THE RAVENS
by Billy Vera

In September, 2003, Savoy Jazz released a 3 CD set - "The Ravens: Their Complete National Recordings 1947-1950," compiled, produced and annotated by Billy Vera.   Billy's "annotation" is a 16-page booklet with full discographical info plus the group info below..

He had a voice that made Barry White sound like Tiny Tim, that made Isaac Hayes sound like Betty Boop. He was Jimmy Ricks, the bass singer with the Ravens, the black vocal group most often cited as the first rhythm & blues group.

With all due deference to the talent and skill of the other members, the story of the Ravens is really the story of Ricks. For it was that magnificent voice, the one which rattled speaker cones and caused unmentionable body parts to vibrate, which made the Ravens famous during that period of great change, the years right after World War II.

His was the sound of masculinity, that of a man among men, perhaps the last such, before those who followed popularized the nasal, adolescent whine of boys, groveling in pathetic and narcissistic bathos before a new breed of postwar American female who lay far beyond the grasp of their meager understanding.

In every field of endeavor, there is The One: Ted Williams, Frank Lloyd Wright, John Holmes (don't even ask. Editor). In the field of bass singing, there was Jimmy Ricks--and all who would be him. Next to the Great Ricks, all others were mere parodies. He felt no need to prove or to overstate his manly gift with vocal acrobatics; he just sang the song.

Show biz is, in the end, a racket. And every racket needs a gimmick. That of the Ravens would be the juxtaposition, offered without nudge, wink nor irony, of Jimmy's basso profundo against the eunuch of Maithe Marshall's natural freak soprano. Just lay it out there and trust in your audience.

James Ricks was born in Adrian, Georgia in 1924, his family relocating to Jacksonville, Florida sometime during his childhood. By 1945, Jimmy had moved to Harlem and was working as a waiter at the 400 Tavern at 148th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue. He picked up occasional singing gigs with the Melodeers, led by Herb Kenny, whose brother Bill was the famous lead tenor of the Ink Spots.

At the 400, Ricks befriended another waiter, baritone Warren Suttles of Fairfield, Alabama, a steel manufacturing town near Birmingham. A fine baseball player, Warren moved to New York to be near his uncle, George "Mule" Suttles, manager of the Negro League's Newark Eagles.

Ricks and Suttles were soon harmonizing to juke box favorites, especially those of the Delta Rhythm Boys, whose bass singer, Lee Gaines, was an inspiration.  Gaines was also a lyricist of no small note; it was he who put words to Duke Ellington's "Just A-Sittin' And Rockin".

The guys decided to form a group and booking agent Jimmy Evans recommended tenor Leonard "Zeke" Puzey, who'd won first prize at the Apollo Theater's celebrated amateur night. The fourth member was Henry Oliver "Ollie: Jones, who was also a songwriter. Ollie would pen "Lullaby" for the group's first recording session.

The quartet rehearsed songs like "Darktown Strutters Ball" and Phil Harris's "Darktown Poker Club", as they put their act together, before auditioning for talent agent Ben Bart of the Gale Agency.

Moe Gale and realtor Charles Buchanan had built and operated the Savoy Ballroom, aka "The World's Finest Ballroom", "The Home Of Happy Feet", and, to Harlemites, known simply as "The Track". The Savoy, with its beautiful mahogany floor, occupied the entire block on Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st Streets. It opened in 1926 and, twenty years later, was still going strong, as was Gale, who'd by then branched out into agentry and music publishing, representing such acts as Chick Webb and the Ink Spots, who he named.

While employed by Gale in 1945, one year prior to forming his own agency, Universal Attractions, Ben Bart formed the Hub label. Through songwriter Joe Thomas (not the Jimmie Lunceford tenor saxophonist), Bart signed the Ravens. Thomas also recommended Howard Biggs as the group's pianist/arranger/conductor.  Biggs, who would later partner with Thomas, both for songwriting and record producing, was formerly with the band of Luis Russell. With the addition of Nat Margo as road manager, the Ravens team was complete.

