YOU’RE GONNA NEED ME: THE TOP 30 WOMEN’S VOCAL RECORDS FROM THE JUMP & SHAKE ERAS + 5 EARLY JUMPS.

     

 

     Top, left to right: Barbara Lynn, Ella Mae Morse   
Bottom, left to right: Big Maybelle, Jackie Shane

It’s hard to imagine the evolution of American music without the contributions made by these singers, whose work brashly inhabits at least ten genres: swing, jazz, blues, jump blues, rhythm & blues, electric blues, rock ‘n’ roll, gospel, soul, and pop. Some of the songs contributed formatively to the nascent states of their genres. These ladies built a formidable idiom during the Jump Blues and “Shakers” periods, which roughly accounted for the twenty-five year stretch from World War II up until the British Invasion. Their voices howl and holler, they croon and brood, they scat and bounce.

The singers didn’t bring their voices alone to the stage. Nellie Lutcher, Martha Davis, Camille Howard, Cleo Brown, and Aretha Franklin played the piano; surely you remember Aretha Franklin in The Blues Brothers. She wasn’t the only actress from this group. Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, Sylvia Sims, and Mabel King (What’s Happening!) were actresses, too. Marylyn Scott and Sister Rosetta Tharpe played guitar. Little Sylvia played guitar; later, as Sylvia Robinson, she went on to found Sugar Hill Records and played an irreplaceable role in formation of hiphop music. Barbara Lynn appeared in the 2015 documentary I Am The Blues and continues to play guitar. Irma Thomas is still active. Sugar Pie DeSanto was, and still is, a dancer. Big Mama Thornton played drums and harmonica. Jackie Shane identified as female; she passed away this year after her work, long-neglected, came back into focus with a Grammy nomination. Shane first performed her hit single, “Any Other Way,” in Toronto, backed by Frank Motley, who often played two trumpets simultaneously.

To say that many of these tunes simply concern “love relationships” would grossly underestimate their contents. When Nancy Adams narrates all the activity in her “orchard,” she does so from a gangster standpoint, threatening to take “[her] gun and rat-a-tat-tat” that cat who’s “picking at [her] plum tree.” Irma Thomas and Sugar Pie DeSanto sing about the need (as jilted lovers) to leave town altogether while Rose Mitchell and Jo Ann Henderson both plead for a “baby” to stay, as they perform two different versions of the same song. Dolly Cooper doesn’t mince lyrics in establishing a certain ferocity of passion in “Wild Love,” and similarly, Nellie Lutcher urges her partner to “Hurry on down” since there “ain’t nobody home but [the singer].”

Left: Dolly Cooper, right: LaVern Baker

Some songs describe earthy forms of celebration. Camille Howard’s “Fiesta In Old Mexico,” Marylyn Scott’s “Beer Bottle Boogie,” LaVern Baker’s “Dix-A-Billy,” and the voice of Helen Lancaster in “The Monkey Swing” call to mind jumping juke joints and house rent parties. Big Maybelle and Ann Cole recorded the first versions of iconic songs that later came to be standards for Bill Haley and Muddy Waters, respectively. A dark horse candidate for the best among these songs is the Martha Davis tune, “Sarah Sarah,” which conjures the earnest life of a seamstress in a shoeshine shop. Of course, male characters abound. From a “little boy” to a “baby” to a “hound dog” to “Henry” to “Johnny Lee” to the singer Percy Mayfield (of “Mercy Mister Percy”), these ladies sure do address the fellas. Cleo Brown predicted—“Here’s the news / And it’s the newest”—that Jim Braddock would meet Joe Louis, two years after her song appeared. And they did meet, and Louis knocked out Braddock in what would become a comeuppance that reinforced the message in Brown’s song.

