The Parrot and Blue Lake Labels

© Armin Büttner, Robert Campbell, and Robert Pruter

Latest revision: March 7, 2020

Our special thanks to Donn Fileti of Relic Records for his extensive additions and corrections to this discography.

A Parrot release that charted. From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

Revision note. We have added to our biography of pianist Henry Gray, who died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on February 17, 2020; he was 95 years old. We have an earlier date for Savoy's first acquisition from Parrot/Blue Lake: it dawned on us that this took place while the label was still active and Al Benson still owned it. Savoy 1165, with two Joe Williams sides recorded for Blue Lake, came out in July 1955. We've discovered that Parrot did not merely lease masters from Swing Time for distribution—there was a formal alliance between the companies from September 1953 through January 1954, during which time they shared a national sales manager. An advertisement for Parrot 1000 and Parrot 782, from Cash Box on August 29, 1953, has led us to realize that the Bessie Griffin single (Parrot 1000) is from 1953 and was released in the company's second official batch.

Parrot Records was the creation of noted Chicago DJ Al Benson (1908-1978). Born Arthur Leaner in Jackson, Mississippi, he arrived in Chicago in 1923. (There is a biographical profile in "Al Benson—The Godfather of Black Radio in Chicago" by the late Charles Walton, available on the Jazz Institute of Chicago website.) In his earlier days, Benson sang, produced shows at a theater in Jackson, worked as a probation officer, and preached. Al Benson began his career as a DJ in 1943, with a new gospel show on Chicago radio station WGES. His skill at selling commercial time on his church program landed him an R&B show at WGES toward the end of 1945. Quickly he became one of the biggest powers in the R&B business.

Benson began doing freelance recording in the spring of 1948 (when he taped at least 6 tracks at a live session at the Pershing Ballroom, edited them, and sold them to Aristocrat). He was in the studios a few months later, recording four numbers by the Benson All-Star Orchestra (see the Eddie Johnson pages for details), followed in the fall by a session with the Four Shades of Rhythm.

Benson opened his first company — it was called Old Swing-Master, after his DJ handle — in January 1949. Benson was really a front man; the outfit had come into being so his business partner, Egmont Sonderling, who owned Master Records and the United Broadcasting Studios, could issue jazz and R&B masters that Vitacoustic had recorded at his studio and failed to pay for. The label sustained itself by ingesting material acquired from defunct local labels like Rhumboogie, Marvel, Planet, and Sunbeam. Just the releases by the Benson All Star Orchestra, Old Swing-Master 15 and 16, and the Four Shades of Rhythm, Old Swing-Master 23, came out of Al Benson recording projects. And, so far as we can determine, those projects were done before the label was launched. Benson may have done a little freelance recording for sale to other labels while involved with Old Swing-Master; at least the session done at some point in 1949 by the Blues Rockers (later sold to Aristocrat) is thought to be his work. By the end of 1949, Old Swing-Master became inactive except as a conduit for some material Miracle had turned over to Sonderling to settle debts. Sonderling decided to phase out his involvement in the record business, closing down his pressing operation and acquiring radio station WOPA. Consequently Old Swing-Master shut down in June 1950.

Benson couldn't stay away from recording for long. In March 1951, he supervised a session by jazz violinist Eddie South, which he sold to the Chess brothers (see our Eddie Johnson page for details). The session includes Benson himself singing (well, reciting) "I Can't Give You Anything but Love." In 1952 he started a series of recording sessions at Universal Recording, in the hope of selling the material to established companies; a U4300 matrix series was opened for this effort. The Chess brothers were his best (as far as we know, his only) customers, purchasing masters by Willie Mabon, Danny Overbea, and Joe Williams and issuing them on their Chess and Checker labels. Our King Kolax discography presents details of the Williams and Overbea sides.

Willie Mabon on the very first Parrot release. From the collection of Robert L. Campbell.

Benson seems to have had Parrot in mind well before he had amassed the wherewithal to launch his own record company. The very first items to appear with a Parrot label are in the same U4300 matrix series out of Universal.

Our year-by-year lists takes their sequence in part from the matrixes, in part from the numbers on the tape boxes (as preserved on list of tapes transferred to Chess around 1959), in part from the release numbers, and in part from known recording dates. As we do not know exact recording dates for some of the sessions, and the matrixes are not always in sequence with the recording dates that we do know, this yields a somewhat vague ordering. The placement of the Blue Lake issues, with their separate matrix series, within the Parrot sequence poses special difficulties. The earlier Blue Lakes apparently had matrix numbers in the Parrot series originally, but hardly any of these can be recovered.

Nearly all Parrots and Blue Lakes were recorded in Chicago, at Universal Recording. The material that Al Benson purchased from Swing Time in the Fall of 1953 was recorded in Los Angeles (see the section on the Swing Time deal). The Jimmy Rushing session of December 1953 was recorded in New York City. Some sources have claimed, we think incorrectly, that the Herbie Fields was done there as well.

Whenever possible, we have taken the names of the artists and the titles from the physical artifacts; i.e., the records. Matrix numbers verified from the record are marked in bold type.

Preliminary Parrots

In November 1952, Al Benson made preparations for launching his own record company. He had decided to call it Parrot and adopted a label design, but had to put the operation on hold after recording a hit and lacking the means to distribute it.

This became a big hit, just not for Parrot. From the collection of Robert L. Campbell.

Parrot 1050, "I Don't Know" by Willie Mabon, was released early in November 1952. Its labels put the familiar Parrot logo on a blue background unknown from any later release. Because "I Don't Know" was an extremely popular number, extant copies of Parrot 1050 tend to show wear. Benson had been working with the Chess brothers, and he quickly made the obvious concession to practicality. Probably within a couple of weeks "I Don't Know' was out on Checker 1050 (most likely this was just a Parrot pressing with a Checker label pasted on; Parrot and Checker 1050 were both 78-only). It obvously didn't belong to the 750 series; as the 750 series ground on, more than a decade elapsed, and no one remembered the rebranded Parrot any more. So an-inseries Checker 1050 appeared, on 45 rpm only, in July 1963. This was by Gloria Brown.

As soon as the Parrot pressings were exhausted—before the month was out—"I Don't Know" was on Chess 1531. Chess 1531 hit #1 on the Billboard Rhythm & Blues chart and remained on the chart for 15 weeks. The Parrot release date comes from Bernd Kratochwil's article on the Parrot label in the German magazine Rockin' Fifties (Teil 3.1, 1998). The trade papers didn't bother to cover the Parrot release, but the first mention of Chess 1531 (attributed to someone called "Little Mahon"!) came in the "This Week's Territorial Best Sellers to Watch" box in Billboard, November 22, 1952, p. 41.

From the collection of Dr. Robert Stallworth

During the first half of 1953, two more singles, Parrot 772 and 775, were assigned numbers in the Checker release series. But we've found no evidence of a Checker 772 or a Checker 775. Checker 779, on the other hand, coupled two Browley Guy sides that had obviously been recorded by Benson, because were eventually sold to Relic Records with other Parrot and Blue Lake material. But we've never seen or heard of a Parrot 779. Though Benson was applying numbers from another company's ongoing series (Checker started at 750 in 1952) to his own releases, 779 marked the watershed. Starting at 780, Checker and Parrot releases would be completely independent of one another.

We have not included any other sessions in the U4300 matrix series, because after a few months it stopped being reserved for material that Benson recorded. To the lasting confusion of discographers, in January 1953 Chess began slotting in sessions by its own artists, including Muddy Waters, Little Walter—and Danny Overbea after he had signed with the Chess brothers.

The preliminary Parrots featured a piano-playing bluesman, two vocal groups, and a jazz combo.

Willie James Mabon (born October 24, 1925, in Hollywood, Tennessee) was the piano-playing bluesman. He cut his first solo sides for JOB in August 1949; these were actually released as a single on Apollo, under the name Big Willie. But Apollo waited until he had scored hits for other labels. Though most of his club gigs during the period were solo or trio affairs, he next recorded with Earl Dranes and The Blues Rockers for Aristocrat. The first session took place at some point in the second half of 1949 (under Al Benson's direction), leading to one release in January 1950, and the followup was done for the Chess brothers in March 1950, but it led to no releases on either Aristocrat or Chess. The band was then signed by Parkway in April, but no recordings ensued, and by August of that year Mabon had returned to working as a solo perfomer. When Mabon did his October 1952 session with Benson, he was on the brink of becoming famous for his incisive lyrics. What put him on the map was his reorganized version of a Cripple Clarence Lofton number, "I Don't Know" (see our Session pages for Lofton's 1943 recording). "I Don't Know" was a major hit, though not for Parrot.

Mabon remained with the Chess brothers through 1956, but his sales dropped over time and his exit from the label was not a happy one. He did one session for Federal in 1957. In 1960, he worked a session that was intended for release on the LaSalle label; it also featured Tom Archia on tenor sax. That same year he cut two singles that were released on Tommy Jones' Mad imprint, and he recorded an unsuccesful return session for Chess. In 1962, he was with the Formal label; in 1963 and 1964, he did four sessions for the USA label, one of them with a Red Saunders combo. He took one last shot at recording in Chicago for Checker in 1969. Later on he settled in Europe. Willie Mabon died in Paris on April 19, 1985.

From the collection of Dr. Robert Stallworth

The Parrots were an old-fashioned vocal harmony group, accompanied by what sounds like one of Chicago's top-of-the-line lounge trios, at a time when many still used piano, guitar, and bass. It might be Robert "Prince" Cooper's trio, or Duke Groner's, or it could be a popular but less-recorded outfit—there isn't enough soloing by the trio members to support a reliable judgment. The session added a drummer who liked to attach a few doodads to his kit, judging from "Weep Weep Weep."

From the collection of Billy Vera

Herbie Fields (born on May 24, 1919 in Elizabeth, New Jersey) was a New York-based multi-instrumentalist who performed on clarinet and alto and tenor saxophone. He ran with the best jazz musicians in the world in the early 1940s, appearing on some of the private recordings cut at Minton's by his friend Jerry Newman. Fields was a good enough tenor saxophonist to jam with the likes of Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas, and Dexter Gordon, but he was never quite able to reach their level of artistry. Fewer questions were asked about his clarinet and alto sax work; his technical mastery of the alto sax was particularly impressive. He recorded in 1944 for Signature; in 1945, while a member of Lionel Hampton's band, he made three sessions for Savoy. In 1946 and 1947 he did a series of recordings with a big band for Victor. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he worked with combos that were often billed as R&B units. After a long dry spell, he cut another big-band session for the Decca subsidiary Coral in 1952.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

Some say the Herbie Fields sides were recorded in New York City (jørgen Grunnet Jepsen's discography adds that they were from a broadcast, but the sonics don't bear that out). Bernd Kratochwil has suggested that they were cut in April 1953, while Herbie Fields was working a four-week engagement at the Preview Lounge in Chicago. This is the most plausible date, though in the list of Parrot tapes acquired by Chess in 1959 the file number on the tape box for the Herbie Fields session is 1854, which would put the date in June. But some other Parrot tapes that were consolidated on June 10, 1953 at Universal Recording may actually have been recorded earlier.

