Roburt

Another of his newish tracks ....... "Black Sugar" ....... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWa_TRdiDVA

I'm liking the music made by Quentin Moore in recent times. He's from Texas and had a new album out last summer. It's beginning to get UK radio plays and builds on his first release back in 2009. Some of his cuts have a Curtis Mayfield vibe to them, which can't be bad. Read a bit about him here ....... https://www.examiner.com/article/soul-singer-quentin-moore-to-release-sophmore-cd-this-weekend-grapevine He's on Facebook, so check him out over there ...... https://www.facebook.com/qmooremusic You can listen to snippets of his tracks on-line as well ........ 2009 album ........ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vintage-Love-Quentin-Moore/dp/B0033F96NG/ref=dm_cd_album_lnk 2013 album ........ https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/quentinmoore3 AND there are clips of him & his tracks up on youtube ....... LIVE ........ you can skip the first 45 seconds .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEQssqdIjEE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Q8i2G3POc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzm1n01FDxE

Another of his songs. This one he cut at the studio on the Freedom Soul Singers ....... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LZdxcvLy4I

One of Paul Leka's songs was cut in two entirely different ways by soul acts .......... "Rolling Dice" ........ .... the Jimmy Jackson take .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y6i4IZq-J4 Unfortunately the Hitchhikers version isn't up on youtube, so a label scan will have to suffice ........

........... RE: The album was recorded at Connecticut Recording Studios, Bridgeport, CT. In my opinion, it is one of the top albums that were ever recorded ....... ...... MORE SOUL ARTISTS WHO CUT AT THIS STUDIO ............. Paul Leka was a native of Bridgeport, Connecticut where his Connecticut Recording Studio was located (on Main Street). He had already enjoyed success in the music business, having worked with the likes of Bobby Darin, the Lemon Pipers, Steam (“Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye”) and Lefte Banke. Judy White had cut one of his songs in 1968 and he recorded an outfit called the Freedom Soul Singers for Epic in 1971. In 1973 he had gotten Gloria Gaynor's recording career started, producing her Columbia track “Honeybee”. He had also been working with a locally based soul singer, Jimmy Jackson, but saw the Hitchhikers as an act he could really make a great soul based album with. So by 1974, when Kenny Hamber & the Hitchhikers went into Connecticut Recording Studio, the facility was already well established. The studio had been in existence for a number of years but in 1973 it had been refurbished and updated.

I'm assuming he's on a cruise around the Caribbean and will therefore only have 6/7 hours in each destination. If I'm correct & that's what you are doing Michael....... when in Barbados ..... its only about a mile from the Cruise Terminal into the centre of Bridgetown. Not too far to walk or lots of mini buses on local routes into town (If no buses from Cruise Terminal building, walk up towards Kensington Oval cricket ground to find main road that buses shoot up & down). Bus stn (& adjacent minibus area) just on west side of town centre itself. MESEN, I'll be on a cruise to the Bahamas in just over a week BUT already been told not to bother looking for record shops in (funky) Nassau. There aren't any.

Very little information seems to have survived concerning 521 Records and the artists who cut for the label. HOWEVER if you search the net, you can find the odd bit ......... THIS FOR INSTANCE ......... ............... Latin Soul guy ANDY GONZALEZ said this in a long interview .......... Andy Gonzalez: .... But I have a 45 of a Rhythm & Blues thing; it was the very first recording I ever did –me, Jerry, Lewellen… Lewellen was the one that wrote the arrangements. It was “Freddy Tartt and the Emanons,” like “no names” but backwards. Freddy was a guitarist from the projects where I used to live. (LAUGHTER BY ANDY AND ERIC) EEG: So that was your first “official” recording, before Monguito. Do you remember the date? Andy Gonzalez: Yeah, I have a copy of it. That was before Monguito. [it was] 1964. The playing wasn’t that bad, but the singing was horrible. It’s still funny to listen to. (LAUGHTER BY ANDY) ........ he's obviously talking about Freddy Tartt on "I Can't Go On" ..... and I guess that means that Freddy came from the North Bronx area too. Andy Gonzalez would have been around 13 years old when he played on the Freddy Tartt cuts, I wonder if Freddy was that young also ?? LINK TO FULL INTERVIEW ....... https://www.herencialatina.com/Andy_Gonzalez/Andy_Gonzalez.htm

