his Drum Band," Lonnie Simmons and his recording band, Viola Kemp, and a jam session led by Leon Washington. A photo that appeared in the newspaper on April 4 (in which Red is among the judges in a beauty contest!) also gives Red's affiliation as the Band Box. On April 9, 1947, the first Chicago Band Briefs column that Down Beat had bothered to run since October declared that in the meantime Chicago had turned into a "square town" mired in jazz apathy. Saunders, however, was mentioned still playing at the Band Box. Sonny Cohn recalled that "We stayed at the Band Box for about four months" (Vacher, p. 5). In fact, it was slightly in excess of five months. When Red was set to return to the Club DeLisa, the Defender of May 17, 1947 proclaimed that he had been "scoring at the Loop Band Box cafe."

Red returned to the Club DeLisa on Monday, May 19, 1947, where he was welcomed with a "Hip, Hip 'Hoo Red' Revue." According to Cohn, Red bulked up to big band status (12 pieces) immediately. In 1963 Cohn recalled the personnel as five brass, four saxes, and 3 rhythm. The trumpets were himself, Nick Cooper ("fine trumpeter and arranger, used to write a lot for the band, dead now"), and Charles Gray ("a very good first trumpet player, whose son [Cohn should have said father!] is President of Local 208"). Trombones were Harlan "Booby" Floyd and Joe McLewis. The sax section now consisted of Porter Kilbert on 1st alto, Leon Washington on tenor, Everett Gaines, who doubled alto and tenor, and a "3rd alto" that Cohn couldn't remember (this was Mac Easton, who played a lot of alto as well as baritone). Earl Washington and Jimmy Richardson rounded out the rhythm section.

The band's new lead trumpeter, Charles Gray, was born on September 7, 1918 (we don't have a place of birth for him, but his father was originally from Tennessee and did not join Local 208 until 1928). The previous year, Gray had recorded two sessions with Buster Bennett; Rhumboogie had made him the nominal leader on one of them, since Buster was under contract to Columbia.

Skilled as he was at business and public relations, Red Saunders was rarely called on the carpet by Local 208 of the Musicians Union. However, on October 26, 1947, he found himself in the middle of a turf battle between Harry Gray, President of Local 208, and both the segregated White local in Chicago (Local 10) and the national office of the American Federation of Musicians. Down Beat magazine had organized a jazz concert at the Civic Opera House in Chicago, to include some of the more prominent musicians working on the South Side: Jesse Miller (trumpet), Johnny Board (alto sax), Gene Ammons (tenor sax), Rozelle Gayle (piano), Floyd Smith (electric guitar), Gene Wright (bass), and Red Saunders (drums). Problem was, there were plans to include pianist and arranger John Malachi, and he had shown up in Chicago to play a gig at Club Silhouette without reporting to Local 208 or depositing a contract. Hence Gray had ordered members of Local 208 not to work with Malachi. But Gray had been overruled. All of this came out at the next meeting of the Local 208 Board on November 6.

Gray may not have liked it one bit, but the conflict had been escalated all the way to James Caesar Petrillo, President of the AFM, who had ruled against him--and there wasn't a whole lot he could do about that.

The first Saunders recording session to use the big band (November 1947) featured an outfit of less than Kentonesque proportions: 2 (sometimes 3) trumpets, 2 trombones, and 4 saxes. But on most recording sessions the forces were reduced. Red's next session was the first to feature baritonist McKinley Easton, who was born in Mississippi on April 6, 1914. Easton was already a veteran by this time; he had been elected to membership in Musicians Union Local 208 on March 31, 1932. There was turnover in the rhythm section as well. Earl Washington (not related to Leon, as it turns out; Earl Washington was born in Chicago on April 3, 1921) had taken over the piano bench. Earl's sister Ella married a brother of Red's. Veteran bassist Micky Simms, who must have sounded plunky and dated by this time, was replaced by Jimmy Richardson (who was born on January 4, 1914, according to the Musicians Union Local 208 card file). And trombonist Joe McLewis seems to have been quickly replaced by Johnny Avant.

8. Eddie "Bunky" Redding with Red Saunders and his All Stars

Toogood Studios, Chicago, November 1947

475-2	Bunk's Blues	Aladdin 210
476-1	My Gal Lil	Aladdin 210
477-3	Freight Train Blues (Redding)	Score 4001B
478-4	Card Playing Blues	Score 4001A

This session is listed in Michel Ruppli, The Aladdin and Imperial Labels. Score 4001 was a 78-rpm single released at the end of 1947 or in early 1948. Aladdin 210 was a 78-rpm single released at the end of 1947. No reissues are known. Ruppli leaves out Ike Perkins, but his guitar is audible on both sides of Score 4001. We have not yet heard Aladdin 210.

9. Danny Knight with Red Saunders Orch.

Universal Recording, Chicago, November 1947

U-7082	Until Eternity (Knight)	Aristocrat 1501A
U-7083	Say You Love Me Baby	Aristocrat 1502 [?]
U-7084	It Happened a Year Ago Today (Knight)	Aristocrat 1501B
U-7085	Time to Part	Arisocrat 1502 [?]

Thanks to Tom Kelly for confirming the existence of this previously legendary session, and providing some splendid documentation along with a dub. Danny Knight was mentioned in the Chicago Defender during 1945, as a blues singer with the King Kolax Orchestra of the period. By 1947 he had gone the Mr. B route. Some authorities believe that he sang with Howard McGhee and Charlie Parker at the Hi-De-Ho Club in Los Angeles during March 1947, appearing fragmentarily on the Dean Benedetti recordings. Both sides of Aristocrat 1501 are ripe ballads in the Mr. B manner.

For the approximate date of this session, see our Aristocrat page. The Chicago Defender's ad for the Club DeLisa on November 8, 1947 had Knight performing there along with the comedy ensemble the 3 Chocolateers, Bessie Jackson, and others.

The release date of Aristocrat 1501 is not known; the 78 looks to have been held off till the second half of 1948, as the copy we have seen shows the light green art-deco label that Aristocrat employed for its later releases. The Red Saunders Orchestra is identified on the label. The musicians were identified by ear. Red seems to have brought everyone he had at the Club DeLisa to this session; it is the first one that he made with a big band (in fact, it includes four saxes where his later DeLisa bands usually carried three). There are lush arrangements with no instrumental solos, and Red is restricted to ballad drumming. Each side has a strong trumpet lead. Porter Kilbert, Mac Easton, and Johnny Avant are salient in spots.

Aristocrat 1502 is not known to have been released, but would fill a gap in the series. It is doubtful that every Aristocrat release has yet been catalogued.

