Harlem Hamfats

Last updated
Harlem Hamfats
Origin Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres Swing jazz, Dixieland
Years active1936–1938
Labels Decca
Past members Kansas Joe McCoy
Papa Charlie McCoy
Herb Morand
John Lindsay
Odell Rand
Horace Malcolm
Freddie Flynn
Pearlis Williams

The Harlem Hamfats was a Chicago jazz band formed in 1936. Initially, they mainly provided backup music for jazz and blues singers, such as Johnny Temple, Rosetta Howard, and Frankie Jaxon, for Decca Records. [1] Their first record, "Oh! Red", became a hit, securing them a Decca contract for fifty titles, [2] and they launched a successful recording career performing danceable music.

Contents

The group's inclusion in the dirty blues genre is due to such songs as "Gimme Some of that Yum Yum" and "Let's Get Drunk and Truck". [3]

Biography

Despite their name, the Hamfats were based in Chicago. [4] They were assembled by record producer and entrepreneur J. Mayo Williams for the purpose of making records — perhaps the first group to be so created. [4] None of the members of the band were actually from New York. Kansas Joe McCoy (guitar, vocals) and his brother Papa Charlie McCoy (guitar, mandolin) were from Mississippi; Herb Morand (trumpet, vocals), John Lindsay (bass), and Odell Rand (clarinet; 1905 – 22 June 1960) [5] were from New Orleans; Horace Malcolm (piano), Freddie Flynn (drums) and Pearlis Williams (drums) were from Chicago. [6]

The diverse geographical backgrounds of the musicians played a role in the band's sound, which blended blues, dixieland and swing jazz. [4] Led by Morand and Joe McCoy, the main songwriters, the group initially provided instrumental backing to Williams's stable of artists, including Frankie Jaxon, Rosetta Howard, and Johnny Temple. They were perhaps the first studio recording band to become a performing act in their own right, [7] and they recorded extensively.

Their first hits were "Oh! Red", recorded in April 1936, [4] and "Let's Get Drunk and Truck" (originally recorded by Tampa Red), recorded in August of the same year. "Oh! Red" was popular enough to be covered by Count Basie, the Ink Spots, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Boy Fuller and Bull City Red, various Western swing bands, and Howlin' Wolf. Some of their other recordings, such as "We Gonna Pitch a Boogie Woogie", more clearly presage the rhythms of rock and roll. Their most recognizable work may be the modern jazz tune "Why Don't You Do Right?", written by Joe McCoy and included on their 1936 record under the title "The Weed Smoker's Dream". The song contains numerous references to drugs. The lyrics were later changed and the tune refined. Lil Green recorded it as "Why Don't You Do Right", a song about a conniving mistress and her broke lover, in 1941, and it was later recorded by Peggy Lee with the Benny Goodman Orchestra.

By 1939, singer Morand had returned to New Orleans, and changing fashions had made the sound of the Harlem Hamfats less commercially attractive. [4] The band was not considered the most innovative group of the time, and many of their original works dealt with sex, drugs and alcohol, which may have prevented its music from being more widely available. However, as a small group playing entertaining music primarily for dancing, they are considered an important contributor to 1930s jazz, and their early riff-based style would help pave the way for Louis Jordan's small-group sound a few years later, rhythm and blues, and later rock and roll. [8]

Selected discography

YearTitleGenreLabel
2004Let's Get Drunk and TruckSwing jazzFabulous
1997Hamfats Swing 1936–1938Swing jazzEPM Musique
1994Harlem Hamfats, Vol. 4Swing jazzDocument Records
1994Harlem Hamfats, Vol. 3Swing jazzDocument Records
1994Harlem Hamfats, Vol. 2Swing jazzDocument Records
1994Harlem Hamfats, Vol. 1Swing jazzDocument Records

Related Research Articles

Jimmie Lunceford American jazz musician

James Melvin Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.

Lucky Millinder Musical artist

Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder was an American swing and rhythm-and-blues bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful. His group was said to have been the greatest big band to play rhythm and blues, and gave work to a number of musicians who later became influential at the dawn of the rock and roll era. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1986.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe American gospel musician

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and recording artist. She attained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar that was extremely important to the origins of rock and roll. She was the first great recording star of gospel music and among the first gospel musicians to appeal to rhythm-and-blues and rock-and-roll audiences, later being referred to as "the original soul sister" and "the Godmother of rock and roll". She influenced early rock-and-roll musicians, including Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.

The origins of rock and roll are complex. Rock and roll emerged as a defined musical style in the United States in the early to mid-1950s. It derived most directly from the rhythm and blues music of the 1940s, which itself developed from earlier blues, the beat-heavy jump blues, boogie woogie, up-tempo jazz, and swing music. It was also influenced by gospel, country and western, and traditional folk music. Rock and roll in turn provided the main basis for the music that, since the mid-1960s, has been generally known simply as rock music.

Papa Charlie McCoy American musician

Charles "Papa Charlie" McCoy was an American Delta blues musician and songwriter.