I hope that many of these musicians will be new to you, as they were to me. Seek-out the songs. Play them loud. Jump about. Shake your entire body, then shake individual body parts, one by one. Most importantly, figure out some way to compensate me for bringing this music into your life. I’d like you to know that I accept most—but not all—forms of stout, and stout-porter, and porter. Inquire via modern inquiry techniques, if you will, and you will. Oh yes. Amen. Also, please refer to our Jump Blues post, our Shakers post, and our Unassailable Vocalists post, even as there may be some minor differences between the opinions and lists published therein. Hoy hoy!

 Irma Thomas “Break-A-Way” (1964)    

Discography information appears below

Top 30 Records

Nellie Lutcher: “Hurry On Down” (1947) [Capitol, A-side b/w “The Lady’s In Love With You”]

Martha Davis: “Sarah Sarah” (1948) [Jewel B-side b/w “When I Say Goodbye”]

Camille Howard: “Fiesta In Old Mexico” (1949) [Specialty A-side b/w “Miraculous Boogie” ]

Marylyn Scott: “Beer Bottle Boogie” (1950) [Regent A-side b/w “Uneasy Blues”]

Little Sylvia: “Little Boy” (1951) [Savoy A-side b/w “How Long Must I Be Blue”]

Big Mama Thornton: “Hound Dog” (1952) [Peacock A-side b/w “Night Mare”]

Terry Timmons: “Got Nobody To Love” (1952) [RCA Victor A-side b/w “I Shouldn’t Have To Cry Over You”] 

Varetta Dillard: “Mercy Mr. Percy” (1953) [Savoy A-side “No Kinda Good, No How”]

Rose Mitchell: “Baby Please Don’t Go” (1953) [Imperial A-side b/w “Live My Life”]

Ruth Brown: “Hello Little Boy” (1954) [Atlantic B-side b/w “If I Had Any Sense”]

Blanche Thomas: “You Ain’t So Such A Much” (1954) [Imperial A-side b/w “Not The Way That I Love You”]

Big Maybelle: “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” (1955) [OKeh A-side b/w “One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show”]

Marie Knight: “Who Rolled The Stone Away” (1955) [Decca A-side b/w “Easter Bells”]

Sylvia Sims: “Each Day” (1956) [Decca A-side b/w “Dancing Chandelier”]

Faye Adams: “Johnny Lee” (1957) [Imperial B-side b/w “You’re Crazy”]

Dolly Cooper: “Wild Love” (1957) [Ebb B-side “Time Brings About A Change”]

Tiny Topsy: “Miss You So” (1957) [Federal B-side b/w “Aw! Shucks Baby”]

Ann Cole: “Got My Mo-Jo Workin’” (1957) [Baton A-side b/w “I’ve Got A Little Boy”]

Jo Ann Henderson: “Baby Please Don’t Go” (1957) [Phonograph A-side b/w “Just Leave Me Alone”]

Etta James: “Dance With Me, Henry” (1957-58) [Crown from A Rock ‘N Roll Dance Party]

LaVern Baker: “Dix-A-Billy” (1958) [Atlantic B-side b/w “I Cried A Tear”]

Mary Ann Fisher: “Put On My Shoes” (1959) [Fire A-side b/w “Wild As You Can Be”]

Sugar Pie DeSanto: “Going Back Where I Belong” (1960) [Veltone A-side b/w “Wish You Were Mine”]

Aretha Franklin: “Won’t Be Long” (1961) [Columbia from Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo]

Mabel King: “Go Back Home Young Fella” (1962) [Amy A-side b/w “Lefty”]

Barbara Lynn: “You’re Gonna Need Me” (1963) [Jamie B-side b/w “I’m Sorry I Met You”]

Jackie Shane: “Any Other Way” (1963) [Sue Records A-side b/w “Sticks And Stones”]

Nancy Adams: “Somebody’s In My Orchard” (1964) [RCA Victor A-side b/w “You’ve Got To Show Me”]

Irma Thomas: “Break-A-Way” (1964) [B-side b/w “Wish Someone Would Care”]

Yum Yums: “Gonna Be A Big Thing” (1965) [ABC Paramount B-side b/w “Looky, Looky (What I Got)”]