10. Red Saunders' All Stars Featuring Mac Easton - Bar. Sax.^/ "Bunky" Redding with Red Saunders' All Stars

United Broadcasting Studios, Chicago, December 26, 1947

25-1005-1	Strange Man Blues	Aladdin / Score (unissued)
25-1006-1	Young Man Blues	--
25-1007-1	Take It Upstairs -1 (Redding)	Score 4009 B
25-1008-1	Undecided Blues	Aladddin / Score (unissued)
25-1009-1	Walking Card Playing Blues	--
25-1010-1	Evil Woman	--
25-1011-2	4 A. M. [Red Saunders Baritone Blues]^ ("Mesner")	Score 4009 A

This session is also listed in Michel Ruppli, The Aladdin and Imperial Labels. The Score release gives only SC 4009 A and B as matrix numbers; the 25-1000 series numbers, which look like a mutation of UB 2000 series from United Broadcasting but may be of independent origin, were kept in the company files only.

Score 4009 was a 78-rpm single released in late December 1949 (it was pressed on vinyl). No reissues are known. Ruppli indicates that "Red Saunders Baritone Blues" was the title in the company files, whereas "4 A. M." was the title on the issued 78. The composer credit on this number, to Aladdin impresario Leo Mesner, is, of course, not to be taken seriously. "4 A. M." is the same piece that Red recorded for OKeh on April 20, 1951; that recording also features Mac Easton's baritone sax.

Our personnel are as in Ruppli, except that he omits Ike Perkins. The guitarist is prominent on "Take It Upstairs" and may be present on other tracks from this session (which remain unavailable).

An Aladdin advertisement in Billboard, December 24, 1949, courtesy of Dan Kochakian. Note that Score 4009 is credited to Red Saunders instead of Bunky Redding.

R&B singer Clarence Samuels recorded four tracks for Aristocrat in December 1947 with the "Porter Kilmer" Orchestra. Samuels and alto saxophonist Porter Kilbert were both from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; they almost certainly had worked together before this session. He had previously recorded for the company in early September with a band led by tenor saxophonist Dave Young. Two sides from the December session were released on Aristocrat 1003. A 78 in Dan Kochakian's collection indicates that the session was indeed led by Porter Kilbert. The drums are not well recorded on Aristocrat 1003, but the sax section sounds like the one Red was using at the time, so the possibility that this was an incognito Saunders appearance has to be taken seriously.

11. Clarence Samuels with Porter Kilmer's [sic] Orchestra

Universal Recording, Chicago, late December 1947

U-7120	Get Hep to Yourself	Aristocrat 1002 [?]
U-7121	Coming Home Baby (Samuels)	Aristocrat 1003A
U-7122	Baseball Blues (Fenner)	Aristocrat 1003B
U-7123	Juana	Aristocrat 1002 [?]

Our information about this recording comes from Dan Kochakian, George R. White, and Tom Kelly. See our Aristocrat discography, http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/aristocrat.html, for more about the recording and release dates.

The lineup was identified by ear. Kilbert solos on "Baseball Blues"; there are tenor saxophone solos on both sides ("Coming Home Baby" doesn't sound like Leon Washington, whereas "Baseball Blues" could be his work). The four-man sax section sounds like the one Red Saunders was using at the time; the only thing missing is some baritone from Mac Easton. Aristocrat 1003 was a single released in February 1948; no Aristocrat 1002 has turned up, but a release containing "Get Hep to Yourself" and "Juana" would fill a gap in the releases and remains a mild possibility.

By this point, Red's band had attained maximum size and he was well used to the routine at the Club DeLisa: "You know we'd have a line of gals--10, 12. Six or seven acts, variety show, dance, song, comedy, etc. Names? Billy Eckstine, Baby Laurence, George Kirby, Lurlean Hunter, Joe Williams, Chippie Hill, Joe Turner. Breakfast show Sunday night (really Monday morning)--6:30 a.m., close at 8:30. But the Sunday matinee would start at 5 p.m. So you'd go from 5 p.m. Sunday to 8:30 the next day. And then you'd hang out till noon or go to another joint" (Hodes article, p. 19).

Charles Gray didn't make the recording sessions that called for a smaller unit, so we aren't quite sure when he left, but on the next session Fip Ricard (born 1923) had definitely replaced him. Fip had been in Buster Bennett's band in the early part of 1948.

12. "Red" Saunders and Orchestra

Chicago, c. December 1948

SU-180	Trust in Me (Wever-Schwartz-Ager) [GF voc] -1	Supreme 1523-B
SU-181	Synthesis (Ventura) [ens voc] -1	Supreme 1523-A
SU-?	unidentified title ["Synthesis"] -1	Night Train International CD 7027
SU-?	Legs Gettin' Bigger and Bigger [prob. GK, ens voc]	Night Train International CD 7013

Supreme 1523 was a 78 rpm single, released in 1949. Our basic information comes from Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier, Blues Records 1943-1970, Vol. 2 (1994 edition). Thanks to Anthony Barnett for pointing out this listing, which doesn't mention the vocalist on "Trust in Me" or the band scatting on "Synthesis." The Supreme labels give George Floyd's name. Floyd was a member of Fletcher Henderson band that was in residence at the Club DeLisa from Feburary 1946 through May 1947; he is advertised in the Chicago Defender of December 18, 1948 on the bill for a DeLisa show that included Red Saunders' band.

Balladeer George Floyd (born in Pelham, Georgia, on July 17, 1912) came to Chicago from Los Angeles with Fletcher Henderson in 1946. Floyd implied in an interview with Charles Walton that all of his sides for Supreme were made in LA; however, there is no evidence that the Red Saunders band ever traveled to the West Coast, and such a trip in 1948 would have required a substitute band at the DeLisa for at least a week. Floyd did travel to the West Coast later when he recorded four more sides for Supreme (matrix numbers SU-210 through SU-213) with a small group led by Henderson; Lord gives February to April 1949 as the date and LA as the location, which make sense because the musicians were regulars on the LA scene. When his style of ballad singing went out of fashion in the early 1950s, George Floyd took a job with a Cadillac dealership. He died in Chicago on April 16, 2000.

Leadbitter et al.'s listings for Red Saunders, like other mainstream discographies, do not give arranger credits. They also make some noticeable mistakes. Fip Ricard is called "Flip Richard" and John Avant goes as "Joe Avant" throughout the Leadbitter entries. Ricard is generally referred to as "Flip" in discographies, though he was actually known as Fip, according to his interview in Jazz Monthly, February 1964.

Chris Trent believes that "Trust in Me" was arranged by Sonny Blount, and rlc concurs. The arrangement is very much like the arrangements for "Hour of Parting" and other ballads from Sun Ra's Sound Sun Pleasure!! session.

"Synthesis" is an orthodox bebop number, written by Charlie Ventura during his "bop for the people" phase. The evidence for Sonny Blount's involvement lies in the meticulous arch form: vocal ensemble-alto sax solo-trumpet solo-contrasting instrumental ensemble-tenor sax solo-baritone sax solo-vocal ensemble. Compare "Super Blonde," which was recorded by Sun Ra's 1956 Arkestra.