In June, 1946, they recorded for Hub, "Honey" and "Bye Bye Baby Blues", both with Ricks singing lead; "Lullaby", "My Sugar Is So Refined" and "Once And For All", led by Puzey; and "Out Of A Dream", featuring Jimmy and Ollie.

The first official Ravens booking was at Harlem's Club Baby Grand. They also worked the famous Club Baron at 132nd and Lenox, as well as the Club 845 in the Bronx.

By November, they'd advanced to the Arthur Godfrey radio show and, a month later, appeared with Stan Kenton and Nat King Cole on a benefit at the Apollo.

Around this time, Ollie Jones was replaced by Maithe Williams, a bartender from Florida with an unusually high voice. Departing with no hard feelings, Ollie formed the Blenders, which Ricks would later tout to Al Green, the owner of National, helping them get a record deal of their own. Ollie went on to a career as a songwriter of some note, writing Nat Cole"s hit, "Send For Me", and "Tiger" for Fabian, among others.

Maithe changed his last name to Marshall. His extremely high tenor was the perfect compliment to Jimmy's remarkably low bass. The combination was unbeatable. With Maithe, the new group recut all six of their sides for Hub. In June, 1947, Bart sold all his Ravens masters to King, who released some of them to ride the coattails of the group's subsequent success.

In February, the Ravens were voted Best New Singing Group by listeners of Symphony Sid's WHOM radio show. During an appearance at the Strand Theater on Broadway that month, Bart signed the group to National. Their first release, produced by Herb Abramson, was the ill advised "Mahzel (Means Good Luck)",which brought the group no luck. 

The record for which the Ravens are perhaps best remembered, "Ol' Man River",sung in the movie Showboat by Paul Robeson, came out in June. Probably as a publicity stunt, National a&r man Abramson tossed a bunch of copies off the George Washington bridge into the Hudson River. Vocal group maven Marv Goldberg has cataloged many such stunts, which we'll relate as we go on.

By October, the group crossed over to the pop charts with, not a pop tune, as they had attempted on their first two releases, but with a full-tilt proto-r&b song, "Write Me A Letter", written by Biggs. The tune, the highest charting of their career, appealed to the same multi-racial crowd which, at the time, was gobbling up similar jumping sounds by Louis Jordan and the King Cole Trio. Records, and acts, like these were a harbinger of the rock-n-roll to come. 

A blurb in Cashbox claimed that Jimmy and piano playing songstress Hadda Brooks were "engaged" this in spite of Hadda's secret, long term affair with her very married label owner, Jules Bihari.

In anticipation of a recording ban by the American Federation of Musicians scheduled to begin on January 1, 1948, labels began to stockpile masters in December. The remainder of disc one contains those made by the Ravens.

January found the guys at the Adams Theater in Newark, New Jersey, on a bill with Andy Kirk and Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, after which they were off to Chicago's Regal Theater with Vinson and the George Hudson Orchestra.

In the Ravens, Ben Bart had a much more versatile act than with the Ink Spots, who, in the wake of their 1939 hit, "If I Didn't Care", turned cliche into self-parody, as every subsequent song was performed according to the same formula. The Ravens, on the other hand, dealt in the coin of variety, singing ballads, jump blues, novelties and swinging versions of pop standards.

After a June gig at the Million Dollar Theater in Los Angeles, it was reported that "Ravens Singers, Inc." purchased the contract of welterweight boxer Woody Wilson. Most likely, this corporation was a front for Bart to make similar investments.

The group worked two weeks in Washington, DC, at the Club Bali in June, while the William Morris Agency found more bookings out West. Suttles left the act, for the first of several times, and was replaced by Joe Medlin. Medlin worked with the Buddy Johnson band and would later have a modest solo career, before finding his niche in record promotion.

With the strike settled, the Ravens entered the studio to record a cover of "It's Too Soon To Know" by the Orioles, a younger group who legitimized the notion of amateurish singing as a goal for future vocal groups.

