Red Saunders Discography

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.

According to Michel Chaigne, the Pittsburgh Courier ran a story on January 28, 1939 that mentioned the Saunders band, giving its personnel as Orlando Randolph (trumpet); Leon Washington and Hobart Clardy (saxes); Porter Derrico (piano); Ike Perkins (guitar); Lawrence Sims (bass); and Red at the drums.

A photo in the Chicago Defender from May 11, 1940 depicted the same lineup of Randolph (tp); Clardy (as); Washington (ts, cl); Derrico (p); Perkins (eg); Simms (b); and Saunders (d, vib, ldr). (The Mohr-Flückiger-Demeusy files contain an additional reference to 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. Also worthy of note is Sugar Chile's 2-week gig at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago (contract posted with Local 208 on March 2). 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 and 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 5315-2B	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 and his Orchestra / Red Saunders & his Orch. ^

Columbia Studio, Chicago, April 3, 1952

CCO 5330-1B	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 by numerous artists." (She did get around a little; we know of three 1947 compositions by her.) The Defender for August 23, 1952 referred to "Thunder" as a "Red Saunders recording." We don't know what happened to the versions of "Thunder" and "Hello Stranger" with Fenner's vocals--which label they were recorded for, even whether the recordings ever materialized. But obviously at some point United took an interest in the tunes.

24. Cliff Butler and his Blue Boys

Universal Recording, Chicago, November 17, 1952

1233	(You're My Honey but the) Bees Don't Know It -2	States 148
1234	Got Me on My Mind, Love Me [?]	unissued
1235-2	Adam's Rib	States 112, Pearl PL-17, Delmark DE-717 [CD]
1236	Benny's Blues -1	States 112
1237	Boogie	unissued
1238	Butler's Rock	--

Session information from Koester's discography. States 112 and 148 were 78 and 45 rpm singles released at the time. Pearl PL-17 was a 1989 LP release of United/States material by Cliff Butler, Edward "Gates" White, and Dennis "Long Man" Binder titled Long Man Blues. Delmark DE-717, also known as Long Man Blues, adds material by other artists to the original lineup of the Pearl LP; it was released in 2000.

The notes to the Pearl album suggest that Red Saunders and other members of the Club DeLisa band accompanied the earlier sessions included therein, and listening backs this judgment. Benny Holton, a blind pianist who worked with Butler, is mentioned in the notes to the Pearl LP and cited in the title "Benny's Blues." The notes mention two tenor saxophonists, but only one can be heard on "Adam's Rib"; judging from his Hawkish solo, he is Leon Washington. "Benny's Blues" (which can be heard on the Web at http://forsaken.warehouse.net/nugrape/benny.ram) is a feature for Benny Holton, accompanied by Red Saunders. Leon Washington has a subdued solo; the rest of the band lays out. A vocal group from Louisville, The Doves, appeared on "Bees Don't Know." The unissued numbers have not been checked.

25. Edward "Gates" White

Universal Recording, Chicago, November 26, 1952

1243-5	Tired of Being Mistreated	Pearl PL-17, Delmark DE-717 [CD]
1244-7	Love Is a Mistake*	Pearl PL-17, Delmark DE-717 [CD]
1245-4	Mother-in-Law (White)	States 124, Pearl PL-17, Delmark DE-717 [CD]
1246-9	Rockabye Baby (White)*	States 124, Pearl PL-17, Delmark DE-717 [CD]

The session information comes from Bob Koester's discography of the United/States labels. The liners to Pearl PL-17, Long Man Blues, an LP collection issued in 1989, indicate Red Saunders as a "possible" on this session. (The Pearl LP is also the source for the take numbers.) Delmark DE-717, also titled Long Man Blues, is a compilation from 2000 that subsumes all of the cuts from the Pearl LP and adds numbers by Eddie Boyd, L. C. McKinley, Ernest Cotton, Jack Cooley, and Harold Burrage.

Listening upgrades Red to a "definite," and Jimmy Richardson seems to have come along with him. Pearl's identification of Ike Perkins as the guitarist seems correct. But this is not a typical Saunders ensemble. The pianist is not Earl Washington; whoever it is sounds like a less forceful Willie Jones. His disciple Louis Carpenter (who recorded with Red Holloway behind doo-wop groups for Chance in 1953; see the Appendix to our Al Smith listing) seems likely. The tenor player who solos on "Love Is a Mistake" and solos second on "Rockabye Baby" is obviously Tom Archia (captured in splendid fidelity, too). The obbligato on "Tired of Being Mistreated" and the first solo on "Rockabye" appear to be the work of Eddie Williams (who can also be heard on the Horace Henderson recordings from July 1954, recently issued on IAJRC). No trumpet is credited by Pearl (or by the Delmark CD, which replicates the Pearl credits), but there is one in the ensemble, and he steps out for a few notes during the tag to "Rockabye." If it's a member of Red's band, Fip Ricard is the obvious choice.

On January 13, 1953, Red Saunders received a 15th anniversary salute from the Club DeLisa. 1000 people attended, Duke Ellington (whose band worked the Regal Theater from January 9 through 15) was the honorary chairman, and Mike DeLisa came through with a check for $1000. (See Billboard, February 1953.).

26. Red Saunders & his Orch.

Columbia Studio, Chicago, January 21, 1953

CCO 5400, ZSP 13401	Mambo in Trumpet (Salamanca)[ens grunts]	OKeh 6953
CCO 5401	Honky Tonk Train Blues (Meade Lux Lewis) -1	Columbia/Legacy CK64988 [CD]
CCO 5402, ZSP 13400	Probably (Hampton-Saunders) [JW, ? voc]	OKeh 6953
CCO 5403	Voodoo Blues (Saunders-P. Williams) [JW, ? voc]	Epic E3K 48912 [CD]

OKeh 6953 was a single released in April 1953, in both 78 and 45 rpm versions. By this time, Columiba had started its ZSP series for items that the company mastered and pressed; both sides of 6953 carry ZSP numbers in place of CCO numbers. Epic E3K 48912 was a collection of 3 CDs released in 1993 and titled The OKeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949-1957. Columbia/ Legacy CK-64988 is a CD titled Juke Joint Jump: A Boogie Woogie Celebration; it was released in October 1996. Our basic information about these tracks draws from Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier, Blues Records 1943-1970 L-Z, Vol. 2, 1994 edition. Leadbitter et al. miss the vocal group (apparently 4 singers) on "Voodoo Blues" (they do get cited for "Probably," where the original label merely refers to them as "Chorus").

According to Chris Trent, "Mambo in Trumpet" and "Probably" are "definitely Sun Ra arrangements." "Mambo in Trumpet" uses the heavy Latin rhythm that Sunny was fond of in the late 1950s. "Probably" has a post-Ellingtonian sax ensemble with a heavy bottom; since Riley Hampton, who would became a prolific recording session arranger after he left Saunders, co-composed the number, we suspect that Ra retouched what Hampton had written. Trent says that "Voodoo Blues" is a musical "Rosetta stone" that combines R&B with Ra's "heavy rhythm exotica." There are particularly noticeable Ra touches in the instrumental interlude for piano and percussion and the tenor sax solo with baritone obbligato. "Honky Tonk Train Blues" is a feature for Earl Washington's piano; the horns are restricted to an accompaniment role, full of train-whistle emulations. The handling of the saxes is characteristically deft, however, and the train whistling makes a good excuse for some dissonant writing. Indeed, Hampton, Washington, and Easton shift from a clarinet trio, through two clarinets and a tenor sax [a violation of orthodox jazz arranging rules], to their usual instruments.

Leadbitter et al. mistakenly list "Rumble Mambo" as another title from this session(!). John McCarthy points out that it was actually a track by Link Wray and his Wraymen that was used as the B side for the 1963 and 1967 issues of an alternate take of "Hambone" (on OKeh 7166 and 7282, both 45-rpm singles). See Jeff Hall's Link Wray discography at http://pages.prodigy.com/cyclops/linkwray.html).

At the end of February, Red and his band took a rare road trip. A poster advertising upcoming acts at the Apollo Theater in New York City has Red Saunders and Band down for February 27 through March 5, 1953. Also on the bill: Wynonie Harris, Larry Darnell, and the Harlem Nocturne Dancers. See a description of the poster at http://www.posterpad.com/black.html.

Shortly after the January 1953 session, Columbia decided to close down its entire recording operation in Chicago. Among the artists cut from the OKeh roster were Red Saunders and Ahmad Jamal.

27. The Spaniels with Rhythm Acc.

Universal Recording, May 4, 1953

VJ53-100	Baby It's You (Spaniels)	Vee-Jay 101, Chance 1141, Vee-Jay LP 1002, Charly CD 222, Collectables CD 7204, Collectables CD 7243
53-101	Sloppy Drunk	unissued
53-102	Since I Fell for You	Vee-Jay 202, Collectables CD 7243
VJ53-103	Bounce (Spaniels) [Listen to Bounce]	Vee-Jay 101, Chance 1141, Vee-Jay LP 1002, Charly CD 222, Collectables CD 7243

Our basic information about this session comes from Robert D. Ferlingere, A Discography of Rhythm & Blues and Rock 'n Roll Vocal Groups 1945 to 1965 (2nd ed., 1992). Vee-Jay 101 was a single released in May 1953. Because of distribution difficulties, the brand-new Vee-Jay operation dealt the single to Chance, which reissued it as Chance 1141 in July 1953 (Bill Daniels points out that the Chance release was metioned in Billboard in July). Ferlingere notes that both the Vee-Jay and the Chance singles were pressed on colored plastic, and that such copies are much rarer than those pressed on black vinyl. There are also West Coast "repros" of Chance 1141 on red or black plastic. Vee-Jay 202 was a single released in July 1956.

Vee-Jay LP 1002 was titled Goodnite, It's Time to Go. It initially appeared in 1959 with a maroon label, then in 1961 with a black label. Charly CD 222 is a 1990s collection of Spaniels material. Collectables CD 7204, Vee-Jay Rhythm & Blues: The Early Years Part One and Collectables CD 7243, The Very Best of the Spaniels Volume One, are 2000 releases.

The earliest known photo of The Spaniels, from 1953. From left, Pookie Hudson, Opal Courtney, Gerald Gregory, pianist Junior Coleman, and Ernest Warren; Willis Jackson is at the bottom. From the collection of Robert Pruter.

The Spaniels' line-up is from Ferlingere and Pruter's books. Pookie Hudson sang the lead on "Baby It's You" and "Since I Fell for You." Gerald Gregory was responsible for the lead on "Bounce." The instrumental personnel and recording date are from the liners to the Charly CD. However, the Charly notes fail to mention the guitarist. Charly does mention a tenor saxophonist, but Leon Washington can't be heard on either "Baby It's You" or "Bounce" from this session. This was the very first session recorded by Vee-Jay, then a Mom and Pop operation run out of a music store in Gary, Indiana.

Existing sources do not list the accompaniment for the Spaniels' next session in September 1953, which produced 53-110 "The Bells Ring Out," 53-111 "House Cleaning," and 53-112 "Goodnite Sweetheart, Goodnite." These three items are backed by tenor sax, piano, guitar, bass, and drums. According to the Charly notes, the band on the Spaniels' third session, 53-124 through 53-126 (December 20, 1953) was led by tenor saxophonist Al Pitts, and the band on the 53-110 session sounds similar, with the addition of guitar. A July 1954 session that produced 54-172, 54-173, and 54-174 was accompanied by Morris Wilkerson (p); Ike Perkins (eg); George Green (b); and Frank Collins (d), according to the Mohr-Flückiger-Demeusy files; Charly incorrectly has Jerome Henderson on guitar, and no other personnel. The Spaniels split a session with the Dells on Feb. 19, 1955 (the Spaniels sang on 55-240 and 55-242, while 55-241 by the Dells appeared as the flip to the Count Morris number); the band was led by Red Holloway but was not an Al Smith unit. The accompaniment on the Spaniels' session from July 1955 (including 55-298) is unknown, but could be the Pitts band; it is not a Saunders unit. From January 1956 onwards the Spaniels recorded regularly with units led by Al Smith or Lefty Bates.

Although Red Saunders got in on the ground floor at Vee-Jay (the Count Morris track is known, and he almost certainly accompanied the Rhythm Aces on their second session), it was Al Smith and company who would become the house band.

At the time, the loss of the OKeh contract probably looked like a temporary setback. Red Saunders hooked up with Al Benson's new labels, Parrot and Blue Lake. Red's band accompanied Mabel Scott and the Chocolateers on the first session for Parrot (they made a covert appearance on Chess a little later). Later in the same year, Red made two further appearances on Parrot, playing brilliant Sun Ra arrangements behind blues singer Jo Jo Adams, and backing a doowop group called the Rockettes. The Saunders band also recorded twice for Benson's Blue Lake subsidiary, backing Joe Williams and doing instrumentals. And they made one last covert appearance on Chess, behind Valaida Snow. In 1954, Saunders groups backed singer Ann Carter on one session for Blue Lake and worked behind singers Lou Mac and Walter Spriggs on another. Toward the end of the company's history, in December 1955 Red returned for a session hosted by Al Benson and trumpter Louis Ogletree. And Red Saunders units accompanied St. Louis Jimmy and Lou Mac on the final two sessions for Parrot/Blue Lake, after John "Lawyer" Burton had purchased the outfit in 1956.

At some point in early 1953 Johnny Avant left the Red Saunders band. He was in demand as a session trombonist and presumably felt that he could get adequate work (and shorter hours) that way. His replacement was Cy Touff, who played valve trombone and bass trumpet (eventually becoming known for his work on the later instrument). Touff was a white musician (the first to become a regular in the Saunders band). He had already worked in the Regal Theater Orchestra in 1950 and 1951, and in the ensemble that Sax Mallard led on Al Benson's TV show (April through July 1950). He had also worked in the bands of Jimmy Dale and Jay Burkhart; the Burkhart aggregation, in which Touff participated in 1949, was a bebop big band that consisted mostly of white musicians but also included Gail Brockman and Hobart Dotson in the trumpet section and Joe Williams as its vocalist.

Touff does not recall making any recordings with the Saunders band. Most of the studio appearances that Red made during the year after the last OKeh session called for small combos without a trombone; the larger ensembles that backed Mabel Scott and The Chocolateers included just "Booby" Floyd. The only session that called for two trombones was done on December 31, 1953, and our sources identify Marty Martinez as the second trombonist. It may well be that Touff had left the band by then. He recalls being in the band for about a year, then leaving to join Woody Herman. The first Herman recording session with Touff took place on March 30, 1954.

