Tropical Records, Miami (Frank Seay, Etc)

[Roburt]

Treetop rehearsing for the concert shown on the last post (the Bobby Stringer Tribute show) ..........

https://vimeo.com/48679193

Edited March 30, 2015 by Roburt

[Roburt]

More info on Treetop ..................

https://overtownmusicproject.org/overtown-musicians/tree-top

[Roburt]

Treetop was in the house band at this club for a number of years back in the day ......

 

[Roburt]

There's a photo of Treetop with his instruments (& ready to play) in this 2009 newspaper article. The piece also shows a photo of David Hudson who was performing at the establishment that night  ...........

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/restaurants/shantel-lounge-sunday-fish-fry-with-live-blues-and-randb-6565930

 

Shantel's Lounge is located on the corner of NW 7th St & 55th Terrace, just a short distance north of where the Tropical Records building is situated.  

Edited March 31, 2015 by Roburt

[Roburt]

Find below a pretty incomplete listing of the 45's put out by Tropical (Miami) .........

I'd guess that most of the missing numbers relate to gospel tracks. If you can fill in any gaps please send the info along.

I've also guessed that there is no Tropical T114 & that the Soul Time 45 took this number but could easily be wrong.

 

                             TROPICAL RECORDS -- MIAMI

 

Tropical 101   Eddie Taylor – Just The Way You Are / The State Song               SOUL (1964)

Tropical 102

Tropical 103

Tropical 104

Tropical 105   Utility Voices – What He Said He Would Do / I Got Everything I Need

Tropical 106

Tropical 107   Frankie Seay & Soul Riders – Soul Food / Black Jack                                   SOUL

Tropical 108   Frankie Seay & Soul Riders – I Came a Long Way To Get You / Hold On         SOUL

Tropical 109

Tropical 110   Missionaires – Clouds Hanging Low Pt. 1 & 2

Tropical 111

Tropical 112   Frankie Seay & Soul Riders – Baby Please / All I Want Is Loving You              SOUL

Tropical T113   Queenie Bell & Creative Voices – Sincere People / I Want To Be An Angel

Soul Time ST114   Alberta Baker – My Search Is Over / I Have Something                            SOUL

Tropical T115

Tropical T116   Treetop & the Soul Branches -- Inside Out / Don't Go Away                       SOUL (1970)

Tropical T117

Tropical T118

Tropical T119   Rufus Mr. Soul Beacham – Lead Me On / Do You Have A Good Woman         SOUL

Tropical T120   W.C. Keith with the Sons of Daniel – My Job / On The Battlefield

Tropical T121

Tropical T122

Tropical T123   The Faithful Few – Did You Stop To Pray This Morning /

Tropical T124

Tropical T125

Tropical T126   Wallace Key with Sons of Daniel – My Prayer / Jesus Died

Tropical T127

Tropical 126

Tropical 29   Mt. Carmel Baptist Church Choir – Do You Know My Jesus / ?

 

 

Gem 101   Human Race   –   Human Race / Gray Boy                           SOUL  (late 60's release?)

Gem 102   Eddie Holloway  --  I Had A Good Time / I'm Standing By     SOUL  (Aug 70 release)

Edited April 3, 2015 by Roburt

[Roburt]

A 6 minute long video documentary about the music scene in Overtown (Miami) back in the day.

Tropical Records, the (Sir John) Knight Beat Club & more were all located in the area ............

 

https://overtownmusicproject.org/videos/overtown-in-its-heydey

[Guest faith4111]

For those of you who care about Frankie died of I just got this info from the medical examiner's office today:

 

Called the medical examiner's office and this is the info I gave them:

 

Case Number: CR2012-07174 Investigator: Regueira, Tania   Last Name: SEAY First Name: FRANK Middle Name: JR Death Date: 10/27/2012 7:35:00 AM Gender: Male Next of Kin Notified: No

 

Cause of death:  Prostate cancer which traveled throughout his body with high cholesterol

 

He did not have an autopsy and was cremated.

He was found in a nursing home.

[Roburt]

Another major establishment in the Overtown area (where Tropical Records et al were located) was the Mary Elizabeth Hotel. This place had it's Zebra Lounge and it's Birdland Nightclub.

Here local acts such as the Marvells (Fabulettes) would support the likes of Little Willie John, Dizzy Jones, the Original Drifters, the Laddins (Steinways), etc.

When the I-95 road was constructed through Overtown in 1967, the destruction of housing involved reduced the resident population from 40,000 to 10,000. So although the major establishments survived the demolition, their local crowd had been decimated and so they were never really the same again. The building that housed the hotel wasn't actually demolished until summer 1983 but it had long been closed by that time.

