Two Great Vocal Group Singers

Herb Reed (1928-2012)

Herb Reed, the bass singer of the Platters, the best selling rhythm and blues vocal group of the '50s, died of pulmonary disease in a hospice in Danvers, Massachusetts. He was 83. Here's an obituary.

The Platters were a prototype of the West Coast R&B vocal group style. They were known primarily for their romantic ballads. Their arrangements emphasized their lead tenor, the magnificent Tony Williams, with the other members usually crooning quietly in the background. They had 21 songs on the R&B charts between 1955 and 1967, with four of them, “Only You,” “The Great Pretender,” “My Prayer,” and “Twilight Time,” reaching #1. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998, its first year.

Of the five Platters during their best-selling years—Reed, Williams, David Lynch, Paul Robi and Zola Taylor—only Reed was a founding member of the group, and was the last survivor. The group was formed in 1953 by five current and former students at Jefferson High School in Los Angeles. The original lead singer was Cornell Gunter, later of the Flairs and the Coasters. They first recorded for Federal Records in 1953 and 1954. At that time, Alex Hodge occupied Robi's chair and Taylor was not yet a member of the group. During their time with Federal, veteran songwriter Buck Ram became their manager. He wrote several of their biggest hits.

Using his connections in the music business, Ram got them a contract with Mercury, a major label at the time. They re-recorded Ram's song “Only You,” first done for Federal, and it was an immediate success. During their time with Mercury, their sound gradually changed. They moved away from R&B, crossed over to the Pop charts, and were soon accompanied by lush stringed orchestras.

Williams was the first to leave the group in 1961. The others followed suit. Herb Reed was the last to leave in 1969. For the rest of his life, he led various Platters groups, usually billed as “Herb Reed's Platters,” since the right to use the name “The Platters” belonged to the Buck Ram estate. Herb Reed's Platters performed recently in Pittsburgh at Henry DeLuca's Roots of Rock and Roll shows and on one of T. J. Lubinsky's “Doo-Wop” specials for WQED. Reed was one of several original members of vocal groups who went to court to keep various counterfeit groups from performing under their name, and he finally won the exclusive right to use the name “The Platters” in 2011.

Many vocal group fans prefer the Platters' Federal recordings. These 24 sides are available on an import CD from Ace Records in the U. K. For their Mercury hits, I recommend the 2-CD set, The Magic Touch: An Anthology. There are lots of “Platters” CDs out there, including multiple rerecordings of their hits. I advise you to stay away from anything recorded after 1961.

Fortunately, a recent 30-minute interview with Herb Reed is available (in three 10-minute segments). The interviewer is fairly clueless, but Herb deals with him patiently.

Below is a clip of the Platters lip-syncing “You'll Never, Never Know” from the 1956 film The Girl Can't Help It, with Tom Ewell and Jayne Mansfield. The song, which features a nice interplay between Reed and Williams, is joined in progress, since the first few bars were obscured by dialogue.

Williams was the lead singer on all the Platters' hits, but the other members had opportunities to sing lead on album cuts. Here's Herb Reed doing a 1957 remake of “Sixteen Tons,” a song he frequently performed at shows.

Bobby Thomas (1935-2012)

Bobby Thomas, lead singer of the Vibranaires, died on May 3 in Neptune, NJ, of complications from diabetes. Bobby grew up in Asbury Park. His singing was influenced by Sonny Til, lead singer of the Orioles. In 1948, when he was 13, Bobby formed his first group, the Crooners.  That group eventually morphed into the Vibranaires, who recorded "Doll Face" on the After Hours label in 1954.

“Doll Face” was recorded on a low-budget, in a low-tech Harlem studio. The lyrics are unimpressive, and 19-year-old Bobby's voice occasionally wanders off-key. The record didn't sell and is extremely rare. In short, it had all the qualities needed to make it a collector's classic, a favorite among hard core vocal group fans. The same four men also recorded “Stop Torturing Me” on the Chariot label as the Vibes. After a few years in the Army, Bobby sang on three releases by the V-Eights on the Vibro label.

