Roburt

Info on Jamo's early music career (off the net) -- BTW, it seems he was born in the Bahamas .... Bobby Peterson was a pianist / vocalist from Chester, Pennsylvania, who started out imitating Ray Charles in smoky little bars on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Further musical apprenticeship was served as piano player for a vocal outfit known as the Apollos. In 1958 Bobby teamed up with sax player Joe Pyatt, who needed a singer and key- board player for his new combo and the Bobby Peterson Quintet was born. The other members were David Butler (drums), Chico Green (bass) and JAMO THOMAS (congas and bongo). They made six remarkable singles for Buddy Caldwell's Philly-based V-Tone label between 1959 and 1961, before disbanding permanently in 1962. The band started to play in clubs with a mixed repertoire of current R&B hits, Ray Charles favorites and a few originals, when Lawrence Kerrin, a local talent scout and promoter, heard them at the Skyway Inn in southwest Philadelphia. Kerrin and Joe Pyatt collaborated writing the Quintet's first single, a simple sax/piano instrumental called "The Hunch". Kerrin introduced the combo to Buddy Caldwell, who operated his new V-Tone and Len labels out of the back of his upholstery store on Ridge Avenue. "The Hunch" (c/w the vocal "Love You Pretty Baby") managed to climb to # 71 on Billboard's national pop charts, but a note-for-note cover by Paul Gayten on the Gordy family's embryonic Anna imprint did slightly better, peaking at # 68 in November 1959. The quintet followed this up with a powerful two-part instrumental, "Rockin' Charlie", which was used as a theme by ace deejay Jocko Henderson. They began doing one-nighters up and down the eastern seaboard, and were brought to Chicago by Buddy Caldwell to record their third single, the great "Irresistible You" (written by Luther Dixon). This 45 went to # 15 R&B and # 96 pop in the autumn of 1960 (though a pop cover went much higher). The group was now touring all over the country, with stars like Jackie Wilson, Jerry Butler and Smokey Robinson. "Been Saving My Love For You"/"Three Street" was the fourth V-Tone single for the Bobby Peterson Quintet. Released in early 1961, it sold quite well. Further 45's folowed but the young musicians were already tiring of the hard road life and drummer David Butler chose to settle down and get steady work. Joe Pyatt, the real leader of the group, joined Dave "Baby" Cortez's combo as sax man in 1962, while Chico Green went on to work with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters. Jamo Thomas joined several combos and scored a # 98 pop hit in 1966 with "I Spy For the FBI". Bobby Peterson himself recorded two further singles under his own name for Atlantic and Centaur, and returned to the rounds of Chester's clubs. It seems that the Quintet continued on after drummer David Butler quit ..... May 1, 1989 -- HASSON WILLIAM MIAH, TOP DRUMMER Services were to be held today for Hasson William Miah, a professional musician who performed with major artists. Miah, who died Wednesday, was 51 and formerly from Chester. He lived in Chicago. Miah was a drummer who performed and recorded with the Bobby Peterson Quintet, Jerry Butler, Curtis Mayfield and Philip Upchurch. Born and raised in Chester, Miah began his musical career at the age of 6 on the piano. But by age 13, the lure of playing drums was too strong and he switched instruments.

The Caribbean comes to Ft. Lauderdale .....

Back to the Apollo & some heavyweights were all on together ...

Back to Columbia & the great Teena Marie ....

It was Jamo's version that escaped from the US first ..... .... His version getting released in the UK, Europe & beyond. Jamo's 45 track was a massive play on British pirate radio stations as a new UK release (I seem to remember that Emperor Rosko used it as his theme tune on his Radio Caroline show for a while). It was released here on Polydor in 66, reissued in 69 again on Polydor (see attached scan) & then on Mojo in the 70's.

In the movie Ali (starring Will Smith) a singer portrays Linda Jones at a night club performing her version of "For Your Precious Love". Linda's daughter Terry Jones recalls her aunts and uncles discussing the time when Linda came home from a concert and said Mohammad Ali had been at her show. The producers of the film did not know who to contact for clearance of Linda's likeness and because of this they could not use Linda's name in the film Ali, just the song. Terry Jones did not know anything about her mother's version of "For Your Precious Love" being used in Ali until after the film was released. ......... .......... I wonder if any of Terry's aunts were called Brenda ?? Anyone seen a handbill / newspaper ad for the engagement at NY's Apollo that Linda was undertaking when she died on March 14, 1972.

Then there's always THIS Brenda Jones ......

The 'jazzy' Brenda Jones ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI2MS15DnE8

... and which one is this ....

And which Brenda Jones is this ......... ... the fine C M Lord was involved with this track ...

Steve, the SSI track is up on YouTube .... THAT Brenda Jones ain't the best of singers ...... I wonder if this Brenda was related to Linda & Terry Jones ?? ....