The piece called "Synthesis" on 1995 on Night Train International CD 7027, Music from and Inspired by Devil in a Blue Dress, is an entirely different performance; in fact it appears to be a different piece! (The Night Train CD is a various-artists collection, issued in 1995; the other tracks are by Jimmy Witherspoon, Lowell Fulson, Johnny Otis, Charles Brown, Lloyd Glenn, Frantic Faye Thomas, etc.) The second "Synthesis" is also a bop instrumental, but here the opening is martial trumpets answered by the drums, then a chorus led by the tenor and baritone saxes, with dissonant flourishes from the piano on the bridge. The second chorus is mostly call and response between muted trumpets and the saxes. The third chorus features a baritone sax solo by Mac Easton. The fourth is a trumpet-dominated ensemble with more dissonant piano sprinkles; the final eight bars are a sax-led ensemble that more than slightly resembles 1956 Sun Arkestra scoring!), then a brief muted trumpet solo (probably by Fip Ricard), then a pretty typical bebop tag.

"Legs Gettin' Bigger and Bigger" was included in Night Train International CD 7013, Swing Time Jive, a various artists collection derived from the Down Beat, Swing Time, Exclusive, and Superior labels. Other artists include Ray Charles, Joe Liggins, Mabel Scott, and the Basin Street Boys. The CD was released in 1995.

The Night Train notes claim that "Legs" was recorded in Los Angeles, but they also claim that the dates with Bunky Redding were cut in LA, so they should not be taken too seriously. Presumably "Legs" is from the same session as the others. There is no evidence that it was released at the time. The lead vocalist on this jivey number is definitely not George Floyd. The best bet would be George Kirby, a comic who did impressions at the Club DeLisa. Kirby was actually a good singer; fortunately for those of us who never saw him live, he recorded one vocal that is actually credited on the label ("Ice Man Blues" with Tom Archia). "Legs" includes a trombone solo (probably by Johnny Avant) and an alto sax solo by Porter Kilbert. It has a typical smooth Saunders arrangement, with no obvious signs of Sonny Blount.

For a couple of months in 1949, Red was absent from the Club De Lisa. Pat Harris' "Chicago Band Briefs" column had "Billie Holiday and Red Saunders, hopefully set to open March 8 for two weeks" at the Music Bowl (Down Beat, March 25, 1949, p. 4). But the Music Bowl, one of whose owners had just bailed out, wasn't doing so well, and we aren't sure that the gig took place as planned (ambitiously scheduled future acts, like Charlies Parker, Louis Jordan, and Count Basie, do not seem to have played there). Chicago Defender advertisements have Red backing Illinois Jacquet, Savannah Churchill, King Odom, and others at the Regal Theater on May 6, 1949, while Tiny Bradshaw's band was doing the "Easter Varieties" show at the DeLisa on April 30.

The next session has been listed in Bruyninckx (and successor publications, such as Tom Lord's Jazz Discography) for many years, but we overlooked it because we had no reason to suspect Red's involvement in it. (Our thanks to Dani Gugolz for alerting us to this session.) Bruyninckx puts the session in New York City, but we lack evidence that Red was taking an extended hiatus from the Club DeLisa in late January 1950. In fact, a Billboard article in February 1950 (via the Gart volume for that year) briefly noted "Capitol a.&r. exec Dave Dexter in Detroit this week to wax Sugar Chile Robinson ..." So we'll go with Detroit, which was a shorter train ride away. In April 1950 another Billboard item on Robinson referred to "Bouncing Ball Boogie" as "the ditty penned especiallly for this mighty mite of dynamite by Sharon A. Pease, Chicago pianist and reporter for Down Beat magazine, who created numbers for disks by Julia Lee, Nellie Lutcher, and Two-Ton Baker." Pease, who wrote frequently about Chicago-based musicians, may have played a role in getting Red Saunders and Jimmy Richardson on the session.

Red was between recording contracts at the time, and may have expected to do more work for Capitol. But so far as we know he got no further calls from the company.

12a. Sugar Chile Robinson

The Capitol issues, on 78 and probably 45 rpm singles, are the originals. Capitol 897 was released in May 1950; Capitol 1060 followed in July 1950; Capitol C1259 was obviously out in time for Christmas 1950; and the last of the batch, Capitol 1386, was released in February 1951. Capitol CAS-1385 was a 1952 single reissue in the company's series of children's records (note Bozo the Clown on the labels). Charly CRB 1126 was an LP titled Junior Jump. Classics CD 5052 is a Sugar Chile Robinson reissue package from 2003.

The Classics notes correct a mislisting in Bruyninckx, who has 5504 as another version of "Say, Little Girl." Bruyninckx and Lord both misspell 5507 as "The Basses Were Loaded." Lord is our source for the later Capitol issues, the Alabama, and the Duo.

Frankie "Sugar Chile" Robinson (born in 1940) was a child prodigy who began playing the piano when he was 2 years old. He won several talent shows and appeared twice on AFRS broadcasts in 1945, when he was 5 years old; on one of them he performed in a trio with Lionel Hampton and on the other he did a piano duet with Harry "the Hipster" Gibson. He played before President Harry S Truman in 1947. Capitol signed him in 1949, cutting four tracks in July of that year with Leonard Bibbs on bass and Zutty Singleton on drums. After the session listed here, he recorded two sides in July 1950 and an extended session in July 1952 with an unidentified rhythm section (many of the tracks from his last session appeared only on an LP, Capitol T-859). Apparently it was all downhill after his contract with Capitol expired; he did not record again as a leader.

A few months later, Red Saunders signed a contract with Columbia. With renewals, it would last for three years and bring him the only hit record of his career.

13. Dorothy Donegan acc. by "Red" Saunders and his Orchestra

Columbia Studio, Chicago, May or early June 1950

CCO 5156	D. D. D. [Dorothy Donegan's Doghouse] (Saunders-R. Alan)		Columbia 30223
CCO 5158	Ridin' Boogie (Donegan-J. Todd)		Columbia 30223

Here is a session never previously mentioned in a jazz discography. Dan Kochakian owns a copy of Columbia 30223, a 78-rpm single issued around September 23, 1950, according to First Pressings.. Obviously, the recording date was slightly earlier than the next Saunders session. Personnel identified by ear; there is a baritone sax solo (definitely Mac Easton) on "D.D.D."; "Ridin' Boogie" includes a tenor solo (Leon Washington) and a muted trombone solo (this must be by "Booby" Floyd as Johnny Avant was into J. J. Johnson). The arrangement is consistent with Sonny Blount's work at the time, and Sun Ra later said in interviews that he admired Dorothy Donegan's playing. It is not known whether additional unissued titles were recorded at this session--but that missing matrix number (CCO 5157) is tempting.

Adding interest to the next session is the presence of Oran "Hot Lips" Page, the famous Swing soloist and blues singer (1908 - 1954). Lips was in Chicago in March 1950, when his band headlined at the Regal Theater (1 week contract posted with Local 208 on March 2). On April 6, he posted a four-week contract with the Brass Rail (a major jazz establishment in the Loop.) We're not quite sure what he was doing in town in June, when he sat in for Fip Ricard, but he was under contract to Columbia at the time, so it may have been the record company's idea. Unfortunately, Lips got no solos or vocal features.

