More of the photo negatives – these are various musicians on the streets of New York. If anyone can help identify any of the musicians in the photos below, I’d appreciate it. Please do not reproduce any of these without permission.
Other photos from the collection include acts at the Apollo Theater and Bud Powell’s funeral procession.
These photos are of Bud Powell’s funeral procession on August 8, 1966. I’ve added a few more photos since I first put these on the site. These are scans of negatives from an unknown photographer’s collection – see my other pages of photos from the Apollo Theater and of Moondog, Jimmy Nottingham and street musicians in Harlem, Greenwich Village and Central Park.
Dan Morgenstern reported on the funeral for Down Beat’s September 22, 1966 issue:
In the lead was Harlem’s own Jazzmobile, appropriately draped for the occasion, and carrying a jazz band … the members were Benny Green, trombone; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone; Barry Harris, piano; Don Moore, bass; Billy Higgins, drums, and at the last moment, Lee Morgan, trumpet. First came “Now’s the Time” and then, perhaps more appropriately, “‘Round Midnight”, followed by two Powell tunes, “Bud’s Bubble” and “Dance of the Infidels”.
The music stopped when the cortege reached the church. The pallbearers, including musicians Max Roach, Tony Scott, Eddie Bonnemere, Kenny Dorham, Willie Jones, Hayes Alvis and Claude Hopkins, brought Powell’s coffin into the church where, many years before, he had been an altar boy.
If anyone can help identify anyone in the photos below, I’d appreciate it.
The theater in the background is the Renaissance Theater connected to ballroom of the same name (now demolished).
See here for a comparable photo of the theater.
For info on the deterioration and demolition see here, here and here
Much thanks to all who have helped with IDs, including Vince Gardner, Hyland Harris, Dan Morgenstern, Ira Gitler and Mike Boone.
I do not know this photographer’s name. I have confirmed with Getty Images that the photographer is neither Don Paulsen nor Chuck Stewart.
I found a very interesting batch of photo negatives by an amateur photographer working in New York City in the 1960’s and very early ’70s. I don’t know the photographer’s name, unfortunately, but I believe these are all unpublished. Since first posting these, I have confirmed with Getty Images that the photographer is neither Don Paulsen nor Chuck Stewart.
My negative scans aren’t professional quality, but they’ll do for checking these out.
Besides the ones below there are many others, especially of street scenes, street musicians and more at the Apollo – Ben E. King, Miriam Makeba, Cal Tjader, Dionne Warwick, Roberta Flack and others, and also of Machito at Town Hall.
I’ve had help in identifying most of the musicians in these photos, but there are still a couple I don’t have IDs for and I’d appreciate any help you can give. Please do not reproduce any of these.
I was able to date the photos of the show with Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey to 1961 or 1962 by the overlap between Freddie Hubbard joining the Jazz Messengers in 1961 and Leo Wright’s tenure with Gillespie ending in 1962. There are also photos of Cal Tjader from this show.
According to the online Chronology of Art Blakey, the Messengers with Hubbard played at the Apollo for some dates in beginning September 14, 1961, as well as a benefit show on September 13, 1962.
Chris Sheridan informs me that Leo Wright only played with Gillespie at the Apollo during the week of April 27 – May 3, 1962. An ad in the Amsterdam News includes both Gillespie and the Messengers on the bill for this week of shows.
Many thanks to all who have helped with IDs including John Clemente.
Al Collinsworth of the Outcasts wrote this history of the band of his friend Sonny Page, and sent in the fantastic photo above.
Sonny Page and the Triangles represented Lemco Records’ entry into the country music scene. Sonny’s recording of “Big Wheels”, which began with the sound of an 18-wheeler shifting gears as it sped by, received air-play on country radio stations such as WAXU in Lexington, KY and was promoted by Grand Ole Opry and Columbia Records recording star Esco Hankins. The recording included the Triangles and studio musicians Kenny Whalen on guitar and Bill Wasson on bass.
