Chalky

The Esquires: The Family Tradition Continues. The Musical Legacy of one of Milwaukee’s finest harmony group’s is being kept alive by their children. The original Esquires were a vocal group from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, originally formed in 1957 as a high school group by Gilbert (Gil) Moorer, his brother Alvis, and their sister Betty. They originally began performing under the group name of Betty Moorer & The Esquires. The Esquires (from left) Sam Pace, Millard Edwards, Alvis Moorer and Gilbert Moorer at the Apollo Theater in New York City in 1968. Credit: File photo: http://archive.jsonline.com/news/obituaries/pace-was-member-of-esquires-classic-milwaukee-rb-band-he8c19d-186613851.html The Esquires' line up during their early years saw several different changes, one of the later key members was tenor Sam Pace who initially joined the group in1961. Sam would also later become a fully fledged Moorer family member through his marriage to the Moorer’s younger sister Patricia in 1968. During 1965 sister Betty left the group with the remaining members reverting to the shortened name of ‘The Esquires’. Betty would later live and work out on the West Coast performing under the stage of ‘Tori Jackson’, but after many years of living away she has recently returned to her Milwaukee roots. During 1966 her replacement in the Esquires was Shawn Taylor who recorded the solo outing “Too Late To Turn Back Now/Put Me Down Easy” for Lenny Lacour’s Magic Touch Label. The Esquires now consisting of Gilbert Moorer, Alvis Moorer, Sam Pace, and Shawn Taylor now felt that were ready to try for a record deal and headed for Chicago, where they first met and auditioned without success for Curtis Mayfield who was then operating the Windy C and Mayfield labels. Hawking themselves around the Windy City they eventually came to the attention of Bill "Bunky" Sheppard. Sheppard was owner of the Chicago based Constellation label, who’s artist’s roster included Gene Chandler, Nolan Chance, Dee Clark and Holly Maxwell amongst others. Sheppard was presented with the Gilbert Moorer penned demo song "Get On Up," which he liked. It was Sheppard's intention to record the Esquires on Constellation, but he first decided to use them as backing singers on Mill Evans (a.k.a Millard Edwards) 1966 outing “Thing Won’t Be The Same” the a-side of “I’ve Got To Have Your Love” (Constellation 170) a reputed failure at the time, “I Got To Have Your Love” would later find fame becoming a respected classic during the early years of the UK northern soul scene. With the Constellation label folding late in 1966, Bill Sheppard then formed the Bunky label, which was where The Esquires with the addition of Mill Evans to their line up came into their own, releasing their debut single, "Get on Up," during 1967. With national distribution being secured By Bill Sheppard through New York-based Scepter Records "Get on Up" became a huge success, soaring to number three on the R&B charts and number 11 on the pop charts. 1967 would also see the release of sister Betty’s solo release “Speed Up/It’s My Thing” on Scepter records sister label Wand. "Get on Up" would bring Esquires to national prominence through radio airplay and theatre appearance’s which included such notable venues as the Regal in Chicago and the Apollo in New York. In between “Get On Up” and their follow up release “And Get Away” Shawn Taylor was to leave the group (to return later). “And Get Away” was very much in the same Style as “Get On Up” and subsequently charted at number 22 pop and number 9 in the R&B, charts now enjoying a winning formula the group recorded their debut (and only) album under the amalgamated title of their two hit 45’s “Get On Up And Get Away”, The album also featured their only Constellation release “Things Won’t Be The Same” and a song which Mill Evans composed with Bill Sheppard on a road trip to New Orleans, “When I’m Ready” The song “When I’m Ready b/w Trying To Find A Home” would also gain a 45 release on Marshall Sehorn’s Tousea label. The group’s popularity spread internationally with “Get On Up” and “And Get Away” gaining 45 releases on the UK Stateside label and their respected album appearing on UK Decca’s London Label. Their releases can be found on many European labels also. Three further 45 releases followed during 1968, “You Say/State Fair”(Bunky 7753), “Why Can’t I Stop/The Feelings Gone” (Bunky 7755), “I Know I Can/How Could It Be” (Bunky 7756) With the flipside of the final Bunky release “How Could It Be” being a current popular spin within the UK and European Rare Soul Scene. Leaving Bunky Records to sign directly with Scepter, the group were placed on Scepter’s Wand imprint. Where they record a further two excellent singles, "You've Got the Power" and "I Don't Know," which reached numbers 29 and 37 on the R&B charts, respectively. After just one year, they returned to Bunky (Bill) Sheppard who took them to Capitol Records in 1970 to record their solitary release "Reach Out/Listen To Me”. Shawn Taylor returned to the group line up on this release as Mill Evans/ Edwards had left. The group’s next release appeared on Lamarr Records with "Girls in the City/Ain’t Gonna Give You Up" which got to number 18 during 1971. In 1972 Bunky Bill secured a deal with Nashville based ‘Cutlass, Records for the release of one of his productions on Mill Edwards entitled “I Found Myself”, one can only assume that also included in the deal was the release of The Esquires song “My Sweet Baby” coupled with the previously unissued “Henry Ralph” on Cutlass’s subsidiary label Hot Line. “My Sweet Baby” until then had only ever been released on the group’s 1968 Bunky album. This coupling of “Henry Ralph” b/w “My Sweet Baby” was then to receive a release on John Abbey’s Action label (on the 70’s grey label design). The songs official A-side was “Henry Ralph” and featured another Milwaukee vocalist and friend of The Moorer family David Bursey as the songs baritone lead. David was a former member of the Candi-Bars “I Believe In You” on (Candi-Stix), and was also Noah of “Got To Get Away” Candi-Stix fame. Further Esquires releases included “Ain’t No Reason/Baba- Daba-Do on the B&G label (1970). Together with their excellent group cover version of Detroiter Jimmy Delph’s “Dancing A Hole In The World b/w That Ain’t No Reason” Rocky Ridge Records. Followed by “Let Me Build You A New World/Stay” on New World Records (1974). A later rework of “Get On Up ’76 on the Ju-Par Label. The 1979 release “My Lady/The Fish” on Lasco Records and their final release “The Show Ain’t Over/What Good Is Music” released as both a 45 and 12” single on the Cigar Man Music label during 1980. Sadly both Gilbert(1941-2008) and Alvis Moorer (1940-2012)and Sam Pace (1944-2013) have all passed away but it is the sons, daughters and nephews of these former Esquires who are keeping the family name and tradition alive as you hear from cover versions of their parents songs (posted below). The current group features John Moorer (the son of Gilbert Moorer), Alexis Moorer-Rodgers and Linda Moorer-Durham (the daughters of Alvis Moorer) and Alvis Moorer Jr. This later group was formed following the death of Gilbert and were coached briefly by Alvis Sr and their Uncle Sam (Pace) who also briefly performed with them before his untimely death after a long illness in 2013. Their current mentor is another of their uncle’s Rudy Jacobs, a guitarist himself and the group’s current musical director. Words By: David Welding Acknowledgements to: John Moorer and Millard Evans (Edwards). L-R Alvis Moorer Jr, Linda Moorer -Durham, Alexis Moorer-Rodgers and John Moorer Listen Now Your browser does not support the audio element.