BARBADOS: In the centre of Bridgetown there's a big department store; Cave Shepherd. That USED to have a great record department (as the owners of the store, a local conglomerate had bought up the local assets of W.I.R.L. -- studio, warehouse, stock). I used to go there every visit to the island and buy cheap old 45's & LP's. Unfortunately they closed the record department down some years back. Just across the river bridge (south side) there was a shop that sold import (Jamaican) reissue LP's (old 60's Wand stuff & the like) but again I doubt that it's still there.

Two more on the label. Guess the Little David one just about confirms that he was the guitar player in Jimmy Oliver's Soul Twisters .......... Seems that the releases that state 'Brooklyn 16' in the label address must have been a 2nd series of releases that came after the 1962/63 singles.

Valentine Adams "I Found A Love" Yep, I have that track on an old bootleg CD ('Lost Deep Soul Treasures Vol.1') Seems from the details on the label that it may even have been cut at the club ............. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_uQJn1M5gQ What's her other track ("I Need Someone") like ?

I'll make a start on them Ian ......... I HURT ON THE OTHER SIDE, SINCE I FELL OFF MY RIDE, SHE WAS REAL REAL WIDE, GONE BLIND, NEED A GUIDE, can't make out the rest on first hearing.

I'm certain Jimmy Oliver never had any actual involvement with this UK recording of his 1958 hit song .......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiwHpIo-3rQ

Got to agree. I got my mint promo copy about 15 years back from a shop in Oxford for about a fiver (or less).

Their dad named them that coz they were his kids and were all different heights. So when they lined up in age order they resembled a short flight of 5 stairs. Seem to recall Cubie was the youngest & joined the group after it was formed; hence 5 Stairsteps & Cubie. Can't see what's daft or unfathomable about choosing that as their name.

Unless she had 2 French Motown 45 releases with the same piccy sleeve, I've got that somewhere. ............ I'll have to look it out sometime. It's a good 70's funky soul tune BUT I can see why NS-ers would hate it.

The songs included on the Sue LP by Jimmy Oliver & his Soul Twisters were no doubt the tracks that the group played at the 521 Club at that time (summer / fall 1965). Apart from a couple of original numbers & the Righteous Bros hit, it seems that Motown songs were the big faves in Brooklyn at that time ..........

How the building that housed the 521 Club looks today. It's now a Popeyes Chicken Restaurant, the Franklin St Subway Stn is across the road from the building.

A bit more about that area of Brooklyn back in the 60's ........

