RARITY # 56

LA GRANDE TWIST PARTY

25 cm Barclay (France) – 1962

A fairly rare French 10” featuring Twist songs – vocal and instrumental - done in a very French manner by very competent (studio) bands (Eddie Barclay, Jean Bouchety) with obvious jazz chops and lotsa honking sax.   The overall sound his often closer to Louis Prima’s than to rockabilly this is sax-based rock and roll rather than guitar rock.

Les Play Boys were leather-rocker Vince Taylor’s backing band.  Their take on Artistry in Rhythm (renamed Artistry in Twist) is well worth the price of admission.  The tracks by Eddie Barclay Orchestra are very enjoyable also, I really enjoy this type of “big band” rock and roll.   “Play The Thing” sounds very much like Night Train. 

Harold Nicholas was an American expat' with a long career in dancing. See here.

No idea about the identities behind The Daniels, probably a studio band “de circonstance”.  They were obviously French-speakers (listen to “Wee Wee” which sounds like “Oui Oui”) but French or Belgians?  The compositions are credited to J. Evans – N. Byl … two Belgians ! (for more info on jazz pianist Jean Evans, check here).

A better known  band is Les Chaussettes Noires feat. lead singer Eddy Mitchell who was to become a huge star in France and French speaking countries and played a major role in popularizing rock and roll, country music in France and, later on,and American B-series thru’ his TV programme La Derniere Séance in the 80s.

Play it loud and do the twist!

A1       Harold Nicholas           La Grande Twist Party (Rock'n Roll Call)         composed by: D. Gérard, R. Bernet, Hammer, Toombs

A2       Harold Nicholas           Ya Ya Twist     composed by G. Aber, Lee Dorsey

A3       The Daniels      Wee Wee         composed by J. Evans, N. Byl

A4       The Daniels      Scotch Twist    composed by J. Evans, N. Byl

A5       Les Play-Boys  Raunch Twist   composed by Singleton, Ogerman, Larry Coleman

B1        Les Chaussettes Noires Peppermint Twist (1ère Partie) composed by G. Aber, Dee, Glover

B2        Les Chaussettes Noires Peppermint Twist (2e Partie)    composed by G. Aber, Dee, Glover

B3        Eddie Barclay & Les Twisters   5th Avenue Twist        composed by G. Aber, J. Bouchéty

B4        Eddie Barclay & Les Twisters   Play The Thing      composed by   M. Morris

B5        Les Play-Boys    Artistry In Twist          composed by Stan Kenton

RARITY #42

MICKEY BAKER - ADAGIO

EP 45 rpm - Disc'AZ,France, 1967?

Here is the another EP from Mickey Baker, this one dating from 1967/68. Probably not that rare in France and neighbouring countries.

Side A is entirely dedicated to Baker’s version of the famous Adagio d’Albinoni.  The Adagio was one of the “tartes a la crème” of the late sixties.  You will probably want to skip this side.  By the way, this famous Adagio was not composed by Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751) but by a XXth Century musicologist, Remo Giazotto (1910-1998).   The genesis of the piece makes for some interesting reading (just google these names). It became a global hit in the mid sixties and is among the most recorded pieces of music ever.

On side B we have a barely recognizable instrumental version of Love is Strange, a hit for Mickey and Sylvia in 1957.    The song is not by Mickey Baker as credited but was written by ... Bo Diddley, under his wife’s name, Ethel Smith (the credits were also claimed by Diddley’s then guitarist, Jody Williams).

Then we have a rocking version of Camp Meeting, again credited to Baker while it was a composition of former Ray Charles’ tenorman and Blue Note recording artist, Don Wilkerson.  The original song was well known in France at the time as it was the theme song for a popular Jazz programme (Pour ceux qui aiment le Jazz) on Europe No1.

So here we are with an EP with three songs all credited to the wrong composers!

As in the previous post, the rip is mine but the cover shots are from the web, found them here with some interesting info on the songs (in French, loosely translated here).

RARITY # 41

MICKEY BAKER – ZANZIE

45 rpm (EP) Versailles, 90 S 370, France, 1963

Let’s start the month of March with some fun music, a French EP by US Rhythm & Blues guitarist (and long time French resident) Mickey “Guitar” Baker.   

It‘s my late tribute to Mickey Baker who left us in November 2012.

I do not have any discography details on the session, done in France with studio musicians See the post on Tony Milton - Rarity # 38 -  to have an idea of musicians who took  part in these sessions.  It was probably recorded around the same time.

Great sixties popcorn / Madison instrumentals.  Very enjoyable if you like that kind of stuff.  I do!

Back sleeve notes by Kurt Mohr.

The rip is mine, the cover pictures are from the web (better than those I took).

