Ubiquitous Budget Label Percussion Session(s) with Sabu and Chief Bey

[Teasing the Korean]

What do any of you percussion cats know about this budget-label wonder that was reissued multiple times?

 

It has been released, in various configurations, as Congo Percussion, Taboo, and Jungle Percussion.

 

Taboo - Promenade 2125 - 10 tracks - Credited to Cawanda's group.

 

Congo Percussion - Pirouette RFM 11 - 10 tracks - The back sleeve credits Cawanda's group, with the same graphics as the back of the Taboo album, but the label credits Chief Bey.

 

Jungle Percussion - Clarity 812 - 12 tracks - Credited to Sabu - This version features 6 of 10 tracks from the aforementioned albums, but adds 6 different tracks on side 1.  They don't sound like they are from the same session, but they fit in well enough.

 

Jungle Percussion - Tops 1709 - Credited to Subri Moulin.  This is the same 12-track variation as the other Jungle Percussion.  

 

This album was also released on other labels, including Omega.

 

[Big Beat Steve]

About this specific recording - no. But weren't there a LOT of recordings that made the rounds of whatever budget labels there were in the US in the 50s? So is this label-hopping a specificity of this particular percussion session? I doubt it.

[Teasing the Korean]

5 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

About this specific recording - no. But weren't there a LOT of recordings that made the rounds of whatever budget labels there were in the US in the 50s? So is this label-hopping a specificity of this particular percussion session? I doubt it.

I can't think of one that has made the rounds as often as this one, and also with as many different artist names from one release to another.  I've since found out that there were even more issues than the ones I listed. 

[JSngry]

Check out this comment here: https://nathannothinsez.blogspot.com/2007/11/taboo-modern-record-story.html

These records have a fascinating history. Subri Moulin's LP first appeared on the RKO label where it was called 'Jungle Beat'. RKO shortly thereafter went kaput and Tops/Mayfair reissued it as 'Jungle Percussion'. OK so far. But then it gets complicated.

When what appeared to be the same record popped up on Pirouette/Riviera/Hallmark/Sutton and a fistful of other bargain-basement labels, things were a bit different. For example, Pirouette tacked on ping-pong left-right intros to the tracks. And most of the bargain reissues (including Pirouette) did not do a straight reissue of the RKO/Tops original. Only about half the tracks were used, and the rest of the LP filled out by tracks that don't appear on the originals. Whether they were unused Subri tracks, or something contributed by other artists (like the anonymous Studio Group?), I have no way of knowing. Etunde, Yarbon, and Ah De Vous for example are on most of these later pressings, but do not appear on the original RKO/Tops/Mayfair LP that is credited to Subri Moulin. And then this later mix of tracks was reissued further with entirely different names made up for each song! (All the better to confuse the unwary buyer.)

Meanwhile iTunes and other sources are offering an mp3 of the RKO original, mastered not from the original tapes but from a somewhat noisy vinyl LP. But it's good enough for me to verify the tracks that match with the many later pressings.

https://www.discogs.com/Subri-Moulin-And-His-Equatorial-Rhythm-Group-Jungle-Beat/release/1241036

[Big Beat Steve]

1 hour ago, Teasing the Korean said:

I can't think of one that has made the rounds as often as this one, and also with as many different artist names from one release to another.  I've since found out that there were even more issues than the ones I listed. 

I can think of at least one Lionel Hampton west coast concert recording of the early 50s that DID crop up on numerous budget labels. Not with different artist credits but with fancy reshuffling and renaming of part of the titles. Not any less confusing overall. But so what about criteria like this - Freddie Mitchell's recordings had second lives under other "artist's" names (AND different titles) elsewhere on budget labels too, so what you noticed with this percussion release looks to me like it was just another case of the "wider" marketing policies at work with these budget labels.

[Teasing the Korean]

22 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

I can think of at least one Lionel Hampton west coast concert recording of the early 50s that DID crop up on numerous budget labels. Not with different artist credits but with fancy reshuffling and renaming of part of the titles. Not any less confusing overall. But so what about criteria like this - Freddie Mitchell's recordings had second lives under other "artist's" names (AND different titles) elsewhere on budget labels too, so what you noticed with this percussion release looks to me like it was just another case of the "wider" marketing policies at work with these budget labels.