 

The place back in it's heyday ..... 

 

A Dizzy Jones track .....   

Edited April 3, 2015 by Roburt

[Roburt]

The Human Race, who had a 45 out on Tropical's Gem label, were the house band at the Continental Club. The club was situated across the road from Mr. Walters Wig Shop (he ran Wax-wel Records) and so Mr. Walters would organise shows at the club on a regular basis. The Continental was located on 7th Avenue, a few blocks north of where Tropical Records were based (today it's just an empty plot).

Before it was known as the Continental, it had operated under the name of the King O' Hearts and was the venue where Sam & Dave had started out as a duo.

 

HUMAN RACE ....  

 

Other local (& national) artists also played the club, one of these being Mary Hylor .........

 

Edited April 3, 2015 by Roburt

[Roburt]

Eddie Holloway, who also had a 45 out on Gem Records, would play gigs at the Continental Club as well ..........

 

Edited April 3, 2015 by Roburt

[Roburt]

               RUFUS BEACHAM BACKING MUSICIAN @ TROPICAL   ---    BOB TEBO

 

Luckily, I have been able to touch base with Bob Tebo who today works in the DC area as a Digital Media video producer (his day job). He's a drummer in a modern funk band for a hobby and lives in Alexandria, a southern suburb of DC (though it's over the river in Virginia). Back in the day, he was in a 4 strong band of white kids that got to play on some recordings for Tropical Records artists. He recalled those days for me ….

 

The whole Rufus Beacham episode was an experience and lots of fun.!! I started playing drums about 1966 and I'm still having fun playing, performing and recording. The Miami soul sound was unique and I just played a small part in it. However, the experience with Rufus was one of the many reasons why I continue to play drums. I was born and raised in Miami so right up front that's why I happened to be there in the first place. I actually grew up in Miami Springs and I had some friends that lived in Coral Springs (he made mention of this as Coral Springs is where we stay when in the area).

 

My time with Tropical. At the time of the recording I was playing drums in several high school dance bands, doing Santana and 3 Dog Night stuff at high school sock hops etc. The other band I was in was a gospel / soul band for an older guy by the name of William Gerome Vickers (who has 12 songs registered with BMI). Some friends and I met Bill in a record store one night and we got talking. I had only been playing about 4 year up till then and wasn't really all that skilled. But I was always learning and listening to the latest pop music and trying to imitate what I heard. Bill Vickers was an aspiring black gospel singer / producer who lived with his family close by Tropical Records. He led a group of four singers that had a similar sound to the Staple Singers, they were called "The Creative Voices and the Faith". Just picture 4 black singers dancing with purple suits on, looking kind of like the Temptations .... and then 4 white kids playing behind them (David Todd on bass, Don Marinelli on guitar, Joel Stein on keyboards with me on drums).

 

When we would get together with Bill for rehearsals and planning, he was always playing Staple Singers records to us. Anyway, we met several times with Bill and he expressed the need for a young funky / soul sounding band to play behind him and his singers. We all got along great too. When we played, we were just average but we tried hard to sound something like Motown musicians and yet get the sound that he wanted. Bill wrote original material for us to play, some good, some bad. We (me and my mates) felt like we were doing something cool and yet a little different than the usual rock and roll that we had been used to. We ended up going on a few limited tours with him into north Florida and Georgia. So all in all it was fun and really interesting. He wanted to do some demo recordings in hopes of shopping them to labels up and down the east coast. We were intrigued to say the least, so we started rehearsing with him on a regular basis. There was a lot of rehearsing and group meetings that went on before we were ready.

 

Over a few months, he pulled enough funds together to record our first demos at Tropical studios at the 7th Ave. address. They were basic but not too bad and so were pressed up on the Tropical label as well. I still have a few of the 45 pressings in my home vault. As for the studio,Tropical was in a rough neighbourhood (Overtown) and it wasn't a fancy place.   The inside was pretty modest and limited compared to the bigger studios I'd been to in Miami. It was old and had a real 1950's industrial look about it. But it was studio and did the job. We recorded on a 1/2 inch ampex 4 track machine. The console looked very basic and home-made, probably built by the resident engineer. I cant remember the monitors but they sounded real muddy and didn't have much high end. I was a kid at the time and didn't have much knowledge about studios. I was just excited I was even in one. That all went on for about 6 months.

