Alongside Thelonious Monk, on his earliest recordings, sat drummer Art Blakey. This work for Blue Note may have led to Blakey's own chance at leading a recording session which begat his band The Messengers. The Messengers, early on credited as the Art Blakey Quintet, released on Blue Note Records a 1954 live performance, broken up and titled A Night at Birdland Vol. 1.
Here is the discography surrounding Art Blakey's debut album:
Groove Street (1948 single with His Messengers)
Musa's Vision (1948 single with His Messengers)
New Sounds (1951 compilation with his Band)
A Night at Birdland Vol. 1
A Night at Birdland, Volume 1 (1956 album reissue)
Quicksilver (1956 single with Clifford Brown)
New Sounds (1991 album reissue with his Messengers)
"The Huckle-Buck" by Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers
Varetta Dillard and Billy Ward might have been in the lineup for the "first ever" rock and roll concert, but they weren't the headliner. That honor belonged to Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers. Rumor has it that Paul and his band managed to perform only one song at the Moondog Coronation Ball before being shut down by the authorities. (It's been reported that Williams (in his own words, too) managed to perform a set, and the next act took the stage before an overpacked arena and "boisterous" crowd led to the concert's shut down thirty minutes in.)
Paul Williams saw only one album, Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers, released during his tenure at Savoy (in 1954... maybe).
Note: I've also included the limited singles discography of Danny Cobb, an occasional vocalist for The Hucklebuckers. Paul Williams and team were also the backing band on some of Cobb's singles.
Here is Paul Williams's discography:
Hastings Street Bounce (1947 single with his Sextette)
Thirty-Five Thirty (1948 single with his Sextette)
Waxey Maxie (1948 single with his Sextette)
Bouncing With Benson (1948 single with His Sextette)
The Twister (1948 single with His Sextette)
Paradise Valley Walk (1948 single with his "35-50" Sextette)
Cranberries (1949 single)
The Huckle-Buck (1949 single with His Hucklebuckers)
House Rocker (1949 single with His Hucklebuckers)
Pop-Corn (1949 single with His Hucklebuckers)
The Complete Recordings - Volume 1 1947-1949 (compilation album)
Please Don't Leave Me Baby (1950 single by Danny Cobb)
Danny Boy (1950 single by Danny Cobb)
Jeep's Blues (1950 single with his Hucklebuckers)
Camp Meeting Bounce (1950 single with His Hucklebuckers)
Rye Boogie (1950 single with His Hucklebuckers)
Turtle-Rock (1950 single with His Hucklebuckers)
Rockin' Chair Blues (1951 single with his Hucklebuckers)
Blowin' the Boogie (1952 single with His Hucklebuckers)
I Need Your Love (1952 single by Danny Cobb)
Don't Mess With My Woman (1952 single by Danny Cobb)
Farewell Baby (1952 single by Danny Cobb)
The Complete Recordings - Volume 2 1949-1952 (compilation album)
Miami Drag (1953 single with His Orchestra)
Young Man Blues (1953 single with His Orchestra)
Shuck-Foot (1953 single with his Orchestra)
Spread Joy (1954 single with His Orchestra)
The Thin Man (1954 single with his Orchestra)
Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers
Ring-A-Ling (1955 single with His Orchestra)
Hello (1955 single with His Band)
It's Over (1955 single)
My Isabella (1955 single by Danny Cobb)
Suggie, Duggie, Boogie Baby (1956 single with his Orchestra)
The Complete Recordings - Volume 3 1952-1956 (compilation album)
Titanic (1957 single with his Orchestra)
Pass the Buck (1957 single)
Hey, Mr. Warden (1957 single by Danny Cobb)
What Could I Do (1957 single by Danny Cobb)
South Shore Drive (1958 single)
Walkin' the Track (1961 single)
I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire (1962 single with His Orchestra)
The Hucklebuck (compilation album with His Orchestra)
Spider Sent Me (compilation album with His Hucklebuckers)
Some Day (compilation song by Danny Cobb)
I Pray for Your Love (compilation song by Danny Cobb)
Ay Lah Bah (compilation song by Danny Cobb)
"My Love Is True" by Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers
The Max Roach Quartet featuring Hank Mobley by Max Roach Quartet
The latest stop on the tour was for the Booker Little 4 "& Max Roach". Eminent bebop drummer Max Roach released his first album as bandleader The Max Roach Quartet featuring Hank Mobley in 1954 on Debut Records.
Here is the discography surrounding Max Roach's debut album:
Prince Albert (1949 single with his Quintet)
Baby Sis (1949 single with his Quintet)
Tomorrow (1949 single with his Quintet)
Maximum (1949 single with his Quintet)
New Sounds (1952 compilation album with his Quintet)
Cou-Manchi-Cou (1953 single)
Just One of those Things (1953 single) The Max Roach Quartet featuring Hank Mobley
I always love a good family connection and Michel Legrand comes from a very musical family. His father Raymond Legrand was also a bandleader (but without much of a recorded footprint for a Tour stop) and his mother was the sister of a famous conductor, Jacques Hélian. Christiane Legrand, Michel's sister, was a popular singer who first started her career as a member of various vocal groups. The first vocal group she was a part of was Les Blue Stars and known in English-speaking markets as The Blue Stars of France. They released their first album Les Blue Stars in 1954.