I would argue that it is more confusing, because we don't know who some of these artists are, and we can not even be sure that "Sabu" is Sabu Martinez.  The various track lineups, spellings, and titles further confuse things.  Virtually any reference you find to Cawanda or Subri Moulin leads you directly to this album.  Who were they?

50 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Check out this comment here: https://nathannothinsez.blogspot.com/2007/11/taboo-modern-record-story.html

Now we're getting somewhere!

Edited August 14, 2019 by Teasing the Korean

[JSngry]

There's a "RKO/Unique" CD reissue: https://www.amazon.com/Jungle-Beat-Unique-Subri-Moulin/dp/B019GQW97U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

If there's any hope at of finding the original personnel, I'd think it would be here. 2nd best would be the back of the first-run LP?

Story of the label here" https://www.bsnpubs.com/nyc/rko/rko-unique.html

[Teasing the Korean]

7 hours ago, JSngry said:

There's a "RKO/Unique" CD reissue: https://www.amazon.com/Jungle-Beat-Unique-Subri-Moulin/dp/B019GQW97U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

If there's any hope at of finding the original personnel, I'd think it would be here. 2nd best would be the back of the first-run LP?

Story of the label here" https://www.bsnpubs.com/nyc/rko/rko-unique.html

Well, there is currently a copy of the original "Jungle Beat" LP on eBay with a nice scan of the back cover, and no personnel is listed.  Oh well!

[JSngry]

Believe his or not...photos of the session, allegedly:

 

oh my...

[Teasing the Korean]

36 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Believe his or not...photos of the session, allegedly:

 

oh my...

Yes, I have both Taboo and Congo Percussion, with that same back cover!  Note that the back sleeve credits Cawanda's group on both pressings, even though the label on Congo Percussion credits Chief Bey.

[JSngry]

I find it a little sketchy that the only Google results for "Subri Moulin" (and for "Cawanda's Group") involve this music/record.

 

[Teasing the Korean]

9 hours ago, JSngry said:

I find it a little sketchy that the only Google results for "Subri Moulin" (and for "Cawanda's Group") involve this music/record.

Which makes you wonder:  If those are fake names, why the fake names?  If for contractual reasons, how many African drummers were signed to a label in the US at that time?  Olatunji and Guy Warren?

Speaking of Guy Warren:  I listened to the 10-track Congo Percussion/Taboo, and one of the tunes is very similar to Warren's "Love, the Mystery Of."  I also feel that the 10-track album is a single session, and that the six additional tracks on the Subri Moulin/Sabu album are from a different session. 

Here is Congo Percussion.  The track that sound like "Love, the Mystery Of" comes in at 26:28.

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by Teasing the Korean

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

On 8/14/2019 at 5:39 AM, Big Beat Steve said:

I can think of at least one Lionel Hampton west coast concert recording of the early 50s that DID crop up on numerous budget labels. Not with different artist credits but with fancy reshuffling and renaming of part of the titles. Not any less confusing overall. But so what about criteria like this - Freddie Mitchell's recordings had second lives under other "artist's" names (AND different titles) elsewhere on budget labels too, so what you noticed with this percussion release looks to me like it was just another case of the "wider" marketing policies at work with these budget labels.

Santa Monica Ballroom.  As Lionel told me about it, quote: "I sign ten records, and nine of them have covers I ain't never seen before," close quote.

[Big Beat Steve]

5 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

Santa Monica Ballroom.  As Lionel told me about it, quote: "I sign ten records, and nine of them have covers I ain't never seen before," close quote.

Malibu Beach, ca. August 1951.

Jepsen, Bruyninckx, and Discogs list about 10 different labels that this was released on (all of them budget except a Vogue/Mode release). My pressing is on Spinorama.

He must have seen those before that I had him sign in 1988, though:  78rpm on HMV (from his RCA small group sessions), "Steppin' Out 1942-44" (MCA Jazz Heritage Series) and Gene Norman concert 1947 on MCA, plus one (perfectly legit one) that he may in fact not have seen before: a 50s 10-incher on German Philips (1954 concert recordings).

Edited August 16, 2019 by Big Beat Steve

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy exactly!