 

We then hooked up with Rufus one night when we were scheduled for a Creative Voices session. We (the band) arrived early, so we set up and started warming up with some basic funky jams. The engineer was getting levels and placing mics as we were jamming. Low and behold to our surprise Rufus Beacham came strolling in and heard us. He liked our spirit and asked us if we were playing with anyone and if we wanted to so some session work for him. Of course we all said YES, just like that ! I recall that one of his comments was that "we played like funky black boys". He couldnt believe we were white kids playing like black guys. It was a politically incorrect time and we were all just brothers together in the studio.  We had no Idea who he was at the time, but again it all sounded like fun so we went for it.

 

We talked a little more and hit it off and he set up a time for us to come back and cut one song with him and his guitarist Bobby Sands (or was it Sam?) That song was "Do You Have a Good Woman". We 'white boys' were so excited about the idea that someone heard us and wanted us on a session that we were ga ga the whole week back at school! Well, the session came off and we worked for several hours on a handful of takes. We worked hard and never got a penny, but it was fun to say the least. The pressing doesn't have a good sound at all, but my bandmates and I didn't care. We were young and excited to be part of the whole process. I had a modest drum kit compared to today but it didn't matter ! It was all about the sound and getting the beat right. We were getting our studio experience early.

 

Rufus was a good very flashy keyboard player and singer and was kinda like a Sly Stone / Marvin Gaye character. A tall skinny dude all dressed up with lots of attitude. I would estimate him in his late 30's, maybe 40 when we met him. He had done a lot of work down the years, but we didn't know much about this and him. He was very skilled at session work and how to underplay to make a good pad for his voice. Rufus acted as the producer on "Good Woman". It was his arrangement and he directed the whole sound on every take (we did 4 to 6 takes in all) He giving us orders for feel, emphasis and style etc. The 3rd guy that was there in the studio, he did the narrative intro on the cut but acted more like a manager / biz kinda fellow. He didn't seem very knowledgeable about arranging or playing music, he just dealt with logistic matters with the engineer.

 

Rufus gave us tips on how not to overplay and clutter the overall sound. I was learning how to dump the fills and just stick to a solid consistent beat. He worked us hard but he liked what he got from us. Bobby Sands (who was about the same age as Rufus) was pretty good too. Neither of them would tolerate any slack playing. They played solid and knew what they wanted. It was a good learning experience for a young pup drummer and bass player (both David and I played on the track). Don tried some to put in some background chords and Joel just sat it out. The funny thing about the track that we could never get over was, when the producer did the verbal intro to the song and then mentioned 'Bobby Sands on Guitar', it sounded a little corny to us. But it was their song and they were paying the studio time so we just shut up and played. We figured it was just some kind of thing that he put on all his demos. We were young and having fun in a studio.

 

After the session wrapped, we listened to the playbacks and everyone seemed to like what we had put down. We all left the studio and we never heard from Rufus again. It was way back when there were no cell phones and texting. After that I never heard the song played again anywhere. I just figured the tapes ended up in the great dumpster in the sky. So you can imagine my reaction to seeing it up on Youtube as a 45 all these years later!!, my jaw dropped. After all that recording and playing ended, I never went back to Tropical after that.

The next year we did some more demo's and two 45 singles for Bill Vickers with a new singer, 'Queenie Bell'. We used Criteria Studios in Miami this time. The legendary Carl Richardson was our engineer. We learnt a lot from him too. Once again, not to overplay, keep the beat solid; less is more! The tracks that I played on for Vickers that were done for the Tropical label are were follows :-

    Stop Playin With the Lord    –    Bill Vickers on lead vocal.            Recorded at Criteria

    Time For Peace    –                     Queenie Bell on lead vocal.         Recorded at Criteria

(these 2 recordings I have on tape. They were transferred from an acetate reference disc about 25 yrs ago).

   I Want To Be an Angel    --           Queenie Bell on lead vocal.          Recorded at Tropical

   Sincere People    --                      Queenie Bell on lead vocal.           Recorded at Criteria

(these 2 recordings are pressed up on a 45 rpm disc on Tropical)

         All 4 songs were written by William Vickers and are registered with BMI.

