Jukeboxes. Don't 'cha just love 'em? All those shiny lights flashing. All those colors. The anticipation after you insert your  money and all those gears go around and around until that magic moment when the record drops and your song comes on. The hyped-up bass that always sounds so much better than in your car or on your hi-fi at home.

I really believe that that's the way popular music was meant -to be heard, one song at a time, and each song by a different artist. You're saying to yourself, "But, Vera, you compile all these CDs featuring one artist. Whadaya mean?" I know, you're right, and those work as a storage medium. But they're better if you put your CD player on 'random play' and hear them the way you would on a juke box.  Hard as it may be to believe, back when the music on this set was recorded, more records were sold to juke box distributors than to retail customers. That means a lot of nickels were popped into juke boxes for these tunes. And rightfully so, each one is nothing less than great.

The big selling point of the Ravens was the huge bass voice of Jimmy Ricks. Jimmy, who hailed from Florida, and Warren Suttles were working as waiters in a Harlem restaurant, singing along to the likes of the Delta Rhythm Boys on the juke box when they decided to form a group. Leonard Puzy and OIlie Jones, who was later replaced by Maithe Marshall, completed the quartet. With the addition of pianist/arranger Howard Biggs, formerly of the Luis Russell band, they were all set.

Booking agent Ben Bart recorded the group for his Hub label and sold alternate takes to the larger and better distributed King Records. But a deal with National, where they were produced by future Atlantic co-founder, Herb Abramson, cinched their stardom, with hits that sold to both Pop and R&B accounts "Write Me A Letter" appealed to the same crowd who bought Louis Jordan records in the skillions and "Ol' Man River" is a genre classic. The Ravens are considered the first R&B vocal group.

Like Frank Sinatra, Billy Eckstine emerged from a big band - in his case, Earl Hines - to become a bobby sox idol. Also like Sinatra, Mr. B possessed a magnificent set of vocal chops and could cause serious swooning with his romantic ballad interpretations. Billy first made his name, however, singing a slick, sophisticated version of the blues. His breakthrough hits, with Fatha Hines, were "Jelly Jelly" and "Stormy Monday," urban, big band blues at their finest. When he started his own band, it only made sense to mine the same lode, as with "Lonesome Lover Blues," heard here.

Charlie Parker, who was briefly a member of the Eckstine crew, also cut his teeth on the blues, in his case, while playing alto sax with the Kansas City band of Jay McShann. Many years later, in the documentary film, "The Last Of The Blues Devils," McShann opined, "Man, I don't know what they're talking about, calling Bird a 'be-bop' master. To me, he's simply the greatest blues player who ever lived." One needs no further proof beyond our selection, "Now's The Time."

That same old riff was put to more marketable use by Paul Williams on "The Huckle-Buck," one of the biggest tunes of 1949. While working at Baltimore's Royal Theater [alternate link] on a bill with Lucky Millinder, Paul heard Lucky's band playing their latest hit, "D'Natural Blues," yet another tune based on the ancient riff. Williams named his after a step he'd seen being done by kids at one of the dances the band played at. With a lyric by Roy Alfred, "The Huckle-Buck" was covered by Tommy Dorsey, Frank Sinatra, Roy Milton and countless others.

Next up is the legendary comedian Dusty Fletcher. On Friday, January 26, 1934. Dusty appeared on a bill With Benny  Carter's orchestra, Aida Ward. the singer who introduced "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," and the Three Palmer Brothers [more about them later] at the grand opening of Harlem's Apollo Theater on 125th Street.