+ 5 Early Jumps

Cleo Brown: “When Hollywood Goes Black And Tan” (1935) [Brunswick A-side b/w “When”]

Helen Lancaster with the Harlem Stompers: “The Monkey Swing” (1938) [Decca A-side b/w “My Understanding Man”]

Sister Rosetta Tharpe: “Rock Me” (1938) [Brunswick A-side b/w “Lonesome Road”]

Ella Mae Morse with Freddie Slack And His Orchestra: “Get On Board Little Chillun” (1942) [Capitol A-side b/w “Old Rob Roy”]

Helen Humes: “Be-Baba-Leba” (1945) [Philo Recordings B-side b/w “Every Now And Then”]

   

Top, left to right: Annie Laurie, Dolly Lyon     

Bottom, left to right: Wynona Carr, Inez Foxx

+ Also Considered:

Annisteen Allen: “Oo-Ee-Bab-A-Lee-Bob” (1945). Marion Abernathy aka The Blues Woman: “Voo-it! Voo-it!” (1946). Blue Lu Barker: “A Little Bird Told Me” (1948). Paula Watson: “Hidin’ In The Sticks” (1948). Albennie Jones: “Hole In The Wall” (1949). Erline Harris: “Jump And Shout” (1950). Julia Lee & Her Boyfriends: “Mama Don’t Allow It” (1951). Mabel Scott: “Catch ‘Em Young, Treat ‘Em Rough, Never Tell ‘Em Nothing” (1951). Margie Day: “Snatchin’ It Back” (1953). Pearl Reaves: “You Can’t Stay Here (Step It Up And Go)” (1955). Lula Reed: “Rock Love” (1955). Wynona Carr: “Jump, Jack, Jump” (1956). Annie Laurie: “Rockin’ And Rollin’ Again” (1956). Anita Tucker: “Hop Skip And Jump” (1956). Dolly Lyon: “Palm Of Your Hand” (1957). Lillian Offit: “Miss You So” (1957). Fay Simmons: “Hangin’ Around” (1957). Carol Fran: “I Quit My Knockin’” (1958). Sharon Smith: “I’m Waiting” (1958?). Baby Jean: “Oh Johnny” (1962). Jessie Mae: “Don’t Freeze On Me” (1962). Inez and Charlie Foxx: “Mockingbird” (1963). Cookie Jackson: “Do You Still Love Me” (1963). Patti LaBelle and the Blue Bells: “Academy Award” (1963). Pearl Woods “Stickum Up Baby” (1963).

Sources of Information

Wikipedia, AllMusic Guide, YouTube, Discogs, 45cat, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, The Guardian obituary on Nellie Lutcher, Nick Tosches The Unsung Heroes of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Mary Unterbrink Jazz Women at the Keyboard, Black Cat Rockabilly article on Camille Howard, New York Times obituary for Sylvia Robinson, Gillian Gaar She’s a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll, Last.fm article on Terry Timmons, Kim Clark’s Record Shack article on Varetta Dillard, Tony Russell The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, Jazz Archivist article on Blanche Thomas, Robert Santelli The Big Book of Blues, W. K. McNeil Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music, Black Cat Rockabilly article on Faye Adams, Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc Blues - A Regional Experience, Black Cat Rockabilly article on Ann Cole, IMDB page for LaVern Baker, Bob Gulla Icons of R&B and Soul, SF Gate article about Sugar Pie DeSanto, Mary J. Blige profile of Aretha Franklin at Rolling Stone, IMDB page for Mabel King, NEA Heritage Fellowship page for Barbara Lynn, NPR article on Jackie Shane, Jeff Hannusch I Hear You Knockin : The Sound of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues, NEA Jazz Masters article on Cleo Brown, Dan DeLuca article on Sister Rosetta Tharpe at Pop Matters, New York Times obituary for Ella Mae Morse, Whitney Balliett American Singers: Twenty-Seven Portraits in Song.