On his Parrot sides, Fields played alto, tenor, and baritone sax. His baritone work was also excellent and would have drawn a lot of attention had he chosen to feature the instrument more often.The personnel given in Lord's Jazz Discography and in earlier sources was Lee Katzman on trumpet, Eddie Bert on trombone, Joe Black on piano, Rudy Cafro, electric guitar, Dan Martucci, bass, and Phil Arabia, drums. Shirley Klett has shown that this was actually the lineup for a six-day gig at a club in Providence in September 1952, and that Eddie Bert never worked with Fields on any other occasion! According to Klett, Rudy Cafaro confirmed being on Parrot 775; Joe Gatto, who worked with Fields earlier, confirmed that Joe Black was on piano; Lee Katzman denied being on trumpet on the record, and Leonard Gaskin believed that the trumpet player was actually Jimmy Nottingham. So the revised lineup is Jimmy Nottingham (trumpet), unidentified (trombone), Joe Black (piano), Rudy Cafaro (electric guitar), unidentified (bass), and unidentified (drums). If there is a further rub, it's that Jimmy Nottingham is known to have worked with Fields from early 1950 through early 1951, and his presence in Fields' April 1953 combo is unverified.

"Harlem Nocturne" (Parrot 775), which showcases Field's command of the alto sax, is a juke box jazz number competitive with the sides that Tab Smith was laying down for United, or that Earl Bostic was cutting for King. It was released in July 1953, receiving a review in Billboard on July 25 (p. 38). It was an early success for the new company; it spent one week on the Billboard pop charts, at #24 during the week of September 12, 1953. Where "Harlem Nocture" was a movie composer's tribute to Johnny Hodges, "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" was actually written for him—again, Fields scintillates on the alto.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

On "Mr. Jump," whose title tells all, Fields plays tenor sax and baritone sax in the ensembles via overdubbing. Cafaro, the trombonist, Nottingham, and Fields (on tenor) are the soloists. Released the in the summer of 1954 on Parrot 806, it did not enjoy the same level of sales. On the ballad side, "I Love You," Fields is featured on baritone sax, which he plays with a strong dark tone and a wide vibrato.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

After Parrot, Herbie Fields cut more sides for Decca in 1954 (in New York) and 1955 (in Los Angeles). He resettled in Miami, where he cut an LP for RKO Unique with his local combo in 1956. His last recording was a 1958 LP for RKO Unique that included a string section. Herbie Fields committed suicide in his Miami home on September 17, 1958.

Browley Guy in 1948. From the collection of Paul Ressler.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

Browley Guy, whose name has been variously misrendered as "Brawley," "Briley," or "Brownley," was born around 1919, as he was a 1936 graduate of Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago. Guy had previously appeared on Miracle with Sonny Thompson and his Sharps and Flats, Eddie Chamblee's group and Leon Abbey's trio (1947 - 1949). After Miracle, which had had high commercial hopes for him, folded, he was signed by Leonard Allen and Lew Simpkins, cutting two sessions for States in 1952—the first with the Guy Brothers Orchestra (which was really Browley Guy, two of his brothers, and the Red Saunders band) and the second with a Paul Bascomb group. A crooner, Guy led an old-fashioned vocal ensemble that was particularly known for schmaltzy ballads, though their uptempo stuff was much hipper. "I Like Barbecue" and "Marie" from his first session for States are quite listenable. On his session for Al Benson he used a lounge trio (piano, guitar, and bass) for accompaniment. Guy's last session was done with a somewhat more modern-sounding edition of the Skyscrapers, for Mercury in 1956.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

We know of 14 tracks in all from this preliminary phase. The formal launch of the new label took place in July 1953, and the first sessions to be released exclusively on Parrot took place in May or June.

Matrix Artist Title Issue Recording Date Release Date U-4314 Willie Mabon and his Combo | Vocal by Willie Mabon Worry Blues Parrot 1050

Checker 1050

Chess 1531 c. October 1952 November 1952

(late November 1952) U-4315 Willie Mabon and his Combo | Vocal by Willie Mabon I Don't Know Parrot 1050

Checker 1050

Chess 1531 c. October 1952 November 1952

(late November 1952) U 4315A Willie Mabon and his Combo See Me Cry unissued c. October 1952

U 4315B Willie Mabon and his Combo L.A. unissued c. October 1952

4352 The Parrots Weep, Weep, Weep Parrot 772 March 1953 April 1953 4353 The Parrots Please Don't Leave Me Parrot 772 March 1953 April 1953 U-4383 Herbie Fields and Orchestra Harlem Nocturne Parrot 775 April 1953? July 1953 U-4384 Herbie Fields and Orchestra Things Ain't What They Used to Be Parrot 775 April 1953? July 1953 P-53204 Herbie Fields and Orchestra I Love You Parrot 806 April 1953? prob. summer 1954 P-53205 Herbie Fields and Orchestra Mr. Jump Parrot 806 April 1953? prob. summer 1954 U4385 tk. 2 Browley Guy and the Skyscrapers Watermelon Man Checker 779 June 10, 1953 July 1953 U4386 tk. 4 Browley Guy and the Skyscrapers You Look Good to Me Checker 779 June 10, 1953 July 1953 U4387? tk. 7 Browley Guy and the Skyscrapers Blow Joe (Relic 7027) June 10, 1953

U4388? tk. 4 Browley Guy and the Skyscrapers I'll Be Seeing You (Relic 7027) June 10, 1953



Parrots (and Blue Lakes) for Sure: 1953

After these fits and starts, Parrot opened a continuous number series, independent of Checker, with 780 and 781. Parrot began displaying such wares (with trade advertisements that proclaimed "New Label") in July 1953. However, advertisements for Parrot 775, which was part of the joint venture, were also appearing that month (July 25, to be exact). In December 1953, a long article about the new record label came out (it is reproduced at left, courtesy of the Simon Evans / Man in Japan collection). Oddly, this still mentioned the the same artists as the "New Label" advertisement (Mabel Scott and The Chocolateers) but added singer Joe Williams, who started recording for Parrot in September. And the only Joe Williams title to be mentioned was "Every Day I Have the Blues," which was indeed recorded by Al Benson, but in 1952, before he launched Parrot (see our King Kolax page for details). Not so oddly, the article avoided mentioning that Al Benson owned the label—there was a good deal of sensitivity about DJs being involved in the record business, and Benson had previously caught flak for his role in Old Swing-Master.

Members of different vocal groups that recorded for Parrot or Blue Lake told Robert Pruter (Doowop: The Chicago Scene) that Al Benson "seemed to run the company alone, almost as a hobby. He was president, administrator, A&R man, producer, and in Chicago, distributor." It looks like he took things too easy. When two members of The Fascinators, a band from Detroit, complained to Benson that they could not hear their record in their hometown, Benson gave them some copies of the record and added the address of a distributor! (See The Fascinators' session below, in the 1955 listing.)

In an interview with Charles Walton (see "Al Benson-The Godfather of Black Radio in Chicago" in Bronzeville Conversations), DJ Lucky Cordell recalled that Benson would not only select the records that each of his DJs was to play, he would physically stack them in the desired order:

Benson's most obvious weakness, to me, was that he did not have the ability to delegate authority; he had to run it himself. You cannot run your agency, do your radio program, interfere with all the DJs and their programming, run your newspaper and so on. He had someone running his newspaper but he was forever interfering with him. If he had the ability to delegate authority, the man could have been filthy rich.

Benson seems not to have monitored his matrix numbers closely. Unissued tracks were sometimes left without one. Benson started 1953 with a U4300 series that he had used for material sold to Chess and Checker, but the series was quickly taken over by the other company, and he dropped it for good after the Browley Guy session. When it was time for Parrot's formal launch, at least three of Benson's sessions tapped into a common matrix series that Universal used with various small labels, including Chance and JOB; in June 1953 it had reached U2550. But then he tagged two more items from the Mabel Scott session with numbers in a later series and did the same with two items from the Herbie Fields session.

In August, Benson settled on the 53100 series, in which the first two digits were to represent the year of recording and the last three were to represent the sequence of releases. This system was adhered to for the remainder of 1953; while he was at it he attached 53100 series numbers to a couple of Mabel Scott sides recorded in June. From May or June through the end of the year Benson laid down 126 tracks that are listed here.

According to Donn Fileti, the E prefix on a few items recorded in 1953 stands for Eagle Records. Eagle was intended to become a Benson subsidiary, but plans for it were abandoned. (Of course, collectors can prove us wrong by producing a 78 or a 45 with an Eagle label on it!) E53135-E53138 are on the same master tape and presumably came from the same recording session.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

From the collection of Tom Kelly

The first sessions for the new label included Red Saunders' band backing two of the acts that they accompanied at the Club DeLisa. The Chocolateers were a three-man comedy ensemble. "Peckin'" is an eccentric Swing dance number, well suited to Red's band, and the arrangement leaves some spots for Red's musicians. "Bartender Blues" is strictly a slapstick routine with band accompaniment (there is a loud clatter from the tom-toms whenever one of the Chocolateers pretends to go upside another's head). The number was advertised as "Bartenders Ball," the label of Parrot 781 gives the title as "Bartender Blues." The remaining two sides from this session (which was apparently not among those dealt to Chess in 1959) have never seen the light of day.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

Mabel Scott was a glamor-girl singer based in Los Angeles. Born Mabel Bernice Scott in Richmond, Virginia, on April 30, 1915, she performed in Europe during the early years of World War II, then sang briefly with Jimmie Lunceford's big band. She made her first recordings in 1948 for the Los Angeles label Exclusive Records; her biggest hit with them was "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus." The Parrot sides were made during an engagement in Chicago: as duly noted in the Chicago Defender, Mabel Scott was the star attraction at the Club DeLisa for the week of May 16, 1953, in a revue called a "A May-Hey Day." On Scott's Parrot sides, the Red Saunders band is joined by guest trumpeter King Kolax. The standout title, "Mr. Fine," is an ironic ode to an abusive boyfriend. Mabel Scott continued to record for Decca and King and in the mid-1950s was appearing in Las Vegas as a pianist and entertainer. Her last records were made for an Australian label in 1955, while she was touring Down Under with a revue that also included the Chicago-based doowop group The Moroccos (see our Al Smith page for more on their involvement). For a brief period in the late 1950s, she was married to blue balladeer Charles Brown (1922 - 1999). Eventually she became an active church member and gave up performing. She died in Los Angeles on July 19, 2000.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

From the collection of Dr. Robert Stallworth

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

From the collection of Dr. Robert Stallworth

The session done by blues guitarist L. C. McKinley poses a lesser dating problem. The recording sheets from Universal indicate the date as June 10, in the same style and handwriting as the Browley Guy, Chocolateers, and Mabel Scott sessions. However, Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier's blues discography has given May 19, 1953 as the date for this session. Bob Koester reports that around 1962, a Blue Lake 78 by L. C. McKinley was in the possession of United Distributors in Chicago. However, the only gap in the Blue Lake release number series is 110, and even dedicated collectors like John Tefteller have never seen a Blue Lake 110. The first confirmed release of anything from the session was on a Relic CD in 1989.

L. C. McKinley, whose rarely used first name was Larry, was born in Winona, Mississippi on August 10, 1913. He arrived in Chicago around 1940. In 1951 and 1952, he recorded as a sideman with pianist Eddie Boyd for JOB; that's his guitar work on Boyd's biggest hit, "Five Long Years." McKinley was obviously a disciple of Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker, both in his guitar attack and in the textures of his vocals. What's less Walker-like about McKinley's session for Parrot (which was his first as a leader) is the way tenor saxophonist Lorenzo Tucker (well, maybe that was his last name—Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier call him Lorenzo King) provides most of the fills and solos. Tucker basically carries "Rosalie Blues," while McKinley's guitar picking plays a secondary role.