This was a very big deal, as 125th Street, up until that time was still segregated. According to Ralph Cooper, in his book, "Amateur Night in Harlem" - "Everyone knew that the owners of Hurtig & Seamon s Burlesque Theatre (the Apollo's former name) were no fans of the tans. The policy at Hurtig's was the same as it was at Blumstein's Department Store across the street - No Coloreds Need Apply."   [amateur night in Harlem link]

Previously, the black theater in Harlem was the Lafayette, located on Seventh Avenue between 131st and 132nd Streets.  Frank Schiffman, manager of the Lafayette, would later become the Apollo's owner but, in 1934, he threatened blacklisting to anyone who dared play the new Apollo. Needless to say, Schiffman ultimately relented and booked Dusty Fletcher and the rest many times over the years.  Dusty's act consisted of himself, dressed in a raggedy suit with oversized shoes and a large ladder, which he tried to balance, feigning drunkenness, as he attempted to get the attention of his unseen roommate, the imaginary Richard. He would then try to climb up the ladder, resulting in exquisitely timed pratfalls to punctuate his comments and comic asides. All this while sweating so much that his makeup would run down to his white collar (this was still a time when black comics performed "blackened up" with burnt cork on their exposed areas).

Lest we write off Fletcher and other great vaudevillians, such as Pigmeat Markham and Stepin Fetchit as mere "Uncle Toms," we should remember that they played to mostly black audiences and were very popular in that purview, as well as sources of racial pride for their success. One wonders what history will make of today's rap stars, whom many find to be offensively poor examples for black youth, every bit as embarrassing as the old time "black face" comedians.

In the latter part of 1946, Los Angeles tenor saxophonist Jack McVea, who had worked on bills with Fletcher, recorded "Open The Door, Richard" for the Black & White label to great response. Numerous cover versions, by Count Basie, Louis Jordan, the Pied Pipers among others, turned Dusty's act Into a national craze. National Records A&R man Herb Abramson tracked down the old comedian and recorded him for a piece of the pie.   John 'Spider Bruce' Mason was a light-skinned comic who also wore cork onstage. He would be wheeled out in a baby carriage by a faux nurse. Mason claimed to have been doing the "Richard" routine long before Dusty and, in an ensuing court battle, won co-writer's credit, along with McVea and a music publisher, who humbly used the pseudonym Dan Howell.  None of Dusty's follow-up recordings did as well and he eventually climbed his ladder to that big dressing room in the sky.

One of the great bands whose main popularity was with Southern black audiences was that of Buddy Johnson, composer of  "Since I Fell For You," "Save Your Love For Me" and many more. Buddy's best known vocalists were his sister Ella and Arthur Prysock. Arthur joined the band in 1944 as the replacement for Warren Evans, Buddy's ballad singer up until that time. National grabbed Warren to cover Cecil Gant's smash, "I Wonder," the song that had every G.I. in every foxhole singing, "I wonder, my little darling, where can you be again tonight?" So perfectly did this blues ballad capture the mood of the time that just about any version sold well.  A&R man Lee Magid, who worked for National and later Savoy, recalls, "Warren was a beautiful baritone, but we already had Eckstine and [National owner] Al Green couldn't get our distributors to buy both."

The late Herb Abramson was a record collector and dental student whose first A&R gig was with National. He recalled, "My very first assignment was to cover the Saunders King hit, "S.K. Blues." I knew Joe Turner and so I got his partner [boogie woogie pianist] Pete Johnson and put them together with [trumpeter] Frankie Newton and [tenor saxophonist) Don Byas. I didn't know what I was doing but my first record became a hit."   Joe and Pete came out of Kansas City, where John Hammond heard them and hired them for his famous 1938 "From Spirituals To Swing" concert, setting off the boogie woogie craze. By 1951, Joe's career has slowed down and Herb and Ahmet Ertegun recorded him for Atlantic, kicking oft a sweet comeback, leading to classics like "Honey Hush" and "Shake, Rattle And Roll."

Born melanin deficient, Johnny Otis chose to throw in with the black race. His dream was to become a drummer with Count Basie and have his own big band but, by the time he came along, the big band era was winding down. Ever resourceful, Johnny broke down to combo size, following the example of Louis Jordan, Joe Liggins and other jump practitioners, and, from the talent at his Watts night club, the Barrelhouse, put together a traveling revue.  Savoy head of West Coast A&R Ralph Bass convinced his boss, Herman Lubinsky, to sign the act, resulting in a bunch of hits, including "Misery," featuring Little Esther, "Gee Baby," sung by Jefferson High School football star Mel Walker, and "Cupid's Boogie," a duet featuring both singers. Otis went on to become a Jack-of-all-trades: songwriter, talent scout, disc jockey, painter, sculptor, author, politician and minister at his own church.