Discographical information for “Break-A-Way”

In addition to Irma Thomas (vocals), personnel may have included: Jessie Willard Carr (guitar), Paul Hornsby (keyboards), Pops Powell (bass), Squirm (drums), Swamp Dogg (piano), and the Blossoms (backup vocals). All other instruments, if any, and additional vocals, if any, unknown. Recorded in 1964 as a B-side b/w “Wish Someone Would Care” on Imperial Records No. 66013.

THE BRIGHT PREDICTIONS OF “ROYAL WHIRL”, A NEARLY-FORGOTTEN ROCKER BY THE ROYALTONES.

25 word song review for “Royal Whirl” (New York, 1961, Goldisc)

Relentlessly optimistic / a regal climber that doesn’t lack for ensemble / bruising humility despite the illumination of its achievement / around us: embers & we? / jumping / yeah!

Information on The Royaltones, 1

Founded in Dearborn, Mich., circa 1957, the band would distinguish itself by appearing on American Bandstand, hosted by Dick Clark. Other notable appearances included the Howard Theatre (Washington, D.C.) and Royal Theatre (Baltimore, Md.) The host for the latter? One Redd Foxx.  

Information on The Royaltones, 2

To this blogger’s knowledge, the band exclusively played rock ‘n’ roll instrumental songs. The founder-saxophonist, George Katsakis, drew influences from early R&B saxophone players Sam “The Man” Taylor, Red Prysock, and Lee Allen, among others. It shows, in all the best ways.

Also listen to

“Poor Boy” (1958) (peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100).

“See Saw” (1959).

“Flamingo Express” (1961) (peaked at #82 on the Billboard Hot 100).

Some notable associations + Ace compilation

Legendary guitar player, Dennis Coffey, joined the Royaltones in 1962, along with Bob Babbitt on bass. The Royaltones would become the touring group for Del Shannon before disbanding circa 1965. In 2009, Ace Records released a 30-track compilation of the band’s output on CD.

Blogger’s response to criticism of the band

Allmusic dismisses the band’s sound as having grown passé, implying that saxophone-dominated records such as “Royal Whirl” don’t ultimately reflect the true spirit of (guitar-dominated) rock ‘n’ roll. Wrong. If anything, the band charges forward in pell-mell, uphill fashion not possible without horns. The record inherits plenty from bebop and jump blues, and from these formidable wellsprings, soars in texture and register alike. That a sound might grow “passé” (in the judgment of reviewers) says more about the flawed consumers of the sound than the producers.

How to categorize this here combo
The Royaltones contributed to a fertile, if now largely forgotten period of early rock ‘n’ roll, early R&B, instrumental rockabilly, surf, and early garage: we’ll call it The Shakers Era. Let’s not be afraid to admit this Shaking onto our modern-day queues. The blogger does not contend that “Royal Whirl” shakes the hardest of all Shakers. He knows several hundreds of “noble accents and lucid, inescapable rhythms”, but “Royal Whirl” reminds him that great rock reinvests itself in its own momentum, leaving propulsion and anticipation difficult to separate. Whirl on! 

Sources of information

45cat entry for “Royal Whirl”

Allmusic entry for The Royaltones

Billboard charts for The Royaltones

Dennis Coffey web site

Discogs entry for TheRoyaltones

Funeral home obituary for band member Michael Popoff

Rockabilly Europe entry for The Royaltones 

Wallace Stevens, quote from “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”

Washington Post obituary for band member Bob Babbitt 

Likely personnel on “Royal Whirl”: George Katsakis (saxophone), Mike Popoff (keyboards), Greg Popoff (drums), either Bob Sanderson or Vern Parker (guitar), Ken Anderson (saxophone).

PLAS AND PLAS-INFLUENCE: THE LITTLE-KNOWN MUSICIAN WHO YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD A THOUSAND TIMES.

Plas shakes the world in 1958.

