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👍 The cover art, for some reason, always confuses me. 🙃 Instead of "Top Brass," it looks like it should be a "Sonny Stitt Plays For Lovers" album. The out-of-focus listener also kind of looks like Dodo Greene.

Superb.

The tenor solo on The Chords record is by Dam The Man Taylor. I don't have any other data available right now, but the rhythm section certainly is in a jazz pocket.

I’m listening to the 1955 George Wettling material from this box set: Which first appeared on: “George Wettling’s High Fidelity Rhythms” Weathers Industries LP

That's a good album, and the organ date is excellently recorded!

Basra is magnificent 😍

Back when I was living in Rochester,NY (in what must have been the 70's) , Sonny Stitt with Don Patterson's Organ Trio played at a local club. I did go to hear them one night, but honestly don't recall any details.

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On my watch list!

Cold again, but brighter this morning. All the leaves are almost gone. . . that is a sad sign winter will soon be upon us. Starting off with a Keystone Trio cd on Milestone, “Heartbeats.” This is a trio of masters! John Hicks, bassist George Mraz, and drummer Idris Muhammad. Freddie Cole sings on one track. 300×300 20.9 KB

I had done some checking on the web in the meantime, and it seems the Alton Ellis version was recorded in 1971. Quite a bit after the 1954 recording date for the version by the Chords. I am not overly familiar with the Jamaican R&B history but have learnt a bit about the early sound system scene through various well-annotated R&B compilations. So the Coxson label name (as in Coxson Dodd) rang a bell.

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thriftstore-find

Ah, good to know. I've heard so many versions of this tune but never knew exactly who did it first. I think that Crew Cuts version was used in the movie Road House as well. And spot on that being a Jamaican cover. Alton Ellis is a legendary singer there and his covers of American doo wop and soul are always worth a listen.

I'm looking forward to this. Mats and Thurston are both massive record nerds whose enthusiasm I find infectious (I'm less familiar with the work of Byron Coley). Based on the sample pages both the record picks and writing style are accessible. I think it's going to be a fun book to flick through. I'm seeing Mats and Thurston play tomorrow and kind of hoping there might be copies on the merch table.

So "prevailing opinions" have progressed beyond what Jim Dawson and Steve Propes wrote in "What Was The First Rock'n'Roll Record"? Among the 50 candidates listed chronologically and discussed in that book, "Rocket 88" is placed 24th and "Sh-Boom" is 38th. So, chronologically speaking, I'd tend to vote for "Good Rockin' Tonight" (placed 8th) in its hit version by Wynonie Harris.

November 20 Geoffrey Keezer - 1970 He was Art Blakey's last pianist...

For many years writers used to call the Chords' Sh-Boom the first rock 'n' roll song. But now they credit Jackie Brenston's Rocket 88.

Of course they were. The Crew Cuts' well-known version was the white cover version along the trends of the day. So whatever came later was a cover version too. Even without listening to the clip, that Alton/Establishment version looks Jamaican, judging by the record label. So obviously much more recent. But amusing to listen to.