Join us in this celebration of composer and arranger Billy
Strayhorn’s ONE-HUNDREDTH birthday!The information we are presenting here is largely taken from David
Hajdu’s extensive interview with Jerome Eisner, for his book Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn.
In June of 1937 Billy Strayhorn, not quite twenty-two years old, asked Jerome Eisner to join
a trio that he was putting together. Strayhorn and Eisner became friends while
attending Westinghouse High School here in Pittsburgh. Strayhorn patterned the
group after the Benny Goodman Trio, which included Jazz pianist Teddy Wilson,
who was no doubt a great influence. The trio was eventually named The Mad
Hatters. They were an integrated group, similar to Benny Goodman's trio, comprised of Strayhorn on piano, Eisner on clarinet and Calvin Dort on
drums.
The Mad Hatters' first gig was in 1937 at Charlie Ray’s, a club located above the
Triangle Theater building on Station Street in East Liberty. They played there Friday
and Saturday nights for nearly a year. A not-yet-famous Billy May sat in occasionally
during his early days as a trumpeter. Early in 1938 The Mad Hatters expanded to
become a quintet. That March they recorded three sides at George Heid Studio.
Those recordings are thought to be lost. That summer the group performed
regularly at an amusement park located somewhere between Bridgeville and
Canonsburg. By the end of the summer The Mad Hatters downsized to their
original three-piece line up. They performed six nights a week, for several
weeks, at a club south of Pittsburgh in Winchester, VA. Their successful run at the venue ended abruptly when a
brawl broke out between drummer Calvin Dort and a patron who made
racist remarks toward Strayhorn.
On December 21st, 1938, after Strayhorn’s first
meeting with Duke Ellington, The Mad Hatters recorded four songs at Volkwein’s
in downtown Pittsburgh. Strayhorn quickly departed to join Duke Ellington in New York and The Mad Hatters never played again.
Two of the recordings are thought to be lost and here we present to you the two
surviving sides of the single remaining acetate. Both sides are tunes
popularized at the time by the Benny Goodman Trio, “Body and Soul” and “Sweet
Sue.” These recordings are a very important part of Pittsburgh music history, dating back seventy-seven years. They are likely the earliest Billy Strayhorn recordings in existence. Until
now, very few people have had an opportunity to hear them. We thank pianist and
musicologist Bryan Wright for his restoration work on the recordings.
Once again, happy ONE-HUNDREDTH birthday Billy Strayhorn!
We've posted about Spanky Wilson a few times since the piece we published back in October of 2011. If you're still not familiar with her, or it isn't fresh in your mind, then we suggest that you go back and give it a read.
Spanky started her career here in Pittsburgh, in the 1950's, playing tiny clubs in neighborhoods like Homewood and the Hill District. At age seventy-six she has performed all over the world, she's legendary among record collectors and, while she never quite scored that 'big hit record', she has achieved nothing short of a worldwide underground cult status.
Spanky's been residing here in Pittsburgh for the past five years, but by this time next year she will be living back in Los Angeles. We urge Pittsburgh residents to check out her live show while she's still with us. Why procrastinate? Check her out THIS FRIDAY, September 18th at Thunderbird Cafe in Lawrenceville. She's assembled a great group of musicians, playing as 'The All-Stars', comprised of Max Leake (keys), Paul Thompson (bass), Thomas Wendt (drums) and Lou Stellute (sax). Here is a little teaser for Friday's gig ...
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This event was organized by the TITLE TOWN Soul & Funk Dance Party and it's being marketed as the TITLE TOWN 'Dance & Show.' Doors open at 9 pm. There will be two full one-hour sets, 9:30-10:30 pm and 11 pm-12 am, with TITLE TOWN DJ's playing forty-fives through out the night. Stick around and dance afterward. The party will likely go until 2 am. Advance tickets are available at Showclix.com.
We'd also like to take this opportunity to mention a few other local artists and upcoming events. Betty Davis, born in North Carolina, is another Pittsburgh-bred soul sister who is still residing locally. The one-time wife of Jazz great Miles Davis wrote songs for The Chambers Brothers and recorded with the likes of Larry Graham and Greg Errico of Sly & The Family Stone. She disappeared from the limelight in the late 1970's and she's been living in seclusion in Homestead ever since.
An international group of filmmakers, Native Voice Films, has recently convinced her to tell her story. They are working on a documentary titled NASTY GAL - The Many Lives of Funk Queen Betty Davis. Their IndieGogo campaign just launched this week and we urge you to check it out. If all goes well there will be a city-wide celebration of Ms. Davis next summer, which will be included in the film.