Perhaps the Casual Citizen has heard Plas Johnson play, even if the Casual Citizen hasn’t heard of Plas Johnson, by name. The sinuous tenor saxophone soloing that established the mischief of “The Pink Panther Theme” belongs to Plas. He contributed to other famous scores, such as “Peter Gunn” and “The Odd Couple”, backed a galaxy of elite singers and musicians, including Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole, Quincy Jones, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, B.B. King, and Ray Charles, and cut a number of hot and bluesy records as a leader, but I get ahead of myself.

I discovered the great Plas single, “Downstairs”, as part of my ongoing jump blues project. Not many would consider “Downstairs” a jump, although the spacious crown of its honking inherits plenty from the bar-walkers. Plas endows the song with a brand of vigorous elegance even as he envisions a world of contours rather than a world of propriety. The slant on “filthy” applies in all the best ways. “Downstairs” becomes a destination and genesis, both, compelling the listener to effect a neat clip down stairs toward a sultry rendezvous that will confirm all the speculation.

In other words, I really dug it, but even then, I didn’t pursue a deeper understanding of Plas, or so I thought. The jump blues project drifted into other genres, some affixed to jump with more obvious lineage than others: early R&B, early rock, rockabilly, surf, garage. I began to admire numbers like Googie Rene’s “Wiggle Tail”, Rene Hall’s “Twitchy”, Duane Eddy’s “Some Kind-A Earthquake”, The Hollywood Flames’ “Buzz, Buzz, Buzz”, and Sandy Nelson’s “Let There Be Drums”, for example. According to many discography sources, Plas played all those dates.

Thus, I awoke to an expanded order in which the constellation contained many more stars than I had originally imagined. Plas recorded “Downstairs” in 1958 on Capitol, which released the tune along with the compelling “In the Loop” the following year. (Some sources suggest that “In the Loop” appeared as the A-side.) Additional Capitol tunes, including the great “Hoppin’ Mad”, may be found on vinyl, as Rockin’ with the Plas. A compilation of earlier band-leading—Bop Me Daddy, on the Tampa label, featuring “Blue Jean Shuffle”—can be found in digital format.

A fellow named Johnny Beecher—leader on “Jack Sax the City” and other New York-themed instrumentals—turns out to be Plas. You may have just heard Plas Johnson on a Benny Carter, Oliver Nelson, or Jimmy Smith record. Many people can recall the Bobby Day hit, “Rockin’ Robin”, but don’t know that Plas Johnson played that tune’s birdcall on a piccolo. We can admire the man’s many appearances as part of the Merv Griffin orchestra and forgive him, generously, for his forays with Steely Dan, Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, and The Monkees.

In terms of his playing, Plas Johnson easily belongs in the company of the greatest jump blues and R&B horn players. Listeners should revere “Downstairs” as they might revere Big Joe Houston’s “All Night Long”, J.C. Davis’ “The Splib, Part 1” (or Part 2), Herb Hardesty’s “Perdido Street”, Johnny Sparrow’s “Sparrow’s Nest”, and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis’ “Ravin’ at the Haven”, among other saxophone workouts (see comments, below). But owing to the sheer number of sessions and genres in which Plas operated, what title can I bestow upon him? He may be The Most Versatile saxophone (and piccolo) player in the history of American popular music.

Sources of information:

Bebop Wino (blog) “PlasJohnson – Rockin’ with the Plas”
Home of the Groove (blog) – “Plas Plays It Pulpy”
Wikipedia entry for Plas Johnson
In the Can online discography, November 1958
YouTube (various songs and albums, including Johnny Beecher channel)
Allmusic Guide main entry for Plas Johnson
Plas Johnson web site
Discogs main entry for Plas Johnson
Space Age Pop entry for Plas Johnson
Taming the Saxophone entry for R&B saxophonists

HOW THE PERSONAL NONSENSE HIPTSTER WORD—“YOCKADOT”—OF SAXOPHONIST TOM ARCHIA MIGHT HAVE BEEN A VARIANT ON THE WELSH DRINKING TOAST.