In 1966, Sonny Til invited Bobby to join the Orioles, by now an oldies act. He remained with them until 1974. After Sonny's death in 1981, Bobby formed an Orioles tribute group, which continued to perform until recently under the name “The Bobby Thomas Orioles.” They appeared in Pittsburgh under the sponsorship of the now-defunct Pittsburgh Old Record Collector's Club (P. O. R. C. C.). Technically, this was one of those counterfeit groups that Herb Reed disliked, but because Bobby was so well respected by vocal group fans and never tried to deceive anyone about his connection to the Orioles, nobody seemed to mind.

Here are the Bobby Thomas Orioles singing “I Cover the Waterfront” at a 2003 show.

Three More Losses

Jerry McCain (1930-2012)

Jerry McCain, an extraordinary blues singer and harmonica player, died on March 28 in Gadsden, AL, the same town where he was born and lived his life. I will remember him most for his songs, which were sometimes topical and often filled with wry humor.

McCain said he learned to play the harmonica because it was the only musical instrument he could afford. As a young man, his role model was Chicago harmonica player Little Walter. When Walter played in Gadsden in 1953, McCain and his band showed him around town and Walter invited him to join him on stage. McCain said that, in the darkened club, some people couldn't tell when Walter stopped playing and he began. This gave him the courage to send a demo to Lillian McMurrray's legendary Trumpet Records in Jackson, MS. Trumpet was the label for which Sonny Boy Williamson (#2—Aleck Miller) first recorded, as well as Elmore James, Willie Love, Arthur Crudup and Big Joe Williams.

His first Trumpet session was on October 10, 1953.  It produced his first single, “Wine-O-Wine”/”East of the Sun” (Trumpet 217), credited to Jerry “Boogie” McCain, a billing that stuck with him for the rest of his career. “Wine-O-Wine” was loosely based on Stick McGhee's 1949 hit, “Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee.” I consider “East of the Sun” to be the better side, despite the odd combination of McCain's harmonica and Bernard Williams' tenor sax. McCain had a second Trumpet session the following year, at which he recorded “Stay Out of Automobiles,” a cautionary tale about unwanted pregnancy.

When Trumpet folded, he recorded six singles for Excello Records in Nashville, including the popular “Courtin' in a Cadillac.” His biggest hit, however, was the catchy “She's Tough,” which was released on Rex Records in New Orleans in 1960.

McCain recorded more-or-less continuously for the remainder of his life, up through his 2000 CDThis Stuff Just Kills Me, on which he tackled the problem of addiction. His latter day reputation is based primarily on four excellent CDs he recorded for Ichiban Records between 1989 and 1993. Here's a favorite song of mine from that period.

In 2005, blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd traveled around the country to make a CD and a documentary film about some of the blues pioneers who were still performing (some of whom have since passed away). McCain's “Potato Patch” was a highlight of the CD. Here's a clip from the video which shows him being interviewed in his home. McCain was always an outspoken advocate for the blues.

I didn't learn of Jerry McCain's death until more than a month after it happened. His obituary did not appear in any major U. S. newspapers; however, it was noted by The Guardian in Great Britain.

Big Walter Price (1917-2012)

Big Walter Price was the “other” Big Walter, to distinguish him from Big Walter Horton, the Memphis to Chicago harmonica player who was once a member of Muddy Waters' band. Walter Price was a strong vocalist and barrelhouse piano player who grew up in East Texas and spent his life in the Houston area. He died on March 7 in a nursing home at the age of 94. He is best known for four singles he recorded for Don Robey's Peacock label in 1955 and 1956. The most successful of these was “Pack Fair and Square,” a song with a strong resemblance to Joe Turner's “Flip, Flop and Fly.”

Many of Price's recordings were done in the swamp-pop style that was popular in East Texas and Louisiana. They were released on smaller local labels or were self-releases. Price is also known for having introduced Texas blues singer-guitarist Albert Collins. Here's a rare recording of Price singing “My Tears” in 1963, accompanied by Collins. As far as I know, it is unavailable on CD.

Eddie King (1938-2012)

Eddie King was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, known both as a soul-shouting vocalist and an exciting instrumentalist. He was born Edward Milton in Talledega, AL and moved to Chicago in 1954. He died in Peoria, IL on March 14. He was part of Chicago's second generation West Side blues scene, along with Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Luther Allison, Eddie C. Campbell and others. He was billed as “Little Eddie” due to his short stature, and he took the last name King because of his admiration for B. B. King.