90.5 FM WESA's Saturday night DJ, Bob Studebaker, is organizing an overdue tribute to percussionist Spider Rondinelli on Sunday, October 18th at James Street Gastropub & Speak Easy. It's called SpiderFest and it will be upstairs in the ballroom. You can make reservations by calling 412-904-3335. Check it out on Facebook here. That's Spider in the photograph above, seated in front of Edgar Wills (bass) and vocalist Sonji Clay. Sonji Clay was the first wife of boxing great Muhammad Ali and, while she is from Chicago, she started her singing career here in Pittsburgh. Edgar Willis is a hometown Jazz hero who was the musical arranger for Ray Charles. In addition he played with The Johnny Otis Show, as well as with Doc Severinsen in The Tonight Show band. Spider Rondinelli is a fixture in the local Jazz community and he recorded with the likes of Deuces Wild and The Frank Cunimondo Trio.
We're tickled black & gold over here with all of this tribute that's being paid to some of Pittsburgh's local musical luminaries, especially while they're still here with us. We hope that you'll support some of these great efforts!
Tomorrow, Saturday, November 29th, is Small Business Saturday, so come out to support the Garfield business district and stop by Most Wanted Fine Art for The Album Art of Mozelle Thompson; LP Illustrations 1953-1969.
Gallery hours at Most Wanted Fine Art are 12-6 pm and there will be live painting by Darrell Kinsell in addition to live music (2-4 pm) featuring Jacquea May (vocals), Carlos Pena (guitar), Miles Jackson (bass) and the one-and-only Charles ‘Poogie’ Bell (drums).
Everything at Most Wanted Fine Art is FREE. Other businesses participating in Small Business Saturday include Verde, Robin’s Nest, Voluto, People’s Indian Restaurant, Modern Formations, Pho Minh, Daily Bread, Refresh PGH, That’s Sharp, and Mostly Mod/ARTica.
Bring proof of purchase from any of the participating businesses and we’ll give you a FREE super-limited edition alternate poster for the show featuring Mozelle Thompson’s 1970 Jesse Owens illustration. This is the image that appeared on the first edition of the Jesse Owens autobiography and a small quantity of this alternate poster was whipped up by local comic book artists Frank Santoro (Pompeii, Cold Heat) with assistance by Jim Rugg (Street Angel, Afrodisiac). First come first served. Limited quantity is available while supplies last.
Your last opportunity to see the Mozelle Thompson show is Sunday, November 30th, 12-6 pm. RSVP for the Facebook event here.
We're still raffling off the first edition of Ernest Tidyman's novel Shaft with the Mozelle Thompson dust cover illustration, so make sure you keep signing in to let us know you were there!
I DIG PGH is happy to co-present The Album Art of Mozelle Thompson; LP Illustrations 1953-1969 at Most Wanted Fine Art. Mozelle Thompson was a Pittsburgher and a pioneering African American visual artist who contributed to the history of album cover illustration.
To commemorate this occasion we are producing a very special, limited I DIG PGH print edition. It contains four pages of information about Thompson's life and career. It includes twenty plus images and a two-page discography of albums and EP's illustrated by the artist. There are only six opportunities to see this exhibition (11/7, 11/8, 11/9, 11/16, 11/23 & 11/30). The publication will be available exclusively at Most Wanted Fine Art on these dates. There will be a limited number of copies available each of the days, so early arrival is recommended.
We need YOU to come out and support this effort in order to demonstrate further need for documentation and preservation of Mozelle Thompson's work. Please sign the guest book so we can keep track of attendance. Leave your contact information and you will be entered in a raffle for an original 1970 first edition of Ernest Tidyman's novel Shaft, which features a Mozelle Thompson illustration on the dustcover. That's right, before Gordon Parks, Richard Roundtree or Isaac Hayes had anything to do with the popular 1970's film franchise, the one image associated with the John Shaft character was an illustration by MOZELLE THOMPSON!
This exhibition debuts on Friday, November 7th (6-11 PM) for the First Friday Unblurred gallery crawl. The official opening reception is Saturday, November 8th (12-6 PM). Live music will be provided by Roger Barbour of the Basic Sounds of Pittsburgh. This will be a very special performance as Roger will be performing with original Basic Sounds' members Steve Jackson and Sonny Childs, in addition to Mark Strickland, Vince Taglieri and vocalist Barbara Ray. Refreshments will be provided by The Allegheny Wine Mixer.