Atlanta, Georgia native Billy Wright is best remembered today as the major influence on Little Richard. Mr. Penniman was fascinated by Billy's flamboyance, use of heavy stage make-up and high pompadour. Listening to Richard's first recordings for RCA Victor, one is hard pressed to hear a difference in their singing styles.  Wright's first Savoy session resulted in a hit, "Blues For My Baby," followed by a string of others over the next couple of years. After Savoy, Billy recorded for Peacock, He spent the rest of his career working the clubs and theaters of his home town.

Crippled from birth, Varetta Dillard performed on crutches throughout her life. Often thought of as a poor man's Ruth Brown,  Varetta did have a style of her own, even though her first hit, "Easy, Easy Baby," was written by Rudy Toombs, who penned Ruth's monster, "Teardrops From My Eyes."  Immediately after singer Johnny Ace's backstage death by Russian roulette - or murder by his label owner's henchmen, depending on your source - Savoy A&R men Fred Mendelsohn and Ozzie Cadena concocted "Johnny Has Gone" and recorded It with Miss Dillard. Call it a tribute or call it exploitation, the result was a big juke box hit, thanks to Johnny's many despondent fans.

Nappy Brown was one of the many R&B singers to emerge from the gospel field. Scouted by Fred Mendelsohn, Nappy sold well for Savoy. "Don't Be Angry," his biggest hit, was covered by the Crew-Cuts for the pop market. Nappy claimed to be the tune's composer, but it bears a striking similarity to a ballad of the same title recorded for Jubilee by a group called the Sultans. Brown also laid claim to "The Right Time," despite a 1937 version by Roosevelt Sykes. Nappy was covered by Ray Charles in a smoking version, later revived by Creedence Clearwater Revival. And who can forget the Bill Cosby Show episode in which we saw the entire Huckstable family lip-sync to Ray's record?  

Cosby also used Big Maybelle's "Candy" on his show. The tune, written by the husband and wife team of Alex Kramer and Joan Whitney, who would later come up with Louis Jordan's "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens," and Mack David, writer of "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine," one of Elvis's first records, had been a big wartime smash for Johnny Mercer & the Pied Pipers.  Maybelle, one of the most soulful singers ever, was already a show-biz veteran when Fred Mendelsohn was tipped to her whereabouts across the Ohio River from Cincinnati at one of the Covington, Kentucky gambling joints operated by Moe Dalitz's Cleveland mob. Fred signed her to OKeh, where she cut gems like "Gabbin' Blues," "Ain't No Use" and an early version of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On." She followed Mendelsohn to Savoy in 1956 and "Candy" was her first release and biggest seller.

Back in the early 60s, my band gigged at a Manhattan club on Broadway at 86th Street, at that time a hooker, drag queen and junkie neighborhood known as "Needle Park." On a small stage in the front window, was the house band, the Jive Bombers, who looked to be eighty years old by then and were still working off their one hit, "Bad Boy." The group evolved from the Palmer Brothers mentioned above. The song was written and first recorded In 1936 by Louis Armstrong's wife, Lil as "Brown Gal," and revived years later under the same title by Deek Watson & his Brown Dots. In 1949, tenor saxophonist Al Sears cut a version, as "Brown Boy," with a vocal/instrumental combination called the Sparrows, an off-shoot of the Palmer Brothers. By 1957, three-fourths of this group was our guys, the Jive Bombers, who renamed Lil's politically incorrect ode "Bad Boy."

Back to that Broadway joint. One night, when we were alternating sets with the Bombers, two off duty police officers got into it, drew their pistols and blew each other away at the bar. We were told by the management to "play loud," which, come to think of it, might be a pretty good idea when listening to this CD.

Billy Vera, 2002