His first recording was in 1960 on J.O.B. Records, “Love You, Baby”/”Shakin' Inside.” He performed and recorded duets with his sister, Mae Bee Mae. He was lead guitarist for Koko Taylor for 20 years, after which he formed his own group, the Swamp Bees. Eddie King was a quality artist who was underrecorded and largely unknown outside of Chicago. His 1997 CD, Another Cow's Dead, won a Handy Award for best comeback album of the year and I highly recommend it.

Lasting Fame

Unfortunately for me, the music I like best—black music from the 1930s through the 1960s—isn't very popular in this country. It's more in demand in Europe. American record companies typically release only their biggest hits on CD, so most of that which is available comes from fragile companies headquartered outside the United States.

Much of the '60s soul music that I have comes through the efforts of Kent Records in London, a division of Ace Records, which specializes in '40s and '50s rhythm and blues. In 2008, Kent released a 3-CD (75 song) set, Take Me to the River: A Southern Soul Story, 1961-1977. If you want a definitive survey of southern soul, this is the one to seek out. It's more than just a greatest hits collection. It includes obscure B-sides, album cuts and originally unreleased material, all of high quality. There is a 72-page booklet with an overview of the genre plus notes on each song.

(Southern soul music is identified as a genre not only by the location of the studios that produced it. Southern studios incorporated more blues and gospel influences into their songs than northern companies such as Motown, which mimicked the pop music of the period. You might want to think about the difference between Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross.)

Late last year, Tony Rounce and Dean Rudland, joined by new team member Alec Palao, released another 3-CD set, The Fame Studios Story, 1961-1973. It was the result of two years of research in the tape-recorded vaults of the legendary studio that will always be known as the second-best southern soul production facility. (The reputation for being the best belongs to Stax Studios in Memphis.)

Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL, was started by Rick Hall and some associates in 1959. Their first success was “You Better Move On” by Arthur Alexander in 1961, followed by a bigger hit, “Steal Away” by Jimmy Hughes in 1964. For the next decade, they became a prime destination for soul artists wanting to start new careers or maintain their popularity. As with Stax, a major ingredient in Fame's success was the house band that went through three generations and included musician-songwriters such as Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. The 84-page booklet includes a complete history of the studio.

In addition to Alexander and Hughes, the set emphasizes artists whose careers were most strongly associated with Fame, such as Clarence Carter, George Jackson and Candi Staton. But over the years, almost all the soul greats recorded in Muscle Shoals: Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Arthur Conley, Irma Thomas, Joe Tex, Don Covay, Otis Clay, Spencer Wiggins and many more. Greats from the past such as Clyde McPhatter, Little Richard and Lou Rawls attempted to revive their careers at Fame and are also included.

Fame was not exclusively a soul studio, but also produced rockabilly and pop music. Since the set attempts to give a complete history of Fame, it (unfortunately) includes songs by Tommy Roe, Bobbie Gentry, and even the Osmonds, as well as some more obscure pop groups.

As with the earlier set, they have unearthed some unreleased recordings such as a previously unknown Arthur Alexander song, “I Hope They Get Their Eyes Full,” a demo of “You Left the Water Running” by the great Otis Redding, and a demo of “Another Man's Woman, Another Woman's Man” by the ever-popular “unknown female.” (Record producers are not always good record keepers. Maybe she'll hear the CD and identify herself.)

You can order Kent Records directly from England via the internet. In this country, many of their CDs can be found through Roots 'n' Rhythm (where I got my copy), Collector's Choice Music, or (if you're desperate) Amazon.com.

Blues For Red and Red

The worlds of blues, jazz and R&B lost two highly regarded veteran performers over the weekend, both with the nickname “Red.” Iverson Minter, aka, Louisiana Red, blues singer, slide guitarist and harmonica player, died Saturday at a hospital near his home in Germany, in a coma induced by a thyroid imbalance. He was 79. Here's an obituary. Also on Saturday, jazz and R&B tenor and alto saxophone player (and occasional singer) James “Red” Holloway died at the age of 84 of kidney failure and multiple strokes at a nursing home in Morro Bay, CA. I have an obituary and a biography from his website.

Louisiana Red (1932-2012)

It's not clear how Iverson Minter got his nickname. He was born in Vicksburg, MS on March 23, 1932, and never lived in Louisiana, although he said he liked hot sauce on his food. He was an orphan at age five. His mother died a week after he was born, and his father is said to have been lynched by the Ku Klux Klan. As a teenager, he moved to Pittsburgh to live with an aunt, which accounts for this biography at the Pittsburgh Music History website.