14. Red Saunders and his Orchestra

Columbia Studio, Chicago, June 15, 1950

CCO 5170	Blow, "Mr. Low-Blow" [JW, ens voc] -1 (Saunders-D. Williams)	Columbia 30218
CCO 5171	Sharecropper Boogie [LB voc]	Columbia [unissued]
CCO 5172	CHI [Chicago] [JW voc] -1	Epic E3K 48912 [CD]
CCO 5173	Lyin' Girl Blues [JW voc] (Saunders-L. Washington-J. Williams) -1	Columbia 30218, Epic E3K 48912 [CD]

Columbia 30218 was a 78 rpm single released in 1950. Little Miss Sharecropper was working the Club DeLisa with Red in June 1950, and there is a mention of this session in Billboard for July 1950. Epic E3K 48912 was a collection on 3 CDs released in 1993 and titled The OKeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949-1957. Session information from Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier with some help from the Epic booklet. Leadbitter et al. give the matrix numbers as 5120-5123 but on the original labels of Columbia 30218, the matrices are given as 5170 and 5173. Lord lists this session (with the correct matrix numbers) as though it was led by Hot Lips Page!

According to Chris Trent, the voicings on "CHI" and "Lyin' Girl Blues" (especially in the saxes) indicate that Sonny Blount arranged them. In rlc's opinion, "Blow Mr. Low-Blow," though more basic R&B with a long featured solo by Mac Easton, could also be Sonny's handiwork. "Sharecropper Boogie" remains unissued and is unavailable for examination.

Columbia would use singer "Jumpin'" Joe Williams on many of Red's sessions for Columbia and OKeh. Born Joseph Goreed in Cordele, Georgia, on December 12, 1918, Joe came to Chicago with his family as a teenager. After gaining experience in a gospel singing group, he changed his name to Joe Williams and used his smooth baritone primarily in ballad singing. In a questionnaire for one of Leonard Feather's jazz encyclopedias (the material is now at the Institute for Jazz Studies in Newark, NJ; our thanks to John Szwed for checking the files there), Red Saunders took credit for encouraging Joe Williams to sing the blues. Williams had worked many a night at the Club DeLisa with Red's backing before Columbia saw fit to include him on a Red Saunders recording session. Even though Columbia and OKeh did not reap any major commercial success from the combination (Joe did not hit the big time until he went on the road with Count Basie at the end of 1954), the decision made perfect sense artistically.

15. Miss Sharecropper

Chicago, December 1950 or January 1951

NSC668	Take out Some Time -1	National 9153, Savoy SJL2256
NSC669	I've Tried -1	National 9151, Savoy SJL2256
NSC670	How Long -2	National 9151
NSC671	I Want to Rock -2	National 9153, Savoy SJL2256

LaVern Baker was born Delores LaVern Baker in Chicago. When she began to hit it big, she was married to Eugene Williams and was going under the name Delores Williams. She was first mentioned in advertisements on September 28 and October 19, 1946, when the Defender ran ads for the Timber Tap Lounge (217 East 31st), proprietor George Woods, with the Timber Tap Two as featured artists; the undercard consisted of a shake dancer and "Little Miss Sharecropper." LaVern Baker said that she signed a contract with the Club DeLisa in November 1946, and there is no reason to doubt this. The first mention of her name in an advertisement for that club was on February 8, 1947, when she was playing in the Favorites of 1947 show, under the name of "Midget LaVern" (actually spelled "Laverine," but that is well within the confidence limits for nightclub ads of the era). She was backed by the Fletcher Henderson band, with Sonny Blount at the piano.

In a Brookmont Lounge ad for August 7, 1948, she was listed as "Sharecopper, Queen of the Blues." On February 25, 1949, she cut her first recording; she sang "I Wonder Baby" on a session led by Eddie "Sugarman" Penigar (Victor 22-0016); she was listed on the label as Little Miss Sharecropper and in the company files as "D. L. McMurley" (see our Sax Mallard discography for details). On April 23, 1949, she was referred to as "Little Miss Share Cropper, Song Stylist" (the handle was blatantly patterned after Little Miss Cornshucks) in a Blue Dahlia ad. Chicago Defender ads place her at Joe's Rendezvous Lounge in February 1951. There were adverts for her in the Chicago Defender, all as Little Miss Sharecropper, pretty regularly thereafter up to the Fall of 1951: for instance, a breakfast dance at the Miramar Ballroom, December 24, 1949 (with Wardell Gray's Sextet); at the Club DeLisa on August 12, 1950, at Ralph's Club on October 21, 1950, at the Indiana Theatre on September 15, 1951 (a midnight "Battle of Blues" with Memphis Minnie), and at the Crown Propeller Lounge, where she was the "new headliner" on September 22. She appears to have moved to Detroit after that point; there she worked with Maurice King and Todd Rhodes for a time.

Some sources incorrectly give Detroit as the location and ca. 1950 as the date. Lord says ca. late 1950 and specifies no location. Lord renders "I've Tried" as "I'll Try."

The personnel were identified by ear. This is clearly the Red Saunders unit of the period. Porter Kilbert is featured on "Take out Some Time." Mac Easton solos on "I Want to Rock" and "How Long." Earl Washington does the Roosevelt Sykes thing on "I've Tried" and boogies on "I Want to Rock." The sax section writing on "Take out Some Time" (almost evanescent) and "I've Tried" suggests Sonny's involvement. It is unfortunate that "How Long" was never reissued, as it has prominent drumming from Red and concludes with a drum solo.

Bob Porter, in his notes to the Savoy LP release, opined that the band was led by Todd Rhodes. Baker did record with Rhodes in 1952. By that time, however, she had made one recording as Bea Baker (March 1951 for OKeh, with Maurice King and his Wolverines, supposedly in New York City; it was released on OKeh 6800) and was performing as LaVern Baker.

National 9151 and 9153 were 78-rpm singles released in 1951. The label was faltering at the time--its only known release after 9153 was 9158. Savoy SJL2256 was an LP released in the early 1980s, a various artists collection titled Ladies Sing the Blues, Volume 2, in the Roots of Rock'n'Roll Series, #12. Our thanks to James Wolf for information about the Savoy LP.

All National matrix numbers were in chronological sequence; NSC650 and 651 came from a Kate Smith date on November 27, 1950.

Red's first session for OKeh was quite productive, turning out three effective vocal numbers for Joe Williams, and a remake of Mac Easton's instrumental feature, "4 A. M. Blues."