The original Triangles included Sonny page on vocals and guitar, Charles Burgess on steel guitar, Raymond ‘Timber’ Lowery on bass, William Hanshaw on guitar and David Miller on drums. Later, the Triangles added Jim Mcdaniels and Cleo Riley on guitars. Sonny also recorded on the Rem Records label (“The Golden Book” / “Lost City”).
During the 1960s, Sonny and the Triangles played country music shows with such stars as Webb Pierce, Pee Wee King, the Collins sisters and George Morgan. Always a very popular singer in the Lexington area, Sonny worked with the famous 50s star Little Enis and was a regular performer at Lexington’s Zebra Lounge. Sonny also worked at Martins where JD Crowe first started in Lexington.
Sonny retired from professional music and had a very respectable career as a peace officer. He was a lieutenant with the Fayette County Police, a Fayette County Deputy sheriff, a Fayette County deputy jailer and a bailiff for several high profile Fayette County judges.
Sonny is now happily married and living peacefully in Lexington, KY. Sonny told me that like many of us 60s era musicians, he too had lots of fun and has always had a genuine love of music.
Al Collinsworth
Once in a while I come across something that doesn’t fit into the garage category but deserves some wider exposure – the Lumpen 45 is one of these records.
“Free Bobby Now” is an anthem for Bobby Seale. The Lumpen were a group of Black Panthers based in Oakland but peforming throughout the Bay Area to get the Panther’s message across through music.
A full history of the group by member Michael Torrance is on the Black Panther history site, It’s About Time. I’ll quote some of it here for background:
The original members were Bill Calhoun, Clark (Santa Rita) Bailey, James Mott and myself, Michael Torrance. We had all sung in groups in the past, Calhoun having performed professionally in Las Vegas, and it just came naturally.
Calhoun wrote “No More” in a spiritual/traditional style, and then “Bobby Must Be Set Free”, a more upbeat R&B song. We recorded these two songs and soon we were singing at community centers and rallies. Emory Douglas, Minister of Culture, named the group the Lumpen for the “brothers on the block,” the disenfranchised, angry underclass in the ghetto.
Thanks to Calhoun’s expertise, we were able to put together a high-energy hour-long “act” complete with uniforms and choreography. By the time the Lumpen were about to go on an East Coast tour, the auditorium at Merritt College was packed for the kick-off concert which was recorded live. The whole audience sang along with “Bobby Must Be Set Free.”
The first copy I found was in New Orleans shortly before Katrina hit. I was listening to a batch of records and this one caught my attention, though I realized right away it was mislabeled – it has labels from a hit on the White Whale label that must have been at the press at the same time. Which would date this to December, 1970. Recently I found another copy with the correct labels on it.
The live tape is eleven songs, with all the tuning and between-song chatter.
In addition, former WFMU DJ the Hound hosted an acoustic in-studio session with the band on October 4, 1986, link here.
They got their name from a Hershell Gordon Lewis movie about biker chicks that isn’t really that good but its main claim to fame is that it showed a decapitation (fake) in like ’67 or so. Which was pretty wild for a drive-in flick. The main gang in the movie was called The Maneaters.
The lead singer was Shari from The Outta Place. The bass guitarist was Tara who also played bass in this NYC psych/garage band called The Ultra V. The drummer was Ellen O’Neill who was formerly the drummer for the Tryfles. She was really nice and also ended up in a short lived NYC garage band called The Shambles. Eventually Ellen quit music, married and moved away. Unfortunately I had heard she passed away a few years ago. On lead guitar was Linda Lutz. Except for another spinoff NYC garage band called The Pods, this was the only other band I recall seeing Linda in.
The Maneaters played only for about a year or so. Often on bills that Gary Balaban promoted at The Southern Funk Cafe (now a pharmacy I think in the Port Authority), The Strip on 14th or The New Theater on 4th St. In fact he made a dupe of their demo for me which I still have on cassette. He used to get tons of cassette demos from touring garage bands at the time. After I first heard the Maneaters play I asked Gary to make me a copy as they didn’t have any singles or LPs out. In fact, that cassette turned out to be the only thing that ever came out from them. Unless there’s some tapes somewhere which one of the band members might know about.