L. C. McKinley went on to record as a leader for States in January 1954 (one single, two more sides unissued at the time). In 1955 he had a somewhat more extended stay at Vee-Jay: two sessions that led to two singles. He worked regularly as a sideman at the 708 Club on East 47th Street for much of the 1950s. His last recording as a leader was "Nit Wit" for Bea & Baby in 1959. He died in Chicago on January 19, 1970.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

Kratochwil gives the date for Curtis Jones' sides in the U2500 series as May 19, 1953. That makes eminent sense, as they were made by the same band: Curtis Jones (piano), L. C. McKinley (guitar), Lorenzo Tucker (tenor sax), Ransom Knowling (bass), and Lawrence "Judge" Riley (drums).

From the collection of Dr. Robert Stallworth

Pianist Curtis Jones was a blues veteran by this time. He was born in Naples, Texas, on August 18, 1906, and moved to Chicago in the early 1930s. Before World War II, he recorded frequently in sessions organized by Lester Melrose. Jones' first session for Parrot, done on May 19 and shared with L. C. McKinley, produced his last commercial single. "Cool Playing Blues" features the leader in typically relaxed voice and McKinley's guitar support is pure T-Bone. Lending the proceedings a somewhat old-fashioned flavor, the bass player and drummer had been on countless sessions for the Melrose combine during the 1940s.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

From the collection of Dr. Robert Stallworth

Curtis Jones returned to Universal Recording for his second and final session on August 10, 1953. Al Benson chose not to issue anything from it, but two tracks eventually appeared on a Delta Swing LP that also included unissued sides from the Chance vaults; these have been subsequently reissued on Oldie Blues and Document. The other two sides are still unissued after 50 years. Jones employed very nearly the same band as on his first session: Lorenzo Tucker (tenor sax), L. C. McKinley (electric guitar), Alfred Elkins (bass), and Judge Riley (drums). After his Parrot sessions, Curtis Jones went through a dry spell as far as recording was concerned. But when the blues revival began, he made LPs for Prestige/Bluesville and Delmark, then moved to Europe in 1962. He died in Munich on September 11, 1971.

Two further sessions have always proven difficult to date. They are neither on the Chess tape list nor among the Relic Records holdings, and their matrix numbers are off the main Parrot and Blue Lake series. We previously placed them in 1954, but the availability of Cash Box online (finally!) has required us to change our thinking.

From the collection of Tom Kelly

According to Horace Clarence Boyer's book How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel., gospel singer Bessie Griffin came to Chicago in 1951. She was born Arlette B. Broil on July 6, 1922 in New Orleans. A contralto who was sometimes regarded as a rival to Mahalia Jackson, though her vocal quality was lighter and lent itself to pyrotechnics, she sang back home with the Southern Harps and the Gospel Consolators and for a time had her own radio show. Her first solo recordings were made for Sittin' in With in 1948.

Her extremely rare single on Parrot 1000 misspells her name as "Griffen." We'd thought it was a 1954 release, but Parrot advertised it in Cash Box on August 29, 1953, alongside 782 by Curtis Jones (see p. 25). So it was in the company's second official batch of releases; it was also the first green-label gospel Parrot. She sings solo on both sides, with bare piano accompaniment by one Eloise Suddath. The condition of the instrument (a plunky old upright) is inconsistent with an outing at Universal, or at any recording studio worthy of the name,. Our surmise is that she made the record as a demo (which would also explain why it didn't end up in Parrot's legacies either to Chess and to Relic). Bessie Griffin's vocal brilliance makes any such considerations insignificant. She gradually builds intensity through the stanzas of the "Story of Job," then seems to start "What Jesus Means to Me" where the previous number left off.

Bessie Griffin next joined Albertina Walker's Caravans for a spell, contributing blazing leads to two songs on the group's January 1954 recording session for States. But she didn't stay in the group long, intent on pursuing a solo career.

Bessie Griffin finally got a chance to record regularly when she signed with Specialty in 1956. Her later output included LPs on Decca (DL-74947, It Takes a Lot of Love) and Savoy (MG 14233, The Gospel Soul of Bessie Griffin, issued in stereo during the late 1960s.) She also recorded for Liberty, Nashboro, and Spirit Feel, and played a preacher in the 1974 movie Together Brothers. She died in Los Angeles on April 10, 1989.

From the collection of Tom Kelly

Then there are the oddest of the oddities, Parrot 6000 and 7000. Collector Brent Campbell turned up a copy of the previously Parrot 6000, which was subsequently acquired by jazz violin scholar Anthony Barnett and placed in the AB Fable Archive Collection. A second copy showed up on ebay in 2007. Meanwhile, just one copy of Parrot 7000 is known, in the collection of Bill Sabis. Parrot 6000 is by the Leon Abbey Trio with Al Benson singing (OK, OK, talking through the words) on one side. Parrot 7000 uses the same lineup, but puts Benson's "singing" on both sides of "Fool That I Am," a ballad that had been a hit for Gladys Palmer on Miracle. The material could have been recorded during the period before the official launch of Parrot. The slender evidence of the P100 matrix numbers—which put Parrot 7000 after 6000, and 6000 after the Bessie Griffin single—points to 1953.

Al Benson "sings" for his own record company. Courtesy of Michael O'Keefe.

More "singing." From the collection of Bill Sabis.

The much traveled violinist Leon Abbey was born in Minneapolis on May 7, 1900. Not really a jazz player himself, he nontheless spent most of his career working with jazz musicians. Abbey broke in playing light music with J. Rosamund Johnson's orchestra (1920-1925). On January 8, 1925 he cut two sides accompanying blues singer Clara Smith: "You Better Keep the Home Fires Burning" and "If You Only Knowed." In 1925 and 1926 he led a band called the Savoy Bearcats that enjoyed a long residence at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City and recorded three sessions for Victor in August 1926. In 1927 the band spent a year based in Buenos Aires, with excursions through Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, but when Abbey obtained a gig in Paris, the former Bearcats returned to New York and he had to put together a new group. He spent the next 11 years in Europe, not counting two trips to India. He recorded some unreleased sides in England in 1928 and did a further session in Sweden (in 1938) that was released. As World War II loomed, Abbey returned to the United States, where he directed Ethel Waters' band in 1940.

Courtesy of Michael O'Keefe

After touring for a while with his own band, Abbey settled in Chicago. From 1947 onward he worked regularly in a trio with Barrington Perry (piano) and Robert Lee "Rail" Wilson (bass). Worthy of note is the fact that Al Benson used Perry and Wilson in his Benson All Star Orchestra, which around September 1948 cut the very first studio session he is known to have supervised (see our Eddie Johnson discography for details). Abbey's trio accompanied crooner Browley Guy on a 1949 session that Miracle left in the can; some of his best jazz work is on these sides, which we hope will be issued some day. The Defender for March 15, 1952 has Abbey's combo at the Pershing Lounge; he was also doing a 15-minute spot on a local radio program at the time. In the mid-1950s Leon Abbey operated his own nightclub in Chicago. He continued to work with his trio until 1964, when he retired. He died in Minneapolis on Sepember 15, 1975.

From the collection of Bill Sabis

Tenor sax player Nature Boy Brown is better known to us as J.T. Brown, the name he used on most of his other recordings. He was born John T. Brown in rural Mississippi on April 2, 1910. Brown worked down South with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels before moving to Chicago. There his bleating tenor sax made him a popular sessionman, working behind such bluesmen as Roosevelt Sykes, Eddie Boyd, St. Louis Jimmy, and Elmore James. He recorded a fair number of sides as a leader. His first session under his own name was a sprawling affair done in 1949 for J. Mayo Williams: the 8 sides variously appeared on Wiliams' Harlem label, Ivan Ballen's Apex label, and on Decca. Brown hit a high point at the opening-day session for United, in July 1951—his first single sold well in the early going. He picked another for the same label in January 1952 (both included trumpeter King Kolax). Unfortunately, his decision to use one Freddy Underwood, a non-Union alto saxophonist, on the January 1952 session got Leonard Allen and Lew Simpkins into major trouble with Musicians Union Local 208 and iced his prospects with that company. Brown joined Elmore James' touring band, the Broomdusters, in June 1952 and appeared on three of their sessions for the Bihari brothers' labels Meteor and Flair; he also got three instrumental sides and one vocal as a leader. He appeared as a sideman for a January 1953 JOB session featuring bluesmen J. B. Lenoir, Sunnyland Slim, and Johnny Shines.

This Parrrot session of August 10, 1953 took place when Brown was on hiatus from the James band, whose leader would go on long retreats to his home in Mississippi. Meanwhile, Brown was pulling them into the Chicago nightspots that year, notably at Ralph's Club (2157 West Madison) and Jimmy's New Apex Lounge (in suburban Robbins), so one can understand why Benson wanted to record him. But there must have been second thoughts, as these sides lay unreleased until Relic put them out in 1989. We don't know why: Brown is in good form vocally on "I'm Wise" and tenoristically throughout. Brown is accompanied by trumpet and alto sax (as on his ill-fated session from 1952), piano, bass, and drums. We think that Brown's old band-mate King Kolax joined in on trumpet. And the rhythm section could well have been Curtis Jones, Alfred Elkins, and Judge Riley from the first session of the day—but some comparative listening is still required.

J. T. Brown went on to record for a session for JOB around January of 1954; he also did one side for Ebony that year that was practically a field recording. Eventually, he received forgiveness from Leonard Allen at United, where he was able to return for a session in 1956, but the company was in decline by then and the tapes were left in the can. In the late 1950s, Brown often gigged with Elmore James when the guitarist was in town. In 1959 he recorded a single under his own name for the tiny Atomic-H label. J. T. Brown died in Chicago on November 24, 1969, not too long after a memorable performance of his "Black Jack Blues," on a Blues Horizon album with the British group Fleetwood Mac.

Leo Parker in the late 1940s. From the collection of Billy Vera.

Leo Parker (born on April 18, 1925 in Washington DC) had risen to prominence in the Billy Eckstine band of 1945; he was the first bebopper to play the baritone sax, and a prime inspiration to Mac Easton of the Red Saunders band. After reeling off a string of recordings for Savoy and Apollo in the late 1940s, he dropped to a much lower profile in the early 1950s, as he struggled with a serious heroin habit. Still, he was able to record in Chicago for Chess (see our Eddie Johnson page), United, and Parrot.

In the summer of 1953, Parker was interested in settling in Chicago; on August 20, he and his agent appeared before the Board of Musicians Union Local 208, asking permission for him to join. (He was allowed to do so, with the interesting restriction that he not be allowed to work the Flame Lounge for an entire year! Was some effort afoot to bring him in and push out Melvin Moore's house band, which had been in residence at that nightspot for over a year?) His Parrot session, with a pianist (also responsible for a spot of celeste on "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"), bassist, and drummer still unidentified, was mysteriously left in the vault by Al Benson and remained unknown until it appeared on a Chess Vintage Series LP in 1972. The list of Parrot masters acquired by Chess gives us the correct matrix numbers on these sides for the very first time (we'd already guessed that they ran from 53107 to 53110), and confirms that they were recorded the same day as the J. T. Brown and the second Curtis Jones sessions.

