Billy Ward and His Dominoes - Billy Ward and His Dominoes Featuring Clyde McPhatter (1956)

"Learnin' the Blues" by Billy Ward and His Dominoes

Ruth Brown employed The Drifters as a backing vocal group (known, for her, as The Rhythmakers) which then still included Clyde McPhatter with whom she also performed two beautiful duets.  Although McPhatter had left his first band, Billy Ward and His Dominoes, in 1953 to form his own, Ward's label continued to release albums featuring McPhatter-led singles and touting his name prominently.  It makes sense as The Dominoes were never as successful without him even if they found a great replacement in Jackie Wilson.  Federal Records released Billy Ward and His Dominoes Featuring Clyde McPhatter in 1956.

Here is the discography surrounding Billy Ward and His Dominoes's second album:

Where Now, Little Heart (1953 single)

Christmas in Heaven (1953 single)

My Baby's 3-D (1953 single)

Rags to Riches (1953 single)

Above Jacob's Ladder (1954 single)

Gimme Gimme Gimme (1954 single)

Handwriting on the Wall (1954 single)

Little Things Mean a Lot (1954 single)

Tenderly (1954 single)

Three Coins in the Fountain (1954 single)

Tootsie Roll (1954 single)

The Chronological Classics: Billy Ward & His Dominoes 1953-1954 (compilation album)

Can't Do Sixty No More (1955 single)

Cave Man (1955 single)

Learnin' the Blues (1955 single)

Over the Rainbow (1955 single)

Sweethearts on Parade (1955 single)

Billy Ward and His Dominoes Featuring Clyde McPhatter

"Star Dust" by Billy Ward and His Dominoes

"Little Things Mean a Lot" by Billy Ward and His Dominoes

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Ruth Brown - Ruth Brown (1957)

"Hello Little Boy" by Ruth Brown

After not finding success with her various jazz bands, Blanche Calloway retired from performing and eventually became manager of the Crystal Caverns D.C. nightclub in the early fifties.  There she discovered the young and talented Rhythm and Blues singer Ruth Brown for whom she'd help get a recording contract and would become manager.  Ruth Brown released Ruth Brown, her debut album (of songs recorded between 1950 and 1956), on Atlantic Records in 1957.

Here is the discography surrounding Ruth Brown's debut album:

I'll Get Along Somehow (1949 single)

I'll Get Along Somehow (1949 single)

So Long (1949 single)

Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe (1950 single)

Sentimental Journey (1950 single)

Teardrops from My Eyes (1950 single)

Where Can I Go (1950 single)

Why (1950 single)

The Chronological Classics: Ruth Brown 1949-1950 (compilation album)

I Know (1951 single)

I'll Wait for You (1951 single)

Shine On (Big Bright Moon (1951 single)

Daddy Daddy (1952 single)

Good-For-Nothin' Joe (1952 single)

I Would if I Could (1952 single)

5-10-15 Hours (1952 single)

(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean (1953 single)

Wild Wild Young Men (1953 single)

The Chronological Classics: Ruth Brown 1951-1953 (compilation album)

Hello Little Boy (1954 single)

Love Contest (1954 single)

Mambo Baby (1954 single with Her Rhythmakers)

Oh What a Dream (1954 single with Her Rhythmakers)

It's Love Baby (24 Hours of the Day) (1955 single)

As Long As I'm Moving (1955 single with Her Rhythmakers)

Bye Bye Young Men (1955 single with Her Rhythmakers)

Old Man River (1955 single with Her Rhythmakers)

I Gotta Have You (1955 single with Clyde McPhatter)

Mom Oh Mom (1956 single)

Smooth Operator (1956 single)

Sweet Baby of Mine (1956 single)

The Chronological Classics: Ruth Brown 1954-1956 (compilation album)

Lucky Lips (1957 single)

One More Time (1957 single)

Ruth Brown (1957 EP)

Ruth Brown

"Oh What a Dream" by Ruth Brown

"Sentimental Journey" by Ruth Brown

"I Want to Do More" by Ruth Brown and Her Rhythmakers

"I Gotta Have You" by Clyde McPhatter and Ruth Brown

"Sweet Baby of Mine" by Ruth Brown

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Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys - The Chronological Classics: Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys 1925-1935 (1935)

"Just a Crazy Song (Hi-Hi-Hi)" by Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys

Cab Calloway's older sister Blanche Calloway also sang jazz and led her own jazz band.  Blanche influenced her brother's path in music, and the two siblings developed, in concert, their unique and lively performance styles.  Blanche's career was not as long-lasting as her brother's and her recordings are, as always, collected in The Chronological Classics: Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys 1925-1935.