In 1949, he joined the blues circle in Detroit that included John Lee Hooker and Eddie Burns, where he made his first recordings. He developed an electric blues style combining elements of Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins and Muddy Waters. He briefly recorded for Chess Records in Chicago under the name Rocky Fuller. One of those tracks, “Funeral Hearse at My Door,” accompanied by Little Walter on harmonica, is in the Chess Blues Box.

He first came to the attention of most blues fans in 1962, when Roulette Records released The Lowdown Back Porch Blues, produced by long-time King Records A&R man Henry Glover. It was one of the first blues LPs that was not a compilation of previously issued single records. A cut from the album, “Red's Dream” was released as a single and was a minor hit. It was a reworking of Big Bill Broonzy's “Just a Dream,” with lyrics reflecting the anti-communism of its day, attacking Nikita Kruschev and Fidel Castro. A followup, “I'm Too Poor to Die,” also dented the bottom of the R&B charts.

Red began touring Europe regularly in the 1970s. He was briefly married to folk singer Odetta in 1977. (Now there's an odd couple.) He moved to Germany in 1982, presumably because he could find steadier work there and because African-Americans are treated with greater respect. He toured this country only intermittently. I was him once, at the Pocono Blues Festival in 1998.

Red recorded about two dozen albums, most of them in Europe. Over the years, his politics took a left turn; his repetoire included songs such as “Anti-Nuclear Blues” and “Reagan is For the Rich Man.” His two most recent CDs were Back to the Black Bayou (2009) and Memphis Mojo (2011), both released by German-based Ruf Records.

Red called himself “the last Mohican of the blues.” He was a great slide guitarist. He sang and played in a primitive style, sometimes slightly disorganized but highly energetic. Here are two excellent examples: “Cottin' Pickin' Blues,” with Lazy Lester on harmonica, from 2007, and “Let Me Be Your Electrician,” from 2009.

Red Holloway (1927-2012)

James “Red” Holloway was born in Helena, AR on May 21, 1927. His family moved to Chicago when he was five. He first played with bassist Gene Wright's big band (1943-46), then did his time in the Army playing in the band. 

During the late '40s and '50s, he became a fixture on the Chicago R&B and jazz scene. In addition to leading his own quartet, he served in the house bands of several Chicago R&B labels, including Chance, Parrot, United and Vee Jay. He was the go-to man for tenor sax solos for a decade, backing vocal groups such as the Moonglows, the Flamingos, the El Dorados and the Danderliers, plus many single artists who didn't have their own accompaniment. Most of these appearances are uncredited and as far as I know have never been fully documented. Hint: If the label says the band is led by Al Smith (a bassist) or Lefty Bates (a guitarist), chances are good that Red is playing the sax. Here are two of my favorites:

In the 60's, Red began the transition to full-time jazzman by joining an organ-sax-guitar combo led by organist Brother Jack McDuff and briefly featuring George Benson on guitar. In addition to recording with McDuff, Red served as the leader on four highly regarded Prestige LPs in the mid-60's. He moved to California in 1967.

From the 1970s on, Red has been known as a solid bebop artist, with a strong grounding in the blues. He has released dozens of albums, including seven just since 2008. (Check out Go, Red, Go on Delmark in 2009.) Much of his work has been as sideman, recording with artists such as Clark Terry and Sonny Stitt. He did the saxophone solos on Etta James Grammy-winning CD,Mystery Lady, in 1994.

Red does not have many videos on the web and much of what's available comes from a single 1995 performance. Here he is playing both tenor and alto on Charlie Parker's “Now's the Time.”

P. S.

Did you know that that last tune was a hit three times in the late '40s under three different titles? It was originally recorded as “D Natural Blues” by Fletcher Henderson in 1928. Lucky Millinder re-recorded it under that title. (I used his version as the theme song for my Harlem Hit Parade radio program.) Charlie Parker recorded it as “Now's the Time,” featuring 19-year-old Miles Davis on trumpet. Finally, the most successful version was “The Hucklebuck” by baritone saxophonist Paul Williams. It was #1 on the R&B charts for 14 weeks and spawned over 25 cover versions, many of them with the familiar lyrics referring “the hucklebuck” as a dance step.