I listened to the demo tape recently. You can hear the potential for an awesome live show but in the sterile environs of a studio, it didn’t translate very well. They had this really grinding, sleazy approach to covering blues classics which made them very unique at the time. Shame nothing ever came out of it.
Southern Funk Cafe:
The person who does the intro [to the first song, “I’m Ready”] is Deb Parker who at that time was partnering with Gary as Endsville Enterprises. The impresarios behind the Strip shows. Later on she went to great success and fame opening Beauty Bar, Barmacy, No-Tell Motel and I think Babyland.
Besides the members Jeff lists there was also Andrea Matthews (Andrea Kusten), the group’s rhythm and slide guitarist, formerly of the Outta Place and Blacklight Chameleons and later the Fuzztones.
We recorded four songs, including “High Temperature” by Little Walter, at Coyote Studios in the Music Building in Manhattan (8th Avenue between 38th and 39th Streets), with Albert Caiati engineering; his brother is Manny Caiati from the Del Lords, whose rehearsal room doubled as the studio’s space. The dB’s space was across the hall from the Del Lords. I was paid my production ‘fee’ in pot!
The girls were inspired amateurs; Shari Mirojnik played harmonica, and tried to do the hand/vibrato thing, but ended up looking more like she was waving at it. She’s also responsible for having noted, on a funny trip to Boston we all made, that she had to sit in front because she was “allergic” to the back of the van. The Boston trip was was the only time in my life I’ve run live sound for a band (they played at TT the Bear’s). Afterward, we went to Fort Apache studio and tried to do some recording with Joe Harvard, but the ingested psychedelic substances took their toll and we just ended up bagging it.
Thanks to Jeff for the transfers of the demo and live tapes and the Dream Date flyer. Check out his site ShakeSomeAction.
Thanks to Donna for the b&w photos from Dreamdate and additional background. Donna writes about Linda Lutz on her blog, Lethal Dose.
Also thanks to Tara McMunn for all the photos except the b&w Dream Date shots. Dream Date and candid photos taken by Tony Gliozzo. Studio shots by Martin.
Updated Nov. 2009 and Jan. 2010.
When I returned to New Orleans in April for Ponderosa Stomp, I remarked at the time how little it had changed since 1995, or even 1986 when I first lived there. It’ll never again be the city I knew. All the closely-knit neighborhoods destroyed, people killed or scattered around the country, it’s crushing to think about.
It’s good to hear Irma Thomas, Eddie Bo, Allen Toussaint and many others are safe and accounted for.
Betty Harris may not be originally from New Orleans, but she made her best records there with Allen Toussaint. She was also one of the highlights of the Ponderosa Stomp this year, coming out of retirement after 35 years to just floor the audience with her voice and charisma. It was a really stunning performance by a true star who hasn’t lost the least bit of her abilities.
Some r&b for a change. Little Bob (Camille “Li’l” Bob) got this song from Peppermint Harris, apparently making enough of a change to give himself writing credit on the label. Since his version in 1966, it’s been covered several times.
La Louisianne is still in business, and is releasing a CD of Lil Bob and the Lollipops’ recordings. La Louisianne had one great garage 45, the Rogues “I Don’t Need You” / “Tonight” on La Louisianne 8094 from April 1967.
Not garage music today, but some rare tracks from my favorite soundtrack composer, Akira Ifukube (or to give the name in the proper order, Ifukube Akira).
He wrote the music for the original Godzilla film, and also for dozens of other films: horror, monster, sci-fi, samurai epics and serious dramas. I wish I had bought every one of these CD compilations when I was in Japan, but I was lucky enough to come away with a couple of them as they’re not available here in the U.S.