16. Red Saunders & his Orchestra / Red Saunders & his Orch. ^

Columbia Studios, Chicago, April 20, 1951

CCO 5251	Stop Pretty Baby Stop (Lovett-L. Washington-Saunders) [JW, ens voc] -1	OKeh 6801
CCO 5252	Mistreatin' Woman Blues (Saunders-Washington) ^ [JW voc] -1	OKeh 7061, Moonshine LP 114
CCO 5253	Week Day Blues [JW voc] (J. Woods-Saunders) -1	OKeh 6834, Moonshine LP 114, Epic E3K 48912 [CD]
CCO 5254	4 A.M. (L. Washington-M. Easton-Saunders) -1	OKeh 6801

OKeh 6801 was a single, released on 45, 78, and 33(!) rpm. (An advert in Cash Box, July 21, 1951, which kicked off the revived OKeh label indicates that OKeh 6800-6804 were all released on 33 1/3 rpm singles. This experiment was presumably terminated in a hurry...) OKeh 6801 was was scheduled for release on June 4, 1951 and apparently came out in early July (it was one of the 5 leadoff singles for the newly revived imprint). "Stop" was the A side, "4 A. M." the B side. (The title on the label was just "4 A.M.," not "4 A.M. Blues" as previous discographies have it.) OKeh 6834 was a single, released on 45 and 78 rpm, probably also in 1951. OKeh 7061 was a 45 rpm single, released around September 10, 1955; "Mistreatin' Woman" was the B side.

Moonshine 114 was a Dutch various artists LP titled Leapin' on Lenox. Epic E3K 48912 was a collection of 3 CDs released in 1993 and entitled The OKeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949-1957. Session information from Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier, 1994 edition, and the Epic booklet.

According to Chris Trent, the chord voicings and treatment of rhythm on "Week Day Blues" indicate Sonny Blount's involvement. "Stop Pretty Baby Stop" and "4 A. M. Blues" have comparable touches, as does "Mistreatin' Woman Blues." "Mistreatin'" has no horn solos but it does include some drum breaks for Red.

The company was apparently pleased with the yield from Red's first session. OKeh brought him back in August to cut a total of 8 sides over a two-day period. Only one of these ("Boot 'em Up") was an instrumental; three featured "Jumpin' Joe" Williams, two featured June Davis, and two more were meant to showcase Ray Orlando.

17. Red Saunders and his Orchestra / Red Saunders & his Orch.^

Columbia Studio, Chicago, August 24, 1951

CCO 5278	Last Night's Party^ [JW voc]	OKeh 6914
CCO 5279	Hey Bartender^ [JW voc] (R. Hall-Saunders)	OKeh 7061, Moonhshine LP 114, Memories Record Prevue MEP-1003, Epic E3K 48912 [CD], Columbia CK40799 [CD]
CCO 5280	Boot 'em Up (Saunders-L. Washington)	OKeh 6862, Columbia [Can] C-1926
CCO 5281	Sugar Bounce (Toombs-Sweet) [JW, ens voc]	OKeh 6834, Moonshine LP 114
CCO 5282	Gentle Lover [JD voc]	OKeh 6856
CCO 5283	J.D. Blues [JD voc]	OKeh 6856

OKeh 6856 was a single released around April 5, 1952; "Gentle Lover" was the A side.

OKeh 6862 was a single released in February 1952 on both 78 and 45 rpm; "Boot 'em Up" was the B side. (On the strength of "Hambone," the A-side which was Red's only hit record, there was also a Canadian release.) Billboard for March 8, 1952 gave "Boot 'Em Up" ratings in the low 70s: "A strong, riff-built instrumental rocker with an old flavored jump beat is done up slickly by the ork with lots of drive." That was a fair description of the number, which was clearly inspired by late 1930s Count Basie.

OKeh 6834 was a single released on 78 and 45 rpm, probably in late 1951. OKeh 6914 was a single released on 45 and 78 rpm, probably in late 1952. OKeh 7061 was a 45 rpm single released around September 10, 1955.

Although the booklet to the Epic box set claims to include an alternate take of "Hey Bartender," all releases have used the same take. The Epic reissues give the title as "Hey Bartender Buy That Man a Drink" but the short form is what appeared on the original OKeh release.

Surely the weirdest reissue of the title was on the B side of a red vinyl EP, Memories Record Prevue MEP-1003. It was incorrectly credited there to "Big Joe Williams & The Red Saunders Orch."; its sidemate was "Hillybilly Blues" by Eddie Clearwater. The A side contained the Mercury and Watch versions of "Bald Head" by Roy Byrd (better known as Professor Longhair).

Epic E3K 48912 was a collection of 3 CDs released in 1993 and titled The OKeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949-1957. According to the Epic booklet, the version of "Hey Bartender" released on CD is an alternate take. Columbia CK40799 is a various-artists CD released in 1996 under the title Columbia Jazz Masterpieces--The 1950s: The Singers; other performers include Hot Lips Page, Dolores Hawkins, Babs Gonzalez, and Louis Armstrong (information from the online All-Music Guide).

Other sources of information on this session: Leadbitter et al., 1994 edition, a doowop "repro" catalog provided by Anthony Barnett, and the Epic booklet.

Leadbitter left out the last two items from this session, both of which featured June Davis. Jepsen did include her sides, and our session information about them is from that source. To our knowledge, June Davis never worked the Club DeLisa. Our first evidence of her comes from 1940, when she worked with a rehearsal band led by pianist Frank Melrose. Three privately recorded sides survive with her vocals on them; they were not commercially relased until 2006. Of these, "Bluesiana" and "Have You Ever Felt That Way" are obvious imitations of Billie Holiday. "If You'se a Viper," a duet with Melrose, is in a lighter, more pop-oriented style much closer to her recorded work with Red Saunders. June Davis was singing at El Grotto (64th and Cottage Grove) in December 1946. She did not record again until this Red Saunders session.

"Last Night's Party" is early rock and roll with minimal writing, but according to Chris Trent "the bottom-heavy sound of the band" suggests it may be Sonny Blount's work; rlc concurs. The piece shows distinct and early New Orleanian influence and somewhat resembles Sun Ra's 1958 composition "Great Balls of Fire." "Hey Bartender" incorporates a favorite Ra riff drawn from "Saint Louis Blues" and the rhythm bears Ra fingerprints as well. "Boot 'em Up" is a fluent but obvious imitation of the Basie band, circa 1938; but note the blatting trombone pedal under the ensemble, just before the false ending. Sonny could have lifted this feature from the Red Allen jump band of the 1940s with Don Stovall, whom he is known to have admired. "Sugar Bounce" mixes in some bop licks, and commits outright thievery from "Jumpin' with Symphony Sid"; note the sax ensemble as the piece fades. Sonny's involvement in "Gentle Lover" seems clear; "J. D. Blues" is an informal blues, and there his contributions, if any, would be harder to trace.

18. Red Saunders & his Orchestra

Columbia Studio, Chicago, August 25, 1951

CCO 5284	It's Just What You Think		OKeh (unissued)
CCO 5285	Lonely		--

All information from Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier, Blues Records 1943-1970, Vol. 2, 1994 edition. These unissued sides are unavailable for checking, so nothing more can be said about Sonny Blount's possible participation. Robert Pruter, in Doowop: The Chicago Scene, describes Orlando as a ballad singer. Orlando never sang at the Club DeLisa either. He presumably recorded with Red Saunders at the urging of OKeh's management.