In October, Maithe was replaced by Richie Cannon, only to return a month later, replacing Medlin, moving Cannon over to baritone. It is this configuration, Ricks, Puzey, Marshall and Cannon, which sings "Silent Night" and "White Christmas" - the blueprint for the version by the Drifters, which is still heard today.

On January 2, 1949, this edition of the Ravens appeared on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town TV show, where Sullivan was to present them with a Cashbox award as the year's top vocal group. They performed "My Sugar Is So Refined" for Ed's millions of viewers. Unfortunately, as was common in those days of live television, the show ran long and the presentation could not be made. According to their publicist, they broke attendance records at both the Apollo and Detroit's Paradise Theater.

While away, Suttles recorded a radio spot, "Ain't no punch like Joe Louis Punch". Apparently seeing where his solo career was heading, Warren returned to replace Cannon later that month, in time for a gig at the Royal Roost at 47th and Broadway.

March marked the beginning of a Spring tour of Universal acts, including the Ravens, Dinah Washington and the Cootie Williams band.

Back at the Apollo in May, the group performed "The House I Live In" which had been the subject of a film short by Frank Sinatra during the war, in which young Blue Eyes promotes brotherhood, in an effort to bring the country together in that time of strife. But, when Maithe sang the line, "What is America to me",  a heckler called out, "Not a god damn thing". stopping the show.

It was out to the Coast, and L.A.'s Club Oasis, in June. The columnists wrote that Ricks purchased a Piper Cub to fly home, but Puzey later told Marv Goldberg that this was just another example of P.R.

July saw the act playing the Earle Theater in Philly with Illinois Jacquet and Broadway's Bop City in Manhattan. The active imagination of their publicist had the Ravens purchasing a turkey farm in Marlboro, Maryland that September, presumably in preparation for the Thanksgiving rush. 

Ricks had developed a rather large ego by this time and had become a 'difficult' personality, causing even the easygoing Howard Biggs to depart. He first worked for the short-lived Beavers, before joining Fred Mendelsohn's Regal Records, where he supervised and arranged sessions for Paul Gayten, Annie Laurie and Larry Darnell. Later, Biggs and Joe Thomas, would form one of the first black a&r teams, working for RCA Victor, Columbia/OKeh and Decca. The two would compose numerous songs, including John Greer's "Got You On My Mind" and Roy Hamilton's "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)".  covered by Elvis on his first album.

To replace Biggs, Bill Sanford of the Four Vagabonds was brought on board. In December, the Ravens cut a cover version of "I've Been A Fool",  recorded a month earlier by Little Jimmy Scott with Lionel Hampton.

Mention was made in the trades of Puzey's 'impending marriage' to Atlantic's star canary, Ruth Brown. Years later, Puzey would comment, euphemistically, that the two had been 'engaged, but never married'.

February, 1950 found the act back in Chicago at the Regal with Dinah Washington and the Three Chocolateers, before heading home to Bop City for an engagement with Artie Shaw in March. 

That month, Suttles again left, this time to form the Dreamers, with whom he recorded for Mercury and Jubilee. According to Puzey, Warren's replacement, Louis Heyward, was discovered doing a comedy act.

Heyward takes the lead on the group's cover of the Ray Anthony smash, "Count Every Star".  This recording is cited by many early New York doo-wop groups as a major influence, with its fey tenor lead, floating falsetto by Maithe and Ricks taking on the role of baritone sax. It is no overstatement to say that "Count Every Star" is the recording which set in stone the basic black vocal group style for the next forty years.

After this session, it was off to the Thunderbird in Las Vegas, then on to Honolulu. When they played Atlanta in July, local bookies supposedly refused to take bets on the number 694, the number mentioned in their "Don't Have To Ride", again, according to planted news items. Still another plant had the guys hosting their own radio show on Harlem's WLIB. In real life, they appeared at a show in Memphis to honor local songwriting legend, W.C. Handy.

In September, Bart made a deal with Mitch Miller of Columbia for his acts, Wini Brown, Arnett Cobb, Herb Lance and the Ravens, who were to receive a $15,000 guarantee. Significantly, the first Columbia session featured only Jimmy, under the name 'Rickey', with the Benny Goodman Sextet, on a cover of Louis Prima's hit, "Oh Babe". Ricks also performed the tune with Goodman on the DuMont television network's Startime. The writing was on the wall and their year long contract would be marked by internal dissension that eventually led to a final break-up.