Here is the (probably incomplete) discography surrounding Les Blue Stars:
Les Blue Stars
Lullaby of Birdland (1955 single)
Les Blue Stars (1956 EP)
Lullaby of Birdland and Other Hits by The Blue Stars of France (1956 compilation album as The Blue Stars of France)
Some of the songs on Catherine Sauvage's debut album were arranged by composer Michel Legrand. More famous now for his film scores, Michel Legrand broke out as a popular band leader and arranger for popular singers. He and his orchestra's debut album I Love Paris saw release in 1954 and became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
Here is the discography surrounding Michel Legrand's debut album:
I Love Paris
"Mademoiselle de Paris" by Michel Legrand et son orchestre
"Under the Bridges of Paris" by Michel Legrand et son orchestre
"Johnny, tu n'es pas un ange" by Catherine Sauvage
Léo Ferré struggled peddling his songs for years without much success until he made the acquaintance of cabaret singer Catherine Sauvage. An immediate champion of his work, she sang Ferré's now classic Paris Canaille. She made the song an instant hit and both the singer's and the songwriter's careers, interwoven, took off. Although Sauvage's early discography details are foggy, her debut album Catherine Sauvage chante ses derniers succès released in 1954.
Here is the (probably incomplete) discography surrounding Catherine Sauvage's debut album:
Johnny, tu n'es pas un ange (1954 single) Catherine Sauvage Chante Ses Derniers Succès
1 (1954 EP)
2 (1954 EP)
The "5" Royales had their name taken advantage of when a Motown vocal group of a similar ilk toured the South. The band was The Royals and they would promote themselves as the North Carolina Royales even going so far as to try and get away with it in Winston-Salem. The "5" Royales's manager took the copycats to court and the verdict concluded the Motown band could no longer record or tour under the moniker The Royals. So, they became The Midnighters.
Johnny Otis discovered The Royals in 1953 with the lineup of guitarist/songwriter/founder Alonzo Tucker, Henry Booth, Charles Sutton, "Sonny" Woods, and eventual leading man Hank Ballard (the last to join the band after the original lead singer Lawson Smith was drafted). The name change coincided with a string of 1954 hits called the "Annie" series headed by "Work With Me Annie". Each of the Annie singles were lead by Hank Ballard's baritone, sold over a million copies, and teetered near the top of the charts despite being banned from many radio stations for the sexual nature of the lyrics. The songs were also a swing away from the Rhythm and Blues of their Royals work to the guitar-driven early sounds of rock and roll. To benefit from The Midnighters's success, Federal Records packaged their rock and roll songs with a couple of ballads for the group's first album The Midnighters Sing Their Greatest Hits in 1954.
Here is the discography surrounding The Midnighters's debut album:
Every Beat of My Heart (1952 single as The Royals)
Starting from Tonight (1952 single as The Royals)
Moonrise (1952 single as The Royals)
A Love in My Heart (1952 single as The Royals)
Are You Forgetting? (1952 single as The Royals)
The Shrine of St. Cecilia (1953 single as The Royals)
Get It (1953 single as The Royals)
Hello Miss Fine (1953 single as The Royals)
That's It (1953 single as The Royals)
Work With Me Annie (1954 single as The Royals)
Work With Me Annie (1954 single)
Give It Up (1954 single)
Sexy Ways (1954 single)
The Chronological Classics: Hank Ballard & The Midnighters/The Royals 1952-1954 (compilation album)
Annie Had a Baby (1954 single)
Annie's Aunt Fanny (1954 single) The Midnighters Sing Their Greatest Hits
When Aretha's mother died, she and her siblings were share raised by members of the community led by her grandmother Rachel and gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. Active since the age of sixteen in the late twenties, Mahalia Jackson sang gospel purely and powerfully. She refused to sing secular songs and didn't touch the blues ("When you sing the blues, you still have the blues"). That said, the influence of the blues is a very clear influence on her style and backup instrumentation. Whether it was just a piano or everything and a back up doo-wop group, Mahalia soared above it all. Her career took off when she signed with Apollo Records when her 1948 single "Move on Up a Little Higher" sold over 8 million copies with a particular high demand from Europe. She'd continue to sell out singles and firmly solidified her reputation as the greatest spiritual singer, or the Queen. Apollo never released any compilation albums, but did release Mahalia's first LP of material Queen of the Gospel Singers in 1954.
Here is the discography surrounding Mahalia Jackson's debut album:
The Ultimate Collection (compilation of pre-1949 material)
The Apollo Sessions 1946-1951 (compilation of pre-1951 material)
How I Got Over: The Apollo Records Sessions 1946-1954 (compilation of pre-1954 material) Queen of the Gospel Singers