“Downfall Blues” contains the curious word “Yockadot”

Many years ago, I added “Downfall Blues”, by Tom Archia, to Disc 5 of my home-made jump blues compilation. The song, which features rare singing by the jazz saxophonist, fit well on beloved Disc 5, the novelty volume in a compilation that has, by now, stretched to 11 discs. Amid the sophisticated early statements from Archia’s tenor, amid the roughened lyrics about the musician’s weakness for whiskey, I became interested in a word, “yockadot”, that the man shouts twice before replacing the horn in his mouth and offering the listener his gracious swerve. The song subsides in a sweet, if haunting fashion.

Disc 5 contains early jump songs, such as those by Duke Henderson and Sammy Price. It presents jumps about certain characters like Deacon Jones and Butcher Pete. Some pieces serve as “answer songs”, such as the Lucky Millinder Orchestra’s “Who Said Shorty Wasn’t Coming Back?”, which answers Bull Moose Jackson’s piece, “Shorty’s Got To Go.” The disc veers into salty lyrics, food songs, New Orleans marching collision jumps, and plenty of drinking fare. Jimmy Liggins sings, in his song, “Drunk”: “Go home at night with a swimmin’ in my head / Reach for the pillow miss the whole durn bed.”

I discovered “Downfall Blues” when I bought a used copy of The Chronological Tom Archia 1947-1948, #5006 in the Classics Blues & Rhythm CD series (2001). While hunting for additional information on the saxophonist, I arrived at The Tom Archia Discography, a thorough online review of Archia’s life and output, written by Robert L.  Campbell and two other researchers. I wrote an email to Campbell, a Professor of Psychology at Clemson, about the word “Yockadot.” Kind enough to write back, he suggested that “Yockadot” may have been Archia’s “personal nonsense hipster word.”

Born in Texas, in 1919, Tom Archia played tenor saxophone in a high school orchestra that included Illinois Jacquet. He joined Milt Larkin’s band in 1940, and in 1942, the band landed a breakthrough nine-month residency at Chicago’s Rhumboogie Club. Archia would lead, play alongside, and/or record with the likes of Roy Eldridge, Charlie Parker, Wynonie Harris, Gene Ammons, and Dinah Washington, throughout his career. In the Classics liner notes, Dave Penny writes that Archia was “known among his contemporaries as ‘The Devil’ because he could play the hell out of his tenor.”

Tom Archia

A few years back, I hosted a group of friends at my apartment for a whiskey toast. We’d been following the Welsh football club, Swansea City, during their freshman campaign in the English Premier League, and after the club’s impressive finish, we aimed to celebrate their success with Penderyn, the single malt Welsh whiskey. My friend Doug Lang, a Swansea native and lifelong supporter of the football club, said, “iechyd da”, after we hoisted our glasses, the Welsh drinking toast pronounced, roughly, “yockee-dah.” We all knew the Archia song by then; Doug suggested a possible link to the drinking toast.

I cannot find any obvious link between Tom Archia and anything Welsh, although from the sound of “Downfall Blues”, he may have known a few toasts. If Archia indeed kept “yockadot” as his personal nonsense hipster word, perhaps he converted “iechyd da” via the jive phrasings of musicians in his scene, the muscular wailing of his tenor saxophone, or the beauty and “nonsense” associations that may occur to many of us when fooling with language. Either way, “iechyd da” often leads to Penderyn, and “yockadot” always leads to “Texas Tom” Archia’s fine tenor jump, a unique and necessary moment.

Sources of Information:

The Tom Archia Discography, written by Robert L. Campbell, Leonard J. Bukowski, and Armin Büttner

Texas State Historical Association page for Tom Archia, written by Dave Oliphant 

Wikipedia entry on Tom Archia

The Chronological Tom Archia 1947-1948, #5006 in the Classics Blues & Rhythm CD series (2001). Liner notes written by Dave Penny

Band information for “Downfall Blues”: Tom Archia (tenor sax, vocals), Bill Searcy (piano), Leo Blevins (guitar), Lowell Pointer (bass), Robert ‘Hendu’ Henderson (drums). Recorded in Chicago, in October 1947, on Aristocrat #605.