Even though we miss being able to hear Cy Touff's unique approach on Red's recordings from the period, his description of life in the Saunders band is worth repeating. The following is quoted from Charles Walton's interview with Cy Touff, which regrettably is no longer available online:

Red had played with Woody Herman himself (in 1944; see above) and that may have disposed him more favorably toward letting Touff take this opportunity.

Singer, dancer, and actress Mabel Scott was normally based in Los Angeles during the early 1950s. However, Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier had her coming to Chicago for this Parrot session. LFP identified King Kolax's band (see the King Kolax Discography) as the accompanists, but give no further information. It turned out that they were partly right: King K does appear to be on the record, but Mabel Scott was in town to perform at the Club DeLisa, and (on numbers that we assume she performed in the show there) she was backed by the house band.

Mabel Bernice Scott was born in Richmond, Virginia, on April 30, 1915. Her family moved to New York City when she was 6; soon was taking piano lessons and singing at the Metropolitan Baptist Church. In 1936 she moved to Cleveland and in 1937 made her first tour of Europe. She made her first records in England in 1938. In 1942, she relocated to Los Angeles. In 1943 she headined the revue at Club Alabam (Wynonie Harris was the MC). She recorded for Hub in 1946 and for Exclusive in 1947 and 1948, scoring two R&B hits with "Elevator Boogie" and "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus." From 1949 to 1951, she was married to singer/pianist Charles Brown. Her recordings for King in 1950 and Coral in 1951 and 1952 produced no hits, despite the strength and verve of her singing.

28. Mable [sic] Scott

Universal Recording, Chicago, prob. May 1953

U-2550	Mr. Fine (Scott)	Parrot 780, Relic LP 8020, Relic CD 7027, Jukebox Lil [Swe] JB606, Classics 5107 [CD]
U-2551	Mable [sic] Blues (Scott)	Parrot 780, Jukebox Lil [Swe] JB606, Classics 5107 [CD]
U 53173	Fool Burro (D. Williams, Jr.) -1	Parrot 794, Classics 5107 [CD]
U 53174	Do the Thing (D. Williams, Jr.)	Parrot 794, Classics 5107 [CD]

Parrot 780 was released in July 1953. Parrot 780 was the very first release on the label; an advertisement in Cash Box for Parrot 780 and 781 proclaimed "NEW LABEL" in big letters. Parrot 794 appeared in December 1953 or January 1954. Jukebox Lil JB606 was a Swedish LP, released in the 1970s and titled simply Mabel Scott. Relic 7027, Rockin' at Midnight at the Parrot Club, was a CD issued in 1990, consisting of R&B from the Parrot label: artists included Lou Mac, the Five Thrills, Browley Guy, and the Maples, among others. Classics 5107, Mabel Scott 1951-1955, was released in 2004.

What we have on U2550 and U2551 (which immediately precede U2552 and U2553 by The Chocolateers, done on the same date) is the Red Saunders band with King Kolax as a guest soloist. Kolax is obviously the somewhat coarse, muted trumpet soloist on "Mr. Fine," an ironic ode to an abusive cad. The band is way too large to be the Kolax combo of the period, and it sounds like the same Red Saunders ensemble that backed the Chocolateers. Mac Easton has a brief tag near the beginning of "Mr. Fine" and a longer solo in the middle, both unmistakable; the impeccably recorded drummer is definitely Red. There is no electric guitar on the session, contrary to LFP. Booby Floyd, Leon Washington, and Porter Kilbert are each briefly heard on the minatory "Mabel Blues," where Red continues to be prominently recorded. "Fool Burro," as the title suggests, is a Latin number; it employs just King K and the rhythm section. The peppy "Do the Thing," which undoubtedly gave the DeLisa chorines a workout, brings back the entire band but the vocal patter leaves no room for solos.

Before release, "Fool Burro" and "Do the Thing" were given different matrix numbers from the series that Parrot adopted in August 1953. But Donn Fileti of Relic Records (which owns most of the remains of the Parrot and Blue Lake labels) says that all four Mabel Scott titles were done at the same session, and a list of Parrot tapes that were dealt to Chess in 1958 or 1959 tells the same story. According to Fileti, the date on the original tape box is June 10, 1953. However, several other sessions that were made as Al Benson prepared an independent launch for his Parrot operation are also dated June 10 (including a session by blues guitarist L. C. McKinley that other sources have placed on May 19). We suspect that tapes of several sessions from April and May 1953 were consolidated on June 10.

Further support for a Saunders connection (and for a May date) derives from the fact that Mabel Scott was the star attraction at the Club DeLisa for the week of May 16, 1953; the revue was called "A May-Hey Day." In "Fool Burro," Mabel Scott sings about wanting to travel "from Mexico to Chicago."

Despite first-rate performances--of superior material in the case of "Mr. Fine" and "Mabel Blues"--Scott's Parrot sides didn't sell well either, and her session for Al Benson was the last that Mabel Scott would make in the United States. She laid down four sides for the Festival label while on tour in Australia in 1955. In the late 1950s, after the breakup of her second marriage, she underwent a religious conversion and for the rest of her life performed only in church. Mabel Scott died in Los Angeles on July 19, 2000.

29. Chocolateers

Universal Recording, Chicago, prob. May 1953

U2552	Bartender Blues (Chocolateers)	Parrot 781B, Relic LP 7027, Relic 7027 [CD]
U2553	Peckin' (Chocolateers)	Parrot 781A, Relic LP 7027, Relic 7027 [CD]
	Waitin' for Jane	unissued
	Little Willie	unissued

Thanks to Robert Pruter for information on this session. The original tape box says June 10, 1953, but the matrix numbers in the U2500 series precede those assigned to the Curtis Jones sides on Parrot 782, which we have reason to believe were recorded on May 19. So the actual recording date was a little earlier than the date on the box.

Parrot 781 was the original single, released in July 1953. Relic 7027 is an LP and CD release from 1990 (at least in the CD configuration) titled Rockin' at Midnight at the Parrot Club.

Personnel were identified by ear. The Chocolateers were a three-man comedy group (billed as "The Three Chocolateers" in Club DeLisa ads), and they chant, talk, shout, or screech more often than they sing. There's a bit more music on "Peckin'" than on the flip side. Porter Kilbert is prominently leading the ensemble on "Peckin'"; Booby Floyd has a short solo on the same number; and Mac Easton's baritone can be heard at the end of "Bartender Blues," a slapstick sketch that features loud drum rolls from Red whenever the characters go upside each other's heads. The piece has been titled "Bartenders' Blues" or even "Bartenders' Blues 'Ball'" but the inaugural Parrot advertisement in Cash Box(reproduced in the Relic CD leaflet) calls it "Bartenders Ball"--and that's the only title that makes sense. But "Bartender Blues" is on the label.

The MFD Files mention two more unissued numbers by the Chocolateers, presumably from this same session.

We have no information about the personnel of the Chocolateers in 1953. However, an article in the Defender of July 7, 1956 mentions the Chocolateers' tour of France, where they worked in Paris and on the Riviera (before Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, among others). The Chocolateers also made it to Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland, and played on the BBC. A photo shows three gentlemen, somewhat long of tooth, with one member in a comic pose.

The Defender described the group as an acrobatic, song, and dance combination. The members in 1956 were "Half Pint" (Eddie West), "Fat Man" (Paul Black), and "String Bean" (Charlie Walker). Charlie Walker also played the vibraphone. There is no vibraphone on the 1953 sides, and at least one other Chocolateer was replaced between 1953 and 1956: "Half Pint" took the place of "Little Willie," a prominent character on the 1953 session.

One thing any new Chocolateer had to be able to do was peck. Here's a description of the Chocolateers in Spring 1957, from Ted Fox's book, Showtime at the Apollo: "The show featured a variety of entertainers like pianist Buck Washington, singer Jackie Starr, and the Three Chocolateers, who created pandemonium by running through the audience bobbing their heads, craning their necks, and singing the 'Pecking' song."

30. Cliff Butler and His Doves^ / Cliff Butler and His Blue Boys

Universal Recording, Chicago, June 29, 1953

1343	People Will Talk^ (Butler) -1	States 123, United U-163 [CD]
1344	TB	unissued
1345-2	Jealous Hearted Woman -1	States 148, P-Vine Special [J] PLP 9045, Pearl PL-17, United U-163 [CD], Delmark DE-717 [CD]
1346	When You Love (Butler-Glover)^ -1	States 123, United U-163 [CD]

Our session information (minus personnel) comes from Bob Koester's 1977 discography of the United and States labels. States 123 was a 78 and 45 rpm single released in 1953. States 148 was probably released in 1955. For his second session for States, Butler again brough The Doves with him; their lineup is not known. The instrumental lineup on "Jealous Hearted," as it is called on PL-17, appears consist of Richardson and Saunders along with Butler's buddy Holton. Again, there is just one horn (not two tenors as stated in the Pearl notes); this time around the tenor saxophonist sounds like Dick Davis (to rlc). On "People Will Talk" there is a tenor sax solo by whoever it is (ab is not sure that that it is Davis). There are no solos on "When You Love" and the guitarist has either switched to an acoustic instrument or turned his amplifier way down.

P-Vine Special PLP 9045 was a Japanese LP issued in 1982 under the title Black Music in the 50's Volume 13: Standup and Sing the Blues. The other titles were mostly derived from the United and States labels. Pearl PL-17 was a 1989 LP of United and States material titled Long Man Blues; Long Man Blues on Delmark DE-717 is a CD reissue from 2000 that includes the entire Pearl LP but adds material by other artists. The Pearl and Delmark notes give the session date incorrectly as 1952. United U-163 is a bootleg CD issued in 1999 under the title Rare Windy City R&B Vocal Groups From the street-corners of Chicago Volume One.

This band was definitely not a Red Saunders unit; Red does appear to have been on drums, however.

31. Alberta Adams and Orchestra

United Sound Studios, Detroit, July 16, 1953

7535	Messin' around with the Blues (Nelson)	Chess 1551, Chess CHD-9330 [CD], MCA MCAD2-11788 [CD]
7536	This Morning (C. Adams)	Chess 1551
7537	Remember	Chess CHD4-9340 [CD]
7538	No Good Man	unissued

We are crediting this session to Red's band strictly by ear, but no one else was playing like this for recording sessions on Chicago-area labels. The uncredited backing on "Messin'" and "Remember" is more typical of Aristocrat in 1947 than of Chess in 1953, though there is more tonal suavity here than on most Aristocrat R&B recordings. The rambunctious riffing on "This Morning" is dominated by Mac Easton's baritone sax. Of course we have not heard "No Good Man," a title preserved in Michel Ruppli's Chess discography and unmentioned in other discographies that we have consulted.

The prominent baritone sax obbligato on "Messin'" (a number that Memphis Slim recorded for Miracle in 1947 and would re-record for Vee-Jay) seems to be by Mac Easton, and there can be no doubt about the booting baritone sax solo on "This Morning." The "crying" muted trumpet on "Remember" is reminiscent of the Basie band behind Jimmy Rushing and was distinctly archaic on R&B recordings by this time. Sonny Cohn plays a similar obbligato on "Time for Moving" from the session with Joe Williams, but here the obbligato is delivered with such Eldridgean fervor that it might be Fip Ricard instead. Interestingly, there are no tenor sax solos on the sides that we have heard from this session.

Chess 1551 was a single probably released in October 1953; thanks to Tom Kelly for label copy and a dub of "This Morning." Chess CHD-9330 is a various-artists CD compilation from 1991 titled The Blues, Volume 6: '50s Rarities. Chess CHD-9340, Chess Blues, is a 4-CD collection released in 1992; the liners do not give matrix numbers, and the composer is listed as unknown. MCAD2-11788, Women Blues Singers 1928-1969, is a various-artists CD released in February 1999; thanks to R. J. Spangler for alerting us to this one.

Lord gives 1954 as the recording date (which is simply not consistent with the matrix numbers) while the Chess Blues booklet gives the more plausible estimate of June to July 1953.

Alberta Adams, who has been a mystery to the liner note writers on the Chess reissue packages, is from Detroit. According to Lars Bjorn and Jim Gallert's book Before Motown (University of Michigan Press, 2001), she was born in Indianapolis in 1921 or 1922; her family moved to Detroit while she was a child. Her long resumé begins in the late 1930s and includes turns as a shake dancer, tap dancer, comedian, and MC as well as singer. In 1947 she was popular enough on the Detroit scene to win one of the annual awards offered by a Detroit entertainment weekly. She performed on two different occasions with Duke Ellington, toured with Louis Jordan, Roy Eldridge, and Cleanhead Vinson, and in the mid 1950s co-starred with Chubby Newsome in a vocal group called the Bluzettes. Alberta Adams headlined at the 1994 Montreux/Detroit Jazz Festival and is still performing in the Detroit area. She put out a CD recently on the Cannonball label, with a band that includes Johnnie Bassett on guitar and R. J. Spangler on drums. Many thanks to her agent, R. J. Spangler, for alerting us to Alberta Adams's continued activity. See http://209.249.8.78/alberta2.htm for a bio and information about the Cannonball release.

Alberta Adams recollects that the session took place at United Sound Studios in Detroit, and that the band traveled from Chicago to back her. She would have preferred Maurice King's band, with which she was working regularly, but the sides we have heard indicate a successful session.

32. Jo Jo Adams

Universal Recording, Chicago, September 1953

P 53117	It's Been So Long	unissued
P 53118	Corrine	rejected
E-53119	Call My Baby (Adams)	Parrot 788, Relic 7016 [CD], Classics 5083 [CD]
E-53120	Rebecca (Adams) [Listen to Rebecca]	Parrot 788, Relic 7016 [CD], Classics 5083 [CD]

In all previous discographies the personnel of Parrot 788, a single released in November 1953, was given as unknown.

It is obvious to the ear that this is a Red Saunders ensemble, and that Red is on drums. Sonny Cohn is the lead trumpeter. There is no alto saxophone. Leon Washington solos on both sides, a little more grittily than usual. The feature for guitar in "Call My Baby" is the work of player with a heavy attack, like Charlie Christian or T-Bone Walker; the guitarist accompanies four to the bar throughout both tracks in a Freddie Green style. The same guitarist appears to have been on Adams' 1947 session with Tom Archia for Aristocrat. Whoever it is, it isn't Ike Perkins.

The pieces may both be midtempo blues in the same key, but the band is clearly reading from charts. The arrangements definitely are by Sun Ra; especially on "Call My Baby," they keep threatening to turn into early Arkestra numbers, then veer temporarily back to the usual formulae. The arrangements are not just remarkable in their own right; they show Sun Ra's "far out" style emerging from its chrysalis. Thanks to the late Otto Flückiger for careful listening to these sides.

