Staple Singers - I'll Take You There (Stax 0125)

I'll Take You There

Barry Beckett
1943-2009

Gene Allison - Have Faith (Vee-Jay 855)

Have Faith

This is, in my humble opinion, one of the best records ever made.

Gene Allison came up singing Gospel, but not long after Ted Jarrett hunted him down in a Nashville poolroom in 1954, he agreed to try his hand at R&B. After a few sides that went nowhere, Ted brought him into Owen Bradley's primitive 'Quonset Hut' studio on Sixteenth Avenue South (soon to become the cornerstone of  'music row') in 1957 to cut a song he had written called You Can Make It If You Try, using members of the Joe Morris Orchestra. He leased the masters from that session to Decca, but only for a limited time. When they failed to appreciate what they had, Jarrett moved on.

Already a force on the Nashville R&B scene, Ted picked up Larry Birdsong's contract when his time at Excello was up. Birdsong had hit big for the label in 1956, when Pleadin' For Love almost broke into the R&B top ten, but hadn't done much since. Jarrett had been friends with Ewart Abner for a few years, and when Abner took over as General Manager of Vee-Jay, he came knocking on Ted's door, looking to sign Birdsong to the Chicago company. "You can have Larry," Jarrett told him' "but only if you sign this kid Gene Allison, too." Abner was none too happy about it, but he agreed to take on both artists. Much to everyone's surprise (except Jarrett's, of course), it was Allison who broke things wide open when the same Quonset Hut recording he had leased to Decca climbed all the way to #3 R&B (and even broke into the Pop Top 40) in early 1958 (Birdsong, unfortunately, would never chart again).

Vee-Jay knew a good thing when they saw it, and was set to pull out all the stops when it came to recording Allison's follow-up record. Borrowing Sonny Thompson's eighteen piece orchestra from Syd Nathan at King, they scheduled a session at Universal Studio in Chicago that Spring. According to Jarrett; "...I slipped up and drank too much before the session. In fact I had so much alcohol, I was in the Twilight Zone... they wouldn't let me in. I raved and ranted... Finally they went and got the president of Vee-Jay, Ewart Abner, and he let me in." In spite of (or posibly because of) the booze, it was Ted who came up with that great big E Flat intro that sets the tone for this monumental recording. I just love it.

With the same kind of inspirational message as Gene's first hit, I had always assumed that Have Faith (which would just miss the R&B top ten itself) was written by Jarrett. Not so... according to the label, it was composed by Sonny Thompson and Henry Stone. Henry Stone? Like T.K. Records, Get Down Tonight Henry Stone? Now, how did that happen? Well, as it turns out, when Syd Nathan re-activated his Deluxe label in 1953, he had leased some sides that Henry had produced on Otis Williams & The Charms for his Florida based Rockin' label, and put Stone in charge of the subsidiary. When The Charms sent Hearts Of Stone to #1 R&B for nine weeks in the fall of 1954, Deluxe, and Henry Stone, were on top of the world. In 1955, amidst all kinds of turmoil in the group, Stone worked out a deal that left Otis Williams with Syd Nathan at King, while he took what was left of The Charms (along with other 'mutually owned properties') to Florida to form his own label.

That label was called Chart, and among it's releases were several singles by Sonny Thompson. These sides must have been part of the deal he made with Nathan, as Thompson remained under contract to King (going on to be the man behind all of those great Federal Freddy King records) until they closed their Chicago office in 1964. On Henry Stone's website, it says that he formed two publishing companies in 1955 as well, one of which was called Pelican. Pelican is listed on the Vee-Jay label here as one of the publishers, and I guess it's not much of a stretch to think that Stone got a piece of both the songwriting and the publishing on Have Faith as part of the deal he made with Syd Nathan. Intrigued by all of this, I called Henry in Miami. I left a message with the guy who answered the phone, who asked me what this was in reference to... Henry hasn't called me back.

Be that as it may, Gene Allison was hot. Ted Jarrett put together a Nashville R&B package that included, at one time or another, Allison, Christine Kittrell, Roscoe Shelton, Earl Gaines and Larry Birdsong, and hired Jimmy Beck & His Orchestra to back them up out on the road. Known as 'The Pipe Dreamers' after their 1959 local instrumental hit, this was essentially the band that The Buzzard, and Lattimore Brown, had taken out of Little Rock the year before. Lattimore travelled with Allison and the band to Fort Worth, Texas, and there is a famous story (repeated by the recently deceased Jarrett in his great autobiography You Can Make It If You Try) about how Gene abandoned the band there in Texas to starve while he went off to perform some gigs in Florida.

