JUST FOR MY OWN SELF SATISFACTION ... maybe correct ...

[Roburt]

A Doo Wop / R&B / soul story ...

. . . . this tale starts in Baltimore in the 1940's. Charlie Carroll was in a group called the Four Buds, who made recordings with the Earl "Fatha" Hines orchestra. Charlie had a younger brother John, who decided to follow him into music. He started his own group, the Metronomes. They went along to the Royal Theatre (1950) when Johnny Otis was the star attraction and Savoy Records' owner, Herman Lubinsky was also in attendance. Lubinsky was looking for a group to back up Little Esther (Phillips). The Metronomes became that group and were soon recording themselves under the name of the 4 Buddies. John Carroll took on the stage name of GREGORY CARROLL and forged a music career with the 4 Buddies, then the Orioles and Dappers. Along the way he also got into production work and song writing. Next he started a duo, Peg & Greg (1957). By 1960, Gregory was producing fellow Balto singer Sonny Til (ex of the Orioles). He got back into singing by starting a gospel group, the Halos. This group included Doris Troy (aka Doris Payne) as a member. Doris went into secular music and by 1963 had a big solo hit with "Just One Look" that she and Gregory Carrol had penned (the 45's B side being penned by Doris, Gregory & Rex Garvin) . . . . . Just weeks later, Henry Glover cut the Flamingos in New York on a song titled "Come To My Party". This song had been written by Gregory Carroll in conjunction with Earl Jackson (Copyright: words & music -- GREGORY CARROLL & EARL JACKSON for Figure Music, Inc. -- 23 JUL 63). Gregory & Earl Jackson have 8 joint compositions registered with BMI . . . . . . . I'm unclear what happened next ....

Across New York; early 60's .... ABC-Paramount Records were based out of New York but expanded to also have offices in LA (61) and Chicago. On the soul front, they had signed the Impressions in 1961. They also signed other people up to expand their 'black music' output. They needed extra song writers too on their team & so were offering work to NY based guys (Gregory Carroll & Earl Jackson being prime candidates, though Gregory Carroll was successful enough elsewhere to resist any approach). After cutting the Impressions in New York (1961/62), the group went back to Chicago to start recording there (in conjunction with Johnny Pate). The Impressions were soon ABC's top soul act and Johnny Pate was cutting lots of hits for the label. Because of this, ABC were sending New York black artists to record with him in Chicago .... .... ... SOME TIME PASSES ...

... In late summer 1968, Johnny Pate oversaw a Chicago studio session during which he cuts an EARL JACKSON on a track titled "SOUL SELF SATISFACTION" ... the subsequent ABC 45 would prove to be Earl Jackson's only release on the label and Johnny Pate (when asked) couldn't remember one fact about the song (which he co-penned), the session, the singer or anything at all about the whole affair -- Johnny stated "at the time I was so busy, I'd just go into the studio from 9 to 5 and cut everyone ABC sent for me to work with" ...  ... RE: the song's composer credits ... I'm assuming Earl Jackson arrived @ the Chicago recording studio with a 'completed song' ... however Johnny Pate wasn't 100% happy with the thing, so he added his input during the recording session and so ended up with joint credit when the song was registered with BMI.

SO .... an EARL JACKSON was a successful song writer in New York before the mid 60's ... ... THEN an EARL JACKSON cut "Soul Self Satisfaction" for NY based ABC Records after the mid 60's ... . . . . . . . . . MMmmmm . . . MAYBE IT'S ALL JUST COINCIDENTAL ... but just maybe ?? ...

. . . . .     if I'm wrong, then the EARL JACKSON mystery will just continue on ... 

Edited June 15 by Roburt

[Roburt]

Sonny Til may have been going up to New York to record (with Gregory Carroll) in 1960, but he was still based in Baltimore & doing lots of shows locally.

He had a revue show that toured & played locally. His entourage included his 'young niece' Virgie Tillman (aka Virgie Till) at the time and she was given her own part of the show.

Only trouble was Sonny's wife knew the members of his family and so knew their was no relative called Virgie ... so their marriage was soon over ...