Parrot did not credit a composer on either released side; however, Relic gives Jo Jo Adams as the composer.

By interpolation in the Parrot matrix series (see our Parrot Discography), a date in September 1953 is indicated. The E- prefix indicates that this record was originally slated for release on a subsidiary called Eagle, which Al Benson ended up deciding not to open. In the list of Parrot/Blue Lake tapes that were leased to Chess in 1958 or 1959, four Jo Jo Adams tracks were included in tape box 2027 along with six tracks by the Crume Brothers, a gospel group. The Chess tape list is our source for the titles of the two unreleased sides. "Corrine," which according to Donn Fileti was rejected, was an attempted remake of a number from Jo Jo's first session for Melody Lane/Hy-Tone.

Relic 7016, Cool Playing Blues: Chicago Style, is a CD of Blues material recorded for Parrot Records. The other featured artists are "Little Papa Joe" [Jody Williams], L.C. McKinley, Curtis Jones, St. Louis Jimmy (see the 1956 entry below) and J.T. "Nature Boy" Brown. Classics 5083, Jo-Jo Adams 1946-1953, was released in 2004.

33. Joe Williams

Universal Recording, Chicago, September 28, 1953

53126?	It's Raining Again (Ra)		Regent 6002, Savoy MG 12216, Savoy SJL 1140, Denon/Savoy SV-0199 [CD]
53127?	Always on the Blue Side (Ra)		Regent 6002, Savoy MG 12216, Savoy SJL 1140, Denon/Savoy SV-0199 [CD]

Universal Recording, Chicago, September 28 or December 31, 1953

	Detour Ahead (J. Frigo-Carter-Ellis)	Regent 6002, Savoy MG 12216, Savoy SJL 1140, Denon/Savoy SV-0199 [CD]
	Blow Mr. Low (Saunders-D. Williams)	Regent 6002, Savoy 116, Savoy MG 12216, Savoy SJL 1140, Denon/Savoy SV-0199 [CD]
BL-54104	Tired of Moving (Williams)	Blue Lake 102, Regent 6002, Savoy 116, Savoy MG 12216, Savoy SJL 1140, Denon/Savoy SV-0199 [CD], Empire Musicwerks CD N-1
BL-54103	In the Evening (L. Carr)	Blue Lake 102, Regent 6002, Savoy MG 12216, Savoy SJL 1140, Denon/Savoy SV-0199 [CD], Empire Musicwerks CD N-1

Blue Lake 102 was a 78 (probably also 45) rpm single released in January 1954 (which is when Parrot opened its Blue Lake subsidiary). "In the Evening" is credited to Joe Turner on the original label. "Tired of Moving" (called "Time for Moving" on some reissues) and "Blow Mr. Low" also appeared on Savoy 116, a 45 rpm single released later in the 1950s. We have grouped together the two items known to have been recorded on September 28, but have otherwise followed the order of the tracks on the Regent and Savoy LPs, as we do not know the original matrix numbers or even the precise recording date for four of the six tracks.

Parrot / Blue Lake was sold in March 1956 and became inactive in the fall of that year. While some of the remnants were licensed to Chess later, and others ended up in the hands of Relic Records, the Joe Williams masters were immediately sold to Regent/Savoy (which also bought a Coleman Hawkins session from the defunct label). All 6 tracks from this session were released in 1956 on the LP Regent 6002; they later appeared on LP as Savoy MG 12216 as Joe Williams Sings Everyday and were reissued (in 1984) on Savoy SJL 1140 under the title Everyday I Have the Blues. The Savoy album was reissued in its entirety on CD as Denon/Savoy SV-0199; issued in 1993, this reverted to the title Sings Everyday. All of these releases contained four other tracks recorded by Williams with a King Kolax unit (see the King Kolax Discography for these). In addition, the two sides that appeared on Joe Williams' Blue Lake single reappeared (in excellent sound) on Empire Musicwerks CD-N1, a collection of Parrot/Blue Lake jazz sides titled Jukebox Jazz! From the Southside of Chicago and released in December 2002.

The personnel are as listed in various sources, including Leslie Gourse's book, Every Day: The Story of Joe Williams (Quartet Books, 1985); Leadbitter et al. agree. Gourse says Williams gave 1950 as the date, but this is flatly unreliable (Blue Lake/Parrot did not exist in 1950!). And judging from Red's other recordings, there's no way he would have been performing so "modern" an arrangement as "It's Raining Again" in 1950. Walt Champion was also known as Walter Cole; he became Red's regular bassist later in the 1950s.

Leadbitter et al., reading more into the matrix numbers on the Blue Lake labels than is appropriate, give December 31, 1953 as the date, but the band on these vocal sides is smaller and includes a guitarist. In earlier versions of this discography, we gave early 1954 as the date. However, Bob Porter in his liner notes to SJL 1140 says that "It's Raining Again" and "Always on the Blue Side" were done on September 28, 1953 and the other four sides were cut "during that period." (The September 28 date is from the outside of a tape box, as was the custom at Parrot/Blue Lake.) A magazine article promoting the label appeared in December 1953 (now reproduced on our Parrot page); Joe Williams was one of the artists mentioned, so obviously some recording had already been done by then. Nothing would have prevented the sides from all being done at one session, but the only vacant Parrot matrix numbers around September 28, 1953 are 53125 and 53126, while a block of 6 matrix numbers (53179 through 53184) opens up around the December 31 session. As many as four of the items we have listed here could actually be from the later session.

These were Joe Williams' last recordings in Chicago; he left town to join Count Basie around Christmas 1954.

Sun Ra discographer Julian Vein believes that all but "Blow Mr. Low" and "In the Evening" were arranged by Sun Ra; he publicized his opinion as early as 1967. Ra's involvement with "It's Raining Again" and "Always on the Blue Side" is particularly obvious; in fact, the lack of listed composer credits for these items is most intriguing. Sunny was not copyrighting any of his pieces during this period and "Raining" and "Blue Side" sound like Ra compositions! "Tired of Moving" is a straightahead blues that Sunny is less likely to have composed; the original Blue Lake label attributes it to Joe Williams. Given Sunny's involvement with Saunders when the original "Blow Mr. Low-Blow" was cut in 1950, he probably at least retouched this piece and "In the Evening."

According to the c. 1959 list of Parrot/Blue Lake tapes in the Chess vaults, four tunes by the doowop group the Pelicans were included in tape box 2059, along with Joe Williams tracks no longer there after the sale to Savoy. The Pelicans, however, were accompanied by tenor saxophonist Paul Bascomb and his rhythm section (see our Parrot page for detaila).

34. Joe Turner and his Blues Kings

Chicago, October 7, 1953

A-1125	Love to Spare	unissued
A-1126-1	Ti-ri-lee (Turner-"Nugetre"-Gerald)	Atlantic 1053, Quality [Can] 1358, Atlantic LP 8033 [?], LP 8081 [?], Atlantic 81663 [LP and CD], Charly 1070, Blues Encore CD 52008, Rhino/Atlantic 71550 [CD]
A-1127	Oke-she-moke-she-pop (L. W. Turner)	Atlantic 1016, Atco SD33-376, Charly 1070, Atlantic LP 81696
A-1128	TV Mama (L. W. Turner) -1	Atlantic 1016, Atlantic EP536, Atlantic LP 8023, Atco SD33-376, Atlantic 81663 [LP and CD], Atlantic 81695 [LP and CD], Charly 1070, Blues Encore CD 52008, Rhino/Atlantic 71550 [CD], Rhino 71190 [CD]

There has been a truly amazing amount of confusion about this session. The date is the mildest source of trouble--some sources give October 8 instead of October 7. Personnel listings have always been confused, in large part because "Ti-ri-lee" from this session has been mistaken for the "Ti-ri-lee" that was purportedly cut at the January 28, 1955 session, and because "Oke-she-moke-she-pop" from this session has been confused with "Oke-she-moke-she-pop" that was definitely cut at the previous Joe Turner session, in New Orleans on May 12, 1953.

At least there is no doubt about Elmore James being on the session (he had recently settled in at Sylvio's for a 6-month residency; his contract was accepted and filed by Musicians Union Local 208 on September 3, 1953). Michel Ruppli in his Atlantic Records discography lists Cohn, Jackson, Easton, James, and Richardson on this session--with "Odell" Payne as the drummer. Ruppli leaves off the A- prefix in the matrix numbers, probably because he got tired of writing it... Hugues Panassié, in his Discographie Critique (1958) mentions James, Jones, and Odie Payne. Jepsen gives similar information but omits A-1125 and A-1126. (The take number on A-1126 is incised in the vinyl of Atlantic 1053.) The liners to Atlantic 81752 and Atlantic 81696 give the above lineup with Red Saunders on drums. The booklet to the boxed set, Rhino/Atlantic 71550, adds an "unknown trombone," but this (like previous listings of a trombonist for this session on this page) derives from a confusion of the Chicago version of "Oke-she-moke-she-pop" with version cut on May 12, which did include a trombone.

Ruppli's information about 1125 is incorrect; Ruppli says that "Love to Spare" was released on Atlantic 1125, but James Wolf points out that Atlantic 1125 was a Ruth Brown record. It appears that the track was never released. Ruppli renders "Oke-she-moke-she-pop" as "Oke-she-make-she-pop."

Atlantic 1016 and 1053 were 78 and 45-rpm singles released in the 1950s. Atlantic 1053 contains the A-1126 version of "Ti-ri-lee" and Atlantic 1016 contains the A-1127 version of "Oke." Quality 1358 was a Canadian release (78, probably also 45 rpm) that corresponded to Atlantic 1053; we presume that the same version of "Ti-ri-lee" was used on it.

There is allegedly another "Ti-ri-lee" with matrix number A-1425 from a session on January 28, 1955 (see Spuriosity D below). We have yet to find evidence of it; every release that has been checked by James Wolf contains the same recording from October 7, 1953. Needless to say, the two versions of this tune have compounded the confusion caused by the two versions of "Oke." On recent Joe Turner collections, such as Atlantic 81663 and Rhino/Atlantic 71550, "Ti-ri-lee" has been grouped with tracks from the January 28, 1955 session. And the Rhino box repeats the October 7, 1953 personnel list for this session (except for allowing that Al Sears, from the 1955 session, may have played tenor sax!). Releases that have not been checked so far are marked with [?].

"Oke-she-moke-she-pop" (A-1072) was first attempted at a session on May 12, 1953. It is usually asserted that the first version was rejected, and all that all releases contain the versions from the October 7 session. This turns out to be wrong. The first "Oke-she-moke-she-pop" has been released several times (very likely not on purpose). The other items recorded at the May 12 session were supposedly A-1071, "This'll Make You Laugh" (never issued), and A-1073 "Honey Hush" along with A-1074 "Crawdad Hole"; A-1073 and 1074 were both issued on Atlantic 1001 and reissued many times. Rumors have mentioned an embryonic "TV Mama," too, but there is no confirmation of this--unless A-1071 is really "TV Mama" under a different title. To make things worse, the location of the May 12th session is disputed; Ruppli and others say it was done in New Orleans, but Lord's Jazz Discography claims New York City as the location. Lord's interpretation is hard to buy, because for personnel he gives Pluma Davis (a trombonist and bandleader whose home base was Houston, Texas) and known New Orleanians Lee Allen (tenor sax), Red Taylor (baritone), and Antoine "Fats" Domino (piano), along with unidentified eg, b, and d. Here we get a sense of how tangled the Atlantic discography has become.

The original single, Atlantic 1016, lists A-1127 on the label and plays the October 7 version of "Oke-she-moke-she-pop." Charly 1070 and Atlantic 81696 contain A-1127 (confirmed by James Wolf); on Atlantic 81696, it is further identified as an "alternate master." Bob Porter says that Atco SD33-376 also used A-1127. According to Daniel Gugolz, the following issues of the tune all contain A-1072 (though most claim A-1127): Atlantic LP 8005, Atlantic 81695 [LP and CD], Atlantic 81752 [LP and CD] (confirmed by James Wolf and the authors), and Rhino/Atlantic 71550 [CD] (confirmed by James Wolf)!

The two versions are easily distinguishable. They have the nearly the same lyrics, but in the New Orleans version, Big Joe sings "Step into my Cadillac" in the last verse. In the Chicago version this has become the slightly lower-status "Step into my Roadmaster." The first version is moderately slow and the drumming plods, while the Chicago version is powered by Johnny Jones (who launches it with his piano intro) and Elmore James. The first version includes a prominent trombone, played by bandleader Pluma Davis, and solos by a fairly smooth tenor saxophonist (Lee Allen) and a baritonist (Red Taylor); the Chicago version has only a rather gritty tenor solo (Grady Jackson).

Atlantic 8005 was an LP titled simply Joe Turner; it was released in 1958. Atlantic 8023, another LP titled Rockin' the Blues was released in 1959, as was 8033, Big Joe Is Here. Atlantic 8081, The Best of Joe Turner, was a 1963 release (information on these items from the Goldmine Price Guide to Collectible Jazz Albums, 1949-1969, 2nd edition). Atco SD33-376 was a late 1960s release, title not yet identified.

Atlantic 81663 was a 1986 double album titled Big Joe Turner: Rhythm & Blues Years, (reissued on one CD in 1988) and Atlantic 81752 was an LP-CD release from 1989, Big Joe Turner's Greatest Hits. Both give the personnel above, with Red Saunders as the drummer. So does the 6-LP or 4-CD compilation Atlantic 81695, released in 1986 and denominated Atlantic Blues. Atlantic LP 81696 was a 1980s 2-LP compilation out of this larger set titled Atlantic Blues: Vocalists. Charly 1070 was an LP titled Joe Turner: Jumpin' with Joe.

Rhino/Atlantic 71550 is a 3-CD boxed set released in 1994 and titled Big, Bad & Blue: The Big Joe Turner Anthology. Rhino 71190 is a CD issued in 1993 under the title The Sky Is Crying: The History of Elmore James; the rest of the CD collects Elmore James' performances for other labels.

Final thoughts on the personnel: In the All Music Guide to the Blues, this session is said to have been made with Elmore James' band, which would argue in favor of Odie Payne Jr. on the traps. None of the tenor solos are by Leon Washington (Red's tenor player)--or J. T. Brown or Boyd Atkins (the tenor players in Elmore's band). The tenor soloist is said in multiple sources to have been Grady Jackson. The Chicago version of "Oke-she-moke-she-pop" has a very gritty tenor solo (the tenor solo on the New Orleans version is smoother). "Ti-ri-lee" has a gritty solo, probably by the same person. (There are no horn solos on "TV Mama.") Meanwhile, the baritonist does not solo on the three surviving numbers from this session, but he's obviously Mac Easton anyway. It appears that Ruppli had the horn section right. But what about the drummer?