Our man Lattimore remembers it differently, as he and the rest of the band saw opportunities on the hoppin' club scene in Dallas, where they could rule the roost in places like The Empire Room, and didn't want to go back to Nashville where they'd be lost in the crowd. The Pipe Dreamers apparently broke up at that point, with Allison deciding he ought to stick with Jarrett (whom he referred to as 'Dainty'), and head on back to Music City. As Lattimore took over the reins of the band, this would begin his 'Dallas period' when he recorded those great Duchess sides, and worked behind the scenes with Jack Ruby at The Atmosphere Lounge...

Sir Lattimore still speaks highly of Gene Allison (who passed away, sadly, in 2004), and remembers those days out on the road with him fondly. At any moment, he is apt to break into his own rendition of Have Faith, and has told me that the song pretty much represents his outlook on life...

"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled,
Just Say A Prayer At Night.
Have A Little Faith In What You Do,
And Everything's Gonna Be Alright."

I am right there with that.

Eddie Bo - Every Dog Got His Day (Ric 969)

Every Dog Got His Day

I just can't believe he's gone, folks.

Isaac Hayes - Let's Stay Together (Enterprise 9045)

Let's Stay Together

Here's another superb example of the interaction between Stax and Hi.

Like I was saying over on the other side, Al Green's Let's Stay Together was an unqualified smash. Released in December of 1971, it would go on to spend four months on the R&B charts, including nine weeks in the number one position, while climbing it's way to the top of the pop charts for a week in February of 1972. To say that it was a big hit would be an understatement. It was a phenomenon. A landmark record in so many ways, it ushered in a new era in the history of Memphis Soul. Written by Al Green, Al Jackson and Willie Mitchell, it represented the culmination of everything that had gone before it, and altered the landscape of R&B in the process.

Another record that had done something along those same lines was the Theme From Shaft, which had topped the pop charts itself just three months before, transforming Isaac Hayes from a little known songwriter and performer into an iconic figure who lived up to the moniker Black Moses. Do Your Thing, the follow-up single taken from the Shaft album, would go to #3 R&B during the same time frame that Al Green owned the top slot for those two months in early 1972. This sweet cover of Al's monumental recording would be Isaac's next release.

I just love it.

According to the label, the orchestra on here was conducted by the legendary Onzie Horne, who had worked with Duke Ellington before becoming a professor of music at Rust College, where he taught the young Willie Mitchell a thing or two about arrangements. Isaac doesn't sing on the record, because that's him playing that smoky alto saxophone! How very cool is that? Conceived, I'm sure, as a shout out to all involved, it spent two months of its own on the R&B charts, peaking at #25 that spring.

Soulsville, baby.

Jimmy Hughes - Neighbor, Neighbor (Fame 1003)

Neighbor, Neighbor

Here's the hit 45 version of Neighbor, Neighbor that charged into the R&B top five in 1966. Jimmy Hughes told me on the phone that Ray Stevens was the guy who came in and 'funked it up' on this re-recorded version of a Huey Meaux tune that was released as an album track two years before.

Ray Stevens? Like, Everything Is Beautiful Ray Stevens?

Well, I did a little digging around and found out a few things.

As a young station manager at WGST in Atlanta, Bill Lowery started up his own publishing company in the early fifities. He held the rights to Gene Vincent's Be-Bop-A-Lula when it broke wide open in 1956, which helped him expand into all aspects of the business. In 1958, Lowery founded the National Recording Corporation (NRC), which would include his own record pressing plant, distributorship and studio. He hired some young musicians, and formed a top-notch rhythm section that included Jerry Reed, Joe South and, yes, Ray Stevens. He was affiliated with many area record labels, most notably JUDD, which was run by Sam Phillips' brother, Jud. By late 1961, for whatever reason, the company went bankrupt, and lost its studio and all its assets.

After re-organizing, Lowery got wind of Rick Hall's studio in Muscle Shoals, a few hours drive away. He got his band back together and began making the trip to cut some sides on a new vocal group he had signed called The Tams, who would break into the R&B top ten in early 1964 with What Kind Of Fool (Do You Think That I Am). Lowery brought his crew with him, which by then also included Felton Jarvis and Tommy Roe. His musicians worked side by side with Hall's 'first rhythm section' of Norbert Putnam, Jerry Carrigan and David Briggs, and cut some great records in the process.

It was these 'city boys' that put the idea into the heads of the homegrown talent that they could be making a lot more money in Nashville, as there was always plenty of session work to go around. Eventually the local boys left, and went on to their own incredible heights in Music City. Hall just kind of shrugged it off, and fashioned a new rhythm section that would, some say, dwarf the accomplishments of the first one.