Wilbur "Kansas Joe" McCoy was an American Delta blues singer, musician and songwriter.

Why Dont You Do Right? Blues song popularized by Peggy Lee

"Why Don't You Do Right?" is an American blues and jazz-influenced pop song written by "Kansas Joe" McCoy and Herb Morand in 1936. Both men are given composer credits on the original 78 record label, although Morand's name is misspelled. A minor key twelve-bar blues with a few chord substitutions, it is considered a classic "woman's blues" song and has become a standard.

"Corrine, Corrina" is a 12-bar country blues song in the AAB form. "Corrine, Corrina" was first recorded by Bo Carter. However, it was not copyrighted until 1932 by Armenter "Bo Carter" Chatmon and his publishers, Mitchell Parish and J. Mayo Williams. The song is familiar for its opening verse:

Sammy Price Musical artist

Samuel Blythe Price was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and jump blues pianist and bandleader. Price's playing is dark, mellow, and relaxed rather than percussive, and he was a specialist at creating the appropriate mood and swing for blues and rhythm and blues recordings.

J. Mayo Williams

Jay Mayo "Ink" Williams was a pioneering African-American producer of recorded blues music. Some historians have claimed that Ink Williams earned his nickname by his ability to get the signatures of talented African-American musicians on recording contracts, but in fact it was a racial sobriquet from his football days, when he was a rare Black player on white college and professional teams. He was the most successful "race records" producer of his time, breaking all previous records for sales in this genre.

Ottilie Patterson Musical artist

Anna Ottilie Patterson was a Northern Irish blues singer best known for her performances and recordings with the Chris Barber Jazz Band in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

"Just a Closer Walk with Thee" is a traditional gospel song that has been performed and recorded by many artists. Performed as either an instrumental or vocal, "A Closer Walk" is perhaps the most frequently played number in the hymn and dirge section of traditional New Orleans jazz funerals. The title and lyrics of the song allude to the Biblical passage from 2 Corinthians 5:7 which states, "We walk by faith, not by sight" and James 4:8, "Come near to God and He will come near to you."

Johnny Temple was an American Chicago blues guitarist and singer, who was active in the 1930s and 1940s. He was variously billed as Johnny Temple, Johnnie Temple and Johnnie "Geechie" Temple.

Rosetta Howard was an American blues singer who recorded in the 1930s and 1940s.

Herbert Morand was an American jazz trumpeter, associated with the New Orleans jazz scene.

Hey Lawdy Mama Blues song first recorded by Buddy Moss in 1934

"Hey Lawdy Mama" is a Piedmont blues song recorded by Buddy Moss in 1934. The song became popular among jazz musicians with early recordings by Count Basie and Louis Armstrong. In 1943, a version recorded by Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of Joy, with vocals by June Richmond, was a hit, reaching number four on the Billboard R&B chart.

"Denomination Blues" is a gospel blues song composed by Washington Phillips (1880–1954), and recorded by him in 1927.

Jimmie Gordon was an American Chicago blues pianist, singer, and songwriter. In the course of his career he accompanied Memphis Minnie, Bumble Bee Slim, and Big Bill Broonzy, amongst others. He had a hit with "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water" (1936) and was active on the Chicago blues scene for a number of years leading up to World War II. He is known to have recorded 67 tracks between 1934 and 1946. Gordon was a mainstay of Decca Records during the 1930s and early 1940s, with his recorded work utilizing a piano accompaniment, as well as guitar, or with a small band that he assembled for the work.

Norridge Bryant Mayhams was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer, whose recordings between the 1930s and 1980s covered a wide range of genres including jazz, gospel, R&B, and novelty songs. He used a variety of performing names, most notably Norris the Troubadour, and released many of his recordings on his own independent record labels. His best known song as a writer, "We'll Build a Bungalow", was a chart hit for Johnny Long in 1950, and was performed by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in I Love Lucy. According to one source, "Mayhams authored a body of work that is staggering in its scope, quality and general strangeness."

References

  1. ↑ Moore, Allan F. (2002), The Cambridge Companion to Blues and Gospel Music. Cambridge University Press. p. 36. ISBN   0-521-00107-2.
  2. ↑ Oliver, Paul (1989). Screening the Blues: Aspects of the Blues Tradition. Da Capo Press. p. 83. ISBN   0-306-80344-5.
  3. ↑ "The Harlem Hamfats – Let's Get Drunk and Truck Lyrics | Genius Lyrics". Genius.com. 2015-04-01. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Colin Larkin, ed. (1995). The Guinness Who's Who of Blues (Second ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 161. ISBN   0-85112-673-1.
  5. ↑ Doc Rock. "New Entries". The Dead Rock Stars Club. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
  6. ↑ Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas, eds. (2003). All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues. p. 219. ISBN   0-87930-736-6.
  7. ↑ Sleeve notes to the CD Let's Get Drunk and Truck, Fabulous FABCD 253, 2003.
  8. ↑ Collier, James Lincoln (1995). Jazz: The American Theme Song. Oxford University Press. pp. 160–163. ISBN   978-0195096354.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.