P. P. S.

I can't resist the opportunity to share one of the best known recordings ever to have Red Holloway's name on the label, even though he probably had little to do with the recording, “Golden Teardrops” by the Flamingos featuring their original lead, Sollie McElroy. Red was the leader of the house band at Chance Records at the time, but he is barely audible in the background. (He has a nice solo on the flip side, “Carried Away.”) He probably didn't do the arrangement either, since the Flamingos arranged their own ballads. All five of the original Flamingos were related. They were black Jews and sang in the same choir in Chicago, which is where their ballad style originated. It's a great record and I'm sure Red was happy to be associated with it.  Turn up the volume.

And Now For Something Completely Different . . .

The fields of jazz, blues, and rhythm and blues have suffered three significant losses during the last week.

Johnny Otis (1921-2012)

Here's an obituary, and a biographical sketch from his website.

Years ago, television interviewers who ran out of questions would ask: "If you had to spend five years in jail and your cellmate was the only person you could talk to, who would you prefer it to be?" Johnny Otis would not be a bad choice. He was a drummer, vibraphonist, pianist, and singer; a bandleader, songwriter, night club owner, talent scout, and record producer; a disc jockey, highly-acclaimed artist, author of four books, preacher, social activist, and organic farmer who marketed his own brand of apple juice. We know from his books that he's a great story-teller, and I would have loved to hear more of his reminiscences about the Central Avenue (Los Angeles) jazz and blues scene of the '40s and '50s.

Ioannis Veliotis, the son of Greek immigrants, described himself as a black man by choice.

As a kid, I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be either black or white, I would be black . . . I related to the way of life, the special vitality, the atmosphere of the black community.

He had to defy a California anti-miscegenation law to marry his wife, Phyllis Walker, in 1941. They were married for 70 years.

After working as a drummer in several bands, Otis formed his own band and recorded his first hit, “Harlem Nocturne,” in 1945. It has become a jazz standard. If you're a fan of film noir, this is a song you'd expect to hear on the soundtrack during a late night street scene. 

The peak of Otis's creativity occurred between 1949 and 1952, when his band featured Devonia Williams on piano, James von Streeter and later Preston Love on tenor saxophone, and Pete Lewis on guitar. He had a female vocalist, Little Esther, a male vocalist, Mel Walker, and a vocal group, the Robins, who later split into two groups, one of which became the Coasters. Fifteen of his songs made the R&B charts during this period. They can be found on a five CD set from JSP in England, Midnight at the Barrelhouse.  My favorite is “Double Crossing Blues,” a duet between Little Esther and Bobby Nunn, one of the Robins' lead singers. Otis's vibes fill in the background nicely. The song contains a politically incorrect joke. A “lady bear” is ghetto slang for an ugly black woman who subdues her man through violence.

As a vocal group fan, one of my favorite Johnny Otis albums is Rock 'n' Roll Hit Parade, released on his own Dig label in 1957. It features remakes of hit songs by the great West Coast group, Arthur Lee Maye and the Crowns, who were called the Jayos when they recorded for Otis. Lee Maye was also a major league outfielder for 11 seasons with the Milwaukee Braves and four other teams. Here's their version of the Moonglows' classic, “Sincerely,” along with "Honey Love" and "Sh-Boom!"

Unfortunately, the song for which Otis will be most remembered is “Willie and the Hand Jive” (1958), a novelty song set to the Bo Diddley beat. I suspect it was a hit because everyone was amazed that they played it on the radio. “Hand jive” was teenage slang for masturbation.

Another great Otis album worth seeking out is The Johnny Otis Show Live at Monterey, recorded at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1970. It's a rhythm and blues review featuring classic artists such as Little Esther, Roy Brown, Pee Wee Crayton, Ivory Joe Hunter, Joe Turner, and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson. By this time, his son Shuggie Otis had taken over as lead guitar.

My choice for the last great Otis album is 1977's Back to Jazz. It's mostly instrumental, but includes this jaw-dropper by Barbara Morrison, "Nigger, Please," with Shuggie on guitar and Eddie Vinson on tenor sax. What other white man except Johnny Otis could have gotten away with this song?