 

We recorded maybe another 2 or 3 titles for Vickers but I don't have copies of those recordings and can't remember the titles. Bill Vickers was stocky black guy about 40 to mid 40s.Queenie Bell was a thin black woman about in her mid twenties, maybe 30. She was a good singer but not highly motivated in the studio. Vickers tried pushing her, but she never seemed all that interested. We would see her at the rehearsals a lot. She alternated between backing vocals and lead vocals depending on the song. I don't know about any other groups or recordings that she was involved with. All of Vickers material was gospel and so many of his singers were church friends. They all had that gospel singing style. Bill would rotate the guy singers almost every month to the point where we couldn't keep track of their names. Some of the vocals on the recorded songs were not very good, being rough but some were actually very good. It just depended on the song. We white boys just rolled with it all because Bill was paying the bills. It was fun, however, those recordings never went anywhere. So like many bands, we split up and went our separate ways. After that I went back to school and then onto NY and LA and did studio and club work for a while. I still have a copy of the 45 single "Sincere People" which we recorded at Criteria as I recall.                                BOB TEBO

Edited April 4, 2015 by Roburt

[Steve G]

Excellent information, certainly fills in some gaps!

[Roburt]

A club date that Rufus Beacham (& his Orchestra) undertook in Miami in January 1959 ....

"Insulated Sugar" (see ad) was a song that Rufus (+ Sonny Thompson ?) had written some years earlier that pianist & band leader Sonny Thompson had recorded for King Records in 1953. The cut featured vocals from Rufus Junior .....

..................................  was this perhaps a young Rufus Beacham .... ?? ... anyone know ?

 

Later in 1953 (October), King released Sonny Thompson's "My Heart Needs Someone" which again featured Rufus Junior on vocals. Yet again the song is credited (on the label) as being penned by Beacham & Thompson. This track seems to have been cut (from the matrix numbers) at the same session as "Insulated Sugar". 

Edited April 8, 2015 by Roburt

[Roburt]

Sonny Thompson was signed to King Records through the first half of the 1950's, the same time period that Henry Stone was associated with King. Sonny would tour all over the US with his band, playing venues like Cleveland's Ebony lounge for a two week stint in early March 1952. I'd guess it was Henry Stone that hooked Beacham and Thompson up, Beacham himself having been signed to a deal with King Records by the mid 50's. 

But in 1955, Stone had a big bust up the King's Syd Nathan and so he quit King to start up his own Chart Record label back in Miami. The two artists he took with him to Chart were Rufus Beacham and Sonny Thompson. 

There are no other mentions for a Rufus Junior in Billboard mag apart from the two record reviews that relate to the songs that Beacham wrote .....

Edited April 8, 2015 by Roburt

[Roburt]

An old (2009) newspaper article about the music scene in the Overtown area (where Tropical Records was based ) .............

https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/jordan-levin/article1931267.html

[Guest Luck]

Hope this helps. Incomplete, but the best I've been able to do.

I also have a Spiritual Harmonizer discography, if anyone's interested.

Tropical / Soul Time
101 Eddie Taylor - Just The Way You Are / The State Song
102
103 The Ensemble / Concert Chorus - The Miami Sound (LP)
104 Evangelist Eva L. Orange - Mother Don't Look Back Go Forward (LP)
105 Utility Voices - What He Said He Would Do / I Got Everything I Need
106 Brother Larry Jolly - Please Be Still / He's Right On Time
107 Frankie Seay and the Soul Riders - Soul Food / Black Jack
108 Frankie Seay and the Soul Riders - I Came A Long Way To Get You / Hold On
109 The Florida Stars - Call On Doctor Jesus / If He Calls, Would You Answer
110 Missionaires - Clouds Hanging Low / pt. 2
111 *
112 Frankie Seay - Baby Please / All I Want Is Loving You
113 Queenie Bell and The Creative Voices - Sincere People / I Want To Be An Angel
114 Alberta Baker - My Search Is Over / I Have Something (on the "Soul Time" Label)
115 Fantastic Southern Echoes - Every Day And Every Hour / Dark Clouds Arising
116 Treetop and the Soul Branches - Inside Out / Don't Go Away
117 The Calvarettes - That's Another Blessing / Down On The Cross
118 Bill Holt - Can I Trust You? / Help Me Believe
119 Rufus "Mr. Soul" Beacham - Lead Me On / Do You Have A Good Woman
120 Wallace Key with the Sons Of Daniel - My Job / On The Battlefield
123 The Faithful Few / Rev. Ira McCall - Did You Stop To Pray This Morning / Think Of His Goodness
126 Wallace Key with the Sons Of Daniel - My Prayer / Jesus Died
29 Mt. Carmel Baptist Church Choir No. 1 - Come On, Don't You Want To Go? / Do You Know My Jesus?