19. Kitty O'Day / Grant (Mr. Blues) Jones and his Orchestra

Universal Recording, Chicago, December 1, 1951

1039	Young Man's Fool [KO'D voc]	unissued
1040	I Want to Ride or Fall [KO'D voc]	unissued
1041	Heartache Blues [GJ voc] -4	States 114, RST 1580 [CD]
1042-1	Strange Man (Jones) [GJ voc] -1	United 112, P-Vine Special [J] PLP 9045, RST 1580 [CD]
1043-3	Let's Get High (Jones) [GJ, ens voc] -2	United 112, P-Vine Special [J] PLP 9045, RST 1580 [CD]
1044-3	Hi Yo Silver [GJ, females voc] -3	P-Vine Special [J] PLP 9045, RST 1580 [CD]

Thanks to Gilbert Hsiao for providing a copy of P-Vine Special PLP 9045, a Japanese LP issued in 1982 under the title Black Music in the 50's, Volume 13: Standup and Sing the Blues. All four titles were reissued in 1994 on RST 1580, an Austrian CD titled Grant "Mr. Blues" Jones: In the Dark (1949-58). Thanks to Daniel Gugolz for making a copy available.

The basic session information comes from the back liners of the P-Vine LP (this Grant Jones session is not listed in Lord) and from Jepsen. Jepsen gives no personnel and dates the session to 1952; Robert Koester, in his article "The United/States Masters," Blues Unlimited, January / February 1977, gives the correct date but no personnel, though he does mention that Ike Perkins' name was in the log or on the tapes for 1043 and 1044. P-Vine Special lists only Saunders and Perkins; RST hazards the guess that Tab Smith was on the alto sax.

The misidentification of Porter Kilbert is understandable, but Porter (besides being one of Red's regulars) had a somewhat less incisive attack than Tab Smith during this period. The rest of the band was identified by ear. Kilbert solos on "Strange Man," and Leon Washington solos on "Let's Get High" and "Hi Yo Silver."

United 112 was a single issued in March 1952. States 114 was issued in March 1953.

Lonnie Simmons maintained a residency at the Club DeLisa from 1950 to 1956 (he filed a contract for 12 weeks there with Local 208 on July 6, 1950; his departure was recorded in a photo in the Chicago Defender from April 1956), so he is the obvious candidate for organist. The organist is definitely not Sonny Blount (soon to become Sun Ra), and the elementary arranging for this date is not the sort that would have required his services. Lonnie also switches to piano for a while during "Heartache Blues."

Grant "Mr. Blues" Jones had past associations with Red and band. Jones was included on the bill for a New Year's Eve production at the Club DeLisa, along with "Vi" Kemp and Red Saunders & Band (Chicago Defender, December 31, 1949); he was previously part of the advertised show on October 9, 1948 and February 12, 1949.

Kitty O'Day (who was advertised in the Chicago Defender of the period as a blues singer) recorded earlier in the same session, according to Koester. Unless she brought her own band with her, she was accompanied by Red's outfit (and she may have stuck around to contibute to the backing vocals on "Hi Yo Silver"). Interestingly, Lord does list the Kitty O'Day numbers.

Koester says that versions of "Hi Yo Silver" (1037) and "Heartache Blues" (1038) were attempted in a session at Universal Recording on November 27, 1951. This was the tail-end of session with Tiny Grimes and Jimmy Forrest; it is not known whether Grant Jones was accompanied by Red's Band or by someone else. In any case, both tracks had to be remade on December 1.

Around the beginning of 1952, Porter Kilbert left the Saunders band and was replaced by Riley Hampton in the three-piece sax section. (Kilbert got himself launched with a 4-week gig at the Strand Show Lounge, which was accepted and filed by Local 208 on January 17, 1952; he moved on to Joe's High Hat, where his contract for 3 nights posted on March 20.). Born in Little Rock, Arkansas around 1918, Riley C. Hampton, who played alto sax and clarinet, left town with a Detroit-based band and ended up in Pittsburgh, where he worked with the Jimmy Murray band (1940-1942). In March 1942, the Jimmy Murray band was taken over in its entirety by Fletcher Henderson; Hampton remained with Henderson till July 1943, when he was drafted into the Army. On completing his military service he returned to the Henderson band at the Club DeLisa, probably in the fall of 1946. He worked with Horace Henderson and other leaders in Chicago before taking his place in the Saunders band.

It was the new edition of the band with Riley Hampton that got to make Red's only hit record.

Red scores his only international release. From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

20. Red Saunders & his Orch. with Dolores Hawkins & The Hambone Kids* / Red Saunders & his Orchestra

Columbia Studio, Chicago, January 18, 1952

CCO 5314	Hambone* (Saunders-L. Washington-H. McGrier) -1	OKeh 6862, Columbia [Can] C-1926
CCO 5314 [alt.], JZSP 59257	Hambone* (Saunders-Washington-McGrier) -1	OKeh 7166, OKeh 7282, Epic LP 22125, Epic EG 37649, Edsel ED 149, Edsel ED CD 149, Century CD #
CCO 5315	La Raspa (trad.)	OKeh 6884

OKeh 6862 was a single issued on 45 rpm and 78 rpm in February 1952 (large display ads in Billboard and Cash Box showed the Kids performing in front of Red and his drums). "Hambone" was the A side. The originally issued take of "Hambone" included Dolores Hawkins' whistling but lacked her vocal interjections; it also included a brief passage for the full band and a tenor sax solo. The Kids' rhythmic practice is "hamboning" or "patting juba": slapping various body parts as a substitute for drumming. Dee Clark, as Sammy McGrier pointed out in Pruter's book, also stamped with his heel on the 2nd and 4th beats. Horace McGrier Sr. wrote two verses for the song, though he is not credited on the label (shame, shame).

OKeh definitely figured that it had something--not only was "Hambone" given a much bigger publicity push than Red's other releases, it jumped the queue and came out ahead of the previously scheduled OKeh 6856 featuring June Davis. The March 8, 1952 issue of Billboard smelled sales. "Hambone" was given marks of 88 to 90 by the four reviewers: "This, the original 'Hambone' etching, is a powerful wax item. Tremendous spirit and drive based on the chanting and hand-clapping of a bunch of kids should make this a strong contender in the pop market." Note the reference to Red's being the "original" recording; in the early 1950s, any number with sales potential in the pop market was promptly covered by other artists. So, as we learn from the very same issue of Billboard, the OKeh release was almost immediately followed by a version on Columbia (hmm, same company...) by Jo Stafford and Frankie Laine, and a version on RCA Victor by Phil Harris and the Bell Sisters. "Deejays will have a field day with these records." The reviewers weren't totally dazzled by the prospective dollar signs; they credited the original performance with having "the most drive and spirit."