The drummer on these tracks does not use the whomping backbeat for which Odie Payne was known, or the cowbell accents; there is nothing to rule out Red Saunders. On "TV Mama," the drummer is definitely not Payne; it is someone who is much less familiar (or comfortable) with Elmore's customary rhythmic manipulations. The same stodginess can be noted on "Ti-ri-lee," though on that one, at least, the drummer is allowed to conclude with a small flourish. Red Saunders, sticking to basics in an unfamiliar setting...

35. The Rockettes

Universal Recording, October 11, 1953

E-53135	Love Nobody	Parrot 789, Relic 7027, Relic 7027 [CD], Relic 7053 [CD]
E-53136	I Can't Forget (A. Dixon)	Parrot 789, Relic 7053 [CD]
E 53137	Boogie Woogie Blues -2	unissued
E 53138	Blues for My Baby	unissued

Parrot 789 was a single released in November 1953. Relic 7027 is a various-artists CD, titled Rockin' at Midnight at the Parrot Club and released in 1992; there was also an LP version. Relic 7053 is a CD of Parrot doo-wops titled The Golden Era of Doo-wops: The Groups of Parrot Records Part One.

The group was called The Rockets on the session documentation, but the name was spelled "Rockettes" on the Parrot label. "Love Nobody" has a distinctive a trumpet lead by Sonny Cohn and a tenor solo by Leon Washington, while "I Can't Forget" makes much less use of the horns and features a guitar solo. According to Robert Pruter's book Doowop: The Chicago Scene, "the identity of the Rockettes... will probably forever remain a mystery." However, it is clear from "Love Nobody" that the Rockettes' lead singer was a woman, and the composer of "I Can't Forget" was one A. Dixon. We identified the instrumentalists by ear. On "I Can't Forget" the Rockettes use a male lead; the female singer is clearly audible singing harmony. We identified the instrumentalists by ear; the guitarist is the same Mr. Four to the Bar who appeared on the Jo Jo Adams session.

"Boogie Woogie Blues" has the notation "female solo" on it (maybe the Rockettes' lead?) and "Blues for My Baby" has no artist indicated. Our thanks to Donn Fileti, proprietor of Relic Records, for information about this session. Fileti indicates that E 53135 through 53138 were on a single tape reel, indicating that all were cut at the same session. (The E prefix stood for Eagle, a projected Parrot subsidiary that was never launched.) The sessions immediately before and after this one in the matrix series (and in the file number series used on the list of Parrot tapes leased to Chess) are dated October 11, 1953 on the tape boxes.

36. Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Chicago, October 17, 1953

85396-A	I'm So Glad	Decca 48324
85397	All the Good We Can Do	unissued
85398	Sing and Shout [SRT, SRT voc] -1	Decca 48324, MCA [F] LP 510.129
85399	Shadrack [SRT, MK voc] -1	Decca 48309
85400	Nobody's Fault but Mine [SRT, MK voc]	Decca 48309
85401	God Spoke to Me [MK voc]	Decca 48308
85402	Calvary [MK voc]	Decca 48308
85403-A	I Tell It Wherever I Go [MK voc]	Decca 48320
85404-A	This Old Soul of Mine [MK voc]	Decca 48320
85405	Stand the Storm [SRT, MK voc] -1	Decca 48332, MCA [F] LP 510.129

Thanks to Daniel Gugolz for bringing this session to our attention, and providing dubs from his collection. Session details from Cedric Hayes and Robert Laughton, Gospel Records, 1943-69,published in 1992 by RIS. Hayes and Laughton neglect to mention Sister Rosetta's guitar, and they put the session in New York City, which is very unlikely (no replacement band was playing the DeLisa at this time, so far as we know). Marie Knight was Sister Rosetta's mother. On "Sing and Shout," Sister Rosetta duets with herself via overdubbing. French MCA 510.129 is an LP titled Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight 1951-56. Currently at least some of this material is available on cassette as Sister Rosetta Tharpe/Marie Knight, Great Gospel Music, MCA Special Products MCAC-20721. To be researched.

The Mohr-Flückiger-Demeusy files contain a cryptic reference to a Sister Rosetta Tharpe session with Sonny Cohn (tp); Porter Kilbert (as); Andrew "Goon" Gardner (as); Oett "Sax" Mallard (ts); Earl Washington (p); Jimmy Richardson (b); and Red Saunders (d). No date or titles. It is not known whether this is an incorrect reference to the above session, or Red was on another session with Sister Rosetta.

37. Valaida Snow

Universal Recording, Chicago, November 1953

U-4405	I Ain't Gonna Tell (Toombs)	Chess 1555
U-4406	L&N	unissued
U-4407	If You Don't Mean It (Singelton)	Chess 1555
U-4408	Does You Do	unissued

A hat tip to Yves François Smierciak for alerting us to the Red Saunders presence on this session. Trumpet player and singer Valaida Snow, born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on June 2, 1904, first arrived in New York City in 1922. She became very popular in Europe during the 1930s, where she made most of her recordings; she was caught in Denmark during the Nazi occupation and suffered terribly in prison before her return to the US was arranged in May 1942. She appeared at the Rhumboogie Café in the fall of 1943. Snow continued to record sporadically for small labels in the United States after World War II. The Chess brothers filed the session at the tail end of their U4300 matrix series, instead of their main U7000 series, which makes it harder to date.

Chess 1555 was a 78 and 45-rpm single released in late November 1953; according to Bill Daniels' research, it was mentioned in Billboard in the December 5 issue. We used to think that the session was done shortly after the Alberta Adams session, which took place in Detroit in July. But unless it was done out of town, the only real window during which it could have been made was while Snow was headlining at the Crown Propeller Lounge: her contract for 2 weeks there was accepted and filed by Local 208 on November 19. And it would have made sense to rush the single out, while she was still in town. If that was the marketing strategy, however, it didn't pay off; by all accounts Chess 1555 is extremely rare.

We identified the intstrumentalists by ear. We assume Valaida brought her trumpet to the session, but she doesn't play it on either of the issued sides. This would explain, at any rate, why Red didn't include Sonny Cohn or Fip Ricard. Mac Easton gets a solo on "I Ain't Gonna Tell." The guitarist, who solos on "If You Don't Mean It," sounds more like Ike Perkins than the "Mr. Four to the Bar" who appears on the Jo Jo Adams and Rockettes sessions.

The Chess session was Valaida's very last. She died in New York City on May 30, 1956.

38. Count Morris

Universal Recording, Chicago, December 20, 1953

53-127

Blues at Three

Vee-Jay 134, Lost Nite 264, Collectables 01431

Jørgen Jepsen's Jazz Records lists this session. But Jepsen credits Count Morris with vocals, and there aren't any! If Count Morris was on this instrumental at all, the best bet is that he played piano. In fact, Floyd Morris made his first record in early 1949 as a member of the Bob Perkins Trio (see our Planet page for details); he worked the clubs regularly during the 1950s, and played piano on a number of sessions in Chicago during the second half of the decade (he was a regular member of Johnny Pate's group--see the Eddie Johnson discography.) Leon Washington can be heard on tenor sax and Red is definitely on drums.

Vee-Jay 134 was a 45 and 78-rpm single, released in April 1955. The other side was "Tell the World" by the Dells, matrix 55-241, with a completely different band featuring Red Holloway (and not recorded till February 19, 1955, according to Flückiger's information). Lost Nite 264 was a 45-rpm single released in the 1960s, probably after the demise of Vee-Jay; Collectables 01431 is a 45-rpm reissue from the 1990s.

A single track like this from Vee-Jay would normally have been an instrumental cut during the remaining time on a vocal group session. In this case, however, just the one side seems to have been made. The Spaniels cut 53-124 "Do-Wah," 53-125 "You Don't Move Me," and 53-126 "Gerald Blues" a few days before this, but were accompanied by a band led by tenor saxophonist Al Pitts. The next Vee-Jay entries are 53-128, "Schooldays on My Mind," and 53-129, "Ain't Times Hard," by bluesman Floyd Jones (they were released on Vee-Jay 111). Jones was backed on these, as well as 53-130 and 131, by Snooky Pryor, Sunnyland Slim, Eddie Taylor, and Alfred Wallace, and the session didn't take place until February 3, 1954 (obviously somebody at Vee-Jay was tardy in switching from the 53- prefix to the 54-).

39. Red Saunders and his Orchestra

Universal Recording, Chicago, December 31, 1953

BL-54101	Summertime (Gershwin)	Blue Lake 101, Chess CHV 415, Bellaphon [G] BJS4032, Empire Musicwerks CD-N1
BL-54102	Riverboat (Clark Terry) [Listen to Riverboat]	Blue Lake 101, Chess CHV 415, Bellaphon [G] BJS4032, Empire Musicwerks CD-N1
53181?	Lawdy, Lucy [ens shouts]	Chess CHV 413, Bellaphon [G] BJS4031

Blue Lake 101 was a 78 and 45 rpm single released in January 1954. "Lawdy Miss Lucy" and perhaps another unknown title were intended for release on Blue Lake (they were assigned matrix numbers 53181 and 53182, according to Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier; LFP mistake these numbers from the main Parrot matrix series, which started at U53100 and skipped from a U53 prefix to a U55, for numbers in the Blue Lake series, which started at BL-54101).

After Parrot / Blue Lake went belly-up in 1956, Chess acquired (probably leased) a big batch of \masters from the company's last owner, John "Lawyer" Burton, in 1958 or 1959. Chess LP CHV 415 (released 1972) was titled Southside Jazz and CHV 413 (also released 1972), a compilation including Leo Parker, Sahib Shihab, and Red Saunders, was titled The Late Great King of the Baritone Sax. (The band shouts "Lawdy Miss Lucy" but the LP gives the title as "Lawdy, Lucy." The track was included because of Mac Easton's prominent baritone sax solo, in a style influenced by Leo Parker.) The Bellaphon issues (which are mentioned in Tom Lord's Jazz Discography) were German reissues of Chess material; dates and album titles unknown.

The date and personnel are from Joe Segal's liner notes to the Chess LP, CHV 415. The lineup fits the instrumentation that can be heard on the tracks, and was probably provided by Red Saunders himself. Leadbitter et al. supply incomplete instrumentation and no personnel, give two unknown titles for December 31, 1953, and refer to "Riverboat" and "Summertime" as 1954 recordings.

Sun Ra is not mentioned as the arranger in those notes, but Julian Vein has concluded that these were his arrangements. The arrangements are much more aggressively "modern" than anything the Saunders band committed to record earlier (except the interlude in "Voodoo Blues," and the two Jo Jo Adams sides that were done for Parrot in September). They appear to be Sunny's work from start to finish. According to Segal, the trombone soloist on "Summertime" is Marty Martinez, whereas Booby Floyd can be heard on "Riverboat."

The Clark Terry composition first appeared on record as "River Boat" on Flame 1003. Issued on a subsidiary of Franklin Kort's Swing Time label, the 78-rpm single came out in March 1952, according to a mention in the "R. & B. Beat" column in Billboard. There it was performed, in a very different arrangement, by a group led by guitarist Ike Perkins. Clark Terry was featured on trumpet, and Lonnie Simmons, whose composition "Organism" was used for the B side, played organ. Either Simmons or Perkins could have brought "Riverboat" to Saunders' attention.

There was one more Red Saunders appearance on Blue Lake--a session with R&B singer Ann Carter, which produced the label's rarest release on Blue Lake 103. We used to think these were made at the December 31, 1953 session (although 3 of the instrumentalists on that session would have had to lay out for the Carter tracks, which use a smaller ensemble than the Joe Williams sides do). And in fact in the list of Parrot and Blue Lake master tapes leased to Chess in 1958 or 1959, "Summertime" and "Riverboat" are shown as being in the same tape box as the two Ann Carter numbers--but the Carter tracks are attributed to Joe Williams! Most likely there were Joe Williams tracks from December 31, 1953 that were taken out and sold to Savoy in 1956, and the instrumental tracks from December 31 were later put in the same box as the Carter items. The tape box number, 2453, is consistent with a recording date around May 1954; December 31, 1953 would have yielded a tape box number around 2250.

40. Ann Carter

Released c. June 1954 on 78 and 45 rpm, Blue Lake 103 is nearly impossible to find today. Ann Carter was a tough-sounding R&B singer with pretty average vocal equipment. She made just one record for Al Benson, then was replaced in that role by Lou Mac. The reissue of "You Oughta Quit It" on two anthologies--a LP from the 1970s, Krazy Kat KK 7448, Tough Mamas, and the 15-CD bootleg from 2001, The International Music Company 220241/55, Rhythm & Blues Goes Rock 'n' Roll Volume 1, where the track can be found on CD 4—enables us to conclude that Red's band was responsible for the accompaniment on this session. "Lovin [sic] Daddy Blues" has never been reissued. All instrumental personnel were identified by ear.

Not long after the Ann Carter sides were recorded, the Red Saunders Band shed additional personnel. Sonny Cohn declared in his 1963 interview, "I stayed 11 years at the De Lisa with Red and for the last 7 years I was the only trumpet! We ended up as seven pieces" (Vacher, p. 5). This is not quite accurate, as it implies that the band cut back to one trumpet in 1951; the second trumpet player, Fip Ricard, actually left the band in 1954.

The anonymous 45-rpm version--lacking even a composer credit for Red Saunders. From the collection of Hubert Stowitschek.

41. Mercury All-Stars

Mercury Studios, Chicago, June 1954

YB10641	Adventures in Hi-Fi (Saunders)		Mercury 70385
YB10642	I Got Rhythm (Gershwin-Gershwin) -1		Mercury 70385

Discographies merely give 1954 as the date for this single; interpolation in the Mercury matrix number series indicates that the session took place in June of that year. (In the wax the prefix is YBU instead of YB; on the 45-rpm issue the prefix is YW)

The band is identified as the Mercury All-Stars on the 78-rpm issue. Mike Simpson is credited on both sides of the 78-rpm issues but is heard only on "I Got Rhythm." On the 45s that we have seen, there are absolutely no band or musician credits, just the words "Hi-Fi Demonstration Record"! Our thanks to Hubert Stowitschek for providing label shots of the 45.

Both sides are showcases for Saunders' drumming; no arrangements here! Red told entertainment writers in Chicago that these sides were two of his "greatest hits."