Regular weekly gallery hours are Sundays 12-6 PM from Sunday, November 9th until Sunday, November 30th. RSVP for the Facebook event here and let us know you're coming! Stay tuned for more information about special events happening in correlation with this project.
We apologize for the hiatus, but we are finally back and as usual we're about to celebrate some highly neglected Pittsburgh history. We're bringing you another I DIG PGH sponsored event in November 2014 at Most Wanted Fine Art in Garfield. It's a retrospective of album covers illustrated by Pittsburgh's own Mozelle Thompson.
Mozelle Thompson (1926-1969) was a child prodigy and a prolific illustrator of album covers, in addition to books and magazines, from 1953-1969. He was a pioneering African American artist and this is a first-of-it's-kind retrospective of his work, focussing specifically on his album cover illustrations. The exhibition will include approximately one hundred unique record cover illustrations plus additional book and magazine illustrations.
The show will be up in time for November's Unblurred First Friday Gallery Crawl - Friday, November 7th, and the OFFICIAL OPENING RECEPTION is Saturday, November 8th from 12-6 PM.
Stop by on Saturday, November 8th for live music featuring Roger Barbour of the Basic Sounds of Pittsburgh and refreshments courtesy of The Allegheny Wine Mixer.
Enjoying
a good record is one thing, but did you ever think of a record as more
than a format for music? Miriam-Webster dictionary defines the term
record as “a thing constituting a piece of evidence about the past.” We're not saying that you can't just kick back and simply enjoy a record, but records are indeed just what their name implies. The
records that we’re about to discuss are not actual records, but
acetates. Acetates are essentially records, but they’re generally
produced in very small quantities and only intended for a finite number
of plays. We're going to use the terms interchangeably. Way back in the day, in this
case the 1940’s, people would cut acetates and, if they dug the
recordings upon playback, perhaps they would make an actual record.
While out digging for records on a cold Pittsburgh day, because that’s
what we do here at I DIG PGH, we stumbled across a stack of acetates by a
woman from Rankin, PA named Velma Carey. We don’t know of too many
recording artists from Rankin, so this was a really exciting find.
The
recordings were very interesting in the respect that ... a) Like we said, they were from Rankin. b) Many of them
were dated (1942-1953) and included all sorts of additional information.And c) Some of the acetates were transcriptions of live
performances from local and national television and radio. Search
engines initially produced little to no information about Velma Carey.
As we dug deeper and deeper a very interesting story came together. These recordings documented
Carey’s development from an aspiring vocalist to a professional singer
and local television celebrity. Although her name has been lost to
obscurity, she could very likely have been the first African American
woman to make regular appearances on Pittsburgh television.
One of the acetates is marked “first record made”, but we’re pretty certain this is not the earliest of the recordings. We’ll save that for later and instead start with a record that was made at Fillion Studios on June 1st, 1942. Ferdinand Fillion was a classically trained violinist and composer born in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He was the founder of the Pittsburgh Civic String Orchestra and he served as the president of various local organizations including the Musicians Club and the Pittsburgh Drama League. He arrived in Pittsburgh in 1925 and established Fillion Studios. They had several locations and employed a staff of forty or more instructors specializing in all aspects of music, drama and dance. Carey, who recorded as Velma Woodbury, probably studied there when this recording was made. We determined that she was approximately twenty-five years old at the time. The record features a modern classical composition, “Come Love With Me” by Vito Carnevali, an eighteenth century Haydn canzonet “My Mother Bids Me Bind My Hair” and a spiritual that most readers should be familiar with “Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen.”
Velma Carey made her first radio appearance on Sunday, December 26th, 1943. There was a corresponding mention of her in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the following day. The Post-Gazette owned radio station WWSW. Carey appeared on their Sunday afternoon program, Victory Varieties. She was a contestant performing for a $100 grand prize. According to the article she was a twenty-six-year-old war wife, who had a six-year-old son, and she was employed as an elevator operator at the Union Switch & Signal in Swissvale. Her husband, Kingsley Carey, was enlisted during WWII, but he was home on furlough and present in the third row of the Nixon Theater where she dedicated Schubert’s “Ave Maria” to him. Audience members voted by ballot and Velma Carey was announced as the first place winner in the Tuesday, December 28th issue of the Post-Gazette.