Leo Parker did not stay that long in Chicago, and he was out of circulation for long periods during the remainder of the decade. Shortly after cutting a comeback LP for Blue Note, Leo Parker died of cancer in New York City, on February 11, 1962.

The Coleman Hawkins session most likely took place in August 1953. From the collection of Tom Kelly.

From the collection of Billy Vera

The standard date for the Coleman Hawkins sessions is clearly wrong. Following all preceding discographies, John Chilton's book The High and Mighty Hawk put them on May 27, 1954, while Hawk was headlining at the Beehive in Chicago. But the releases on Parrot 783 and 784 took place in September or October of 1953. And their matrix numbers are early in the 53100 series, sandwiched between a batch of sessions from August 10 and another bach of sessions from September. The date wasn't May 27, 1953, either. Coleman Hawkins was pictured in the Chicago Defender of June 4, 1953, annoucing a gig at the Beehive slated to start on June 12 of that year (Hawk's contract for 4 weeks was accepted and filed by Local 208 on June 18). Hawk moved to the Toast of the Town on August 7; members of his band on that job—Laurell Howell, Tom Phillips, and guitarist Leo Blevins—were hauled in front of the Board of Local 208 on August 20, 1953 because of some dispute arising out of Hawk's gig. (Unfortunately, Local 208's Secretary, William Everett Samuels, who had a gift for taking down beefs using the speech patterns of the contending parties, was on vacation, and his stand-in didn't bother to note what the dispute was about.)

Our conclusion: Hawk's Parrot sessions took place in August, during the Toast of the Town engagement. The gig was over by the end of the month, judging from the fact that Leo Blevins next picked up a job as a leader at the Paris Club (contract posted September 3). (The matrix numbers 6994-7001 were affixed to these tracks after Savoy purchased them in 1956; Al Benson attached Parrot matrix numbers only to the four sides that he decided to release.)

Coleman Hawkins, the father of the jazz tenor saxophone, should need no introduction here. Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on November 21, 1904, Hawk broke in with Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds in 1920. He began recording with Fletcher Henderson's big band in 1923 and by the middle of the decade was a star soloist. The 1950 - 1954 period was a down time for Hawk, who, like many other Swing-era stars, was having a tough time getting recorded; his 12 sides for Parrot are one of his biggest bodies of work from this period. Since Al Benson usually cut 4 sides to a session, and sometimes reduced his target to 2, he must have been thinking of putting out an LP on Hawk. But if that was Benson's plan, nothing came of it. (Incidentally, Benson committed one of the all-time bloopers when he rendered "I'll Follow My Secret Heart" as "I'll Follow My Sacred Heart"!)

Six of the Hawk releases (including all 4 that were released on Parrot) back him with organ, piano, guitar, bass, and drums. We thought the organist was Lonnie Simmons, who was in the midst of a long-running gig at the Club DeLisa at the time, and would record his own session for Parrot in a couple of months. But Craig Browning notes that the organist sounds like the legendary Les Strand (who was credited, in an entry in Leonard Feather's encyclopedia, with making his debut on a Coleman Hawkins recording for "Peacock"). Comparing these sides with Les Strand's 1957 LP for Fantasy, and Lonnie Simmons' own session for Parrot, Browning says that Simmons "plays with more block chords and heavier vibrato than does Les Strand" (email, December 21, 2004). The guitarist solos on "Blue Blue Days"; he appears to be Leo Blevins, who was on Hawk's Toast of the Town gig. On "What a Difference a Day Made" Hawk's accompaniment swells to include a rather square choir, though unlike their counterparts on Charlie Parker's "Old Folks," they sing nothing but scat syllables. The choir, still restricted to nonwords, resurfaces on the second ballad, "I'll Follow My Secret Heart." The pianist gets a solo on this number. "I'll See You Later" is a straightahead jazz performance. Strand clogs the texture a bit, and his solo is definitely pre-Jimmy Smith, but Hawk keeps the number aloft. The tracks later titled "On My Way" and "Last Stop" are also from this session; they are instrumentals mercifully sans choir.

The six tracks that were given matrix numbers 6994 through 6999 by Savoy later on came from a different session than those later numbered 7000 through 7003 (including all 4 sides that Parrot issued at the time). As first released, on Savoy MG-12013, they were grouped together on the B side of the LP. As Browning notes, the piano is out of tune on 6994 through 6999, in tune on the other tracks. These are strictly quartet sides by Hawkins with a different pianist, bass, and drums; and, out-of-tuneness aside, they are oddly balanced, as though they'd been recorded on portable equipment in an empty club. We thought these might have been made with the house rhythm section from the Beehive. However, Chris Trent has now identified the pianist on the quartet sides as Sun Ra, who was doing his first work for Parrot (see below for his contributions as an arranger). The playing on two Ra piano solos dated September 23, 1953 (these have been released on a 14-CD box from Transparency) is noticeably similar, though the solos were not played on the same piano. The bassist and drummer remain unidentified.

Hawk is the dominant figure, soloing eloquently on his Parrot sessions. (All 12 tracks can be heard on Classics 1416, Coleman Hawkins 1953-1954, a 2006 CD that was among that label's last.) We just think Al Benson would have done better musically—and saved on session expenses—by sticking to Sun Ra on piano, with bass and drums, the winning formula on six of the sides. Hawk would soon rebound from this period of lowered exposure; in his fifties, he would record extensively over the next decade, often working with modernists like Thelonious Monk, Randy Weston, and Max Roach. His health began to decline in 1965 and he died in New York City, on May 19, 1969.

From the collection of Tom Kelly

The Crume Brothers were a gospel-singing family from Chicago that occasionally branched out into secular R&B. At various times, Dillard Crume, Jr., sang and played guitar, keyboards, and (later on) electric bass; Leroy Crume sang tenor and played guitar; Arthur Crume sang and played rhythm guitar; and Rufus Crume sang and played bass. On February 7, 1952, Leroy Crume posted a 2-week contract with Musicians Union Local 208 for a gospel show on radio station WSBC. We don't know exactly which members of the Crume clan were on their Parrot sides; nor is there confirmation that any of the 6 sides they recorded for Parrot (in a long session split between their sacred music and the distinctly profane stylings of Jo Jo Adams) were ever released. (Note that when we list two artist identifications or titles for unissued sides, the first comes from the list of Parrot masters acquired by Chess and the second is from Donn Fileti's sources.)

It is possible that "Reverend Crum & the Golden Keys," who cut "He'll Fix It for You" on Atlantic in 1955, were the same folks, though this needs verifying. Dillard "Croom" Jr. and the "Croom" Brothers were responsible for a secular release on Vee-Jay ("It's You I Love b/w "Rock n' Roll Boogie") in 1958. Arthur Crume also recorded for Vee-Jay with one of the later editions of the well-known gospel group. Some of the Crumes sang with the even more renowned Soul Stirrers for Specialty in the late 1950s, after the departure of Sam Cooke. In 1969, the Crume Brothers recorded for Checker as the Soul Stirrers; in 1973, three of the Crumes went to Jewel Records as the core of a latter-day Soul Stirrers aggregation (Dillard produced and arranged their LPs). On the R&B front, in 1964 the Crume Brothers cut two R&B singles for Atlantic, and from 1965 to 1971 they recorded gospel under their own name for Checker. During the Checker years, Dillard even moonlighted playing electric bass on "Egg of the Hen" and "All Money Spent," from a Koko Taylor session in 1966. (What we know about the Crumes comes from the notes to Charly CRB 1106, R&B Volts from the Vee-Jay Vaults.)

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

From the collection of Dr. Robert Stallworth

Jo Jo Adams was born in Alabama on August 18 of an unknown year (Dick Penny has estimated it as 1918). During the 1940s and 1950s, he was one of Chicago's best known nightclub entertainers. Locally renowned for his rough voice, his street-wise swagger, and his astonishing wardrobe of loudly colored tuxedos, "Doctor Jo Jo" was a recurring attraction at the Club De Lisa and the Ritz Lounge in the 1940s. Between 1946 and 1952 he recorded for Melody Lane/Hy-Tone, Aladdin, Aristocrat (where he was backed by Tom Archia's band), and Chance. A standup blues shouter, he was frequently employed as a Master of Ceremonies for shows, which in the top night spots he played often took the revue format. Throughout 1953 he was ensconced at the Flame Show Lounge (809 East Oakwood), presiding over the Jo Jo Show, a revolving set of acts. Joe Williams, who would soon make his own sessions for Al Benson, was one of them.

From the Chicago Defender, July 9, 1953, p. 29

This Parrot session from September turned out to be Adams' very last. Four tracks were laid down, one of which was apparently rejected. The two chosen for release, "Call My Baby" b/w "Rebecca," were midtempo jump blues, both in the same key. Jo Jo's vocal style is somewhat lacking in passion, but there is more than adequate compensation in the daring instrumental backing. This was provided by an uncredited Red Saunders unit, playing equally uncredited and extremely unconventional arrangments. These are obviously the work of a cat who, as Sonny Blount, had been associated with the Club DeLisa since 1946; he had just recently changed his name to Sun Ra when this session was made, and was around 18 months away from launching his Arkestra.

After this session, Jo Jo Adams continued to emcee at the Flame Lounge for most of the next three years, surviving a couple of ownership changes (we know his birthday because the Flame threw a party for him on August 18, 1955). His nearly continuous run was spelled by two appearances at Budland and a couple of stretches at the Club DeLisa.

From the Chicago Defender, November 3, 1956, p. 28

The last incarnation of the Flame Lounge closed its doors around the end of 1956. Jo Jo Adams next took up the MC role at Budland, where he was in residence most of the time from June 1957 through April or May 1959. His last run as MC was at the Green Door, for several months in 1959. As the floor shows died out and rock and roll and soul music made his blues sound increasingly dated, Adams continued on the scene but found work increasingly difficult to get. Jo Jo Adams died on February 27, 1988. Dick Shurman, who saw him shortly before he died and made a futile attempt to interview him, described him as "a true casualty of the streets."

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

From the collection of Dr. Robert Stallworth

From the collection of Tom Kelly

Born Joseph Goreed in Cordele, Georgia (on December 12, 1918), ballad and blues singer Joe Williams was an established local attraction in Chicago by the time he recorded for Benson. After years of serious dues paying and a couple of very obscure reacordings for tiny labels, he had become a headliner at the Club De Lisa, cutting a number of sides for Columbia and OKeh with the Red Saunders band (1950-1953). He had also made a 1952 session with King Kolax that Benson sold to Checker Records.

For his September 28 session, Joe was once again backed by a Red Saunders ensemble (and as was customary Benson gave Red no credit on the label). We believe that two sides were originally given the matrix numbers 53125 and 53126, and were done not long after the Jo Jo Adams session—which also included a Red Saunders ensemble. According to Bob Porter, a tape box among the holdings of Savoy Records included "It's Raining Again" and "Always on the Blue Side" and bore the date September 28, 1953 on the outside. The Chess tape list actually puts Joe Williams tracks in the same tape box as the four numbers by the Pelicans (the box number is 2059), but by 1958 or 1959 the Williams numbers had been removed. The other four titles by Wiliams and Saunders use the same ensemble, and sound similar, but there is a good chance they were actually cut at the December 31 session, along with instrumentals by the band.