For his next session, Red returned to work with members of his band. The matrix numbers on the earlier Blue Lake releases are in pretty strict correspondence with the release numbers, affording few clues to the date of recording. However, the Walter Spriggs items from the next session were included in the Parrot/Blue Lake master tapes leased to Chess in 1958 and 1959, and the tape list that has survived gives 2914 as the number on the tape box. Since 2646 was by the Victorettes (recorded August 12, 1954) and 3139 was by Little Willy Foster (recorded January 14, 1955), we can give a rough estimate of the recording date.

42. Lou Mac / Walter Spriggs

Universal Recording, Chicago, c. October 1954

BL-54121	Come Back Little Daddy (McClinton-Call) -1 [LM voc]	Blue Lake 108
BL-54122	Hard to Get Along With (McClinton-Call) -1 [LM voc]	Blue Lake 108
BL-54123	I'm Not Your Fool Anymore (Spriggs) -2 [WS, FE voc]	Blue Lake 109, Relic 7027 [CD], Relic 7073 [CD]
BL-54124	Week End Man (Spriggs) -2 [WS, FE voc]	Blue Lake 109, Relic 7073 [CD]

Blue Lake was a 78 and 45 rpm single released in January 1955. Blue Lake 109 was a 78 and 45 rpm single released in late February 1955, according to Ferdie Gonzales. Relic 7027 was a CD released in 1992 under the title Rockin' at Midnight at the Parrot Club.

The personnel for the Five Echoes is taken from Pruter's Doowop: The Chicago Scene.

The instrumentalists were identified by ear. Lou Mac, an Al Benson discovery whose full name was Lou McClinton, was backed by a lineup of tenor and baritone saxes, piano, guitar, bass, and drums. Leon Washington solos on both of her sides. On the Walter Spriggs sides, Sonny Cohn's trumpet replaces the guitar.

Red's band quit recording for Parrot/Blue Lake after the Lou Mac/Walter Spriggs session, though he and some members of his group would return to the label as it was winding down, in December 1955. During 1954 and 1955, Earl and Leon Washington were involved in session work for the Theron label, though we don't know what was cause and what was effect.

By early 1955 the Red Saunders band may have contracted to just Sonny Cohn, Riley Hampton, Leon Washington, Mac Easton, and rhythm. However, a second trumpet player does seem to be on the next session. (Riley Hampton told Walter C. Allen (in Hendersonia) that he left Red in 1954, but his date appears to be too early.)

43. Billy Brooks | Red Saunder's Band [sic]^ / Billy Brooks | Red Saunders Orch.

Chicago, February 18, 1955

ACA3109	Mambo Is Everywhere (L. L. Lawrence)^ -1	Duke 142
ACA3110	Song of the Dreamer (Eddie "Tex" Curtis)^	Duke 142
ACA3111	Donna (L. Cox-E. Curtis)	Duke 145
ACA3112	I Want Your Love Tonight (Eddie "Tex" Curtis)^ -1 [Listen to I Want Your Love Tonight]	Duke 149
HHA 21201	This Is My Prayer (Don D. Robey [sic])^ -2	Duke 149

Here we have three singles (Duke 142, 145, and 149) not listed in Lord, Bruyninckx, or Leadbitter! They are listed in Jepsen's discography; however, Jepsen mentions only Brooks and Saunders in his personnel. Duke 142, and one side from 145 and 149, appear to have come from a 4-tune session with the Red Saunders band. (The flip side of 145 is from a different session with a different band; the flip of 149 includes the Saunders band and may be from the session of February 18, 1955.)

Dan Kochakian owns a copy of Duke 142, a 78 and 45-rpm single that was released in June 1955 (date provided by Bill Daniels' dating guide). The label states Houston, Texas, but that's where the Duke/Peacock home office was. The ACA prefix indicated that the sides were mastered at ACA Studios on Fannin Street in downtown Houston. Swiss jazz researcher Kurt Mohr says that Don Robey of Duke Records often supervised sessions in Chicago. Press clippings collected by Robert Pruter show that Billy Brooks was performing at the Club DeLisa in March and April 1954 (duly advertised in the Defender on March 13 and 20 and April 3). On July 10, Brooks was working Club Evergreen with a band led by Red Holloway. Galen Gart and Roy C. Ames, in Duke/Peacock Records: An Illustrated History with Discography (Milford, NH: Big Nickel Publications, p. 78) state that Don Robey flew to Chicago in February 1955 to record Brooks. However, the incomplete chronological list of Brooks sessions (which leaves out his first one for Duke/Peacock in 1953) identifies only the session of November 1, 1955 as done in Chicago. Clearly, however, the session of February 18, 1955 is the one they were referring to on page 78.

To nail the date down further, we know (from Gart and Ames, p. 222) that "Mambo Is Everywhere" and "Song of the Dreamer" were mastered for 45 and 78rpm on March 4, 1955, and remastered on April 11, 1955. "Donna" and "I Want Your Love Tonight" were mastered on August 3, 1955.

"Mambo Is Everywhere" has Latin rhythms of the sort favored by Sun Ra. "Song of the Dreamer" is a sentimental Country & Western tune of a sort that Ra is not known to have arranged (and while there is a potentially interesting alternation between a clarinet/bass clarinet trio and the standard sax section, the transition is rather gauchely handled). Gart and Ames (p. 78) state that the record was "only a moderate hit," but that the tune was covered by Johnnie Ray on Columbia and Eddie Fisher on RCA Victor, indicating commercial potential.

A second Billy Brooks single, on Duke 145 (78 rpm), is now in the collection of Armin Büttner. It was probably released in August or September 1955. Side A, "Donna," is credited to Billy Brooks / Red Saunders Orch. "Donna" does not use the clarinets, but it is a sentimental tune related to "Song of the Dreamer" and Sunny's involvement seems unlikely. (The title, according to Gart and Ames, was originally "I Want to Be with Donna.")

Side B of Duke 145, "I'm Gone," is a fast boogie credited to Billy Brooks and his Orchestra. (The composition is credited to Don Robey, the owner of Duke/ Peacock, an attribution that should be taken with a grain of salt.) All indications are that this is a different band, with a solo by a tenor player who is much grittier than Leon Washington. The guitarist could be Ike Perkins, however. The matrix number is ACA3028, which indicates an earlier session. In fact, Gart and Ames (p. 221) show that "I'm Gone" (which was not mastered till August 17, 1955) did come from an earlier session, presumably on November 23, 1954. The other three titles from this session (ACA3029, "Be My Baby"; ACA3030, "Then I Can Live"; ACA 3031, "From Midnight till Morning") were never released. Alvin Fielder says that he was drumming on many of Duke's studio sessions in Houston at the time; he may well be on these sides.

A copy of Duke 149 is now in the collection of Armin Büttner. On the evidence of the matrix numbers, ACA3112 ("I Want Your Love Tonight") is from the same session with Red Saunders. The flip side, HHA 21201 ("This Is My Prayer"), would seem from the matrix to be from a different session (not clear which one, but Brooks recorded for Duke on October 28 and November 1, 1955, and did his final session for the label on February 26, 1957). However, both sides of Duke 149 credit the accompaniment to Red Saunder's Band [sic], and the band sounds the same on both sides. (However, there is no guitar on "This Is My Prayer," and the pianist doubles on celeste.) Leon Washington solos on "I Want Your Love," and there are 8 bars for Riley Hampton on "Prayer," while Mac Easton is prominent in the backing on both. "I Want" is a mambo that could have been arranged by Sun Ra. For now, "This Is My Prayer" is included with the February 18, 1955 session; if it came from a later session, other material including the Red Saunders band ought to materialize.

The personnel were identified by ear, assuming non-catastrophic turnover since the last Joe Williams session. Fip Ricard left the band on November 10, 1954, according to Otto Flückiger's notes, so trumpet #2 must be someone else. Mac Easton recorded with Gene Ammons for Prestige in Hackensack, New Jersey, on November 26, 1954 and February 8, 1955, but is not known to have made any other excursions out of town. (Armin Büttner believes that Mac is present on "Donna," and he would have had time to return to Chicago for this session.)

From remarks by Gart and Ames, it appears that vocalist Carl van Moon also recorded in Chicago on February 18, 1955 for Duke/Peacock. The accompaniment was by Johnny Board's band, however, with arrangements by Johnny Pate.

Red's next project was an ambitious LP featuring Ghanaian drummer Guy Warren. The results were highly revelatory, as far as Red's drumming went, but the "Red Saunders Orchestra" was actually a group of White studio musicians assembled by pianist Gene Esposito, who had had a working relationship with Warren for some time. Most of the Chicago-based musicians remain obscure, but Esposito had a long career on the local scene, as did guest violinist Johnny Frigo. At the time, Jerry Friedman and Billy Gaeto were seen as up and coming "modernists" (i.e., beboppers).

44. Guy Warren with Red Saunders Orchestra under direction of Gene Esposito

Universal Recording, Chicago, early 1955

100728	Africa Speaks (Warren) -1 [GW, ens voc]	Decca DL 8446, Brunswick [Fr, Gr] 10115EPB
100737	Ode to a Stream (Warren) -2	Decca DL 8446
100732	Duet (Warren) [3 drummers only]	Decca DL 8446, Brunswick [Fr, Gr] 10115EPB
100736	Eyi Wala Dong (My Thanks to God) (Warren) -3 [GW voc]	Decca DL 8446, Decca 30352, Decca 9-30352
100735	Monkies [sic] and Butterflies (Warren) -4 [GW, ens voc; GW, females voc]	Decca DL 8446, Decca 30352, Decca 9-30352
100733	J.A.I.S.I. (Jazz as I See It) (Warren) -5 [GW, ens voc]	Decca DL 8446
100734	Invocation of the Horned Viper (Warren) -6 [GW voc]	Decca DL 8446, Brunswick [Fr, Gr] 10115EPB
100731	Chant (Warren) -7 [GW, ens voc]	Decca DL 8446
100738	My Minuet (Warren) -8	Decca DL 8446
100729	The High Life (Warren-Esposito) -9 [GW, GE voc]	Decca DL 8446, Brunswick [Fr, Gr] 10115EPB
100739	The Eyes of a Fawn (Warren) -10	Decca DL 8446
100730	Fr-ed-To-ne (Warren) -11 [GW voc]	Decca DL 8446

Guy Warren was a drummer and percussionist from Ghana. He had changed his name before, and would eventually change it again, to Kofi Ghanaba. He was born on April 4, 1923, in what was then called the Gold Coast. His full name at birth was Kpakpo Kofi Warren Gamaliel Harding Akwei. When he was seven, visiting sailors taught him how to dance the Charleston. In his late teens, he was given a record player and an Artie Shaw 78 by a British army officer. He studied music theory at Achimota College, but quit in 1943 and made his way to New York, when he worked briefly with jazz trombonist Miff Mole. For the next several years, he played in combos in Accra. In 1950, he joined a couple of former bandmates in London, where he worked extensively with British jazz musicians. On returning to West Africa, he took groups to Nigeria and Liberia and became the first DJ in Liberia.

On his second trip to the US, Warren arrived in Chicago in 1954 and was on hand for Charlie Parker's February 1955 gig at the Bee Hive (he appeared in the very last known photo of Bird, and stated in his autobiography that Bird had invited him to make a concert appearance in New York). Decca DL 8446 was the first in a series of Afro-jazz recordings that Warren would make in the 1950s. After recording with Red Saunders, Warren was briefly featured with the Duke Ellington band, but scuffled during his remaining time in Chicago. After moving to New York City, he made an LP for RCA in 1958, and another one for Decca in 1959. He returned to Ghana in 1959, then traveled to India and Britain in the 1960s. According to Val Wilmer, in 1963 he published an autobiography. He recorded two more LPs for English Columbia (1963 and 1968) and a final LP for Regal Zonophone (1972); the sessions for these were done in London. Thanks to Gilbert Hsiao for information on his recordings; the Da Capo Guide to Contemporary African Music calls Guy Warren the "spiritual father of Afro-beat."

Africa Speaks--America Answers! was released by May 1955, when Down Beat ran a review of the album by Nat Hentoff, who liked almost everything about it but the cover. Warren did not garner a lot of jazz gigs afterwards, which may explain a weirdly delayed item in the Chicago Defender. Appearing to announce the LP's availablity, the story came out on September 22, 1956. Our best guess is that Red Saunders placed it for him in the Defender, which would have been inclined to do him a favor because it could count on weekly ads from the Club DeLisa.

We got our personnel and details from the liners to the orginal LP (which include notes by Red himself). The matrix numbers are taken from Tom Lord's Jazz Discography; we've left the tracks in the order in which they were placed on the LP so we won't have to change the complicated system of numerical tags for the instrumentation. Naponelli's name is spelled "Naponneli" by Decca. Bruyninckx' discography mentions an unidentified alto sax player, and Saunders' liners never give the altoist's name. We note that alto and baritone are never on the same track together and that there is only one appearance by the baritonist, which lends credence to the supposition that Colbert was doubling.

Africa Speaks--America Answers! appeared in the USA as Decca DL8446. It was also released on LP in Australia, with a different cover (apparently someone didn't think Red looked African enough, so the company replaced his photo with a second one of Guy Warren.) Walter Bruyninckx listed Decca 10115 as an LP, but as Tom Lord's entry makes clear, it was in fact a 4-track EP, issued in both France and West Germany. Decca 30352 and 9-30352 were singles released in the 1950s. The LP has not been reissued on CD; clearly, this is a missed opportunity.

Although Red Saunders did not get another opportunity to record with an African drummer, he would put his experience with Guy Warren to good use, in some of his educational activities during the second half of the 1960s.

From 1970 onwards, Guy Warren spent most of his time in Ghana. In the late 1970s, he changed his name to Kofi Ghanaba. During his last years, he converted to Buddhism and lived in a village called Midie outside of Accra, performing in public on rare occasions. He also completed a second autobiography, which has yet to see publication. His last concert took place in Accra in September 2008, and he died on December 22 of that year.

Red also picked up some session work at the emerging Vee-Jay label in 1955, appearing on two sessions that we know of.

45. The Rhythm Aces

Universal Recording, Chicago, c. March 1955

55-258	Whisper to Me	Vee-Jay 138, Solid Smoke LP 8030, Famous Groove 971010 [CD], Collectables CD 7204
55-259	Flippety Flop	Vee-Jay 160
55-260	Olly, Olly, Atsen, Free	Vee-Jay 138
55-261	That's My Sugar -1	Vee-Jay 160, Solid Smoke LP 8030
55-261	That's My Sugar [alt.] -1	Vee-Jay NVD2-715 [CD], Famous Groove 971010 [CD]

Our basic session information from Robert Ferlingere's Discography of Rhythm and Blues and Rock 'n Roll Vocal Groups, Volume 2(2nd ed., 1992), with help from the Vee-Jay Master Book. "That's My Sugar" was a remake of a track recorded at the group's previous session. According to Ferlingere, Vee-Jay 138 was a 45-rpm single released in May 1955. There are also East Coast "repros" of Vee-Jay 138 in black plastic. Vee-Jay 160 was released in November 1955.