The next recording is dated May 7th, 1944. One side is “Miss You”, which was a hit for Rudy Vallee in the mid-1920’s. The flip is a Hedgerow & Meadow/Walter Warner composition. The team of writers collaborated on popular love songs, also from the 1920’s. Maybe we’re just a little bit too romantic over here at I DIG PGH, but we imagine Velma Carey continuing to dedicate these selections to her husband Kingsley who was likely still serving in WWII at the time the recordings were made. Velma Carey performed at The Irene Kauffman Settlement Music School’s 1945 recital. She was likely receiving musical instruction there also. The Irene Kauffman Settlement was founded late in the 19th century. Initially, the organization was formed to help the children of Jewish immigrants. They were based in the Hill District. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kauffman donated a building for the organization in 1911. It was located at 1835 Center Avenue and it is now a part of the Hill House Association. Once they acquired this building they offered a wide variety of programs to immigrants of all ethnicities and provided space, which was utilized by different social, religious and political groups. There’s just one more recording made in the 1940’s, which is an acetate dated November 9th, 1947. It’s the first of several transcription records where Carey is singing live on the radio. Unfortunately it’s largely unlistenable because of condition and there’s no information pertaining to which radio station it was broadcasted on.
We have no information or recordings from those last years of the 1940’s, but there’s an important historical development we can use to fill this gap. Pittsburgh’s first television station, WDTV owned by the DuMont Television Network, began airing early in January of 1949. WDTV would eventually be acquired by Westinghouse (owners of KDKA radio) in 1954 and become KDKA the TV station, as we know it today, in 1955. Carey was mentioned in, Post-Gazette music and drama critic, Harold V. Cohen’s Drama Desk column on July 14th, 1951. Cohen wrote “Velma Carey, a finalist at the Schenley Theater in the recent ‘Star Discovery’ contest and a regular Wednesday afternoon guest star on WDTV’s ‘Variety Resort’ leaves in a day or so for Montreal and Toronto to combine business with pleasure. She’ll meet theatrical contacts there to line up some future Canadian bookings.“ So we don’t exactly know when Carey’s television career began, but we do know that she was already making regular TV appearances on WDTV as early as July of 1951. Pittsburgh television was less than three years old at this point.
WDTV aired the first televised Children’s Hospital fundraiser on Sunday, December 9th, 1951. Station Manager Harold C. Lund was also the head organizer of the Old Newsboys’ Fund, who organized the event. Carey performed along with a who’s who of Pittsburgh’s original TV celebrities. This pantheon of local names included the likes of Joe Negri, Johnny Costa, Rege Cordic, Bob Caldwell and many more. Carey was prominently featured in a Post-Gazette article leading up to the event. That's her pictured in the top right of the above image. The following Saturday she was mentioned again in the Pittsburgh Press for her participation with a similar Children’s Hospital benefit, also organized by the Old Newsboys' Fund, this time being broadcast on KDKA radio.
There’s documentation of Carey performing locally in 1952 and continuing to appear on local TV and radio. She’s mentioned in various issues of the Post-Gazette that year for engagements at the Famous Door, which was a venue located on Frankstown Avenue in Larimer, and at The Blue Ridge on Sawmill Run Blvd. Her next recording is a radio transcription made by Westinghouse Radio Station, Inc on November 18th, which means that the recordings would have been broadcast on (Westinghouse-owned station) KDKA. The record features two children’s songs penned by the songwriting team, Jewel Frank and Hiram Hirsh. Hirsh was better known as a lawyer and Republican Party politician. In 1952 he was the Western Pennsylvania chairman of the GOP. His most notable accomplishment was introducing voting machines to Allegheny County in the 1930’s. So far we’ve talked about an entire decade of Velma Carey’s life. The recordings made up to this point honestly aren’t the most impressive, but they do get progressively better and her story is inspiring. We’ve traced her beginnings as a twenty-five-year-old wife and mother who aspired to be an entertainer. She was receiving classical training much later in life than most performers do. A decade later she’s a bit of a local celebrity appearing regularly on Pittsburgh television.
Carey’s story gets more interesting in1953. Enter Esther Middleman, who meets Velma Carey while she’s working as a tea hostess by day at the original Saks Fifth Avenue location in downtown Pittsburgh. Middleman explains all of this on the first of the next three records that we’ll discuss. They're live radio transcriptions from Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, which were made by Rockhill Radio, Inc. in New York City. Arthur Godfrey, already an established radio personality, was a huge player in the early days of television. This was just one of his programs and it ran from 1946-1958. Episodes began airing live simultaneously on radio and TV in 1948. The show was broadcast on WCBS, which was located in the CBS Studio Building on 52nd Street in New York City. Middleman got Carey booked on the program where she received her first national exposure on Monday March 2nd, 1953.
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts was a show that launched the careers of Pat Boone, The McGuire Sisters, Johnny Nash and Patsy Cline just to name a few. Comedians such as Lenny Bruce, Don Knottsand Jonathan Winters all appeared on the program. Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly were actually rejected. Carey performed “Stormy Weather”, a tune that was written in 1933 and recorded the prior year by Billie Holiday. She received a thunderous applause from the audience and appeared on the show again the following Thursday, March 5th. The Thursday appearance is on the second acetate featuring Carey performing Gershwin’s “Summertime” from the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. There’s a third acetate as well from Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, but there’s no label on the record. It’s likely from the same week. Carey performs “You Made Me Love You.”
There are other acetates, but for the most part they have no information on them. The one we mentioned earlier, marked “first record made”, features Carey accompanied by Herman Middleman on piano. This is probably not the first record that she made, but more likely from the early Fifties assuming that Herman Middleman is a relation of Esther Middleman. Carey sings “Hallelujah!”, the title track from the 1929 MGM film.The other side of the acetate features Glenn Miller’s 1942 hit “That Old Black Magic.” Another acetate, which is probably our favorite, is titled “You Told Me.” It features Carey singing R&B accompanied by piano with group vocal backings. It’s more than likely from the mid-Fifties, or later, and it’s a complete departure from all of her other recordings, which largely showcase her classical background and her affinity for popular theatrical tunes. Her vocal style doesn’t translate to R&B all that naturally, but it’s a very interesting recording. It's also the only one of the acetates that plays at 45 rpm rather than 78 rpm, which further implies that it's from the mid to late 1950's. That's when the 45 rpm format, introduced in 1949, began to gain popularity.
Carey performed throughout the Fifties and was consistently referred to in print as “one of Pittsburgh’s favorite TV songstresses.” She had a lead singing role in What’s The Rush?, which was a long-running musical that opened at The Pittsburgh Play House on April 13th, 1956. This was an early work by composer Charles Strouse and lyricist Lee Adams who were responsible for the 1960 hit musical Bye Bye Birdie. On June 24th,1958 Harold V. Cohen writes “Singer Velma Carey is coming along all right after three major operations but the doctor has advised her not to take any bookings until fall.” Carey did return in the fall for an engagement at Ronnie’s in Millvale that November. We’ve only found two references to Velma Carey from the 1960’s, the latter being a 1965 NAACP benefit at the Hilton Hotel, which was a Jazz gig. She was the featured vocalist along with musicians Jon Walton (tenor saxophone), Carl Arter (piano), Tom Sewell (bass). According to the article 1,500 reservations had been made for this event. Velma Carey would have been 48 years old at that time. In 1984 Carey, then residing in Braddock Hills, wrote a letter to the Pittsburgh Press, as did many other readers, opposed to the demotion of Westinghouse principal Richard Wallace. This was an incident that caused a protest on the part of residents in Homewood that year. She expresses her social concern again in a 1993 Post-Gazette article about a potential community park and wildlife sanctuary that many Braddock Hills residents were opposed to. Velma Carey’s obituary appeared in the Post-Gazette in July of 2004. She lived to be 84 years old. There was no reference to her twenty-plus year career as a singer, or that she arguably may have been one of the first, if not the first, African American women on Pittsburgh television, or her national appearances on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts. It only said that she was survived by her husband and son, her five grandchildren and “a host of” great grandchildren. Perhaps she wanted to ease into obscurity because her family life was more important than all of those aforementioned accomplishments. In any event we thought that her story was pretty awesome and there should be some tribute paid to her. Ninety-five-year-old WWII veteran, Kingsley Carey, had a tribute paid to him last year. He was honored by the Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania at Carnegie Music Hall in October of 2012. We believe that he’s still out there somewhere, but we're having a hard time getting a hold of him. If anybody reading this is in touch with him tell him that we made him a Velma Carey CD.
If you'd like to hear some of Velma Carey's recordings visit the I DIG PGH YouTube channel. I DIG PGH is also on Facebook and Twitter.