Here is Blanche Calloway's selected discography:

The Chronological Classics: Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys 1925-1935

"Growlin' Dan" by Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys

"I Need Lovin'" by Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys

"I Gotta Swing" by Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys

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Cab Calloway and His Orchestra - The Chronological Classics: Cab Calloway and His Orchestra 1930-1931 (1931)

"Yaller" by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra

When Ina Ray Hutton was already an established Broadway performer, she was approached by music publisher and jazz promoter Irving Mills to lead the novelty all-girl Melodears.  Irving Mills managed some of the biggest orchestras in jazz.  One of those orchestras was headed by Cab Calloway (with whom Mills co-wrote Cab's most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher".)  As usual for jazz artists on the tour, Cab Calloway's earliest recordings are collected on The Chronological Classics: Cab Calloway and His Orchestra 1930-1931.

Here is the discography surrounding Cab Calloway's debut recordings:

The Chronological Classics: Cab Calloway and His Orchestra 1930-1931

Minnie the Moocher (featuring "Minnie the Moocher" by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra)

Snow White (featuring "St. James Infirmary" by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra)

"Is That Religion?" by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra

"Some of These Days" by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra

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Ina Ray Hutton - Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears (1944)

"Twenty-Four Hours in Georgia" by Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears


June Hutton followed in the music industry behind her half-sister Ina Ray Hutton.  Ina Ray's career had two iterations.  The first started in the mid-thirties as the leader of an all female Big Band, The Melodears.  The second came during World War II as the leader of an all male Big Band Orchestra that toured military bases around the United States and eventually landed her as an early host of her own television show (where she would lead, again, an all-female band).  Although Hutton never recorded an album nor very many singles, both careers have been captured by a few compilations that collect her bands' singles, radio broadcasts and film performances.  The album for this whistle-stop is Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears released by Vintage Music Productions.

Here is Ina Ray Hutton's discography:

Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears
The Definitive Collection 1934-1944 (compilation album)
1943 Spotlight Band Broadcasts (radio compilation album)

Swing Hutton Swing (featuring Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears)


A 1940s short (featuring Ina Ray Hutton and Her Orchestra)

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June Hutton - Afterglow (1955)

"My Kinda Love" by June Hutton


When Jo Stafford left Tommy Dorsey's Pied Pipers to go solo, June Hutton took her place.  Hutton, too, eventually went solo and released her debut album Afterglow (with arrangements by her husband Axel Stordahl) in 1955 on Capitol Records.

Here is the discography surrounding June Hutton's debut album:

There's a Fellow Waiting in Poughkeepsie (1944 single with The Pied Pipers)
Dream (1945 single with The Pied Pipers)
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles (1945 single with The Pied Pipers)
Be Mine (1950 single)
More Than I Should (1950 single)
Teardrops from My Eyes (1950 single)
All the Bees Are Buzzin' Round My Honey (1950 single)
Nothing (1951 single)
Walkin' (1951 single)
I Miss You So (1952 single)
For the First Time (In a Long Time) (1953 single)
I Had a Little Too Much to Dream Last Night (1953 single)
The Lights of Home (1953 single)
No Stone Unturned (1953 single)
Oh, These Lonely Nights (1953 single)
Say You're Mine Again (1953 single)
Coney Island Boat (1953 single with Gordon MacRae)
By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953 soundtrack album with Gordon MacRae)
Too Little Time (1954 single)
We Don't Wanna Go Home (1954 single)
Afterglow
The June Hutton Collection 1945-55 (compilation album)

"East of the Sun (West of the Moon)" by June Hutton


"Dream" by June Hutton and The Pied Pipers


"Coney Island Boat" by Gordon MacRae and June Hutton


"I Hadn't Anyone Till You" by June Hutton


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Jo Stafford - Songs by Jo Stafford (1946)

"Let's Take the Long Way Home" by Jo Stafford


When Johnny Mercer toured with his backing vocal group The Pied Pipers, he told piper Jo Stafford that when he had his own record label that he would sign her to a solo recording contract.  That's exactly what happened and Jo Stafford was one of Capitol Records' foundational contracts.  Jo Stafford released her debut album Songs by Jo Stafford release in 1946 on Capitol.

Here is the discography surrounding Jo Stafford's debut album:

Old Acquaintance (1943 single)
It Could Happen to You (1944 single)
Long Ago (And Far Away) (1944 single)
The Trolley Song (1944 single)
Tumbling Tumbleweeds (1944 single)
Let's Take the Long Way Home (1945 single)
On the Sunny Side of the Street (1945 single)
That's for Me (1945 single)
There's No You (1945 single)
Candy (1945 single with Johnny Mercer)
Conversation While Dancing (1945 single with Johnny Mercer)
The Chronological Classics: Jo Stafford 1943-1945 (compilation album)
Cindy (1946 single)
Day by Day (1946 single)
I'll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time (1946 single)
This Time (1946 single)
White Christmas (1946 single)
You Keep Coming Back Like a Song (1946 single)
You May Not Leave Me (1946 single)
The Chronological Classics: Jo Stafford 1945-1956 (compilation album)
Songs by Jo Stafford

"Long Ago (And Far Away)" by Jo Stafford


"Cindy" by Jo Stafford


"The Boy Next Door" by Jo Stafford


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