In May of 2016 Alberto Zanini…otherwise better known as Alberto “Folpower” Zanini, was digging in the States for records not just for personal use but maybe unearth something he could release on he relatively new label, “Cannonball Records”. I have to say the label has in my opinion one of the best looking labels around, anyway I digress! Towards the end of his trip he was in Michigan and stopping with Brad Hales. The idea was to help Brad move stock into his new premises and to listen to some unissued masters and acetates. After several hours listening and several beers and just before retiring to bed the needle was dropped on one final acetate. Alberto describes it as being “90bpm of heartfelt poetry”. The disc was clearly recorded as a demo, very sparse with just the light subtle piano backing of which you could only hear the higher notes but the “deep tone and the vibrato of the vocals” as Alberto puts it were out of this world. The acetate was credited to Big Lee Dowell who after some research was actually Lee Dowell Frazier. Buffalo born Dowell was signed to Epic records and brought to New York to record two tracks, both produced by G. Denby, “Don’t Make Me Mad” and “Black Belt”, both of which went in the soundtrack of what has been probably the first movie about gangs and social youth problems. We are speaking of 1966 and Teenage Gang Debs took to the big screen for the first time the problems of the youth living in the tenements of Brooklyn and in all America’s big cities and depicts the lives and loves of a young generation trying to survive the brutality of gang life. What happened next to Big Lee as he was professionally known is a mystery and he totally disappeared until this New York labeled acetate was discovered in Detroit. Alberto loved the track so much he decided to release it on his own Cannonball label, it would be the labels fourth release. Alberto only had basically the vocals so a whole new musical structure was laid down. Alberto took the track to Maxin Moston, a regular on the stages of Broadway and it was he who laid down the strings, two different lines of Violin and a line of Viola. The other instruments we all laid down by the Cannonball Collective, Max Gallesi (Steinway, Wurlitzer and Rhodes), Alex Class on Bass and Guitar and Max Po on Drums and Percussion. Alberto even bought a late 70s full analogue mixing desk in an attempt to create the authenticity of the time, an authenticity the Cannonbvall crew have essentially nailed because nothing I have heard would have been out of place in the 70s, amazing work and dedication to the cause. Needless to say the 45 upon release became one of the anthems of the summer on the Northern and Rare Soul Scene, “Feel-good music at its finest” it was described by one of Alberto’s closest friends.. The press, limited to 500 sold out extremely quickly and demand saw the price rise into three figures as demand from Djs and collectors rose. The 45 has seen extensive play on radio shows and at venues all around Europe. To satisfy the demand created by the track Alberto decided to release a twelve inch take. The initial take was extended to just over seven minutes, a new piano backing was added and double congas. Just like the 45, the vocal is then followed by the Steinway instrumental. The beat for the instrumental was dropped from 115bpm to 110 making it a more leisurely listen, the arrangement of this I really do like. The flip side see’s two remixes, one from Steve Cobby and one from Alberto. These are aimed more at the dance market rather than the Northern/Rare Soul Scene in an attempt to widen the appeal of the track. None of the instruments are produced via a computer, all the work is with proper instruments, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer and Gibson Les Paul all complimenting the stunning vocals of Big Lee. September the 26th is the date for the release of the twelve and it is likely to sell very quickly with 200 or so advanced orders so do not delay, get your order in now. As I mentioned earlier Big Lee was the fourth release and all four have sold out, pretty impressive for a small independent label. To reserve your copy contact Alberto at cannonballsoul@gmail.com Price is £20 + PP depending on number of copies and destination. Listen Now Listen to a mix of all the tracks! Your browser does not support the audio element. Side A track 1 Extended Version: https://youtu.be/Z3cSBrCvC30 Side A track 2 Steinway Instrumental:
 https://youtu.be/PW26NOmpaIg Side B track 1 Cobbymix:
 https://youtu.be/YqA3EWpUox0 Side B track 2 Sons of Dancefloor mix:
 https://youtu.be/i1GtD9iCp5Q