Solid Smoke LP 8030, released in 1984, was titled 15 Cool Jewels and consisted of Vee-Jay material by the Magnificents and the Rhythm Aces. Vee-Jay Limited Partnership NVD2-715, A Taste of Doowop Volume 3, was released in 1993. Famous Grove 971010, Vee Jay Doo Wop: A Long Time Ago, Volume 3, was issued in 1997. Collectables CD 7204, Vee-Jay Rhythm & Blues: The Early Years Part One, is a compilation from 2000.

We got our personnel for the Rhythm Aces from Pruter's Doowop: The Chicago Scene. "Whisper to Me" has Stewart and House in the lead; "Olly, Olly" and "Flippety Flop" are led by House, and "That's My Sugar" is a pure group vocal.

The instrumentalists were identified by ear. The band is clearly a Red Saunders aggregation: check out the accompaniment to "That's My Sugar," which mixes bop and swing riffing. Note also the flourish by Red at the end of "Whisper to Me," which has no other instrumental solos--indeed, the horns subtone throughout. "Flippety Flop" has a trombone solo, probably by Marty Martinez. The tenor sax solo on "Olly, Olly" is not by Leon Washington--it sounds like Porter Kilbert on tenor. (This is one of just two Red Saunders band recordings not to include Leon Washington--the other came in 1956 when Paul Bascomb was featured on tenor sax.) "That's My Sugar" has a slightly rough but enthusiastic trumpet solo that combines bop with an Eldridge rasp--Fip Ricard is the obvious suspect, even though he was no longer a regular with Red by this time.

The Rhythm Aces rehearsed with Sun Ra in 1954-1955, and used some of his charts (mostly standards) during their nightclub engagements. There is no sign of Sunny on their recordings, however... Their first session for Vee-Jay was done in November 1954 with a quintet of tenor sax, guitar, piano, bass, and drums. No sign of Red Saunders involvement on that one.

By the time of the next session, Riley Hampton was probably not working with Red at the DeLisa any more. However, he was called upon for studio work on occasion.

46. Ben Imon

Universal Recording, Chicago, November 10, 1955

55-361	I Really Love You (Benimon)		Vee-Jay 177
55-362	Down in the Country (Benimon)		Vee Jay 177, Vee-Jay NVD2-718 [CD]

Our session information comes from the Mohr-Flückiger-Demeusy files. The horn lineup is most unusual for sessions of this type; judging from "Down in the Country," Riley Hampton plays harmonies and stays in the background. "Down in the Country" features a full chorus solo on the AABA tune: Mac Easton takes a long solo on the A sections, giving unusual emphasis to his upper register, and Lefty is entrusted with the bridge. This is a major addition to Mac's solography. MFD also provide confirmation that Jimmy Richardson was still Red's regular bassist at this date.

Vee-Jay 177 was a 78 and 45 rpm single released at the time. Few copies were pressed and it remains extremely rare. Since "Down in the Country" is really a Swing number, sung in a nimble, pop singer's baritone, the session was probably doomed commercially. Bob McGrath's reference volume The R&B Indies mentions it under the singer's real name, William Benimon.

"Down in the Country" was reissued on Vee-Jay NVD2-718, A Taste of the Blues Volume Two. This various-artists collection was issued in 1993, in a series supervised by Billy Vera.

47. Leon Tarver* / Benson-Ogletree

Universal Recording, Chicago, late December 1955

BL55-281	Somebody Help Me*	Blue Lake 118
BL55-282	Oh Baby I'm Blue*	Blue Lake 118
55-283	I Know, I Know*	unissued
55-284	Tell It like It Is	Parrot 822, Empire Musicwerks CD-N1
55-285	Uptown Stomp	Parrot 822, Empire Musicwerks CD-N1

Parrot 822 was a single, sold in both 45 and 78 rpm. It was the last Parrot single to be issued before Al Benson sold the company to John "Lawyer" Burton in March 1956. The exact date of issue is not known but it was after December 1955.

Judging from a list of Parrot tapes that came into the hands of Chess Records in 1958-1959, these sides were cut at the last session to be recorded while Benson still ran Parrot. These sides carry a later tape box number from Universal than the Henry Gray and Jody Williams (Little Papa Joe) sessions of December 8 and 9, 1955.

The tape list also puts three tracks by singer Leon Tarver in the same box with the Benson-Ogletree sides. A listen to Tarver's two released sides, on Blue Lake 118 confirms that the Benson-Ogletree musicians accompanied his soul-blues singing.

The "Benson" on the label is Al Benson, but he does not sing or narrate on either of these sides. Ogletree had fronted a Swing band for Benson during the last days of the New Savoy Ballroom, in the summer of 1948 (see the Old Swing-Master page for more about this), and this session may have been an oblique commemoration of the old band. Lord's Jazz Discography gives no personnel beyond Bill Ogletree and misrenders one title as "Liptown Stomp."

We initially heard the instrumentals from a dub of a 78 in Mike Kredinac's collection. In December 2002, they were reissued on Empire Musicwerks CD-N1, a collection of Parrot/Blue Lake jazz sides titled Jukebox Jazz! From the Southside of Chicago.

We identified the musicians besides Ogletree by ear. Both sides are forthright, bluesy R&B, with strong piano work by Earl Washington. Bill Ogletree solos on both sides, as might be expected from the leader. Sax Mallard solos on both sides as well, and the tenorist has a solo on "Tell It like It Is." We used to think the tenor player was Red's old standby, Leon Washington, but Armin Büttner has convinced us that he doesn't exhibit Leon's tone or phrasing. The pronounced growl that the tenorist employs on "Tell It like It Is" strongly suggests Cliff Davis, who was making a lot of sessions with Al Smith during this period, and may have been brought in for rock and roll flavoring.

Blue Lake 118, consisting of two slow blues sung in an incipient soul style, was released in February 1956. The accompanists are very well recorded; Richardson's bass and Saunders' drums make quite an impact, but there are no solos for anyone and the the three horns stick to R&B riffing with a little Swing thrown in. By the time the record was released, the sale of the label must have been imminent, because the publishing company listed for both of Leon Tarver's tunes is Burton Ltd.

48. St. Louis Jimmy

Chicago, March or April 1956

B 823	Going Down Slow (Oden)		Parrot 823, Relic LP 8025, Document DOCD 5235
B 824	Murder in the First Degree ("Burton"-Oden)		Parrot 823, Relic LP 8025, Document DOCD 5235

The details are from Leadbitter and Slaven's Blues Records, p. 304. However, Leadbitter and Slaven give the recording date as 1955. Research into trade magazine advertisements for Parrot, reproduced in the Gart volumes, shows that Parrot 823 was a single (both 78 and 45 rpm) released in June 1956. This release date is three months after Al Benson sold Parrot and Blue Lake to John "Lawyer" Burton! It had been assumed that all Parrots appeared before Benson sold the label, but in fact Burton had a brief fling with active record company managment. (Burton later announced two LP releases of Parrot material on a company called Burtone, but nothing ever came of these). Clearly the B prefix on the matrix number indicates Burtonian origin; all previous Parrot releases had uses different matrix series. (The matrix numbers on the label of this single are B 223 and 224 instead of the B 823 and 824 in the vinyl.)

Parrot 823 was the last single on its label; it was accompanied by a June 1956 Lou Mac release on Blue Lake 119, which was the last on that label. The session is sometimes given a 1955 recording date, but sessions under Benson's direction continued well into December 1955, and the Burtonian matrix numbers suggest that this session was cut after he bought the company.

LS do not specify the horns, saying only that "brass" was present. A check of a copy in Dan Kochakian's collection reveals the presence of trumpet, alto sax, tenor sax, and baritone sax. The only horn solos are by the tenor saxophonist, who gets spots on both sides. We used to think that this was Leon Washington, but Yves Smierciak has contended that the solos sounded like Paul Bascomb's work, and now that we are more familiar with Bascomb's Chicago-period recordings we are inclined to agree. Bascomb had broken up his own larger band at this point, and was appearing with an organ trio at the Esquire Club (which would remain his steady gig until 1971). The guitarist does not sound like either Ike Perkins or Lefty Bates; maybe Bascomb brought him along.

Relic LP 8025 was issued in the 1980s (thanks to Dan Kochakian for finding this one). Document DOCD 5235 is a CD issued in 1997 under the title St. Louis Jimmy Oden, Complete Recorded Works Vol 2: 1944-1955. (The Document compilers thought that this session was cut in 1955.)

49. Lou Mac

Chicago, March or April 1956

B 825 (B-225 on label)	Take Your Trouble to a Friend (Burton-Klein)		Blue Lake 119
B 826 (B-226 on label)	Move Me (Willie Dixon)		Blue Lake 119

These two sides by singer Lou Mac have the same backing as the two by St. Louis Jimmy; they may well have been cut at the same session. However, the guitarist sounds different from the guitarist on the St. Louis Jimmy sides. Thanks to collector Mike Kredinac for CD dubs for both sides.

The demise of Parrot / Blue Lake left Red without a steady record company affiliation in Chicago. He would never have another one, though he appeared on occasional sessions for another 2 decades.

Red Saunders would continue at the Club DeLisa until it folded. As a great wave of rock and roll swept across the musc business, the Red Saunders Band was no longer in demand for recording dates, even though some of the members (Sonny Cohn, Booby Floyd, Leon Washington, Earl Washington, and especially Mac Easton) continued to get studio calls individually. The Red Saunders Orchestra on the Guy Warren LP had actually been a group of White musicians assembled by Gene Esposito. However, the two sessions by pop vocalist Jean Swan do seem to have used Red's current band (beefed up for the studio gig, instead of being slimmed down as was so often the case in the late 1940s and early 1950s). They were the last sessions to do so.

50. Jean Swan

Universal Recording, Chicago, 1956

12761	What Happens when the Sun Goes Down -1		Mercury 70814
12762	I'm Not Alone -2		Mercury 70814

We got skeletal session information from Michel Ruppli, The Mercury Label. Jean Swan appeared with the Red Saunders band at the New Club DeLisa in December 1955 (as per a Chicago Defender ad) and appeared in further shows at the club during 1956. The personnel for Red Saunders' band has been filled in on the assumption that his working band was being employed in the studio for this date (there are no solos or features for anyone in the band except very briefly for the organist and pianist; besides, the schmaltzy arrangements would give little indication of anyone's identity). Lonnie Simmons was at the DeLisa from 1950 through April 1956. He filed a contract for 6 weeks at Stelzer's Lounge on May 17, according to the Local 208 contract list; Simmons posted another indefinite contract with that establishment on October 4. Mercury 70814 was a single released at the time.

51. Jean Swan

Universal Recording, Chicago, prob. later 1956

13059	Dear Love		Mercury 70866
13060	Forget You Never		Mercury 70866

Our information is again drawn from Ruppli. Mercury 70866 was a single released at the time.

During the 1950s, Jo Ann Henderson sang regularly at the Club DeLisa. She was also Red Saunders' mistress during the 1950s and 1960s, and Red managed her career. Billboard from December 1957 reports: "Wally Phillips' 'Teen Club' show with WGN-TV hosted Joan [sic] Henderson, a sensational new artist with a new label, PHONOGRAPH. With Joan were her manager, Red Saunders, and Paul Gallis and Porky Panico for PHONOGRAPH Records." An item in the Chicago Defender for December 11, 1957 reports on the record, "Baby Please Don't Go" b/w "Leave Me Alone." The accompaniment is credited to trumpeter "'Porkie' Panico and his famous band." Red Saunders is described as a co-partner in the International Artists Inc. Booking Agency, and is quoted as saying that both sides are designed to "make a big noise in record circles." The record is said to have been recently released. It does not appear, however, that Red played on it.

The last Club DeLisa advertisement, in the Chicago Defender, January 25, 1958, p. 16.

The Club DeLisa was now sliding into its final decline. On January 2, 1957, Mike DeLisa, the oldest of the four DeLisa brothers, died of a heart attack. For several months during the year, the club experimented with using two house bands; the other ensemble was a Latin band led by Juan Soler, "The Mambo King." But Soler was eventually dropped. The on January 1, 1958, Louie DeLisa succumbed to a heart attack. Although James and John DeLisa remained, the club would not recover. From December 27, 1957 through January 2, 1958, the Red Saunders band did the holiday season show at the Regal Theater, with Percy Mayfield, the Ravens, Jackie Wilson, Billy "the Kid" Emerson, the Five Satins, and others. The last Club DeLisa advertisement to mention Red and his band--the last Club DeLisa advertisement of any kind, after nearly 24 years--appeared in the Defender on January 25, 1958. The club brought Lonnie Simmons back for January, but to no avail; on January 11 and 18th, Red's name was actually left out of the advertisements, probably by accident, since the nightclub roundups in the Defender still mentioned his name. Early in February, the club shut down (a fact finally acknowledged in a Defender story of March 15).

The DeLisa held one last breakfast dance; Lonnie Simmons helped to bring down the house lights afterward. The occasion was commemorated in a brief article in Jet magazine:

After his unplanned vacation, Red picked up a job at one of his old haunts, the Brass Rail in the Loop (indefinite contract filed on March 6, 1958). Soon he found a new home at what had been the DeLisa's main rival in its last years. On his opening night at Roberts Show Lounge, on July 9, 1958, his band backed Dakota Staton. On October 2, he filed an indefinite contract with the club; on December 18, he filed a contract for another 11 days.

Red continued with Herman Roberts' club into the new year, filing another contract for 2 weeks on January 8, 1959. In April he took an extended gig at Jane's Hideaway (filed on April 2, the contract called for the unusually precise figure of 6 weeks and 2 days). On June 2, he filed a contract for a week at the Tivoli Theater. Thereafter Red took over the house band at the Regal Theater. He remained as bandleader for the majority of the shows at the Regal until early 1967. The Regal (Chicago's counterpart to the Apollo) finally closed its doors in 1968.