Tracks

A1       Zanzie

A2       Baker’s Other Dozen

B1       Baby Let’s Dance

B2       Oh Yeah Ah Ah Ah

Trivia – meeting with remarkable men

Mickey Baker is the only bluesman I ever met on a tramway in Brussels. 

RARITY # 38

TONY MILTON
EP VERSAILLES  90 M 374 (France, 1963).

I have found records in some strange and unexpected locations.  This EP was found in the 80s in Moroni, capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros.  It had a stamp of “Radio France - Comores”, discarded by the radio station after independence probably.  The record was dirty but in fairly audible conditions.  Certainly in better condition than the Albert Ayler ESP LP I had seen used as a table-math!

Enjoyable Northern Soul with some funky organ solos (courtesy of Georges Arvanitas).

Tony Middleton was born June 26, 1934. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, he moved to New York withe his mother in the mid-1950s. Although he participated in various sports through the years (including amateur boxing in his late 20s), he was always involved in music as well. In 1952 he became the lead singer of the 5 Willows (who would later be billed simply as the Willows); in 1956 they had a hit record, "Church Bells May Ring". He left the group for a solo career in 1957. After recording for several years without chart success, he moved to Paris in 1962, where he acquired a large following. 

Middleton cut his first French session with Michel Legrand, who wrote the score for Joseph Losey’s movie ‘Eva’ which starred Jeanne Moreau and Stanley Baker. Tony’s contribution was the glorious vocal on ‘Adam & Eve’ that was featured in the movie and was issued on a Phillips EP in Europe and the UK.

While in Paris, Tony shortened his surname to Milton and cut a number of well known songs like ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ and ‘Comin’ Home Baby’, under the direction of US guitarist Mickey Baker that were only issued in France. Of these recordings Tony later said “Yeah, they wanted a Ray Charles kinda thing so that’s what I tried to give ‘em”.

Middleton returned to New York and recorded for several more labels over the next decade, including A&M, Columbia, Scepter, MGM and ABC/Paramount, for whom he cut the powerful "You Spoiled My Reputation" in 1965. He is featured singing lead on several records by Burt Bacharach, including "My Little Red Book" (1965) and " I Come To You" (1973, duet with Cissy Houston). He also sang on recordings by other artists including Smokey Robinson, Della Reese and Nell Carter. Later he returned to the Willows and toured with them for a decade on the oldies circuit. Although Tony Middleton did not have major solo success, he has something of a cult following on the Rare/Northern Soul scene via several excellent dancers. Paris Blues was recorded for Bell (1776, Broadway, New York) subsidiary record label, Mala in 1966. This autobiographical number concerned Tony's down-and-out stay in the French capital in the early 60's. Enormously popular in 1976, 'Paris Blues" still commands a high price today for this big city style production by Claus Ogerman, particularly on original blue issue copy.

Tracks

COMIN HOME BABY / FEEL SO BAD / I LISTEN TO MY HEART / NIGHT AFTER NIGHT

Details of the session (source http://www.soulmusichq.com/earshot16.html)

Recorded at Studio CHARCOT , Paris on 23rd January 1963.

Arranged and produced by Mickey Baker.

Musicians: Charles Hernandez (flute), Robert Jeannoutot (oboe), Jo Hrasko (alto sax),  Pierre Gossez (tenor sax), William Boucaya (baryton sax), Georges Arvanitas (org/pn), unknown (gtr), Rene Duchaussoir (bass gtr), Michel Gaudry (bass), Willie Lewis, Chrisitan Garros (drums) + 4 female voices (Fans of French Jazz will easily spot some famous jazzmen in this list!)

Georges Arvanitas

Trivia :

Tony Milton appears as himself in the French film Nous irons à Deauville ( Francis Rigaud – 1962)

UPDATED LINK - 19/07/2017

RARITY # 36

JACK SAY ORCHESTRA - SECA TWIST
Promotional flexi-disk, 45 rpm, 7",one sided,
Belgium, early 60s

This one is for fun. It's also the first time I post a Flexi-disk.  Ripped and submitted by JC from a rare original.

Promotional flexi released by SECA Petrol company. 

Instrumental Twist with singers only chanting the word "SECA".

Pressed by Sonopress.

Seca, l'essence en baisse qui monte! 

And here is a photo of this amusing artefact from a bygone era.

Note that it is a 45 rpm and not 33 1/3 rpm as stated in Discogs..

Jack SAY (real name Jacques YSAYE) hails from a well-respected musical family.     Grandson of the great violonist EUGENE YSAYE, Ex-SABAM's administrator. Ex-conductor of the TV Variety Orchestra (RTBF) under his pseudo Jack SAY    He also recorded some jazzy sides under the pseudo of Jack DIXIT (= "says" in latin).

No details on the session.