Category Archives: Visalia

Categories: Drum and organ duos, Los Angeles, Tulare, Visalia

The Apogees, Bud Lee & Izzy Navarrete on Stripe 99

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Apogees Stripe 99 EP Side AThe Apogees were a drum and organ duo. The drummer was Bud Lee and the organist Izzy Navarrete. Izzy’s name is spelled differently each time I find it in print – Izzy Navarette and Izzy Navarrette for example.

Together they made one of the strangest EPs I’ve ever heard, echo-laden versions of Guantanamera, Sweet Caroline (“Sweet Adeline” on the label), Quiet Village (“Quite Village” on the label) and an almost-unrecognizable version of La Bamba. The Apogees release is on Stripe 99 Hollywood 10001A/B. It’s hard to date this, but I guess about 1970.

At one point Izzy was a member of the Spirals, a long-running group from Tulare, California, led by Ralph Alvarez and Manny Alvarez, whose members included Mary Murillo and Ed Torres and probably many others. At this time I don’t know if the Spirals ever recorded.

Photos of Tulare groups the Spirals and the Charades, along with some history the area’s music, can be found in the Tulare Advance-Register, July 5-6, 2003.

Izzy Navarette had a duo with Terry Wall that played often at the El Dorado restaurant on East Tulare Ave in the mid-1970s. The advertisements call it “Izzy Listening” music. There are notices for him appearing in lounges in Palm Springs into the 2000s.

Bud Lee’s name is too common to trace, so I can’t tell you anthing about “El Tomborro” (tamborro?).

Stripe 99 had one further release by the Sand Trackers, “Track of the Scarab” / “Big Bird Blues”, both by F. Stuart Wilson (Ford Stuart Wilson aka Fred Lile), and released as Stripe 99 SNN45-10002.

Drum and organ duos were an efficient combination, and more common than you might think, as I’ve profiled three others on this site.

Categories: Almo, Atoll, California, Visalia

The Implicits

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The Implicits, March 1965.
From left, bottom row: Tom Johnston, Beverly Chavez, Jack Love; top row Jerry Hull, Bob Daugherty (Duarte) and Ken Henard.

From Visalia, California come the Implicits. Both sides of their May ’65 release were written by Tom Johnston. “Give Me Justice” is a very catchy slice of garage pop, while “She’s Alright” is a good danceable song.

A&M label picked this up for a July of ’65 release on their Almo subsidiary. Johnston later went on to the Doobie Brothers.

Jerry Hull contacted me about the group:

I was the rhythm guitar for the Implicits at the time the record was recorded. The original Implicits were Tom Johnston, lead guitar and vocal, Jerry Hull, rhythm guitar and vocal, Jack Love, base guitar and vocal, Bobby Duarte, keyboard and vocal, and Kenny Henard, drums.

Our group met through a mutual friend from high school, who was a drummer. Tom Johnston, Jack Love, and Kenny Henard went to Mt. Whitney High School and I went to Redwood High School; the two schools were just a few blocks apart. We were all 14 or 15 years old at the time. Bobby Duarte was a friend of one of the guys and was older than the rest of the group. We played at private parties, and some of the high school after-game dances at Mt. Whitney. We played at events at Woodlake, Hanford, and a March of Dimes sponsored dance in Tulare, which was our largest event at the time. We later added a female singer, Beverly Chavez, to the group.

We were approached by Shelly Martin (who became our manager), about recording a record. We signed an agreement on March 31, 1965, and recorded in Hollywood. I left the group later that year, however, Tom, Jack and Kenny kept the group going for some time, before changing the name.

I still have a picture from the Visalia Times Delta newspaper when we were going to Hollywood to record. I currently live in Henderson, Nevada.