JUMP AROUND: THE 25 GREATEST JUMP BLUES SONGS (+5 EARLY JUMPS) (+5 NOVELTY TUNES) WHICH YOU MUST LISTEN TO BEFORE YOU CAN HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH ME ABOUT MUSIC THAT REALLY ROCKS.

Roy Brown: the greatest jump musician?

In a previous post dedicated to exemplary American musicians, I shied away from determinations of greatness, and opted, instead, to establish importance. It felt sturdier to crown Louis Armstrong as the most important American musician than to propose a greatest American musician, who, in all likelihood, would be John Coltrane. I need not recite the many arguments in favor of Armstrong’s enduring influence on trumpet, cornet, dixieland, swing, gravel-sweet singing, scatting, composition, ensemble playing, band-leading, ambassadorship, typewriting of letters, collaborative recordings, in-public performance, and most substantially, the virtuosity of the soloist. The essence of Armstrong spreads out amongst many players of many instruments. Armstrong informs one generation, and that generation informs a subsequent generation, adding elements of Armstrong, either tacitly or in plain view. “Really?” you say. Even Cypress Hill’s joke about “[hitting] dat bong” the way that “Louis Armstrong played the trumpet” in their 1993 pop hit “Insane in the Brain” demonstrates that the man’s legend appeared generations later, in hip hop and rap. (Louis, too, happened to be fond of weed.) One would have to present a mountainous argument—over many months of intense negotiations—to chip away at one corner of one brick in the Great Wall of this proclamation. Satchmo’s greatness is considerable, too, but he’s probably not the greatest American musician.

As America’s popular music for many decades, jazz underwent numerous transitions. In one change, the central instrumentation in many recordings switched from brass to reed, from trumpet (and perhaps clarinet) to saxophone. Coleman Hawkins, by no means the first jazz saxophone player, nevertheless has been credited as the first jazzman to endow the instrument with significance. Numerous followers—Lester Young, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane, to name three—would build their own idioms upon this foundation. Coltrane, in particular, can batter a listener to rubble, if we can define “batter” as (Coltrane’s) relentless invention across many forms of voice, and if we can define “rubble” as the shocking moments of (the listener’s) emotional realizations. At the beginning of Coltrane’s career, before he appeared as a sideman on several monumental Miles Davis records—including the Workin’, Steamin’, Cookin’, Relaxin’ series, as well as Milestones and Kind of Blue—he played with rhythm and blues groups in Philadelphia and elsewhere. Lewis Porter’s masterful biography, John Coltrane: His Life and Music, describes R&B gigs in the early to mid-50s with bandleaders such as Johnny Hodges. According to Porter’s book, the Hodges band toured with several rhythm and blues stars, including Billy Eckstine, Ruth Brown, and the Clovers. Benny Golson, a sax player also retained by Hodges, “marveled at the things [he] heard [Coltrane] play” on the tour. Trane famously entertained a number of influences throughout his career but where did this R&B sound originate?

Illinois Jacquet's solo on "Flying Home" inspired other horn players.