"Hambone" was went to #20 on the R&B charts for one week, and according to an October 1952 article in Billboard, "OKeh Records hit the 80,000 figure with the Red Saunders waxing." Red's comment to Art Hodes was succinct: "It got us this house--the down payment." The single sold well enough to justify a Canadian release (we're pretty sure it's the only one that Saunders ever got); on the Canadian 78 the matrix number for "Hambone" carries suffix -2A.

What purported to be a straight reissue of "Hambone" appeared as the A side of OKeh 7166 (in 1963) and again on OKeh 7282 (in 1967); both were 45-rpm singles. The occasion for the reissue is made clear on the label to 7166: "As Featured by Sandy Becker on His TV show 'Sandy's Hour'." The JZSP number is the contemporary Columbia master number that appears on the label of 7166. In fact the reissues used an alternate take of "Hambone," running 2:13, in which the Hambone Kids and Dolores Hawkins are accompanied throughout by guitar, bass, and drums only; the rest of the band contributes nothing, except shouts of "Hambone!" at the beginning and end of the piece. Thanks to Dan Ferone for providing label scans of OKeh 7166. Thanks to John McCarthy for pointing out that the reissue of "Hambone" was on OKeh 7282as well as OKeh 7166 as reported in Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier's blues discography, and for providing a dub of OKeh 7282.

The flip side of both reissue singles was "Rumble Mambo" by Link Wray and the Wraymen, obviously not a Red Saunders number (as erroneously stated in Leadbitter). Our thanks to the online Link Wray discography (http://pages.prodigy.com/cyclops/linkwray.html) for the release dates (Robert Pruter mentions the 1963 reissue of "Hambone" in Doowop: The Chicago Scene).

The coupling of "Hambone" and "Rumble Mambo" (it would be interesting to know the record-company logic behind this...) has caused confusion in the Link Wray camp as well. Jeff Hall points out that a collection of what were supposed to be 16 of Link Wray's late-1950s recordings was issued on in England on Edsel ED 149 [LP] and ED CD 149 in 1989. The collection was titled Link Wray & The Raymen. It included the alternate take of "Hambone" as a Link Wray performance! A subsequent CD collection of Wray material from this period on the Sony label avoided this blunder.

The alternate take was probably used on Epic LP 22125 (a 2-LP set of OKeh Rhythm and Blues released in 1982) and definitely on Epic EG 37649, Okeh Rhythm & Blues (apparently a reissue of this 2-LP set). On a recent bootleg doo-wop "repro" single, "Hambone" appears as the A side (the B side is "Zeke'l Zeke'l" from the next session); the "repro" is billed as derived from OKeh 6862. A 1990s compilation CD, Pop Fifties Vol. 7, includes "Hambone" (in the company of "Cry" by Johnny Ray, "The Twelfth of Never" by Johnny Mathis, and other distinctly non-R&B material); it was issued by Century Records in Canada for use by radio stations. That version of "Hambone" is said to have been taken from OKeh 6862; we have not been able to check the CD.

OKeh 6884 was a single issued on 45 and 78 rpm in May 1952. "La Raspa" was the B side. Chris Trent is sure that Sonny Blount did not arrange "La Raspa," which he describes as "a medley of European and Latin American tunes for which [Sonny] could never have been responsible." Clearly true. "La Raspa" is clumsy march music without swing or convincing Latin rhythm, and the sectional writing is incompetent. "Hambone," on the other hand, is the historical intermediary between the "band vocals" of the Swing era and such numbers as "It's Christmas Time," which Sunny recorded with a group called the Qualities in 1960--as well as Sunny's ubiquitous space chants.

21. Red Saunders & his Orchestra

Columbia Studio, Chicago, March 24, 1952

CCO 5326	Chicken Today and Feathers Tomorrow [JD voc]	OKeh (unissued)
CCO 5327	I Played the Fool [JD voc]	--
CCO 5328	A Long Dark Hallway (with a Low Ceiling) [BR voc]	--
CCO 5329	Don't Go [BR voc]	--

All information from Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier, Blues Records 1943-1970, Vol. 2, 1994 edition. These tracks are not available for checking, so nothing can be said about arrangers at this time.

June Davis had previously recorded with Red on the session of August 24, 1951. These two unrelased sides were apparently her last. About Barbara Reeves (who from the titles we infer was a ballad or torch singer) we have no further information.

In another 10 days, however, more material was ready for the Hambone Kids, so OKeh rushed them back into the studio.

The Red Saunders band and the Hambone Kids, 1952. In front, the Hambone Kids. In the second row, from left: probably Ike Perkins, guitar; Red Saunders, drums; Leon Washington, tenor saxophone; Riley Hampton, alto sax; Mac Easton, baritone sax. In the back, from left: Earl Washington, piano; Jimmy Richardson, bass; probably Booby Floyd, trombone; probably Sonny Cohn, trumpet.

22. Red Saunders & his Orchestra / Red Saunders & his Orch. ^

Columbia Studio, Chicago, April 3, 1952

CCO 5330	Zeke'l Zeke'l (Saunders-Dahl) [HK voc] -1, 2	OKeh 6884
CCO 5331	Piece A-Puddin' (Toombs) ^ [HK voc] -1 [Listen to Piece-A-Puddin']	OKeh 6914
CCO 5332	Portrait of Vintage P. McWorm	OKeh (unissued)

OKeh 6884 was a single, issued on 45 and 78 rpm in May 1952. "Zeke'l Zeke'l" was the A side. "Zeke'l Zeke'l" was reissued on the B side of a bootleg "repro" single with "Hambone" as the A side. OKeh 6914 was a single, released in late 1952 in 78 and 45 rpm. Track and personnel information from Leadbitter et al., who give no vocal credits. An uncredited electric guitar is prominent on "Zeke'l Zeke'l." The hamboning on "Piece-A-Puddin'" occurs only at the beginning.

"Piece A-Puddin'" was probably arranged by Sonny Blount, according to Chris Trent. The writing resembles Ra's arrangement for "The Sun Man Speaks," a number that he would record with the eccentric blues singer Yochanan in 1961. rlc concurs, citing the "heavy bottom" to the arrangement. Sonny's involvement in "Zeke'l Zeke'l" is also likely. The unissued track has obviously not been checked.

"Portrait of Vintage P. McWorm" is an intriguing title, but we can say no more, as it has reposed in the vaults for the last 55 years."

23. Grant (Mr. Blues) Jones and his Orchestra

Universal Recording, Chicago, October 7, 1952

1145	Hello Stranger (Fenner) -1	United 133, RST 1580 [CD]
1146	Thunder (Fenner)	unissued
1147-2	In the Dark (Green)	United 133, RST 1580 [CD], Delmark DD-775
1148-2	Stormy Monday (Walker)	States 114, RST 1580 [CD]

United 133 and States 114 were 78 and 45 rpm singles released at the time. The previously issued titles were reissued in 1994 on RST 1580, an Austrian CD titled Grant "Mr. Blues" Jones: In the Dark (1949-58). Delmark DD-775 is a CD compilation from 2004 titled The United Records Story.