Gem
101 Human Race - Human Race / Grey Boy
102 Eddie Holloway - I Had A Good Time / I'm Standing By
103 Little Ricky and the Deltones - Funky Sound / Ghetto Child

Gospel Gem
GG-21 Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers - God Is Standing By / Pass Me Not
GG-22 Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers - Stay With Me Jesus / Touch The Hem Of His Garment
GG-23 Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers - Must Jesus Bear The Cross Alone / Wonderful
GG-24 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - I Have Been To The Mountain Top / If I Had Only Sneezed
GG-25 Liz Lands/Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - We Shall Overcome/I Have A Dream

Gospel Gold
101 Faithful Few - Story Of A Blind Man / Holy Spirit
102 Southern Echoes - He's Right On Time / Dark Clouds Arousing
*111 The Caravans - Break Bread Together / One Baptism

Gospel Pearls
SH-19 Otis Wright and The Spiritual Harmonizer - All Wrapped Up In One / Serving The Lord (Tropical-distributed)
GP-70 Swan Silvertones - Brighter Day Ahead / Get Right With God

GP-71

GP-72 Swan Silvertones - Saviour Pass Me Not / pt. 2

Cogic Records (dist. by Tropical)
001 The Macedonia Church Of God In Christ Concert Choir - Trouble Don't Last Always / No Turnin' Back

Edited May 4, 2016 by Luck
New discographical information

[mshoals]

Thanks for posting this. I'd also be interested in the Spirtual Harmonizer discography.

Here's one missing above:

Gospel Gem GG-24 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - I Have Been To The Mountain Top / If I Had Only Sneezed

[Guest Luck]

40 minutes ago, mshoals said:

Thanks for posting this. I'd also be interested in the Spirtual Harmonizer discography.

Here's one missing above:

Gospel Gem GG-24 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - I Have Been To The Mountain Top / If I Had Only Sneezed

Thank you very much.

Please see below - all misspellings are as printed on the label. I know that I'm missing a few of these, but it's the best I've been able to compile. All additions are welcomed. Chronology is shot to hell; this is set by numerical order for the sake of indexing.

Spiritual Harmonizer Discography/Otis Wright-related

SH-001 Spiritual Harmonizers - Something Within / Trumphet
01 Spiritual Harmonizer - It's Later Than You Think / Looking For The Man (on Spiritual Harmonizer)
101 Otis Wright and the Spiritual Harmonizers - We're Going To Be Paid / He's Calling Me (on Spiritual Harmonizer)
HSP-105 Spiritual Harmonizers - So Glad / When God Calls
O-13 The Rhythmical Wright Singers - How Bless You Are / Won't You To Move (on Spiril)
SH-19 Otis Wright - All Wrap Up In One / Serving the Lord (on Spiritual Harmonizer - orange and black label variants known)
SH-19 Otis Wright and The Spiritual Harmonizer - All Wrapped Up In One / Serving The Lord (on Gospel Pearls - dist. by Tropical)
SH-20 The Spiritual Harmonizers - Prayer Changes Things / Leak In The Building (on Spiritual Harmonizer)
SH-22 Spiritual Harmonizer - The Lord Is Still In Business / Stop Complaining (on Spiritual Harmonizer)
SH-23 Spiritual Harmonizer - Walk on The Water / No Fault In God
OW-26 The Spiritual Harmonizer - Didn't It Rain? / He Gave His Only Son (on Spiritual Harmonizer)
OW-30 The Florida Nightgales - Oh, What A Blessing! / Hold On (on Florida Nightgales)
0030 Florida Nightingales - Oh, What A Blessing! / Hold On (on Florida Nightingales)
FN-36 Florida Nightingales - In The Garden / Sad Day (on Florida Nightingales)
FN-44 Florida Nightingales - I Want To Be Like Jesus / Striving So Long (on Florida Nightingales)
501 Florida Nightingales - Reach Out / It's Me O' Lord (on Florida Nightingales)
1101 Otis Wright and the Spiritual Harmonizer - I'm Going Home / First I Want To Thank The Lord For Being Here (no name on label)
9903 Florida Nightingales - Search Me Lord / Don't Doubt Him (on Florida Nightingales)
(No #) Spiritual Harmonizers - Ten Thousand Tongues / He Rode On A Wind Storm (on S.H. Spiritual Harmonizers)

[Roburt]

I was down in the Overtown area today. It is being gentrified at present. Lots of new development going on plus loads of art galleries have sprung up in old buildings. A big graffiti art outdoor project is now a very popular draw over an area of a few blocks.

Got back home by taking the I-95 freeway so must have passed quite close to the old record shop.    

[Roburt]

Examples of the art work @ the Wynwood Walls project in Overtown . . . . . . .