Arrangements for the Joe Williams numbers were again provided by Sun Ra. We have a well-founded suspicion that the Joe Williams numbers with no composer listed—"It's Raining Again" and "Always on the Blue Side"—were actually composed by The Ra as well.

Joe Williams got his big break around Christmas 1954, when he left Chicago to join the Count Basie Orchestra. His second rendition of "Every Day I Have the Blues" (Clef 89149) became a Top 10 R&B hit when it was released in June 1955 (see the Clef ad in Cash Box, June 11, 1955, p. 24). With his record hitting on Clef, other companies were hoping to sell some Joe Williams sides. Chess/Checker re-advertised his 1952 version with King Kolax, and pulled in some further sales on it. And Herman Lubinsky of Savoy made Al Benson an offer for two Joe Williams sides. "Time for Moving" (retitled from Blue Lake 1002) and "Blow Mr. Low" (previously unissued) were released on Savoy 1165. It was pushed out in some haste at the end of July 1955 (see the review in Cash Box, August 6, 1955, p. 28; the company ad was on p. 24 of the same issue). We'd not known previously that the Savoy single came out while Parrot and Blue Lake were still active. "Time for" and "Mr. Low" would appear again on a Regent LP with all of the sides Williams had cut for Al Benson (with King Kolax for Checker and Red Saunders for Blue Lake), but so far as we know the other Blue Lake sides were sold to Savoy in 1956.

Joe Williams continued to perform and record extensively until shortly before his death, in Las Vegas on March 29, 1999.

From the collection of Tom Kelly

Courtesy of Michael O'Keefe

A vocal group called the Pelicans recorded the same day as Joe Williams and Red Saunders. They were the first doowop ensemble to record for Benson since he launched Parrot as an independent operation. The Pelicans were led by Roger Heard and came from Detroit. Of their four sides recorded on September 28, 1953, two found release at the time: "Aurelia" and "White Cliffs of Dover." "Aurelia" is a deep sounding ballad and it got a few plays in Chicago, Detroit, and New York. There was a real person behind the song, Aurelia Brown. Heard was dating her and put his romantic inclinations into the ballad. His efforts bore fruit because they eventually got married. Regarding "White Cliffs of Dover," the Pelicans became one of the earliest groups during the 1950s to turn this World War II pop icon into an R&B tune. The group's deep vocal stylings to a bongo-driven Latin beat were a pioneering effort at R&B reconstitution—or is that destruction?—of standards.

Courtesy of Michael O'Keefe

The Pelicans were not accompanied by the Red Saunders unit that one might expect. "White Cliffs of Dover" uses just a rhythm section, with the guitarist getting the most attention. On "Aurelia," however, a tenor saxophonist who owes a lot to Coleman Hawkins accompanies Heard's pleading vocal and takes a brief solo. This is Paul Bascomb, making his debut on Parrot. Bascomb and his rhythm section weren't entirely in their comfort zone backing this vocal group—the balances on the two released sides are awkward—but they would orient themselves soon enough. The other players on the date were Roland Faulkner (guitar), probably Malachi Favors (bass), and Vernel Fournier (drums). Norman Simmons was Bascomb's regular pianist at the time, but we aren't at all sure that he was on this date.

Tenor saxophonist Paul Bascomb was a veteran Swing and R&B tenor player out of the Hawk lineage. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, on February 16, 1910, Bascomb came to the fore in the mid-1930s when he attended Alabama State University and built the Bama State Collegians up into a big band (which later moved to New York City and renamed itself the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra). During the late 1940s, Bascomb led bands based in New York. From 1950 to 1952, he was in residence in Detroit, at a club called El Sino—a locale duly commemorated, though not correctly spelled, in one of his 1955 titles for Parrrot (see below). His excellent Detroit unit recorded in Chicago for States at three different sessions in 1952. In January 1953, Paul Bascomb took up residence in Chicago, buying a house at 4722 South State Street. His initial attempt to join Local 208 in Chicago was rebuffed on January 22, for reasons that seem inexplicable today; an established musician was obliged to take a day job and (in order to avoid angering the Union) to refuse offers from several different clubs. Finally, on June 4, 1953, he was allowed to join the Union local in Chicago (for a cash payment of $50, according to minutes of Local 208 Board meetings now housed in the Chicago Public Library).

Bascomb quickly recruited a band and took a 2-week gig at the Capitol Lounge (contract accepted and filed on June 18). The next month he took a gig at the Strand Show Lounge, 63rd and Cottage Grove (the contract was accepted and filed by the Union on July 16). According to Norman Simmons (in conversations with Art Zimmerman, and in an interview published in Cadence, March 2000), Bascomb really took over an existing band that had been organized by Gus Chappelle (who doubled on trombone and vibes) along George Shearing lines. Under Chappelle's leadership the band had been in residency at the Strand the previous year (Chappelle's first contract with the Strand was accepted and filed by Local 208 on May 15, 1952). When Bascomb became the leader the other musicians were Simmons (piano), Roland Faulkner (electric guitar); Malachi Favors (bass); and Vernel Fournier (drums). There is an extant photo of this band with up and coming baritone saxophonist Pat Patrick replacing Faulkner; Patrick was attending Florida A&M University at the time, so he was only available for a while during the summer.

Paul Bascomb's first studio work since moving to Chicago was an uncredited appearance backing Dinah Washington on a session for Mercury, which took place on August 13, 1953 and produced two sides. Our thanks go to Yves François Smierciak for identifying this as a Bascomb product (the leader takes tenor sax solos on both sides). On the Mercury date, Chapelle was absent and Bascomb's regular band was beefed up with two trumpets and an alto sax. Since a baritone sax was present, and not a guitar, the session was obviously done while Pat Patrick was in the band.

On August 27, 1953, the Strand Show Lounge ran an ad in the Defenderannouncing "Paul Bascomb and His Great Little Band, Beginning Wed., Sept. 9th." A Defender ad from September 24, 1953 has Paul Bascomb's Quintette, plus Bobby Dalton "direct from Zizzy [sic] Johnson's Revue Detroit" playing at the grand opening of the Club Relax (6239 Cottage Grove; Bascomb's contract had been posted on September 17). Bascomb seems to have divided his time between the Strand and Club Relax for a while (indefinite contracts with both establishments were accepted and filed by Local 208 on October 15, 1953). On November 5, Bascomb posted yet another contract with the Strand; he seems to have left Club Relax around this time, being replaced on the gig by pianist King Fleming. According to Bob Bolontz, "Rhythm and Blues Notes," Billboard, November 28, 1953, p. 51, the return engagement at the Strand started November 18.

From the Big Joe Louis collection

On October 11, 1953, Benson taped his way through no fewer than 12 gospel tracks, by three different ensembles. Just two sides, by the Victorettes, are known to have been issued; another couple could have slipped out without our knowing it.

The Victorettes, an all-female ensemble, interested Benson enough to be called back for a second session in the summer of 1954. According to gospel expert Bob Marovich, they grew out of a "church choir" called the Victory Singers, founded by Mary Etta McNairy in Chicago in 1948. Directed by Jeannette Sims (possibly McNairy's sister, though this is yet to be confirmed), the choir "appeared in concert and on local Chicago radio shows and began touring other cities in the midwest" (according to McNairy's obituary in the Michigan Chronicle). Sims and McNairy moved to Detroit in 1950 and reorganized the Victory Singers with new members from the Detroit area. The group was renamed the Victorettes; in addition to touring throughout the country, they had a weekly Sunday radio broadcast ("Southland Spirituals") on radio station WJLB. Mary L. Morris, Mary McNairy's grandniece, told Bob Marovich that she was the Victorettes' "mascot" and often sang with the group.

Marovich suggests that Parrot recorded the Victorettes because, although the group was now based in Detroit, its two principal singers (Mary McNairy and Jeannette Sims) were still quite popular in the Chicago black church community and were likely invited back to sing at local programs. In any event, Benson had already begun recording Detroit-based talent two weeks earlier, when he brought in the Pelicans.

The Victorettes' only release, on Parrot 107, is a rare creature today. Having finally heard both sides, we can say that they were one of the best groups working at the time. The Victorettes, who recorded with 5 or 6 singers, were a sweet-voiced ensemble with clean execution; no grit or hard-gospel procedures. One of the leads was a coloratura soprano. On the ensemble number "Jesus Has Promised" her high notes, even a single note on a single word, like "you," take flight about the ensemble. "When Night Comes" is a vehicle for dual leads, which we assume were by McNairy and Sims; both reach high, but the second lead soon reveals herself as the coloratura. They were accompanied by the standard combination of organ and piano.

For information on the other two groups recorded on October 11—the Sunset Four Gospel Singers, and the Oliver Lynch Singers (first name misspelled "Olive" in more than one source)—we will be most appreciative. Hayes and Laughton's Gospel Discography suggests that the Sunset Four were a later edition of a group that had previously recorded as the Sunset Jubilee Singers (for Hub and Duke in 1946, and for OKeh in 1951) but also as the Sunset Four (for Haven in 1946). However, there is no assurance that the quartet that recorded for Benson was a continuation of the same group, as the other Sunset sessions had all taken place in New York.

From the Big Joe Louis collection

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

The Rockettes, who cut one session for Benson, were a doowop quartet who (unusually for that time) employed a female lead on some of their numbers. She can be heard on "Love Nobody"; "I Can't Forget" has a tenor lead. Unfortunately we know nothing more about either of them. The Rockettes were accompanied by a Red Saunders unit with Sonny Cohn (trumpet), Leon Washington (tenor sax), Earl Washington (piano), the same guitarist who was on the Jo Jo Adams session, Jimmy Richardson (bass), and of course the leader (drums). Cohn's highly charged trumpet lead on "Love Nobody" closely resembles his work on the Jo Jo Adams session; on "I Can't Forget" the horns have much less to do and the solo space goes to the guitarist. The list of tapes dealt to Chess assigns the Rockettes tape a file number that places their session in the October 11 marathon (the Sunset Four tape was numbered 2084, the Victorettes 2085, the Rockettes 2086, and the Oliver Lynch Singers brought up the rear with 2087).

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

Velma Dortch is a mystery woman. Cash Box announced that she was a "singstar" and Al Benson had signed her to Parrot (October 24, 1953, p. 27). But nothing came out under her name. Unless by some off chance she was the female lead of the Rockettes, we figure she didn't get recorded at all.

Lonnie Simmons. From the collection of the late Charles Walton.

Lonnie Simmons began his musical career as a tenor saxophonist, recording with the Savoy Sultans in New York City. After moving to Chicago in the early 1940s, he was featured more and more often on the organ. In 1949 he led a band at the Beige Room for several months (on July 25, 1949, Down Beat's Chicago Band Briefs column noted that "Lonnie Simmons' band seems to be there permanently"). From 1950 through 1956 he was a nightly attraction at the Club DeLisa. For this November 1953 session, he overdubbed his own Swing tenor sax lines over his organ trio; he seemed rather fond of the simulated vibraphone sound that he could get out of his Hammond B-3. Simmons would record very little afterwards, though he appeared on two pop outings for Mercury behind Jean Swan in 1956 (see our Red Saunders discography for these). Not long after leaving the DeLisa, he acquired a stready gig, which he basically held for the rest of his life, playing organ in an Italian restaurant in Chicago.

Lonnie Simmons recorded four sides at his October 15 session. "I Can't Get Started" and "Black Orchid" were released on a Parrot single. "Lonnie's Blue" (identified on the master list from c. 1959 as "original ballad") appeared on a Chess Vintage Series LP in 1972. What the Chess tape list calls "Love of Mine" (possibly "This Love of Mine," which had been made famous by Frank Sinatra, and was being recorded by a lot of people in 1952 and 1953, including the Chess brothers' house tenor saxophonist Eddie Johnson) remains unissued.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Tom Kelly

Later in October, Paul Bascomb was back, with his entire Strand Lounge band, for the "Jan" session. Norman Simmons had recently written and arranged a Latin-flavored jazz number piece that he called "Jan." Leonard Allen at States wasn't interested in recording it. Simmons had even written lyrics for the piece, in case a vocal recording would be more attractive to the company. Al Benson, however, did express interest, so Bascomb asked to be let out of his contract with States (which hadn't scheduled a session for Bascomb for over a year—or maybe it was Mercury he addressed the request to?) so he could cut the number for Parrot.

Its place in the matrix series indicates that "Jan" (an instrumental with a rhumba beat that covered both sides of a 78) was cut in October 1953. According to the Chess tape list, the tape box carried file number 2114, putting it a few days after the Lonnie Simmons session, which got box number 2094. Norman Simmons has said that "Jan" was done early in the year, but this doesn't check out, and not just because of the number on the tape box. Paul Bascomb was blocked by Local 208 from working in Chicago until June 4, 1953, and didn't put together his Strand band until July.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

For the "Jan" session, we know the complete lineup, thanks to the recollections of Norman Simmons and the late Vernel Fournier: Paul Bascomb (tenor sax), Gus Chappelle (trombone), Norman Simmons (piano), Roland Faulkner (electric guitar), Malachi Favors (bass), and Vernel Fournier (drums) were joined by one "Pepe" on congas (this may be the Peppi Brown who later worked with Malachi Favors in a trio led by pianist Andrew Hill). "Jan" is one of the first recordings that Malachi Favors made, and the first one on which he can be heard to advantage, contributing a mighty ostinato. Benson released "Jan" on Parrot 792, and gave it what, by his standards, was a big push. But in his Cadence interview (March 2000, p. 11), Norman Simmons complained that Al Benson didn't take full advantage of the record's commercial prospects:

Well, the guy who recorded it... he doesn't care what happens to his records. He only presses a certain amount and that's it. ["Jan"] got to be number seven on the charts, but he just stopped pressin' them. But that record established me as an arranger. From then on, I was kind of known for that.

By the way, we have no idea which chart "Jan" reached number 7 on. Shortly after "Jan" was released, Benson told a writer for Cash Box (January 16, 1954, p. 23) that the record had sold 7,000 copies in Chicago —which may or may not have been true, but is hardly the same thing.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

The Five Thrills were the most prolifically recorded vocal group on Parrot, for reasons that largely escape us. Most of their "original" tunes were thinly disguised covers of records of the day (for instance, "Rocking at Midnight" rips off "Good Rockin' Tonight" by Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris and "Ride Jimmy Ride" rips off "Mailman Blues" by Lloyd Price) and their other material lacked any sort of distinctiveness. The Five Thrills were Levi Jenkins (bass and piano), Gilbert Warren (lead/tenor), Oscar Robinson (baritone), and brothers Fred Washington (baritone) and Obie Washington (second tenor). Gilbert Warren would improve markedly, but his work on some of October sides wouldn't have gotten him through a cattle call for American Idol; his lead work on the ballad "All I Want" is painfully out of tune. Nonethless, the group got to play some prominent clubs, notably Martin's Corner (1900 West Lake) along with singer Gloria Valdez. Gloria's husband, Paul Bascomb, was responsible for backing them on their Parrot sessions.

The group's first session, which produced 8 sides, was apparently done on a different date, later in October. The instrumental lineup is just Bascomb, an unidentified trumpet player, piano, guitar, bass, and drums. The horns are used sparingly (though Bascomb's tenor sax can be heard on "Ride Jimmy Ride," which was selected for release on Parrot 796, he sits out most of the tracks). We think Vernel Fournier was at the drums and Roland Faulkner on the guitar, but the pianist may not have been Norman Simmons, and the bassist stays in the background.

The Chess tape list from around 1959 indicates that the two parts of "Jan" came from a different tape box from the Five Thrills items. (Oddly, Chess was given a session sheet but not the actual tapes, leading the compiler to give a box number for "Jan," while tagging the Five Thrills items as "not recorded." But of course the tapes by the Thrills did survive after all.) According to the Chess list, the vocal group was initially called the 5 Esquires. Only approximate titles were given, most of which were changed on release: 53153 as "Nothin' but Feeling," 53154 as "Our Love to Be the Same"; 53155 as "Mailman Blues"; 53156 as "Midnight Blues"; 53159 as "My Baby's Gone"; and 53160 as "Heartaches." Paul Bascomb fans would be especially interested in the never-released 53158, titled "Lizar's [sic] Blues" on the Chess list. Donn Fileti's documents indicate that it was an instrumental. In fact, "Liza's Blues" was a number that Paul Bascomb had previously recorded with his Detroit band for States, on August 25, 1952.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

Benson continued his activities in the studio during November 1953, but until the session by Albert King at the end of the month, nothing that was recorded saw release. Either the performances or the sonics must have been unsatisfactory; in any event, the only surviving documentation for the next two studio outings is the Chess tape list.

At some point in November, Benson cut four gospel tracks with an artists (or artists) that the Chess list does not identify. (Again Chess apparently just got the list of tracks for a tape that was left out of the batch.) One of the titles may be "God Shall Wipe All Tears Away," which had been recorded for Aristocrat by the Reverend "Singing Sammy" Lewis, back in 1949. Lewis was on the scene; in 1954 he would record for Vee-Jay, and in 1956 he made a stop at United. But his presence here is entirely conjectural; tapes need to be found and auditioned before we can say anything further.

Next, Benson brought in one of his top jazz artists, pianist Ahmad Jamal. Born Frederick Russell Jones in Pittsburgh, on July 2, 1930, he quickly acquired the nickname Fritz. He went as "Freddy" during World War II, when a Germanic name lacked appeal. After converting to Islam, he would drop his birth name entirely (to the extent, at times, of vehemently denying he'd ever been called Fritz Jones).

Having already made a name for himself in Pittsburgh, Fritz Jones arrived in Chicago in 1950; as they would do later to Paul Bascomb, the leadership of Musicians Union Local 208 put him through the wringer before allowing him to contract for gigs locally. Even after he finally obtained clearance from the local, some time went by before he was able to find gigs as a leader. On December 16, 1950, the Defender ran an ad and a photo with caption for bassist Israel Crosby's band appearing at Jack's Back Door (5859 South State). The photo named Fritz Jones on piano and Johnny Thompson on tenor sax. Crosby had filed an indefinite contract for the gig on October 19, 1950. While looking for jobs for his trio, Jones also spent some time playing piano in the Freeman brothers band.

In April 1951, he finally landed an engagement as a leader; his indefinite contract with Jimmy's Palm Garden was accepted and filed by Local 208 on April 19. On this occasion his name was listed as "Frederick" Jones. As Fritz Jones, he posted an indefinite contract with Harry's Show Lounge on June 7; and on July 5 when he filed a new indefinite contract with the same venue. On July 5, the Local 208 Board heard a complaint from bassist Tommy Sewell, who had just been fired from Jones' trio, obviously while it was working at Harry's:

Members Fritz Jones and Thomas Sewell appeared before the Board, as notified, with reference to Sewell's complaint that Jones had no reason for dismissing him from his group. (Board meeting minutes, p. 3)

Sewell was bitter because he had been working with Jones for several years, and took a day job after they arrived in Chicago and were unable to get steady work. He claimed that he had been given notice because Jones' wife didn't like him.

Jones stated he had no personal likes or dislikes for Sewell. He explained that he gave Sewell notice because he refused to cooperate with the style of music that he wanted to play. He stated that Sewell insisted on playing solos on his bass violin in a BeBop way. The last week of his notice he was late on every set, and did everything possible to humiliate and embarrass him. (p. 4)

The Local 208 Board found in Jones' favor. Sewell stayed in Chicago, at least for the next couple of years, but never worked with Jones again.

Eddie Calhoun replaced him—soon, if not immediately. On August 2, 1951, Local 208 accepted and filed Fritz Jones' contract with the 113 Lounge; the management at the 113 was evidently pleased, because on September 20, he filed a new contract for 5 months. Sam Evans' Cash Box column ("Kickin' the Blues Around," September 29, 1951, p. 17) referred to "a trio of young men, with a new and creative approach that is pleasing to the ears of jazz lovers of all ages." The members were Fritz Jones, Ray Crawford, and Eddie Calhoun. During his residency at the 113, Jones signed a recording contract with OKeh's newly revived Chicago operation. On October 25, still going as Fritz Jones, he recorded 4 sides with Ray Crawford on guitar and Eddie Calhoun on bass.

On January 17, 1952, Fritz Jones posted a contract for 4 weeks with options at the Blue Note. But just over a month later, he and his wife filed a name change petition with a Cook County court, which stated:

That the place of nativity of Frederick Russell Jones is the state of Pennsylvania and that the place of nativity of Virginia Wilkins Jones is the state of Illinois. That the age of F. R. J. is 21 years and that the age of V. W. J. is 25 years. That F. R. J. has resided in the state of Illinois for 2 years and that V. W. J. has resided in the State of Illinois for 25 years last past... Their names may be changed to Ahmad Jamal and Maryam Mezzan Jamal... Witnessed by Eddie A. Calhoun, February 18, 1952.

The petition, which nails down a significant event in Jamal's life, was unearthed by Alexia Kinni, a graduate student at Rutgers-Newark under the supervision of Lewis Porter.

On April 17 Ahmad Jamal filed his first contract under his new name (for 2 weeks at the Pershing Lounge, a venue he would eventually make famous, and vice versa; he would post an extension for 4 more weeks on May 1). Meanwhile, pre-release advertisements and record sleeves from OKeh had been referring to the "Fritz Jones Trio." But when the first release from the October session, OKeh 6855, came out in March or April 1952 his new name was on it. On May 5, Ahmad Jamal made a second four-tune session for OKeh with the same trio.

Ahmad Jamal filed another, indefinite, contract with the Pershing Lounge on January 22, 1953, as his OKeh deal was about to run out. In September 1953, the Jamal trio was back at the Pershing Lounge after a short engagement in New York City (Ted Watson, "Chicago Night Life Gets Lift from Name Artists," Pittsburgh Courier, September 12, 1953, p. 19; Watson, writing in Pittsburgh, was still referring to Jamal as Fritz Jones).

OKeh had thrown in the towel on its Chicago operations, and like Red Saunders, another ex-OKeh artist, Jamal moved over to Parrot. Benson obviously expected a lot out of the pianist, who cut 6 titles for him in November 1953, we assume with his working trio. The tapes were still extant in 1958 or 1959, because the Chess list includes a file number for this session, but something must not have gone right. Jamal would return in January 1954 for another session, at which his trio remade "But Not for Me" and "Excerpts from the Blues." The November 1953 session was unknown to discography until the Chess tape list resurfaced.

From the Big Joe Louis collection

After concentrating on jazz, vocal groups, and gospel for a time, Benson turned his attention back toward the blues in November.

From our point of view today, the biggest name among the Parrot bluesmen is Albert King. The guitarist and singer was born in Indianola, Mississippi, where he may or may not have been related to B. B. King, on April 25, 1923. But he was an unknown when he made these sides—the very first under his own name—on November 30. King was backed by rhythm guitarist John Brim, pianist Johnny Jones, and unidentified bass and drums. Dick Shurman astutely noted that the tracks "demonstrate that while Albert's relatively unadorned vocal style and acidic guitar tone were fairly well defined, he hadn't yet developed much dynamics or distinctiveness in his songs." While King sings "Little Boy Blue" with assurance, he was not going to become a star performing a song that Robert Johnson played but never recorded. King failed to break in on the Chicago scene with these sides and worked in Arkansas for a time before moving his base of operations to St. Louis, where he would make his next recordings as a leader for Bobbin in 1958. Albert King found his niche in the 1960s when he signed with Stax Records, where he became one of the giants in the blues field. King died in 1992.

From the Big Joe Louis collection

Another artist who needs no introduction here is Mr. Five by Five, Jimmy Rushing, born in Oklahoma City on August 26, 1903 (though some sources have said 1902). Rushing first recorded in 1929 with Walter Page's Blue Devils; he attained nationwide prominence beginning in 1936 with the Count Basie band. Rushing had been leading a 7-piece jazz group at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City, but it broke up in 1952, and his Parrot recordings were cut with the Frank Culley combo. "Floorshow" Culley—his handle was "Cole Slaw" Culley before he cut "Floorshow" for Atlantic in 1949—was an alto and tenor honkologist active on the R&B circuit. On the Parrot single, Rushing sings his signature number, "Mr. 5 X 5," and shouts a slow blues with rather gimmicky stop-time vocal breaks, "Clothes Pin Blues." (The unaccompanied stop-time vocal lines might sound more persuasive without the heavy reverb that was added to so many recordings in those days.). The main instrumental soloist on both sides is Frank Culley on tenor sax; trumpet, piano, guitar, bass, and drums complete the lineup. Jimmy Rushing recorded regularly up to his death in New York City on June 8, 1972.

The Jimmy Rushing sides are claimed by Leadbitter, Fancourt, and Pelletier 1994 to have been made in Chicago. But Culley's home base was New York City, and Rushing's other recordings during the period were all made in New York. We got the original matrix numbers, which confirm the New York origin, from a copy in the collection of Richard Reicheg. (The matrix numbers that discographies give for this session were attached by Chess at some point in the early 1960s, when the Chess brothers were thinking about reissuing the tapes.) Further confirmation of a New York session on December 27, 1953 comes from the "Stars over Harlem" column in Cash Box (January 9, 1954, p. 21):

Chicago Al Benson whizzed in quick and quiet like and spent two days recording and making the rounds with disc jockey-writer Joel Turnero who previewed a whole stack of new Parrot waxings via WNJR.

According to the columnist, who accurately gave artists and at least one title for each, Benson brought copies of Parrot 791, 792, 793, 794, and 796 to WNJR. Two or three of three were pre-release pressings.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

The final session of the year produced the first single to come out on Al Benson's new Blue Lake label. It featured the Red Saunders band playing what, for it, were aggressively modernistic treatments of "Summertime" (redone to a Latin beat) and "Riverboat." Sun Ra was once again responsible for the arrangements.

Three instrumentals are known from this session: "Sumertime" and "Riverboat" were released on Blue Lake 101, while "Lawdy Miss Lucy" was held back and did not appear on record until 1972, when it was used on a Chess Vintage Series LP.

Were any vocal features for Joe Williams included? Because all 6 Joe Williams sides in the company vaults were sold to Savoy in 1956 there is no way to know what their original matrix numbers were. We are inclined to think that at least two of the Williams tracks were actually done at the December 31 session. Meanwhile, only two out of the six came from a tape box with September 28 on it (or so Bob Porter notes his liner notes to a Savoy reissue LP). The December 31 session seems to have occupied a 6-item stretch in the 53100 matrix series, from 53179 through 53184, so more than two of the Williams items could have been done then (with a somewhat smaller ensemble than was used on the instrumentals).

When most of the remaining master tapes were leased to Chess in 1959, "Summertime" and "Riverboat" were in tape box 2453, along with "You Ought to Quit It" and "Lovin [sic] Daddy Blues" by Ann Carter. But the notation on the list attributed the vocal items to Joe Williams! That strongly suggests that some Williams items were once in the box. What's more, the box number is too high for the December 31 date, which would yield a tape box number around 2250. We suspect that the instrumentals were put in with the two Ann Carter items, themselves recorded in February 1954, after the Joe Williams tapes were sold.

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

A source of some trouble for us is a session by the gospel group, the Willie Webb Singers. Four sides were issued with Parrot matrix numbers, but these are not from the main Parrot matrix series, and the session cannnot be found on either the Chess tape list or the among the tapes that were sold to Relic Records. The Webb singles are poorly documented in general. Willie Webb was important enough, however, to be covered in Horace Clarence Boyer's book How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel.

Willie Webb was born in Mississippi in 1919. He moved to Chicago at a young age and in the mid-1930s became a charter member of the Roberta Martin Singers. Webb was a virtuoso pianist and organist. In 1949, he formed a mixed group called the Willie Webb Singers, in which he did not usually feature himself as a lead vocalist.

In 1950, Webb was the choir director of the 44th Street Baptist Church. We know because on October 19 of that year he filed a claim with the Board of Local 208 against the minister, the Reverend Elijah Thurston, and Sylvia Hoston, a member of Local 208 who presumably played piano or organ there.

Webb and his group made their first records for Gotham, with four sides recorded in September 1950; a follow-up in March 1951 yielded another release on the same label. Because they were issued with green Parrot labels and most of Al Benson's gospel activity took place in 1953, this is the best guess we can make about the date of Willie Webb's sides for the company.

On Parrot 105, "Climbing High Mountains" and "God Is Good to Me" feature a powerhouse contralto lead, joined by a second strong contralto on "God Is Good"; unfortunately, she is not credited on the label. Accompaniment is by a small female gospel choir, with Webb at the organ plus a pianist. On 106, we hear Willie Webb singing the tenor lead on "He's a Wonder"; presumably still taking care of the organ playing, with the same accompaniment. On "He Will Be There" Webb hands off the lead vocal to the same excellent contralto. The Parrot sides make a case for the Willie Webb as one of the top gospel ensembles in a city that had so many good ones.

After these two Parrot releases, the Willie Webb Singers unfortunately did not record again till 1959, when they taped 6 never-released sides for Chess. Webb was still known to Chicago churchgoers during that period, as is shown by his appearance in a supporting role at a Mother's Day gospel extravaganza. His last known release was a single on Bud Brandom's B&F label, which came out in 1961. Willie Webb died in Chicago on May 15, 1999.

Matrix Artist Title Issue Recording Date Release Date U-2550 Mable [sic] Scott Mr. Fine Parrot 780 May 1953

mastered June 10, 1953 July 1953 U-2551 Mable [sic] Scott Mable's Blues Parrot 780 May 1953

mastered June 10, 1953 July 1953 U-53173 Mable [sic] Scott Fool Burro Parrot 794 May 1953 December 1953 U-53174 Mable [sic] Scott Do the Thing Parrot 794 May 1953 December 1953 U-2552 Chocolateers Bartender Blues Parrot 781 May 1953

mastered June 10, 1953 July 1953 U-2553 Chocolateers Peckin' Parrot 781 May 1953

mastered June 10, 1953 July 1953

Chocolateers Waitin' for Jane unissued May 1953



Chocolateers Little Willie unissued May 1953

U25?? L. C. McKinley Rosalie Blues (Delta Swing LP 379) May 19, 1953

mastered June 10, 1953

U25?? L. C. McKinley All Alone Blues (Relic LP 8025, Relic CD 7016) May 19, 1953

mastered June 10, 1953

U25?? L. C. McKinley Pain in My Heart (Delta Swing LP 379) May 19, 1953

mastered June 10, 1953

U-2570 Curtis Jones Wrong Blues Parrot 782 May 19, 1953

mastered June 10, 1953 August 1953 U-2571 Curtis Jones Cool Playing Blues Parrot 782 May 19, 1953

mastered June 10, 1953 August 1953 P-100 Bessie Griffen [sic] Story of Job Parrot 1000 1953 August 1953 P-101 Bessie Griffen What Jesus Means to Me Parrot 1000 1953 August 1953 P-103A Al Benson with the Leon Abbey Trio If You Were the Only Girl Parrot 6000 1953 1953 P-103B The Leon Abbey Trio | Directed by Al Benson Abbey's Boogie Parrot 6000 1953 1953 P-104A Al Benson with the Leon Abbey Trio Fool That I Am Part I Parrot 7000 1953 1953 P-104B Al Benson with the Leon Abbey Trio Fool That I Am Part II Parrot 7000 1953 1953 53-100 tk. 2 Curtis Jones Louise unissued August 10, 1953

53-101 tk. 4 Curtis Jones Boogie Blues unissued August 10, 1953

53-102 tk. 4 Curtis Jones Upside Down Blues (Delta Swing LP 379) August 10, 1953

53-103 tk. 6 Curtis Jones Flaming Blues (Delta Swing LP 379) August 10, 1953

53-104 tk. 2 Nature Boy Brown I'm Wise (Relic LP 8025, Relic CD 7016) August 10, 1953

53-105 tk. 4 Nature Boy Brown Look Out (Relic LP 8025, Relic CD 7016) August 10, 1953

53-106 tk. 4 Nature Boy Brown Blue Blues Boogie (Relic LP 8025, Relic CD 7016) August 10, 1953

P 53107 Leo Parker Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Chess CHV 413) August 10, 1953

P 53107 [alt.] Leo Parker Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

[overdubbed version] (Chess CHV 413) August 10, 1953

P 53108 Leo Parker Anything Can Happen (Chess CHV 413) August 10, 1953

P 53109 Leo Parker Tippin' Lightly (Chess CHV 413) August 10, 1953

P 53110 Leo Parker Blue Sails (Chess CHV 413) August 10, 1953

P-53111[7002] Coleman Hawkins and Orchestra I'll See You Later Parrot 783 August 1953 c. September 1953 P-53112[7003] Coleman Hawkins and Orchestra | Vocal Chorus What a Difference a Day Made Parrot 783 August 1953 c. September 1953 P-53113[7001] Coleman Hawkins and Orchestra I'll Follow My Sacred [sic!] Heart Parrot 784 August 1953 c. October 1953 P-53114 Coleman Hawkins and Orchestra Blue Blue Days (Goin' Down Home) Parrot 784 August 1953 c. October 1953 ? Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra On My Way (Savoy MG 12013) August 1953

[7000?] Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra Last Stop (Blues) (Savoy MG 12013) August 1953

[6994] Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra Flight Eleven (Savoy MG 12013) August 1953

[6995] Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra Modern Fantasy (Savoy MG 12013) August 1953

[6996] Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra Confessin' (Savoy MG 12013) August 1953

[6997] Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra September Song (Savoy MG 12013) August 1953

[6998] Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra They Can't Take That Away from Me (Savoy MG 12013) August 1953

[6999] Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra Should I? (Savoy MG 12013) prob. August 1953

P 53115 Crume Brothers Two Wings (Give Me Wings) unissued c. September 1953

P 53116 Crume Brothers

(no artist listed) How I Got Over

(gospel number) unissued c. September 1953

P 53117 Jo Jo Adams

(no artist) It's Been So Long

(jump blues) unissued c. September 1953

P 53118 Jo Jo Adams

(no artist) Corrine

(no title) rejected September 1953

E-53119 Jo Jo Adams Call My Baby Parrot 788 September 1953 November 1953 E-53120 Jo Jo Adams Rebecca Parrot 788 September 1953 November 1953 P 53121 Crume Brothers You Better Run unissued September 1953

P 53122 Crume Brothers Pray

(no title) unissued September 1953

P 53123 Crume Brothers Fare Thee Well unissued September 1953

P 53124

(P 53121) Crume Brothers Sending Up the Prayer

(Sending Up My Prayers) unissued September 1953

P 53125 [?] Joe Williams It's Raining Again (Regent 6002) September 28, 1953

P 53126 [?] Joe Williams Always on the Blue Side (Regent 6002) September 28, 1953

U-53127 The Pelicans Aurelia Parrot 793 September 28, 1953 January 1954 U-53128 The Pelicans White Cliffs of Dover Parrot 793 September 28, 1953 January 1954 P 53129 The Pelicans Make You (Parrot LP 2120 [boot]) September 28, 1953

P 53130 The Pelicans Let Me Tell You (Parrot LP 2120 [boot]) September 28, 1953

U 53131 Sunset Four Gospel Singers My Name Is Written There unissued October 11, 1953

U 53132 Sunset Four Gospel Singers Glory, Glory, Hallelujah unissued October 11, 1953

U 53133 Sunset Four Gospel Singers Where Shall I Go unissued October 11, 1953

U 53134 Sunset Four Gospel Singers Jesus in the Battle unissued October 11, 1953

E-53135 The Rockettes Love Nobody Parrot 789 October 11, 1953 November 1953 E-53136 The Rockettes I Can't Forget Parrot 789 October 11, 1953 November 1953 E 53137 The Rockettes

("female solo") Boogie Woogie Blues unissued October 11, 1953

E 53138 The Rockettes

(no identification) Blues for My Baby unissued October 11, 1953

E 53139 tk. 1 Oliver Lynch Singers Roll Your Burdens Away unissued October 11, 1953

E 53140 tk. 5 Oliver Lynch Singers Come in the Room unissued October 11, 1953

E 53141 tk. 2 Oliver Lynch Singers I'm Gonna Make Heaven My Home unissued October 11, 1953

E 53142 tk. 1 Oliver Lynch Singers Got His Eyes on You unissued October 11, 1953

E-53143 tk. 2 The Victorettes Jesus Has Promised Parrot 107 October 11, 1953 ? E-53144 tk. 1 The Victorettes When Night Comes Parrot 107 October 11, 1953 ? E 53-145 tk. 2 The Victorettes I'll Live On and On unissued October 11, 1953

E 53-146 tk. 2 The Victorettes Higher Ground unissued October 11, 1953

P 53147 Lonnie Simmons Quartet Love of Mine unissued October 15, 1953

P 53148 Lonnie Simmons Quartet Lonnie's Blue

(original ballad) (Chess CHV 415) October 15, 1953

P-53149 Lonnie Simmons Quartet | Featuring Lonnie Simmons on Tenor Sax & Hammond Organ Black Orchid Parrot 790 October 15, 1953 November 1953 P-53150 Lonnie Simmons Quartet | Featuring Lonnie Simmons on Tenor Sax & Hammond Organ I Can't Get Started Parrot 790 October 15, 1953 November 1953 U-53151 Paul Bascomb and his Orchestra Jan (Part I) Parrot 792 October 1953 December 1953 U-53152 Paul Bascomb and his Orchestra Jan (Part II) Parrot 792 October 1953 December 1953 U 53153 The Five Thrills My Saddest Hour unissued October 1953

U 53154 The Five Thrills All I Want (Relic LP 5087) October 1953

U 53155 The Five Thrills Ride Jimmy Ride (Relic LP 5087) October 1953

U 53156 The Five Thrills Rockin' at Midnight (Relic LP 8020) October 1953

U-53157 Five Thrills Feel So Good Parrot 796 October 1953 January 1954 U 53158 [on tape box] Paul Bascomb Liza's Blues (instrumental) unissued October 1953

U-53159 Five Thrills My Baby's Gone Parrot 796 October 1953 January 1954 U 53160 The Five Thrills So Long Young Girl (Relic LP 5087) October 1953

U 53161 unidentified gospel artist God Shall Wipe Away Tears unissued November 1953

U 53162 unidentified gospel artist I Love the Name Jesus unissued November 1953

U 53163 unidentified gospel artist Power in the Blood unissued November 1953

U 53164 unidentified gospel artist Pass Me Not unissued November 1953

U 53165 Ahmad Jamal But Not for Me unissued November 1953

U 53166 Ahmad Jamal Excerpts from the Blues unissued November 1953

U 53167 Ahmad Jamal It Ain't Necessarily So unissued November 1953

U 53168 Ahmad Jamal Beat Out One unissued November 1953

U 53169 Ahmad Jamal I Don't Want to Be Kissed unissued November 1953

U 53170 Ahmad Jamal Alphabet Song unissued November 1953

U 53171-53172 See

Purchased

Sessions U 53173-53174 See

U2550-2551

Above U 53175 Albert King Little Boy Blue (Relic LP 8024) November 30, 1953

U 53175 tk. 2 Albert King Little Boy Blue [alt.] (Relic CD 7015) November 30, 1953

U 53176 Albert King Hand Me Down Blues (Poor Man Blues) (Relic CD 5013) November 30, 1953

U 53176 tk. 2 Albert King Hand Me Down Blues [alt.] (Relic CD 7015) November 30, 1953

U 53177

53178 on some labels

and Chess list Albert King Be on Your Merry Way Parrot 798 November 30, 1953 March 1954 U 53178

53177 on some labels

and Chess list Albert King Bad Luck Blues Parrot 798 November 30, 1953 March 1954 ? Albert King Murder (Chess LP 1538) November 30, 1953

PNY100

[10616] Jimmy Rushing with Frank Culley Combo Mr. 5 x 5 Parrot 797 December 27, 1953

[New York City] March or April 1954 [10617] Jimmy Rushing with Frank Culley Combo Lonesome Daddy Blues (Chess CHV 412) December 27, 1953

[New York City]

PNY101

[10618] Jimmy Rushing with Frank Culley Combo Clothes Pin Blues Parrot 797 December 27, 1953

[New York City] March or April 1954 [10619] Jimmy Rushing with Frank Culley Combo Wiggin' Blues (Chess CHV 412) December 27, 1953

[New York City]

54-101 (BL-54101)

[53179?] Red Saunders and his Orchestra Summertime Blue Lake 101 December 31, 1953 February 1954 54-102 (BL-54102)

[53180?] Red Saunders and his Orchestra Riverboat Blue Lake 101 December 31, 1953 February 1954 53181[?] Red Saunders and his Orchestra Lawdy, Lucy (Chess CHV 413) December 31, 1953

53182 [?] Joe Williams Detour Ahead (Regent 6002) September 28 or December 31, 1953

53183 [?] Joe Williams Blow Mr. Low Savoy 1165-A September 28 or December 31, 1953 July 1955 BL-54103

53184 [?] Joe Williams In the Evening Blue Lake 102 September 28 or December 31, 1953 February 1954 BL-54104 Joe Williams Tired of Moving

Time for Moving* Blue Lake 102

Savoy 1165-B September 28 or December 31, 1953 February 1954

July 1955 U-750 The Willie Webb Singers Climbing High Mountains Parrot 105 prob. 1953 prob. 1953 U-751 The Willie Webb Singers God Is Good to Me Parrot 105 prob. 1953 prob. 1953 U-753 The Willie Webb Singers He Will Be There Parrot 106 prob. 1953 prob. 1953 U-754 Willie Webb Vocal He's a Wonder Parrot 106 prob. 1953 prob. 1953

The Swing Time Deal: Leased Sessions

The most prominent Swing Time artist to appear on Parrot. From the collection of Tom Kelly.

During his first year of operation, Al Benson did not content himself with recording new material. He struck a deal with Jack Lauderdale, the owner of the Los Angeles-based Swing Time label. We'd thought that what Lauderdale was after was more on-air promotion of his records in Chicago, and better distribution there. There was more to it. Cash Box noted on August 15, 1953, that "Jack Lauderdale, prexy of Swingtime Records, has opened a branch office here in Chicago. He's staying on here to get the new office going in full swing. Jack intends to makes this main headquarters. "Because," he claims, "I believe that the center of the Rhythm & Blues market will shift from the West Coast to Chciago in the very near future." (p. 19). The first Parrot release from Swing Time, Parrot 785, was advertised in Cash Box on September 26, 1953 (p. 24). Then Sy House, who for the past two years had been selling records for King in the Chicago market, announced he was leaving King to become the "National Salesmanager for both the Parrot Record Company and Swingtime Records" ("Sy House to Parrott [sic] & Swingtime," Cash Box, October 3, 1955, p. 17). And House would be based in Chicago. Cash Box for October 24 and October 31 covered his extensive sales trips.

The Swing Time deal encompassed a single by guitar-playing bluesman Lowell Fulson, who had been mainstay of the Swing Time operation since the label was created in 1949. Also included were a single by bluesman Alex "Playboy" Thomas, and two by R&B singerMarvin Phillips. The single by bluesman Ernest Lewis (known on some of his other recordings as West Texas Slim) also came from Swing Time. In all 10 sides were included

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

As always, Benson's matrix numbering practices were inconsistent. Two of the Marvin Phillips tracks ("Anne Marie" and "Honey Baby"—which Swing Time hadn't issued) were inserted into the 53100 series at 53171 and 53172. The Chess tape list put "Salty Dog" at 53173 and "Sweetheart Darling" at 53174. But Benson didn't show these numbers on the Parrot release, and they ended up being used for two Mabel Scott sides instead. (How tracks that were the property of another company were available for Chess and later Relic to acquire is an interesting question, but we won't try to answer it here!)

From the collection of Robert L. Campbell

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Tom Kelly. Note the "marbled" red and black vinyl, also found on some other Parrot 45s.

From the collection of Tom Kelly

Benson released all of the 10 sides that are known to have been included in the Swing Time deal. The first batch of singles (Parrot 785 through 787) came out in September 1953. Sy House, the newly hired national sales manager for Parrot, visited distributors in the Northeast during October, talking up Parrot 785 in particular ("Sy House, Parrot, on Distrib. Tour," Cash Box, October 24, 1953, p. 14).

Parrot 791 followed in November (our thanks to Alex Podlecki for pointing us to a Billboard listing of 791 as a new release, November 21, 1953, p. 50). Parrot 795 would be the last, in January 1954. The deal appears to have been in force for five or six months.

Swing Time was in decline, when Lauderdale contemplating a permanent move to Chicago. His company would issue just 6 more singles after the Playboy Thomas on Swing Time 340, and neither Parrot 791 nor 795 ever appeared on Swing Ti