Bob, any idea what some of the late 60's releases on 521 Records were ?? The club itself operated from the late 50's through to the late 70's, I'd imagine that the R&B 45's on the label would date from the early 60's. The building that housed the club still exists and is now a fast food restaurant ......... see below .......... ........ MORE INFO ........... Jimmy Oliver & his Soul Twisters were the club's resident band from 1961 to around 1967. They are most likely the group referred to as the 521 Club Band on Paul Walters 45 but he was still hanging out at the club after they left around 1967. Eb Davis & the Soul Groovers were the house band from 1967 through 1978/79. Their main members were Johhny Barnett (bass and vocals) Glenn Quick (drums. went off to play with Isaac Hayes) Little Max Thomas (tenor sax. went off with Wilson Pickett). Charles Williams (trumpet). Stanley Burrell (guitar). Jimmy Hayward (tenor sax). Kim Paluna (guitar, went with Isaac Hayes) and Hayman Kent (piano and organ). The artists in those days were often booked into a venue without a band because most of the venues had house bands that supported all the acts appearing there. Eb & the Soul Groovers were well thought of and were booked to back up some artists on tour (Wilson Picket, Isaac Hayes, Millie Jackson, etc.). When they went off to tour, a replacement band would hold down their duties at the club until they returned. The club was a venue where music biz guys would hang out & network. It was 'standing room only' in the place if 300 people were in. Lots of this info came direct from Eb Davis (who's now a European based blues singer). He tells me that Paul Walters was the MC at the club for quite a few years when they were the house band (so 1967 onwards). Eb & the Soul Groovers did not do anything with the 521 label themselves because very small labels like 521 had a very hard time trying to compete and usually could not do anything for the artists 45's after they had released them. A guy by the name of Bobby "Madhouse" Smith was a regular performer from time to time at the 521 Club and other local venues. When I chatted with Eb, he certainly still had many fond memories of his time as leader of the 521 Club's house band. I have also been told ... "You have to remember that area of Brooklyn was a hub of activity. Not only did you have the 521 club, but you had a bar/lounge that sat right in the middle of Fulton St, between Franklin and Bedford. You had another bar and lounge that sat on the corner of Spencer and Fulton, between Franklin and Bedford. Then you had a big bar on the corner of Bedford and Fulton. Not to mention the Riverland Lounge on the corner of Brevoort Place and Bedford, right across the street from the Brevoort Theatre".

Old age is getting the better of me Robb. Where I meant to type Jimmy Oliver, I put the more familiar name of Jimmy Norman instead. Guess it's all downhill (gray matter wise) for me from here. BTW, Jimmy Oliver has 56 songs registered with BMI and his only regular writing buddy seems to have been Clyde McPhatter. I guess those joint compositions would have been cut by the Drifters or Clyde himself but that still leaves a lot of other songs that Jimmy wrote (and someone recorded) out there somewhere.

What are all the other releases on 521 ?? Can you list them please. .... AND .... who are the guys involved on those tracks (producer, arranger, writers, etc.)

A Beverly McKay track that Jimmy Oliver worked on ......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pybHelV1vqk

Another guy who performed with Jimmy Oliver's Band at the 521 Club in Brooklyn was Kenny Hamber .... a bit of info on this ..... Kenny Hamber's dad lived just around the corner from the 521 Club which was located on the corner of Fulton Street and Franklin Ave (1134 Fulton in Brooklyn). By 1962, the club was one of the hottest venues to feature live acts in the borough and so Kenny made sure he dropped in at the place. The club featured live acts on such a regular basis that it had its own house band; Jimmy Oliver & his Soul Twisters. It had opened in the late 1950's, had a maximum capacity of 250 to 300 and would be in existence for around 20 years. The place was owned / run by a number's runner; Eugene Goldston. Recording artists who hung out / performed at the club down the years included the likes of Jerry Lawson (of the Persuasions), the Shufflers, Paul Osher, Little Johhny Taylor, Otis Redding, Lew Kirton, the Invitations, Millie Jackson and Sterling Harrison (today the building that housed the club is still standing and is a Popeyes Chicken fast food restaurant). In all, Jimmy Oliver & his Soul Twisters were the club's house band from 1961 to 1967. Their residency at the venue helped them land a recording deal with Sue Records ('Hits Au-Go-Go' LP; 1965). When they moved on, Eb Davis & the Soul Groovers took over their roll as house band for about the next ten years. Soon after Kenny started visiting the 521 Club, he entered and won one of their talent shows. After this, he hooked up with Jimmy Oliver and they became friends. A local subway station platform (above ground in that area) overlooked the 521 Club and I'm told that kids (too young to get into the club) would stand on the platform to look into the venue to try to see the artists on stage.

Jimmy Oliver worked on numerous recording projects in the 60's, usually as an arranger (though I guess his band provided the backing track for the vocalists on a number of sessions).

Kenny Ballard turned out a number of fine tracks during his recording career but not too much seems to be known about his performing career. As he was New York based this seems a bit strange to me BUT I guess he operated a bit below the radar back then playing mainly chitlin club venues.