They were young, though, and it took a while for people coming in from the outside to put their trust in them. When Buddy Killen cut Joe Tex there, he brought in some member's of Joe's road band and, as we all know, Jerry Wexler brought in Chips Moman and Tommy Cogbill to work on the early Fame recorded Atlantic sides.

Rick Hall, apparently, did the same thing.

This positively crankin' record we have here today was released on May 28, 1966. According to our compadre Bob Wilson, John R was all over it, and played it on his show all summer long. The song just knocked Bob out, and he made sure he tuned in to WLAC just so he could hear it. When he ended up becoming Richbourg's session leader in Nashville, he 'went nuts' when John told him that they were going to Fame to record Joe Simon in 1967. The first question he asked Rick Hall was; "Who played the guitar on Neighbor, Neighbor?" "Joe South," Rick said.

Joe South? Like, Games People Play Joe South?

Yes, indeed. It would appear then, judging by what Jimmy Hughes said about Ray Stevens being there, and what Rick told Wilson over forty years ago, that the rocking, funky band on here must be Bill Lowery's NRC crew, rocking it all the way into the top five.

Cool, huh?

Sam Taylor, Jr. - The Stinger (GRT 12)

The Stinger

SAM TAYLOR, JR.
1935-2009

I just got the sad news that Long Island legend Sam 'Bluzman' Taylor passed away yesterday after his long struggle with heart disease.

Like Little Buster before him, his 'Blues' identity tended to obscure his soulful roots. He started out on the Junior label in 1959 as Good Rockin' Sammy "T", with single releases (under a variety of names) for at least ten other companies (including Capitol, Atlantic and Enjoy) during the sixties and seventies... but that's not all. He was a founding member of Joey Dee & The Starliters, whose standing gig at The Peppermint Lounge led to one of the biggest hits of 1961. He then spent years as the Musical Director for New York Soul Queen Maxine Brown, and as an in-demand chitlin' circuit guitarist backing up everyone from The Isleys to Otis Redding.

This red hot record we have here was lifted from his much sought after 1969 GRT LP, The Tunnels Of My Mind. Just dripping with soul, Taylor's high energy delivery takes no prisoners. "Let me spell it for ya - S.A.M.!" Simply amazing stuff. The rest of the album cranks as well (special thanks to our friend Kevin Kiley for sending along the audio), with soulful versions of songs like Dark End Of The Street and Hey Girl that will give you chills... but that's not all.

Sam was the man behind those infectious disco-era hits by the B.T. Express, like Do It ('Til You're Satisfied) and Peace Pipe, something I never knew until now. I admit it, I loved that stuff. 'Disco' or not, it was homegrown Brooklyn funk (even though it was recorded out in La-La land). The left coast took it's toll on Sam, I'm told, and he wound up drying out in Arizona, which is where he would begin to re-invent himself as the 'Bluzman' (like so many others were doing around the same time).

He built quite a following in and around Tuscon, and the Blues CDs he released in the nineties are as good as anything else out there. Eventually, Sam came on home, and took up residence as Long Island's own Ambassador of the Blues. I guess I kind of took him for granted... he'd always be there on stage somewhere in Port Jefferson or out here in Riverhead at the Blues Fest or at some bar in Bay Shore or Patchogue. I could turn on my radio and listen to his incredible 'Blues With A Feeling' show on WUSB every Friday. He was an actor, an author, one hell of a songwriter, and just a cookin' guitar player.

I guess the last time I saw him was at the Get Busterized! tribute a couple of years ago. He was absolutely fantastic.

There will be a public viewing tomorrow, Wednesday, January 7th, from 4pm until 7pm at the Moloney Funeral Home at 130 Carleton Avenue in Central Islip, New York.

A private ceremony will be held on Thursday in Brooklyn for family and close friends.

The public service will be held on Friday, January 9th at 11am at the Moloney Funeral Home, followed by a procession out to Calverton National Cemetery, where he will be buried.

Please join Sam's family and friends for a celebration of his life and music tomorrow night, January 7th, at Bobbique in Patchogue at 8pm.

...and Keep The Blues Alive.

Benny Gordon - Gonna Give Her All The Love I Got (Wand 1188)

Gonna Give Her All The Love I Got

BENNY GORDON
1932-2008

As the best working R&B band in New York (ranked #1 by the Daily News throughout the sixties, Benny told me), The Soul Brothers influenced other up and coming outfits (like The Young Rascals) as the house band at Trudi Heller's fabled club in Greenwich Village.

This smoking version of Jimmy Ruffin's 1967 hit, blows the original right out of the water, in my opinion. According to Benny, that's King Curtis leading the horn section.

Play it loud, folks.

Fare thee well, my friend.