Meanwhile, in December, they played the 25th anniversary of Small's Paradise in Harlem, while in January, Al Green of National sued Columbia for $100,000 for inducing the act to breach their contract. National released their final Ravens 78, "Lilacs In The Rain", in February.

Amidst all the bickering, Marshall, Puzey and Heyward quit in April to form the Hi-Hatters, which lasted only for one gig, at the Baby Grand, after which Puzey was drafted into the army. With their tails between their legs, Maithe and Louis returned to the fold. 

In October, 1951, Ricks, minus the others, signed, along with Bart's acts Wini Brown and Arnett Cobb, to Mercury, where his other act, Dinah Washington, was enjoying great success. There were three new Ravens, including Maithe soundalike, Joe Van Loan. This group recorded with the Queen, a nice Jimmy/Dinah duet of "Out In The Cold Again", and made some very nice recordings of "Wagon Wheels", a revival of Joe Liggins's "One Sweet Letter" and Cole Porter's "Begin The Beguine". But their days were numbered, as the growing teenage market preferred their idols to be closer to their own age.

Lee Magid, who'd produced the Ravens' later National sessions, signed Maithe to Savoy to form the Marshall Brothers, while Heyward recorded one four song session for Coral in October, 1951, out of which only two sides were released. He joined the Chestnuts in 1954 before becoming a deejay and then falling off the map.

Suttles was in and out of the Ravens, finally leaving in 1954. He played drums in a trio at the Traveler's Inn on Boston Road in the Bronx, then managed Gene's Bar at 145th Street and Lenox Avenue for many years.

Jimmy's Ravens moved to Jubilee in 1955, scoring with a typically swinging, Ravens version of the old Jimmy Dorsey hit, "Green Eyes". Minus Ricks, Van Loan's Ravens recorded for Argo, but these records were so out of touch with the marketplace that one wonders why they were ever made. One of the Argo recordings, a cover of Lee Andrews & the Hearts' "Long Lonely Nights", was leased to Baton and attributed to the 'Kings', when Chess/Argo were able to purchase the Andrews original.

After Jubilee, Jimmy went solo. In 1961, he cut Leiber & Stoller's "You're The Boss" with LaVern Baker; then a lovely version, with strings, of Sinatra's "Young At Heart"; and, with Little Esther, a remake of her "Double Crossing Blues", all for Atlantic.

Some other highlights of his later career include a fine album on Mainstream with Don Sebesky charts, produced by Bob Shad, who'd produced some of the Ravens' later National sides; a nice soul version of "It's All In The Game" on Jubilee and, for Baton, a stunning take, accompanied only by Kenny Burrell's guitar, of "I'm A Fool To Want You", the song a near-suicidal Sinatra sang for his wayward wife, Ava Gardner, at his lowest point.

In it, Jimmy shows us that there are few things as moving as witnessing a man's man suffer over the loss of his woman. Arthur Prysock made a career out of this kind of thing: the pain of a man who nobody thought could lose.

Labels were always willing to take a shot with Ricks, but he never came through with another hit. At the end of his life, Jimmy was getting ready to record again for Herb Abramson, who'd produced the early National hits, but it was not to be.

In 1974, in the midst of the second oldies revival, I was leading the house band at the Academy of Music shows on 14th Street. For the February 2nd show, we reunited Maithe, Puzey and Suttles, along with Tommy Evans of the Carols and Drifters on bass. Evans was one of very few who could approximate the famous Ricks sound. It was thrilling to hear them and to play behind them. 

Here, for the first time, we've collected the entire catalog of the Ravens' National recordings. For fans of r&b vocal groups, here is where it all began.

Billy Vera, 2003

With thanks to Ravens enthusiasts Marv Goldberg and Jack Sbarbori for their pioneering work and interviews without which these notes could not have been written.