Some of Red's musicians would remain with him after the DeLisa shut down. Sonny Cohn left to join Count Basie in March 1960 (he had briefly subbed a few months earlier). Cohn would play first trumpet in the Basie band for more than 30 years, remaining after the leader's death in 1984. He was also the band's road manager for a time. Fip Ricard would be back with Saunders in 1961 and again (after his own briefer stint with Basie) in 1964-1965. Leon Washington took a full-time job with the Musicians Union in 1963, after his and Red's efforts had led to a partial merger of the two segregated Union locals. Leon died on Febuary 19, 1973. Porter Kilbert, after several years as a freelance musician and a moderately successful combo leader, died in Chicago on October 23, 1960; he was only 39. We do not know exactly when Earl Washington left the band; he made a series of recordings for the Formal and Jazz Workshop labels in the early 1960s, and performed at the Playboy Club among other venues. Earl Washington suffered a heart attack and died on January 16, 1975. Walter Cole continued to play bass with Red will into the 1960s. Riley Hampton told Walter C. Allen that he had hung up his alto saxophone in 1957; more likely it was 1959, but in any case his focus switched to arranging and directing recording sessions, in which roles he was active at both Vee-Jay and Chess from the late 1950s into the mid-1960s. Mac Easton would continue to be a mainstay with Red for several more years.

Meanwhile, other proven veterans, such as tenor saxophonists Lucius Washington and Neal Green and pianist Prentice McCarey, took jobs with Red when opportunities permitted.

Early in 1960, after more than a decade without Union problems, Red Saunders found himself in front of the Board of Local 208, American Federation of Musicians, and its formidable president, Harry Gray (all references are from the Board minutes for March 17). For two weeks starting February 19, 1960, his band had backed Josephine Baker in a show at the Regal. La Baker demanded strings, which posed a problem since Red didn't usually work with them and Local 208 didn't have a slew of violinists in its membership. Saunders therefore recruited some from Local 10 (i.e., White musicians), an act that distinctly displeased Local 208's leadership.

The Board's displeasure was heightened because of a more recent incident, in which Red and band had agreed to work a 6-day week followed by a 4-day week at Roberts' Show Club accompanying Billy Eckstine--which put them in violation of the five-day week that the Chicago locals had adopted in 1951. The Board was not inclined to treat these as equivalent to two 5-day weeks; the 6-day week, from March 8 through 13, was not allowed without special dispensation from the Board. To make things worse, Red and his band had taken on a special early show on March 13 (at 6 PM) for a club that was using the nightery for their affair. Roberts was told that he would have to hire a different band for such an event, and pay them on the "miscellaneous scale," which would cost more. Roberts was allowed to keep Red and band for the 4-day engagement (March 17 through 20) but told to pay them for 5 days, and to clear all "matinees" at his club through the President's office. And the Board fined Saunders $100 for breaking the "Five-day Week Law," but held the fine in abeyance for 6 months.

Would a bandleader with Red's 23 years of experience--and his level of business acumen--have taken kindly to being called on the carpet, fined, and lectured by the Board of Local 208?

Later in 1960 Red was able to link up with King Kolax for their second recording session together, backing a singer named "Hifi" White. White, then enjoying a long run at McKie's Disc Jockey Lounge, was regularly featured in smaller Chicago clubs during the 1960s. Around 1966 he began to promote concerts and dances.

52. Wilbur "Hi-Fi" White and King Kolax Band

Chicago, August 1960

101	Don't Look Now (White-Kolax-McCarey) -1		Bandera 3301, Wolf 120.297 [CD]
102	In the Center of My Heart (White-Kolax-McCarey) -2		Bandera 3301

Bandera was a small label on the South Side of Chicago, run by Vi Muszynski. Bandera 3301 was a 45-rpm single released probably in late 1960. Information about the original release (including the personnel list) is taken the from the Mohr-Flückiger-Demeusy Files. MFD identify the bassist simply as "Chippie"; Walter Cole was Saunders' regular bassist during this period (in 1953, he went as Walt Champion; see above).

There is a prominent flute part on "In the Center of My Heart"; since Johnny Board doubled on flute with Lionel Hampton's big band we've concluded he is responsible. On "Don't Look Now" Johnny Board has a tenor sax solo.

In the 1990s, "Don't Look Now" was reissued on an Austrian CD, Wolf 120.197 [CD], The La Salle Chicago Blues Recordings Volume II. Wolf says that the accompaniment is by a King Kolax band, but gives the date as 1959 and credits Armand "Jump" Jackson with playing the drums. The source of the confusion is that Jump Jackson produced the session for Bandera. Indeed, Wolf gives no release number for "Don't Look Now" on the La Salle label, and the track on the Wolf collection is the exact same one that we know from the Bandera single.

Junie C. Cobb at 35th and Calumet, 1961. From the collection of Chris Albertson

In 1961, Red Saunders began a recorded association with veteran Chicago jazzman Junie C. Cobb, who actually played in his Regal Theater band for a time. Cobb was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, around 1896. He was leading his own band in Chicago in 1920 and first appeared on record in 1928. Junie Cobb was a true multi-instrumentalist who at various times recorded on clarinet, tenor sax, violin, piano, and banjo; he could also play trumpet and drums. Red had worked with his brother Jimmy Cobb in the early 1930s. The singer on the Riverside date, Annabel Calhoun, was Cobb's girlfriend; he had been her accompanist since the 1930s.

Red's first session with Junie Cobb was done for Cobb's own Golden Rule label. It is extremely obscure; we know about it only because it was mentioned in a 1961 article about the artist.

53. Junie Cobb and His Grains of Corn

This single was mentioned in Björn Englund's article "Introducing Junie Cobb," which ran in Jazz Journal, Volume 14, issue 8 (August 1961). Here's what Englund had to say:

In his liners to the Junie Cobb LP that he produced for Riverside, Chris Albertson mentions "...a friend who had just returned from that city brought me a thoroughly obscure 45 rpm single by 'Junie Cobb and His Grains of Corn'." This is a group name that Cobb had used back in 1928 and 1929. Albertson also mentions that Leon Washington soloed on the single. (Our thanks to Yves Fran¸ois Smierciak for alerting us to this information.)

Junie C. Cobb and Annabel Calhoun. From the collection of Chris Albertson.

Red went on to make a second session with Junie Cobb that has attained much wider circulation.

54. Junie Cobb's New Hometown Band

Chicago, September 8, 1961

376	I'm Gonna Have You [AC voc] -1, 2	Riverside RLP415, OJCCD 1825
377	Just because of You [JC, AC voc] -2	Riverside RLP415, OJCCD 1825
378	Be Mine -1	Riverside RLP415, OJCCD 1825
379	Once or Twice -1	Riverside RLP415, OJCCD 1825
380	Belligerent Blues [AC voc] -2	Riverside RLP415, OJCCD 1825
381	Mister Blues -2	Riverside RLP415, OJCCD 1825
382	Swing Your Hurdy Gurdy -1, 2	Riverside RLP415, OJCCD 1825
383	Just Squeeze Me [AC voc] -1	Riverside RLP415, OJCCD 1825

Fip Ricard accurately described the lineup and the circumstances in his 1964 interview (he was a last-minute replacement for Bill Martin, who was playing in Dixieland bands at that point in his career). Ricard, Floyd, Leon Washington, and Cole were all regulars in Saunders' band at the Regal Theater when this session was cut. Floyd would leave in 1966 to join Count Basie.

Our basic session information comes from Lord. Riverside RLP 415 was an LP released in 1962; there was a stereo release that same year as RS9415, according to the Goldmine Guide to Collectable Jazz Records, 2nd edition. There is a 1990s CD reissue in the Original Jazz Classics series, OJCCD 1825. Lord's personnel list refers to "Fortunatus Richard" on trumpet and "Harlem Floyd" on trombone (Riverside has "Harlen"); Lord is also unsure whether the bassist was named Walter Cole or Walter Hill. In fact, Walter Cole (who sometimes went as Walt Champion--are you confused yet?) began working with Red in 1953 and became Red's regular bassist after Jimmy Richardson left the band. The clarinet and tenor sax credits for Leon Washington (who, along with Cobb, is the dominant soloist on the date) were done by ear. It is worth noting that Red Saunders took drum breaks on "Swing Your Hurdy Gurdy," "Once or Twice," and "Just because of You"; these are his last known drum solos on record (though he did get a drum break on his TV show from 1974).

Reflecting on the Cobb session, which was part of a "Living Legends" series for Riverside, Chris Albertson comments, "I wish I had done a Saunders session as well" (email, January 12, 2005).

In 1962, Junie Cobb joined a Dixieland band led by veteran drummer Jasper Taylor. He died in obscurity around 1970.

On March 20, 1963, while still working the Regal, Saunders led a successful campaign to get black musicians admitted to the all-white Musicians Union Local 10 in Chicago. For a detailed history of the struggle to integrate the Musicians Union in Chicago, see Charles Walton's history in Bronzeville Conversations. While Red and his supporters wanted to do their part for the Civil Rights movement, it is clear that they also wanted to get out from under the autocratic regime of Harry Gray, who had controlled Local 208 since 1937.

While the multi-year contention between the two union locals was going on, Red landed an opportunity to do another blues session in the studio, for the USA label. By this time saxophonist Neal Green was working regularly with Red. Trumpeter Billy Brimfield is best known to jazz fans as the usual front-line partner of avant-grade tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson.

55. Willie Mabon* / Willie Mabon with Red Saunders Band

Chicago, October 29, 1964

862	Lonesome Blue Water (M. Neal)	USA 787*
863	Some Time I Wonder (M. Neal)	USA 787*
RK3M-6368	Something for Nothing	USA 805
RK3M-6373	Baby Sweets	USA 805

USA 787 was a 45-rpm single, probably released around the end of 1964. The labels on USA 787 give Willie Mabon's name only. Al Perkins is listed as the producer on USA 787. "Some Time I Wonder" [sic] is still another sequel to "I Don't Know."

USA 805 was a 45-rpm single released in 1965, judging from the R-series matrix numbers, which indicate that pressing was handled by RCA Victor. USA 805 may have credited the Red Saunders Band, as mentioned by Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier; to be researched.

Our source is Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier, Blues Records 1943-1970: L-Z (published 1994). LFP spell Green's first name as "Neil."

After his gig at the Regal ended, Red spent several months in 1967 putting on the "Evolution of Jazz" shows in the Chicago public schools: these included African drumming by Roger McCall, spirituals by the Hutchinson family, blues singing and guitar playing by Bobby King, piano by Lil Hardin Armstrong, demonstrations of Dixieland with Art Hodes on piano, big band music, and "avant garde" (well, by Red's standards!) with tenor saxophonist Vernice "Bunky" Green. 23 performers were involved and the show was done at 12 different high schools. At this point in his career, Red was moving toward directing and conducting, often leaving the drumming to others.

Red Saunders and the "Look at Africa" band. From left to right: Neal Green, saxes and flute; Johnnie Boyd, saxes and flute; LeRoy Jackson, bass; Red Saunders, leader and drums; Prentice McCarey, piano; Luther Brown, probably percussion; and Rostelle Reese, trumpet. From the Chicago Defender, December 2, 1968, p. 14; photo courtesy of Brian Neal Green.

In the Fall of 1968, Red put together a smaller ensemble which presented a 45-minute show called "A Look at Africa" in schools on the South and West sides of Chicago. A dance group from Waller High School appeared with them (to choreography by Katherine Dunham), along with vocalist Jo Ann Henderson. Besides Red, who got to put his experience with Guy Warren to good use, the band consisted of Rostelle Reese (trumpet); Cornelius Lee "Neal" Green (saxes and flute); Johnnie Boyd (saxes and flute); Prentice McCarey (piano); LeRoy Jackson (bass); and Luther Brown (prob. percussion).

Red also worked with traditional jazz pianist Art Hodes in 1968 (including a performance at the New Orleans Jazz Festival).

Subsequently, Red Saunders went into business as a booking agent, though he continued to lead big bands when demand warranted (as in an outdoor concert in Summer 1973 that was covered in the Chicago Defender, and on a 1974 TV show that has been preserved). Red often hired other drummers for these gigs, and adapted to conditions by using electric bass and electronic keyboards.

Red's final studio sessions stem from a long affiliation with blues pianist Eurreal "Little Brother" Montgomery.

56. Little Brother Montgomery Trio | Jeanne Carroll acc. by the Little Brother Montgomery Trio

Chicago, December 6, 1968

FM1001A	New Vicksburg Blues -1	FM Records 1001, Matchbox SDR213
FM1001B	Oh Daddy -1	FM Records 1001, Matchbox SDR213
	Brother Red's Boogie	FM Records 1002, Matchbox SDR213, Earwig LP4918, Earwig CD4918
	Mini Skirt Blues -2	FM Records 1002, Earwig LP4918, Earwig CD4918

FM was a record label operated by Little Brother Montgomery and his wife. FM Records 1001 and 1002 were 45-rpm singles released at the time. Matchox SDR213 was a British LP. Earwig LP4918 and CD4918 are titled Little Brother Montgomery: At Home.

Our information from Lord, who duplicates the first two items in his Jeanne Carroll and Little Brother Montgomery listings. The FM label is covered in the All Music Guide to the Blues.

According to jazz impresario Joe Segal (in his notes to the 1972 collection, Southside Jazz on Chess CHV-415): "Red is still very active in Chicago and in addition to playing social affairs and dances has been touring Chicago's schools demonstrating a comprehensive history of Jazz Music." After Leon Washington's death, Red often used tenor saxophonist Eddie Johnson in his big band. Such recording gigs as came Red's way, however, did not call for a large aggregation.

57. Edith Wilson with Little Brother Montgomery and the State Street Swingers

Sound Studios, Chicago, July 5, 1973

	Easin' away from Me -1, 3		Delmark DS-637, DD-637 [CD]
	That Same Dog -1 [LBM, EW voc]		Delmark DS-637, DD-637 [CD]
	Hey! Hey! Boogie -2, 3		Delmark DS-637, DD-637 [CD]
	My Handy Man Ain't Handy No More -1		Delmark DS-637, DD-637 [CD]
	Lonesome -2		Delmark DS-637, DD-637 [CD]
	Twiddlin' -1, 3		Delmark DS-637, DD-637 [CD]

Delmark DS637, He May Be Your Man... But He Comes to See Me Sometimes! was an LP issued in 1976. It was reissued on CD in 1993. Information from the liner notes to the CD.

Red Saunders conducts a 15-piece band outdoors; Neal Green is in the sax section. From the Chicago Defender, August 25, 1973; photo by John Gunn. Courtesy of Brian Neal Green.

In August of 1973, Red Saunders led a 15-piece band (including singer Jo Ann Henderson) that performed "noon-hour" concerts at Quincy Court in downtown Chicago. A couple of photos ran in the Chicago Defender on August 25.