The Wand & SSI 45's are obviously New York efforts (Sammy Turner & Robert Banks being the guys behind the SSI track). "Big Mistake" was also cut in New York & then there are the shows a New York based Brenda Jones undertook with Ohio's Buckeye Politicians ... ... none of this makes sorting out which Brenda is which any easier .....

Seems that sorting out the 'Brenda Jones' from THE 'Brenda Jones' could well be a tricky task ... ...... there's the Brenda J, Brenda Lee & just plain Brenda .... confusing or what .......

Atlantic Records were obviously increasing record sales in 1974 by helping promote live shows their artists were undertaking in New York ... You could catch one of Philly's finest sweet soul groups and a jazzy guy in April ....

Don't quite know how having 2 sets of 'Rocketeers' bands (one 11 strong, the second 7 strong -- a see ad above) going at the same time would have worked. If it was just the Rocketeers that were advertised for a show, how would you know which outfit would turn up ? Guess one of them soon changed their name to avoid the confusion caused. Anyway, whatever happened back in 67, this show (from a few weeks later) featured one of the above outfits ....

There used to be a big mod / soul scene there. Lots of events including weekenders.Lost touch with the local soulies bout 6 to 8 years back, so no idea if there is a regular event on there now. Do a net search for mod events in the city ... they usually start quite late though (10 to 11 PM).

Cheating again as I've jumped back to Barbados again ... but it is an interesting 45; from Canadian based Bajan Aubrey Mann ... Cut up in Canada but (I believe) only available on this Bajan issue ... I was lucky enough to find 8 or so copies of this over a few visits to the island. (BTW, that's not a label fault, just the sun shining on parts of the 45's label)

If we're just talkin dancers ................. Artistics -- I'm Gonna Miss You Major Lance -- Um, Um, Um, Um, Fascinations -- Girls Are Out To Get You Impressions -- You've Been Cheatin Billy Stewart -- Love Me (are we allowed to pick tracks made outside of Chicago ?)

You'll know a lot more about this subject than I do Steve ..... BUT .... .... weren't a lot of Wand 45 tracks just 'licensed in' items in 1969 (cut elsewhere by outside production teams, some being released on local labels prior to Wand). However the Brenda J Jones seems to be an in-house session cut in Scepter / Wands NY studios. Were many other things released on Wand around the same time also in-house efforts ??

The guys involved on that Wand 45 were John Bennings, Frank Augustus, John Bowden & Michael Wright. John Bennings & Frank Augustus wrote the song & both have a good body of work registered with BMI (writing 10+ songs together). John Bennings has 59 songs listed in all (most solo efforts with no co-writers). Frank Augustus has 57 songs listed, some under the name of George Butcher. He wrote in conjunction with the likes of Clyde Otis, Freddy Briggs, Johnny Northern, Doris Troy, J J Jackson, Brook Benton, Don Covay, Wes Farrell, etc. He co-wrote "Come Tomorrow" that Manfred Mann had a hit with. John Bowden (producer on the session) also has numerous songs registered with BMI (182) including ones written with Mattie Moultrie & Clarence Fountain). Many are gospel songs.

September 67 -- I was 18 years old that week ..... ..... could have done with that car !!

An 'Oldies' show on this 'Old' thread ....

Ren Woods was a good singer who worked in conjunction with E,W & F's Al McKay ....

Don was still 'sharp' & was totally amazed when shown copies of his Cedric & Sack 45's ..... He genuinely hadn't realised they had ever been released (& if they had been they should have escaped on Tru-Glo-Town, Botanic or Mr. G in his opinion.) "my baby like to boogaloo" was popular in a lot of US cities, which I guess is why the Emperors cover was made.

I agree Bob. I had a couple of long chats with Don Gardner about his 'rare 45's' out of non-East Coast locations. He had no idea that they ever existed but did say that he had sent copies of those tracks to Jimmy to keep him 'up to date' on Don's work (with a view to Jimmy getting Don some live gigs in Chicago & the like) ....... part of the story ......... Don's existing profile in Chicago resulted in him sending copies of his new cuts to his friend, local booking agent, Jimmy Vanleer. Jimmy had just started his Sedgrick / Cedric Record label & so, without Don's knowledge or consent he put some of Don's tracks out on 45. Jimmy's record company was just finding its feet, so although Don's releases, "Cheating Kind" and "Is This Really Love" were top quality outings, they didn't enjoy any commercial success. It is believed Jimmy Vanleer was also the linkman in the process that resulted in Don having a release on Monk Higgin's Chicago based Sack label as Don didn't even know of Monk, never mind send / lease tracks to him. At Xmas 69, Don decided to give up touring. Her got into construction & was hired by Curtis Mayfield to build him a pool at his Atlanta house. The pair got on so well, Don was hired to be Curtis's road manager, a job he retained for much of the 70's.