Jepsen's Jazz Records appends three of these items (minus "Thunder") to the 1951 Grant Jones session. However, Leadbitter and Slaven's Blues Records 1943 to 1970 A to K (1987 edition), following Koester's discography of the United States labels, gives the recording date and includes the unissued item.

RST attributes these sides to a Red Saunders band, which does seem to be the case. On "Hello Stranger," a trumpet and four saxes are present, though they are recessed and only the trumpet gets a brief statement. On "In the Dark" and "Stormy Monday," the band was cut down to an alto saxophonist (who makes good use of the unaccustomed exposure) and rhythm. We used to think this was Porter Kilbert, but Porter K left the Club DeLisa band in January 1952, and the altoist on "In the Dark" has an unusually dark tone. It could be Riley Hampton, getting an unusual solo opportunity; more listening is required. All musicians were identified by ear; Earl Washington's piano is an obvious presence (he gets the only solo on "Hello Stranger").

The Chicago Defender of February 23, 1952 identified "Thunder" and "Hello Stranger" as an upcoming debut release by Senabelle Richie Fenner, who was identified as a "writer, poet, and song-stylist, whose compositions have been recorded

5502	Say, Little Girl (V. White)	Capitol 897, Capitol C80171, Capitol T-589 [LP], Alabama EPAL335, Duo [Dutch] DR3101, Charly CRB 1126, Classics CD 5052
5503	Bouncing Ball Boogie (S. Pease)	Capitol 897, Capitol C80171, Capitol T-589 [LP], Capitol CL13562, Duo [Dutch] DR3101, Charly CRB 1126, Classics CD 5052
5504-D5	Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer	Capitol C1259, Capitol 3393, Capitol CAS-3085, Classics CD 5052
5505-2D-2	Christmas Boogie	Capitol C1259, Capitol 3393, Capitol CAS-3085, Duo [Dutch] DR3101, Charly CRB 1126, Classics CD 5052
5506-1D-2	Sticks and Stones	Capitol 1060, Capitol LC-6586, Charly CRB 1126, Classics CD 5052
5507-2D-6	The Bases Were Loaded	Capitol 1060, Charly CRB 1126, Classics CD 5052
5508	Broken Down Piano	Capitol 1386, Capitol LC-6586, Duo [Dutch] DR3101, Classics CD 5052
5509	I'll Eat My Spinach	Capitol 1386, Duo [Dutch] DR3101, Charly CRB 1126, Classics CD 5052

Red Saunders Discography

© Robert L. Campbell, Armin Büttner, and Dan Kochakian

Latest revision: April 23, 2008

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

Red Saunders signs an autograph at the Club DeLisa, April 1942. Photo by Jack Delano.

Well dressed patrons enjoy a night on the town at the Club DeLisa. From the collection of Dan Kochakian.

Our earliest photo of the Red Saunders band. From left, Ike Perkins (guitar), Porter Derrico (piano), Mickey Simms (bass), Red Saunders, probably Hobert Clardy (alto sax), Leon Washington (tenor sax), Orlando Randolph (trumpet). From the Chicago Defender, December 17, 1938, p. 12.

Red and five band members, April 1942. Photo by Jack Delano.

Red with Micky Simms, bass, Orlando Randolph, trumpet, and a 3-man sax section, with Leon Washington sitting closest to Red, April 1942. Photo by Jack Delano.

Red at the Club DeLisa, April 1942, with Porter Derrico, piano, and dancers.

1. Woody Herman and His Orchestra

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

2. T-Bone Walker with Marl Young and His Orchestra^ / T-Bone Walker with Marl Young's Orchestra

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

Red Saunders' band in December 1945. From left: Micky Simms, bass; Porter Derrico, piano; Red, drums; George "Sonny" Cohn, trumpet; Antonio Cosey, alto sax; Leon Washington, tenor sax. From the Otto Flückiger collection.

From the collection of Armin Büttner

3. Red Saunder's [sic] Sextette

From the collection of Armin Büttner

4. T-Bone Walker and Marl Young's Orchestra / T-Bone Walker^

Red on the Sultan label. From the collection of Tom Kelly.

5. "Red" Saunders and his Band

From the collection of Michel Chaigne

From the collection of Michel Chaigne

6. Joe Turner and His Boogie Woogie Boys / Joe Turner and His Boogie-Woogie Boys^ / Joe Turner with Orch. Accomp. #

From the collection of Michel Chaigne

From the collection of Konrad Nowakowski

From the collection of Konrad Nowakowski

7. Joe Turner and His Boogie-Woogie Boys ^ / Joe Turner | Orch: Acc: *

From the collection of Konrad Nowakowski

From the collection of Konrad Nowakowski

From the collection of Bob Buchholz

From the collection of Armin Büttner

8. Eddie "Bunky" Redding with Red Saunders and his All Stars

From the collection of Tom Kelly

9. Danny Knight with Red Saunders Orch.

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

10. Red Saunders' All Stars Featuring Mac Easton - Bar. Sax.^/ "Bunky" Redding with Red Saunders' All Stars

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

An Aladdin advertisement in Billboard, December 24, 1949, courtesy of Dan Kochakian. Note that Score 4009 is credited to Red Saunders instead of Bunky Redding.

From the collection of Tom Kelly

11. Clarence Samuels with Porter Kilmer's [sic] Orchestra

From the collection of Tom Kelly

12. "Red" Saunders and Orchestra

Red Packs up his drum kit at the Club DeLisa. Who is that guy next to the piano?

From the collection of Armin Büttner

12a. Sugar Chile Robinson

From the collection of Armin Büttner

From the collection of Armin Büttner

13. Dorothy Donegan acc. by "Red" Saunders and his Orchestra

14. Red Saunders and his Orchestra

15. Miss Sharecropper

The new OKeh series is formally kicked off in Cash Box, July 21, 1951.

From the collection of Armin Büttner

16. Red Saunders & his Orchestra / Red Saunders & his Orch. ^

From the collection of Armin Büttner

June Davis in 1946

17. Red Saunders and his Orchestra / Red Saunders & his Orch.^

From the collection of Billy Vera

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

18. Red Saunders & his Orchestra

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

19. Kitty O'Day / Grant (Mr. Blues) Jones and his Orchestra

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

A Cash Box advertisement for "Hambone," from February 1952.

The original US release of "Hambone." From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

Red scores his only international release. From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

20. Red Saunders & his Orch. with Dolores Hawkins & The Hambone Kids* / Red Saunders & his Orchestra

21. Red Saunders & his Orchestra

From the collection of Billy Vera

22. Red Saunders & his Orchestra / Red Saunders & his Orch. ^

From the collection of Tom Kelly

23. Grant (Mr. Blues) Jones and his Orchestra

From the collection of Tom Kelly