In his 1993 book, Upside Your Head, Johnny Otis wrote:

Mort Sahl once said, “We know that communism doesn't work, but what about capitalism?” What we have in America is predatory capitalism. We are told we live in a free enterprise system but, not so. . . Conspiracy of the Rich and Greedy is a more accurate description. The average white American is a victim of predatory capitalism's conspiracy too, but people of color have an extra demon to cope with in racism.

Etta James (1938-2012)

Etta James was one of Johnny Otis's many discoveries. She died last Friday.

I'm not sure I would have wanted to spend time with Etta James. She was bitter about how she had gotten ripped off by former associates. When she performed, I found her comments to sometimes be mean-spirited. Her anger may have been justified, but she had a longer, more successful career than most of her contemporaries. She struggled with addictions, first to heroin, later to prescription drugs. From the '70s on, she battled obesity, which sometimes confined her to a wheelchair, making her unable to perform.

She first recorded in 1954 when she was 16. “The Wallflower,” aka “Roll With Me, Henry,” produced and co-written by Otis, was an answer to “Work With Me, Annie” by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters. “Henry” was Hank Ballard, although the role was sung by West Coast vocal group regular Richard Berry. 

Both the Ballard and James records had radio censorship problems. “Work,” “rock” and “roll” were all known to be euphemisms for sexual intercourse. The song was covered by white singer Georgia Gibbs as “Dance With Me, Henry,” and she walked off with most of the record sales. Most of James's later '50s recordings were up-tempo rhythm and blues, in the style of Ruth Brown and LaVern Baker.

She hit her stride when she moved to Chess Records in 1959, where she reinvented herself as a powerful soul singer. Between 1960 and 1973, 23 of her songs made the R&B charts. They are available on several sets, including her Chess Box. She was romantically involved with Harvey Fuqua, one of the lead singers of the Moonglows. They recorded together as Etta and Harvey. InCadillac Records, the 2008 film about Chess Records, she was portrayed by Beyonce Knowles. The film will lead future generations to believe she had an affair with Leonard Chess, but this rumor is probably false. “At Last” was her biggest hit of the Chess years, but I've always preferred “I'd Rather Go Blind.”

Later in her career, Etta James expanded her repetoire to include pop and jazz performances. Of her recent CDs, I recommend The Right Time (1992), a back-to-her-roots soul album produced by Jerry Wexler, and Mystery Lady (1994), with the songs of Billie Holiday, for which she received a Grammy as Best Jazz Vocal Performance. Here is "How Deep is the Ocean?" from the latter album. The tenor saxophone solo is by Red Holloway.

Jimmy Castor (1940-2012)

Coming right after the death of these two heavyweights, Jimmy Castor's passing received much less notice. Here's the obit.

Jimmy Castor began his career as part of the “kiddie lead” vocal group fad of the mid-to-late '50s. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Lewis Lymon and the Teen Chords, the Students, Little Joe and the Thrillers, and the El-Chords were some of the successful groups. The leads were usually teenage boys whose voices had not changed yet. Sometimes they were girls: Lillian Leach of the Mellows and Pearl McKinnon of the Kodoks. Jimmy Castor grew up in the same neighborhood as Frankie and Lewis Lymon. His group, Jimmy and the Juniors, released “I Promise"/"I Know the Meaning of Love" in May 1956. Jimmy's vocal is a little shaky, but that may be part of its charm.

Unfortunately, the Teenagers put out a cover version of "I Promise to Remember" the following month—not a neighborly thing to do. Frankie Lymon's was a more polished performance, and his was the hit version.

Castor recorded sporadically until the '70's, when he formed a funk group, the Jimmy Castor Bunch. They charted five times, their biggest hit being “Troglodyte.” It's not much of a song—just a not-very-funny narration by Castor over a recurring backbeat. This 1973 video will give you a sample of Jimmy Castor in performance.

If you're a vocal group fan, you may have seen Jimmy Castor recently. He and Lewis Lymon alternated singing lead with a Teenagers revival group that performed at oldies shows and on one of T. J. Lubinsky's PBS fund-raisers. Frankie Lymon died of a drug overdose in 1968 at age 25. Among other problems, his voice had changed.

I realize people interested in a blog about social science and politics don't necessarily overlap with blues and jazz fans. I plan to start a second, music blog. Blues fans, especially those living near Pittsburgh, will want to check out Jim White's Blue Notes. New York jazz critic Marc Myers' Jazz Wax is also a class act, often featuring interviews with jazz legends of the past.