Baby Face Willette Pre-BN Singles

[Dan Gould]

Does anyone know anything about Baby Face Willette's pre-BN recordings?

According to the Doodlin Lounge they are:

Hollywood 230, Wake Up Get Out/Cool Blues

Vee Jay, Why/Can't Keep From Lovin' You which features Red Holloway on tenor

Anyone ever heard or seen these? Are there any other pre-BN singles? And does anyone have a catalog number for the Vee Jay release?

Thanks!

[andybleaden]

Yup remember reading about these I think when i was trying to find more info for you about Richard Evans

Here are the singles

One site strangely had em listed as 1956......can't be right though

Note the spelling of Willett!

ie no 'e' at the end

[andybleaden]

and here is the other side

Will have a look for more info re the other ones

Edited August 10, 2006 by andybleaden

[Dan Gould]

Thanks Andy. I imagine it would be hard to find a copy of either 45.

[andybleaden]

I could be real mean and say they were mine

sat here on my desk .....gettin dusty ( don't have a turntable see)

but they ain't

If they were I would give em to ya buddy!

[andybleaden]

in fact a quick search on Gemm and Popsike reveal nothing....lots of old Willette vinyl but no vee jay

[andybleaden]

Except if you (like me ) are the a**hole who forgets his name was different!!!!! with no 'E'

BUMMER

DAN get yer chequebook out matey

got your single here

http://www.gemm.com/item/BABY--FACE--WILLE...U/GML799065292/

Edited August 10, 2006 by andybleaden

[andybleaden]

Yet more info from this site about vee jay which confirms the 55/56 date

http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/veejay.html

1955

Early in 1955 Ewart Abner became the company’s general manager, formalizing a silent role he had assumed since Vee-Jay’s formation in mid-1953. Around June 1955, Vee-Jay followed Chess and other companies north to the record row on Michigan Avenue, just south of Chicago’s downtown—where mainstream companies and distributors had been gathering since after World War II. Vee-Jay established itself at 2129 S. Michigan. With the move, the company also began handling its own distribution for Chicago and surrounding areas.

Vee-Jay recorded a full array of talent during the year—jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, doowop, and gospel. An important addition to the company’s jazz line was Wardell Gray, who unfortunately died at age 34, within months of his first recording session with the label. Other jazz acts—perhaps broadly defined—making their debut on Vee-Jay were Baby Face Willette, Jay McShann, and Big Jay McNeely. Three outstanding additions to the gospel lineup were the Highway QC’s, the Famous Boyer Brothers, and the Staple Singers, the latter who would prove the label’s biggest gospel hitmakers. Two significant vocal groups also signed with the company in 1955, the Dells and the Kool Gents...........

Soul-jazz and hard bop pianist/organist Baby Face Willette was born Roosevelt James Willette on September 11, 1933, in Little Rock, Arkansas (though some sources say he was born in New Orleans and raised in Little Rock). His first formative experiences in music were in gospel, where he accompanied gospel singers. His first session was done for Recorded in Hollywood, in 1952; not long afterward, he settled in Chicago. The session he cut for Vee-Jay was his second. His singing and organ playing were supported by a band featuring Red Holloway (tenor), Jon Thomas (piano), Lefty Bates (guitar), Rhodell Fox (bass), and Moses Weedseed (drums).

55-332 Baby Face Willett [sic] Why Vee-Jay 176 Sept 29, 1955 c. Feb 1956

55-333 Baby Face Willett Can’t Keep from Lovin You Vee-Jay 176 Sept 29, 1955 c. Feb 1956

55-334 Baby Face Willette The Thrill of Love unissued Sept 29, 1955

55-335 Baby Face Willette My Baby’s Gone unissued Sept 29, 1955

Edited August 10, 2006 by andybleaden

[Dan Gould]

Except if you (like me ) are the a**hole who forgets his name was different!!!!! with no 'E'

BUMMER

DAN get yer chequebook out matey

got your single here

http://www.gemm.com/item/BABY--FACE--WILLE...U/GML799065292/

Thanks a lot, Andy. Not so bad as I feared ...

[BruceH]

No, but I'd like to.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i have cd of the wakup getout- it is rockin!!!!!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

i have cd of the wakup getout- it is rockin!!!!!

Please explain Chewy.

MG

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

some dude from here- put it on the old napster- its pure straight up r n b

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

sorry i was on the phone--side a is basically babyface singin to some chick: wake up, and get the hell O-U-T!! real great single. b side is instrumental slower blues #-- both tracks feature babyface on piano and vocals

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

OK, next question - how can I get this? What's the address you got it from? Do I have to have version 4.93 of softwareyoudon'twant to get it?

MG

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

dude i would send it 2 u on IM but i erased the mp3 years ago- i guess i could make u a tape maybe i guess perhaps

[couw]

i erased the mp3 years ago

so rip some new ones!

[andybleaden]

OK, next question - how can I get this? What's the address you got it from? Do I have to have version 4.93 of softwareyoudon'twant to get it?

MG

Answers

a Its not there anymore

b Version 4.93 has been replaced with 7.2 Beta (not available in Wales)

check pms

[Dan Gould]

Well, big thanks again to Andy Bleaden, my faithful record scout, as my copy of the Vee Jay single arrived today. Took quite a bit of audio editing to get the pops out (and the B Side, Can't Keep From Loving You, remains in rougher shape) but I can now report that Baby Face Willett sounded pretty darn good doing the blues/R&B vocal thing.

"Why" is an uptempo lament summed up by the first line,

"Why

do my baby

always

treat me wrong?

Tell me why ..."

the vocal is kinda smooth but expressive, really kind of reminds me of Ray Charles, particularly in his Charles Brown bag. Red Holloway adds plenty of tenor punctuations for Baby Face's complaints.

"Can't Keep From Loving You" is slower and starts with some churchy organ (not really in a good way). I thought that this was going to be some lame ballad, based on the opening, but its actually a very soulful blues in which the Ray Charles influence is even stronger, to my ears, than the A side.

It is way cool to hear Baby Face in his original musical millieu. Its too bad he didn't record other vocals later in his career. He actually reminds me of another excellent organ player who has a strong, soulful voice in addition to his fine organ playing: Jim Alfredson.

Seriously, here's hoping that we do hear Jim on a future Organissimo album.

[andybleaden]

humbled by praise (with head in virtual 'e' record bin waiting for next challenge!)

Actually this is kind of fun.....who is next?

I guess I miss the ol days when I used to have records *sniff* and rooting through record collection praying for a new find but this internet stuff sure comes a close second.

[Kyo]

I wonder whether these singles will be included in the Baby Face Willette Mosaic Select.

[Dan Gould]

Well, thanks to someone on the Blindman's Blues forum, I should shortly have a copy of the Baby Face Hollywood 45, and that makes me a happy boy.

[Chuck Nessa]

Well, thanks to someone on the Blindman's Blues forum, I should shortly have a copy of the Baby Face Hollywood 45, and that makes me a happy boy.

Way to go Dan!

We are counting on you.

[Dan Gould]

Well, thanks to someone on the Blindman's Blues forum, I should shortly have a copy of the Baby Face Hollywood 45, and that makes me a happy boy.

Way to go Dan!

We are counting on you.

And you can indeed count on me.

[andybleaden]

You mean you have...sniff...someone else as well as me...sniff?

Thats it. I shall reserve my activity to finding rare ECM records for Aric

Seriously well done for finding it. Enjoy the new one.