Video of the Week #96

Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes is one of the unsung heroes of the period when jazz and rhythm and blues were pretty much the same thing. His first major gig was in 1940 as guitar accompanist to the vocal group, The Cats and the Fiddle. In 1943 and 1944, he was a member of the Art Tatum Trio. For the next decade, he recorded with his own groups. One of those was an historic early bebop session from 1944 featuring Charlie Parker. In 1953, he played the guitar solo on The Crows hit record, "Gee."

In the early '50s, he billed himself as Tiny Grimes and his Rockin' Highlanders. Benny Golson, his tenor saxophonist for a short time, recalled being embarrassed at having to bar walk wearing kilts. His primary tenor man during this period was Red Prysock and his lead vocalist was Jalacy Hawkins, later known as Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

This is a soundie, "Never Too Old to Swing," from 1945, with Tiny taking the vocal. I'm not sure who the others are. My guess would be that it's John Hardee on tenor sax.

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