/Eugene Wright & Dukes of Swing/Dozier Boys

[Mark Stryker]

OK, really wading further into the weeds. Anybody know a source for the sides that Eugene Wright & His Dukes of Swing/Dozier Boys made in late 1948 in Chicago for the Aristocrat label. Titles include "Big Time Baby," "Music Goes Round and Round," "Pork N Beans" and "Dawn Mist." The first two are up on youtube but the second two ("Pork"/"Dawn") are nowhere that I can find. Were any or all of these issued on CD or LP? These are the sides that feature early Sun Ra on piano (and he probably wrote the charts), but I'm digging around because they almost certainly contain Yusef Lateef's first recorded solos -- and these stomping blues tell you a lot. Direct precursors of "Yusef's Mood," which would remain a constant in his repertoire for decades. 

Anyway, if anyone has copies of "Pork N Beans" and "Dawn Mist" I'd love to barter.

[Big Beat Steve]

Copies ARE around:
Maybe the experts who run the Red Saunders Research Foundation website can be of assistance?

See this page ..

http://myweb.clemson.edu/~campber/aristocrat.html

About two thirds down in the Aristocrat entry there are label shots and some descriptions.

 

[JSngry]

Mark, you're looking for precedents to "Yusef's Mood"...are you familiar with this Bill Doggett record?

 

 

[Niko]

there is more information on these sides on the Sun Ra page at the Red Saunders foundation (since Ra played piano in this session)

http://myweb.clemson.edu/~campber/sunra.html

their current estimate of the line-up is

"The Dozier Boys: Eugene Teague (g -1, tenor voc); Cornell Wiley (tenor, baritone voc); Benny Cotton (bass voc); Bill Minor (lead tenor voc) -2; with Eugene Wright (b, ldr); Hobart Dotson (tp); John Avant (tb -3); Frank Robinson (as); Melvin Scott (ts); Van Kelly (bars); Herman "Sonny" Blount [Sun Ra] (p, arr); Robert "Hendu" Henderson (d)."

they also write

 

"Yusef Lateef has said that he had left the band before it recorded for Aristocrat. Careful listening suggests that on the Aristocrat sides, the horns are limited to three saxes and a trumpet, with the exception of "Pork 'n Beans," where a trombone is added. Our conclusion is that Gail Brockman (tp); Roy Grant (as); and Bill Evans (ts), who later changed his name to Yusef Lateef, were regular members of the band but did not make the session"

edit: just noticed that this contradicts the version stated on the Aristocrat page... will write an email...

next edit: I already got answer - the information on the Aristocrat page will be updated to match that in the Sun Ra page

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Niko

[Mark Stryker]

On ‎2‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 10:29 AM, Niko said:

there is more information on these sides on the Sun Ra page at the Red Saunders foundation (since Ra played piano in this session)

http://myweb.clemson.edu/~campber/sunra.html

their current estimate of the line-up is

"The Dozier Boys: Eugene Teague (g -1, tenor voc); Cornell Wiley (tenor, baritone voc); Benny Cotton (bass voc); Bill Minor (lead tenor voc) -2; with Eugene Wright (b, ldr); Hobart Dotson (tp); John Avant (tb -3); Frank Robinson (as); Melvin Scott (ts); Van Kelly (bars); Herman "Sonny" Blount [Sun Ra] (p, arr); Robert "Hendu" Henderson (d)."

they also write

 

"Yusef Lateef has said that he had left the band before it recorded for Aristocrat. Careful listening suggests that on the Aristocrat sides, the horns are limited to three saxes and a trumpet, with the exception of "Pork 'n Beans," where a trombone is added. Our conclusion is that Gail Brockman (tp); Roy Grant (as); and Bill Evans (ts), who later changed his name to Yusef Lateef, were regular members of the band but did not make the session"

edit: just noticed that this contradicts the version stated on the Aristocrat page... will write an email...

next edit: I already got answer - the information on the Aristocrat page will be updated to match that in the Sun Ra page

 

Sorry for the delayed response guys -- I got sidetracked with my day job.

Niko -- thanks for doing the legwork. I hadn't seen the Sun Ra page until you pointed it out, and I too noticed the contradiction with the other page. So glad to know the collective wisdom is that Yusef was not on the date.

Jim -- I had not heard that Doggett side before so thanks for that. Interesting stuff. "Yusef's Mood" came first (4/1957) compared to Doggett (1958), but I'd guess that the defining riff (bars 4-12) was not actually "composed" by anyone but was rather something that was in the air within the R&B milieu. I mean, somebody literally was the first to play it somewhere but fuck if you can figured out who that was and where -- kinda like "The Theme," the rhythm changes break tune that Miles is often credited with writing but which he surely didn't.