At the very least, jump blues began with a variety of groups active in the 1930s, including orchestras led by Jimmie Lunceford, Cab Calloway, and Lucky Millinder. These early songs featured hopping rhythm, rambunctious horns, and increasingly mischievous lyrics. Just as jazz began to adopt the saxophone as its central instrument—to deliver the fleet or searching or muscular work of the soloist—so did jump blues offer rowdy saxophone solos, “jumps” if you will, in the midst of a tune, and oftentimes, woven throughout a piece. Arguably, the most famous early jump saxophone solo belonged to Illinois Jacquet, a sideman at the time with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. His workout on “Flying Home” in 1942 inspired saxophone players to emulate his honking sound. Indeed, many horn players would dwell in the upper or lower registers of their horns, effecting the kind of chaotic riotousness that drove audiences to crash around and scream. Audience members couldn’t seem to believe what they were hearing; it nourished a need of theirs that they may not have been able to articulate, in advance. I wonder if the musicians ever expressed similar feelings. Jump blues burned brightest from the late 1940s through the mid 1950s. The music would eventually be covered, gentrified, and absorbed by other genres long before Miles Davis affixed the flickering embers of jazz to wailing electric guitar lines in A Tribute to Jack Johnson, and the album’s outtakes, among other jazz-rock material. Still, jump music added shape to rock, R&B, and avant garde saxophone from its wealth of rowdy excess.

White audiences hadn't heard anyone like Big Jay McNeely.

The heroes of jump have nicknames like Tiny, Big Jay, Big Mama, Sugarboy, Mr. Five by Five, Big Joe, Fats, and Bull Moose. They are criminally under-celebrated. Here are, in chronological order by date of recording, 35 greatest hits—25 prime jumps followed by five early numbers and five magnificent novelties:

Eddie Lockjaw Davis: “Ravin’ at the Haven” (1947)

Roy Brown: “Boogie at Midnight” (1949)

Ruth Brown: “Hello Little Boy” (1949)

Freddie Mitchell: “Pony Express” (1949)

Johnny Otis: “Good Ole Blues” (1949)

Wynonie Harris: “Bloodshot Eyes” (1950)

Tiny Bradshaw: “I’m Going to Have Myself a Ball” (1950)

Joe Liggins: “Going Back to New Orleans” (1950)

Roy Milton: “Oh Babe” (1950)

Big Jay McNeely: “Insect Ball” (1951)

Jackie Brenston: “Real Gone Rocket” (1951)

Big Mama Thornton: “Hound Dog” (1952)

James Sugarboy Crawford: “Overboard” (1953)

Jimmy Rushing: “Mr. Five by Five” (1953)

Big Joe Houston: “All Night Long” (1954)

Big Joe Turner: “Shake, Rattle and Roll” (1954)

Bill Haley: “Farewell So Long Goodbye” (1954)

Ray Charles: “I’ve Got a Woman” (1954)

Johnny Sparrow: “Sparrow’s Nest” (1955)

Dave Bartholomew: “Shrimp and Gumbo” (1955)

Amos Milburn: “Chicken Shack Boogie” (1956)

Louis Prima: “Oh Marie” (1956)

Fats Domino: “I’m Walkin’” (1957)

Memphis Slim: “Steppin’ Out” (1959)

Long John Hunter: “Grandma” (1961)

(+5 Early Jumps)

Jimmie Lunceford: “Rhythm Is Our Business” (1934)

Stuff Smith: “Old Joe’s Hittin’ the Jug” (1936)

Cab Calloway: “Do You Want to Jump, Children?” (1938)

Sammy Price: “Monkey Swing” (1939)

Lionel Hampton: “Flying Home” (1942)

(+5 Novelty Tunes)

Louis Jordan: “Caldonia” (1945)

Bull Moose Jackson: “Shorty’s Got to Go” (1945)

Paula Watson: “Hidin’ in the Sticks” (1948)

Lucky Millinder: “Who Said Shorty Wasn’t Coming Back?” (1950)

Big Bob Dougherty: “Bullfrog Hop” (1962)

The great Louis Jordan.

Some may quibble with my placement of Louis Jordan amongst the novelties, but I am as partial to these songs (and Jordan) as to the prime jumps. Jordan, an alto sax player and bandleader, recorded a number of great songs—including “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”, “Beans and Cornbread”, and “Knock Me a Kiss”—but “Caldonia” is a special song. Other jump songs recorded by other artists refer to the character, Caldonia, who, despite her awkward appearance, inspires the singer, Jordan. He tells the listener that he’s “crazy ‘bout that woman ‘cause Caldonia is her name.” Indeed.