58. Edith Wilson with Little Brother Montgomery and the State Street Swingers | Little Brother Montgomery's State Street Swingers

Sound Studios, Chicago, September 3, 1973

	Poppa-Mama Blues [EW voc]		Delmark DS-637, DD-637 [CD]
	Put a Little Love in Everything You Do [EW voc]		Delmark DS-637, DD-637 [CD]
	I Must Get Mine in Front [LBM voc]		Delmark DE-663 [CD]
	Old Maid Blues [LBM voc]		Delmark DE-663 [CD]
	Glitsy's Blues		Delmark DE-663 [CD]
	Wailing Blues -1		Delmark DE-663 [CD]
	Goodbye Mr. Blues [alt.; PJ voc]		Delmark DE-663 [CD]

A recent discovery provides the first documentation of a Red Saunders big band after the Regal Theater closed down. On a 1974 television show Red and band backed two well-known soul artists.

59. George Kirby with Red Saunders' Band / Della Reese with Red Saunders' Band / Jackie Wilson with Red Saunders' Band

Soundstage TV show, WTTW, Chicago, 1974

	Theme -2		TV show
	I'm a Happy-Go-Lucky Square [GK voc] -2		--
	Eep-Ipe, I Want a Piece of Pie [GK voc, unaccompanied]		--
	(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher [JW voc] -1		--
	I Want the World to Know [JW voc] -1		--
	I'll Be Satisfied [JW voc] -1		--
	Lonely Teardrops [JW voc] -1		--
	Cottontail (Ellington)		--
	Lady Be Good (Gershwin) [GK voc]		--
	Mack the Knife (Brecht-Weill-Blitzstein) [GK, ens voc]		--
	Cottontail (Ellington)		--
	Good Morning Blues [DR voc] -3		--
	That Reminds Me of You [DR voc] -3		--
	In the Still of the Night (Porter) [DR voc] -3		--
	One for My Baby (and One for the Road) (Mercer) [DR voc] -3		--
	September in the Rain [DR voc] -3		--
	Every Day I Have the Blues [DR, JW, GK voc] -2		--

A video of this TV show is in the collection of Mike Kredinac. This Soundstageepisode is a 60-minute TV show produced in 1974 for Public Broadcasting System stations by WTTW, Chicago. The show tries to recreate the atmosphere during the Summer of 1958 at Club Paradise in Idlewild Beach, Michigan, a beach resort that catered to Black vacationers in the era of segregation (the "club," complete with middle-aged patrons sitting at tables, is obviously set up in the TV studio). Both Jackie Wilson and Della Reese performed at the club, which was operated by Arthur "Daddy" Braggs, early in their careers; Della Reese recorded her first session (for United) after being "discovered" there. Red Saunders didn't play at Club Paradise, but his band backed Jackie Wilson at the Regal Theater at the beginning of 1958 (see above), and he had worked with Della Reese on multiple occasions George Kirby, who serves as MC, was a comic who broke in at the Club DeLisa in the late 1940s; he had performed with Red on countless occasions.

Only the musical portions of the show are listed above. The show opens with a monologue by George Kirby. Red comes out (he has no speaking role in the show) and leads the band in a brief theme. George Kirby does some brief singing ("Eep, Ipe" is completely unaccompanied), including vocal trombone and string bass imitations. (Though an excellent vocalist, George Kirby got few few opportunities to sing on record. He can be heard on "Legs Keep Getting Bigger" with Red's band from 1949, and on "Ice Man Blues" with Tom Archia on 1947.) Kirby concludes with some vigorous dancing ("Look at that fat man twist!") and a bit of stand-up comedy.

Jackie Wilson is introduced; during his set his guitar player directs the band, his drummer (much younger than Red) is at the traps, and Red is off-stage. Wilson's clothing (velvet bell-bottoms and platform shoes) could never be mistaken for 1958 attire! After Jackie's energetic set, which includes some nice plunger-muted trombone on "That's All I Need," George Kirby interviews him backstage, along with "Daddy" Braggs. Portions of the Red Saunders band instrumental, "Cottontail," including piano and drum solos, are heard in the background as they talk.

Kirby does more comedy. He throws in a passable imitation of Ella Fitzgerald (!) singing "Lady Be Good" (accompanied by p, eb, and d), and follows this with an impression of Louis Armstrong doing "Mack the Knife" with the band. He concludes "Mack" with an imitation trumpet solo while the band shouts, "Higher! Higher!" Red Saunders is introduced and more of "Cottontail," including a tenor sax solo and a piano solo, is heard in the background while Kirby talks to Della Reese backstage. Della Reese sings a set accompanied by piano, electric bass, and Red's drums; the rest of the band sit with their instruments. Red gets a nice drum break on "September in the Rain." The show closes as George Kirby, Jackie Wilson, and Della Reese do some impromptu blues singing that Reese turns into "Every Day I Have the Blues." There are alto and tenor sax solos during this number, and a blues riff continues under the credits.

Most of the band members are not clearly visible for very long during the video. Red's band uses what had become his standard lineup of 4 brass and 3 saxes, and the choice of "Cottontail" suggests that Eddie Johnson may have been present on tenor sax, but this remains to be confirmed, and the rest of the musicians need to be identified (none of them are mentioned in the credits).

60. Edith Wilson with Little Brother Montgomery and the State Street Swingers | Little Brother Montgomery's State Street Swingers

Sound Studios, Chicago, April 16, 1975

	Mistreatin' Blues [EW voc] -1		Delmark DS-637, DD-637 [CD]
	Hesitating Blues [EW voc]		Delmark DS-637, DD-637 [CD]
	He May Be Your Man [EW voc]		Delmark DS-637, DD-637 [CD]
	Slow Creepin' Blues [EW voc]		Delmark DS-637, DD-637 [CD]
	Riverside Blues		Delmark DE-663 [CD]

Delmark DS637, He May Be Your Man... But He Comes to See Me Sometimes! was an LP issued in 1976. It was reissued on CD in 1993. Delmark DE663, Goodbye Mister Blues by Little Brother Montgomery, was recorded at the same series of sessions as the Edith Wilson numbers, but was not released till 1993. Information from the liner notes to the CDs. The liners to the Little Brother Montgomery CD incorrectly list the clarinetist for this session as Franz Jackson, and list Oliver Alcorn as playing soprano and tenor sax.

61. Little Brother Montgomery's State Street Swingers

Sound Studios, Chicago, January 7, 1976

	Goodbye Mr. Blues [PJ voc] -1		Delmark DE-663 [CD]
	South Rampart St. Parade -1		Delmark DE-663 [CD]
	Tishomingo Blues [LBM voc] -2		Delmark DE-663 [CD]
	Struttin' with Some Barbecue -1		Delmark DE-663 [CD]
	Boy in the Boat -3		Delmark DE-663 [CD]
	Saturday Night Function -1		Delmark DE-663 [CD]
	Panama Rag -1		Delmark DE-663 [CD]

Delmark DE663, Goodbye Mister Blues by Little Brother Montgomery's State Street Swingers, is a CD released in 1993. Information from the liner notes.

A Red Saunders Orchestra of the 1970s, as shown in a publicity photo for Red's agency. Lucius Washington is on tenor sax, second from right in the front row, and Neal Green is on baritone. From the collection of Brian Neal Green.

Red Saunders continued to work right up until his death on March 4, 1981; his death certificate listed the causes as acute cardiopulmonary arrest, congestive heart failure, and diabetes. (At the time of his death, he had two scheduled engagements, which were filled by his son, Red Jr.)

Mac Easton outlived Red by a few years; he died in Chicago on May 1, 1986 after being retired from music for some time (his death certificate lists his occupation as "retired laborer"). Booby Floyd died in 1987. Jimmy Richardson died on May 3, 1988 in Denver; before retiring, he had spent his later years working as a janitor for the Chicago Public Schools. Johnny Avant died in Chicago on September 6, 1988. Fip Ricard died in 1996. Joe Williams, who continued to sing and record till the end, died in Las Vegas on March 29, 1999, at the age of 80. Sonny Cohn retired from the Count Basie band in the early 1990s, but remained active around Chicago in the Morris Ellis band and Von Freeman's combo. In 1996, he recorded on a Delmark date led by Jodie Christian; joining him in the front line was Eddie Johnson. He made his last appearance on a recording in 2004 and died in Chicago on November 7, 2006.

The following are items that some discographies have attributed to Red Saunders. He has been confused with two other drummers, Albert G. Saunders and Charles "Chick" Saunders, both of whom were active in Chicago in the late 1940s. Chick's last name is sometimes given as "Sanders."

Spuriosity A. Lil Green

RCA Studios, Chicago, July 23, 1946

D6VB2521	It's So Bad with My Man and Me		Victor 20-1957
D6VB2522-1	Blowtop Blues		Victor 20-1957, LPV 574

This Lil Green session included a drummer identified as "Red" Saunders in some sources. However, Lord gives his full name as Albert G. Saunders, which would be a different musician--then gives "Red" as his nickname. The band is definitely not Red's; it does not include anyone who is known to have worked with him.

Victor 20-1957 was a 78 rpm single released at the time. Victor LPV 574 was an LP, released in the early 1970s, titled Romance in the Dark.

Spuriosity B. Lil Green

RCA Studios, Chicago, July 31, 1946

D6VB2557	How Come You Do Me like You Do?	Victor 20-2214, Rosetta LP 1310
D6VB2558	That Old Feeling	Victor 20-2102, Rosetta LP 1310
D6VB2559	Last Go Round Blues	Victor 20-2102
D6VB2560	No Good Man	Victor 20-2214

Again, the drummer on this session is listed as Red Saunders in some sources. Lord hedges by calling him Albert G. "Red" Saunders. Victor 20-2102 and 20-2214 were 78 rpm singles released in the late 1940s. Rosetta LP 1310 is an LP from the early 1980s titled Lil Green 1940-1947.

Spuriosity C. Walter Davis

RCA Studios, Chicago, February 12, 1946

D7VB0304	Things Ain't What They Used to Be	Victor 20-2335
D7VB0305	Oh Me Oh My Blues	Victor 20-2487
D7VB0306	Just One More Time	Victor 20-2335
D7VB0307	It's Been So Long	Victor 20-2487

Jepsen's Jazz Records lists the drummer as Red Saunders. Leadbitter and Slaven's Blues Records 1943-1966 give the date and identify the drummer as Charles Saunders. This same Charles "Chick" Saunders (sometimes spelled "Sanders") made some other blues sessions for Victor around this time, a session for Columbia (with Willie "Long Time" Smith) on June 13, 1947, and at least one more session for Columbia with Rosetta Howard and the Big Three. Jepsen jumped to conclusions.

The final spurious attribution arose from mixups in the discography of Big Joe Turner's Atlantic recordings.

Spuriosity D. Joe Turner and His Blues Kings

New York City, January 28, 1955

A-1424	Morning, Noon, and Night	Atlantic 1080, LP 8023, Charly 1070, Atlantic 81663 [LP and CD], Rhino/Atlantic 71550 [CD]
A-1425	Ti-ri-lee [?]	unissued [?]
A-1426	Hide and Seek [JT, ens voc]	Atlantic 1069, EP 586, LP 8005, LP 8010, Atlantic 81752 [LP and CD], Rhino/Atlantic 71550 [CD]
A-1427-2	Flip, Flop, and Fly (Calhoun-L. W. Turner)	Atlantic 1053, Quality [Can] 1358, Atlantic EP565, Atlanitc LP 8005, Atlantic LP 8010, Atlantic LP 1239, Charly 1070, Atlantic 81752 [LP and CD], Rhino/Atlantic 71550 [CD]

Ruppli places this session in New York City--then gives (roughly) the personnel that we have listed for the October 7, 1953 session! Jepsen gives the same information but places the session in Chicago, which would be expected if that particular lineup were correct. Meanwhile, back in 1958 Hugues Panassié credited these sides to "a small orchestra featuring Connie Kay on drums." The liners to Atlantic 81752 attribute this session to the Jesse Stone Orchestra featuring Al Sears, and place it in New York City. Ruppli and Jepsen both invert matrix numbers 1425 and 1426.

Thanks to James Wolf for checking the original 78-rpm releases of Atlantic 1053, 1069, and 1080 and finding the matrix number error. Quality 1358 was a Canadian 78 (possibly also 45 rpm) single replicating Atlantic 1053. The "Ti-ri-lee" on Atlantic 1053--and all subsequent releases that he and others have checked--is from the October 7, 1953 session; it was not recorded on this date, as claimed by Ruppli and Jepsen and by most of the reissue packages. If A-1425 was a new version of "Ti-ri-lee," no issues of it have been located.

Atlantic 1053, 1069, and 1080 were singles released at the time. Atlantic 8010 and 1239 were apparently various-artists compilations featuring R&B artists; details needed. Charly 1070 was an LP titled Joe Turner: Jumpin' with Joe. Atlantic 81663 was a 2-LP set or single CD, released in 1988, and titled Rhythm & Blues Years. Atlantic 81752 appeared on both LP and CD in 1989 under the title Greatest Hits. The Charly gives no specifics on the sessions. The credits on Atlantic 81663 and 81752 mention only the Jesse Stone Orchestra and Al Sears; the Italian bootleg CD on Blues Encore 52008, Big Joe Turner: The Blues Boss, does the same. In addition, all of the tracks from this session that are known to exist are included in the 1994 3-CD set on Rhino/Atlantic 71550, Big, Bad & Blue. On this box set, the wrong personnel credits are given (the same personnel as October 7, 1953, plus possibly Al Sears!)

Joe did go to Chicago after finishing this session; the Chicago Defender for January 29, 1955 advertised an appearance by Joe Turner on February 4 at the Trianon Ballroom (part of the "Top Ten Rhythm & Blues Review"). However, all three available tracks from this session feature the same fairly large band, and Al Sears solos on "Hide and Seek" and "Flip, Flop, and Fly."

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

BL-54105	You Oughta Quit It (Carter)		Blue Lake 103, Krazy Kat LP KK 7448, TIM 220241/55 [CD]
BL-54106	Lovin Daddy Blues (Carter)		Blue Lake 103

	Triple Trouble		Golden Rule 806
	unidentified title		Golden Rule 806
	unidentified titles?		unissued

Red Saunders Discography

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

Latest revision: September 29, 2009

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

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 and his Orchestra

21. Red Saunders & his Orchestra

From the collection of Billy Vera

22. Red Saunders and 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

From the collection of Armin Büttner

24. Cliff Butler and his Blue Boys

From the collection of Armin Büttner

From the collection of Dr. Robert Stallworth

25. Edward "Gates" White

From the collection of Dr. Robert Stallworth

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell