Limited to 500 copies !
Since the 1920s, the Caribbean was a very popular target amongst continental american tourists, selfmade men, gangsters and smugglers. The nightlife on the islands could compete well with that of larger cities in the states or elsewhere. There was lots of money to spend and lots of money to make. The ‘West Indies’, ‘the Bermudas’, Cuba and thousands of tiny isles spreaded the sea, where Columbus hit the new continent way back then. - Latin tinqued rhythms started here to hit the popular record market back home from the late 1920s, Carioca and Conga were dance crazes in the 1930s, rural rhythms were adopted for the Blues and Rhythm field in the 40s and 50s, a fake Pig-Latin lanquage included so many times. - We have put together real fine and long forgotten examples, but without the Pig Latin that Louis Jordan or Slim Gaillard were so famous for. We dug deep in the vaults, recorded from very good 78s or old shiny vinyl, that was as closest as possible to the original quality. - Hit dat Jive and dig it!
Side 1
1 OJAI (based on Ojai Fire) 1949 Modern 20-672
(Lutcher) Joe Lutcher and his Orchestra
2 GEECHIE GOOMIE 1955 Apollo 1200
(Godwin-Conran) Marga Benitez
3 CAT MUSIC (based on Hit That Jive Jack) 1954 Imperial X 5308
(Bartholomew) Dave Bartholomew and his Orchestra
4 VOODOO 1953 Hollywood Rec. 102
(Callender) Red Callender Sextet
5 BANG BANG BOOGIE 1949 Capitol 818
(Gannoway-Levy-Kuller) Nat ‘King’ Cole and his Trio
Side 2
1 HEY MAMA (based on Ornithology) 1949 Exclusive 144x
(Liggins) Joe Liggins and his Honeydrippers
2 I COME FROM JAMAICA 1952 OKeh 6900/Grand 138
(Powell) Chris Powell and his Blue Flames feat. Clifford Brown, tp.
3 WITHIN THIS HEART OF MINE 1950 Specialty SP 352
(Howard) Camille Howard
4 WHERE WERE YOU 1952 King 4588
(Rushing-Glover) Jimmy Rushing
5 BERMUDA BUGGY RIDE c. 1949 Bermuda Rec. 102
(Max David-Sanford Green) The Talbot Brothers of Bermuda
* OJAI was named by saxman Joe Lutcher after Ojai, a city in California north of Los Angeles. The village was eaten by fire in 1917, maybe hence the alarmlike intro of our fiery opener. Joe was the saxblasting brother of piano playing and singing sister Nellie Lutcher. * GEECHIE GOOMIE, the title song of our little journey, is a mystery in its own right, as it had the qualities to become a big hit way back then for Apollo Records, but it failed. Margarita ‘Marga’ Benitez was a shake-dancer and the girlfriend and secretary of the Mello-Tones’ manager Cliff Martinez, who organized two infamous singles for her for Decca under the supervision of Milt Gabler (producer of Louis Jordan, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and later Bill Haley), and this third one for Apollo did not make it better. That was it. Unfortunately Margarita didn’t record again, although her voice was really something very special. * CAT MUSIC is a conga-loaded revamp of Hit That Jive, Jack. Arrangeur Dave Bartholomew knew what to do with his orchestra and sidemen like Lee Allen and Herb Hardesty on saxes and Fats Domino (!) on piano and possibly Pee Wee Crayton on guitar. * VOODOO is a very special religious cult in the Bermudean area. It became the topic of this composition by bassman Red Callender loaded with stereotypes, one of his earliest soloworks after recording with Lester Young, Erroll Garner and Nat Cole, to name only a few. * BANG BANG BOOGIE was Nat Cole’s rendition of what could be hip over there. With Irving Ashby/gt, Joe Comfort/bs and Joe Costanzo on bongos, the smooth singer and pianist did a mean solid sending job. Cool Cole! * HEY MAMA exported Charlie Parker’s Ornithology to the West Indies in an incredible way. Joe Liggins was the mastermind behind this tour de force backed by his band, the Honeydrippers. * I COME FROM JAMAICA gave drummer/bandleader Chris Powell the chance, upgrading his band with brass as bop-trumpeter Clifford Brown had to recover from a bad car crash and so he spent some months with the Blue Flames. Might have been easier here than on the Bop-stages. * WITHIN THIS HEART OF MINE played and sung by Ms. Howard was a little masterpiece backed by members of Joe Liggins’ band waxed for Specialty. The label tried to hop the waggon with sucessful piano playing lasses like Mabel Scott, Martha Davis, Nellie Lutcher or Julia Lee. * WHERE WERE YOU is a jewel that seemed to be completely ignored on compilations with that caribbean topic, don’t know why. Mister Rushing was a Kansas City Blues and Jazz veteran, known for his work with Count Basie since the 1930s. So it doesn’t make curious, that Dickie Wells played the trombone, Buddy Tate was on tenor sax, Frank Galbraith blew the trumpet, Jimmy Shirley strummed the guitar and Walter Page plugged the bass. A real charming song and we hope, we give it a further future with this issue. * BERMUDA BUGGY RIDE is the only authentic carribean song here that is really from the West Indies, but it doesn’t sound so. The Talbot Brothers Of Bermuda were sucessful with authentic Calypsos from the 40s on and toured the U.S. in the 1950s. You can still find some wonderful films in stunning Technicolor on the net. With this recording we have the problem, that it was first issued on shellac with no datas available. Our recording comes from a 1959 Longplay, but it is likely recorded earlier. When has the last 78 left the isles?
-The Mooche
