Any love for Lou Rawls?

[Hardbopjazz]

I am listening to "Stormy Monday" which he did with Les McCann. This is a great session. Lou went mainstream but he could sing jazz too. 

 

 

 

[Dub Modal]

Plenty of love here for Rawls. I’m most familiar with his late 70s into the 80s work. Great, instantly recognizable singer  

[Dan Gould]

Plenty of love here too, but not so much for the super-successful "You'll Never Find ..." era. But the sixties recordings of blues and jazz with great backing groups are excellent.  

[Hardbopjazz]

Listing to "Live!" from the 60's. It too is real good. 

[JSngry]

Plenty of love here too, going back to the days with Sam Cooke.

Not sure if he recorded with the Highway Q.C.s or not, but he did sing with them and they made some records...I know I have some with Johnny Taylor, but not sure about Rawls.

He can be heard here, though:

He had really deep roots, all the way to the end. Maybe the records were, uh....slick. But if you knew what was in that voice, you could still hear it down in there. And if you didn't know, you could certainly not hear it, But if you did...

His gigs hosting the UNCF telethons were usually good for a nice tune or two.

So yeah, plenty love here.

[felser]

He did some excellent work with David Axelrod at Capitol in the late 60's.    This gem from 1966 is my all-time favorite Rawls cut:

 

[JSngry]

Put me down for this one. Truth.

 

[sgcim]

The dude was hip to jazz. There were a bunch of tenor players I knew that passed his touring gig around to each other. One guy who I was working with at the time told me about the first time he met Lou. The band was having breakfast with Lou early in the morning. The manager says to Lou, "Lou, here's our new tenor player!'

Lou, seated in front of his breakfast extends his hand to my friend, and says "Hi welcome aboard"...and then falls asleep, with his face falling into his eggs!

Edited August 4, 2021 by sgcim

[JSngry]

1954!

1962:

 

[Teasing the Korean]

You guys are probably all way too young to remember the 1990s, but back then, when everyone was unloading their vinyl, I found most of Lou Rawls' early- to mid-60s Capitol LPs, most of them in MONO.  Been ages since I've spun them, but I've never unloaded them either.  

[John L]

Count me in the Lou Rawls fan club.  Sometimes he can hit the spot better than anyone else.  There are times when I only want to hear him. 

 

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by John L

[Teasing the Korean]

Well, I just checked, and we have 7 Lou Rawls LPs in the jazz/pop vocals section and 4 more LPs in the Now Sound section, for a total of at least 11.  (There could be others in the massive to-be-cleaned and to-be-filed sections.). The LPs span from Lou's first Capitol LP to the Philadelphia International album with "You'll Never Find."  

Oh, make that 12, because we have his Christmas album, which includes the worst-ever version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."  

I like the Capitol album in the Now Sound section where he is wearing the black leather suit.  

[JSngry]

You don't have any for in the Gospel section? Or is the Space Age Bachelor Tomb where those go?

[felser]

  On 8/4/2021 at 8:46 PM, JSngry said:

Put me down for this one. Truth.

 

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Yeah, that's a great one also.  Same era, same producer.

[JSngry]

Hayes-Porter telling the truth, maybe a bit more than usual 

[Mark Stryker]

One of the commentators says this was taped in Dallas but broadcast on a Nashville show. Apparently 1966. Jim -- do you recognized any of the cats?

 

 

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by Mark Stryker

[sgcim]

  On 8/5/2021 at 1:29 AM, JSngry said:

You don't have any for in the Gospel section? Or is the Space Age Bachelor Tomb where those go?

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Hey man, that Space Age Bachelor Tomb has some pretty heavy schlitz in it!

[Dan Gould]

  On 8/5/2021 at 2:36 AM, Mark Stryker said:

One of the commentators says this was taped in Dallas but broadcast on a Nashville show. Apparently 1966. Jim -- do you recognized any of the cats?

 

 

 

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That is the set, and the patch on the jacket, of THE !!!! BEAT. I knew Gatemouth Brown was the leader of the house band but according to this:

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/beat

that might be Fathead?  That article mentions the replacement of Gatemouth with someone from Nashville who brought his own horn section with him.

[GA Russell]

In the past year, I have heard this on the radio a number of times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl5usKhGz60

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 8/5/2021 at 1:29 AM, JSngry said:

You don't have any for in the Gospel section? Or is the Space Age Bachelor Tomb where those go?

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The space-age bachelor pad section is almost all instrumental, except for albums with wordless vocals.  

We don't have a gospel section.  We may have one Mahalia Jackson LP that we've never spun, probably in the to-be-cleaned or to-be-filed stacks.  That's it.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Teasing the Korean

[felser]

  On 8/5/2021 at 12:14 PM, Teasing the Korean said:

The space-age bachelor pad section is almost all instrumental, except for albums with wordless vocals.  

We don't have a gospel section.  We may have one Mahalia Jackson LP that we've never spun, probably in the to-be-cleaned or to-be-filed stacks.  That's it.

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Which four Rawls LP's are in the Now Sounds section?  All Axelrod productions?

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 8/5/2021 at 1:27 PM, felser said:

Which four Rawls LP's are in the Now Sounds section?  All Axelrod productions?

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That would certainly make sense, but five of the seven albums currently filed with Jazz/Pop vocals are produced by Axelrod.  The latest of these is T-2713 Too Much, from 1967.  Maybe I need to rethink my filing strategy.

The four albums currently filed under Now Sound include two Axelrod albums:  You've Made Me So Very Happy and The Way it Was, the Way It Is. These are circa 1969-70.  Then there is an MGM album called A Man of Value, and the aforementioned PI album with "You'll Never Find," titled All Things in Time.

The MGM album came from a fantastic LP haul in the 1990s.  A guy with a bunch of 70s soul/R&B/funk and groovy jazz - basically, Dusty Groove's inventory.  He was moving across country, and all LPs were priced to sell, like a buck or two a throw.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Teasing the Korean

[mikeweil]

Each time my wife and I travel by car this gets heavy spinning:

One of my favourite singers.

[duaneiac]

  On 8/5/2021 at 1:23 AM, Teasing the Korean said:

 

Oh, make that 12, because we have his Christmas album, which includes the worst-ever version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." 

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Small correction:  you have one (probably the first) of his three Christmas albums. 

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 8/5/2021 at 4:54 PM, duaneiac said:

Small correction:  you have one (probably the first) of his three Christmas albums. 

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Whichever has the unbelievably awful rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."  It has a light blue cover and he's carrying a bag of presents.