Photo courtesy of Johnny Daye. (L-R) Otis Redding, Johnny Daye & Steve Cropper
I DIG PGH is back from a six month hiatus and here to tell
you about the short recording career, and subsequent hiatus, of a local artist
named Johnny Daye. Johnny recorded six singles between 1965 and late ‘67. He
hit the road at the age of fifteen, with the help of late great
manager-extraordinaire Joe Rock, to become one of the most promising blue-eyed
soul artists of his generation. Along the way he attracted the attention of the
King of Soul, Otis Redding, who brought him to Memphis to record for Stax Records.
He released two records for Stax, both produced by Booker T & the MG’s
guitarist Steve Cropper. Cropper is quoted "The kid was dynamite. Otis
really wanted to do a lot with him. Had Otis lived he probably would
have." Daye didn’t record for forty years after Redding’s death. Very
little has been documented about his career or his whereabouts since.
We hope readers will enjoy excerpts from our recent conversations with him.
Although Johnny Daye's days as an entertainer were short lived, as you will read, they
were quite memorable.
Born Johnny DiBucci, his singing career began in the early sixties in Brushton,
a southern section of Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood. He was in the eighth
grade and his first group was The Five Italians, or The Itals for short. They
formed on the playground at recess. “We sung around the neighborhood in
Larimer. We hung out at Winslow School and we eventually became popular. Local
gangsters would make us sing while they were having card games.” The group's first
manager was Ralph Fischetti who bought them outfits and Beatles wigs. They
hired a drummer for their first job at a school dance where they made two
dollars an hour.
“We got word that the Skyliners were performing at Penn
Theater (now Heinz Hall).” The Skyliners, who still perform, are Pittsburgh Doo
Wop legends who were managed by Joe Rock. They’re regarded as ‘Rock and Roll’ pioneers
for integrating Black R&B style vocals with lush string arrangements, a popular
music innovation at the time. “Ralph said ‘If Joe Rock hears you you’re going
to be a star.’” The Itals met Rock and auditioned for him that night at Penn
Theater. The following Monday they were recording at Gateway Records, which was
located in downtown Pittsburgh above National Record Mart. “It was an amazing
experience to hear myself recorded on tape. You think you know what you sound
like, but you don’t really know until you hear yourself recorded. I said to
myself ‘I want to make a career out of this.’ I wanted to practice every day.”
The Itals eventually broke up and DiBucci continued as a solo artist under Joe
Rock’s management. His voice was much more mature than your typical teenager’s.
“Part of it was the type of music that I sang and the people that I emulated. I
practiced and I was around those types of people. I learned so many R&B
licks when I was younger. Those were big licks in those days. That in itself
kind of explains it.” DiBucci sites the likes of Joe Tex and blues singer
Johnny Taylor as influences, but it was Jimmy Beaumont of the Skyliners who he
credits as his main inspiration. “Until this day if I could sing like any body
it would be Jimmy Beaumont. I became who I was because of him. I was R&B
(pre) funk and they (The Skyliners) were Doo Wop. Very polished Doo Wop, but
Doo Wop none the less. He (Beaumont) played at the Las Vegas Club on Route 51.
I was fifteen years old and Joe would take me there to watch him sing. He said
‘Johnny, sing a song. Talk to my guys. They know everything.’ I said ‘How about
“Maybe The Last Time” by James Brown?’ So I’d sing it and then Jimmy would say
‘Go ahead, do another one.’ He allowed me to be around on many occasions. I
used to go into the studio and watch him record. Jimmy can chew gum and make
you cry. That’s how good he is. He’s so professional and such a master.”
DiBucci and Rock made frequent trips to New York visiting record
label offices on Tin Pan Alley. One cold fall afternoon they found themselves short
on cash and unable to pay their hotel bill. “They locked up our clothes and my
guitar. I was only fifteen. I was practically crying. We saw this guy Frankie
Day who was Bobby Rydell’s manager. He looked like a crisp $1,000 bill, his
suit and his shoes. You could tell his hat was a Stetson. Joe knew him and we
started talking. He reached in his pocket and pulled out three or four thousand
dollars and kept sticking money in my hand.” Frankie Day eventually plays more
of a role in Johnny’s career, getting him signed to the Philadelphia-based
Cameo-Parkway label. DiBucci explains that he required a name with a less
ethnic ring to it in those days, so he adopted Frankie Day’s surname, in
appreciation for his help, and added an “E” to the end of it.
"I'll Keep on Loving You" b/w "One of These Days" (1965 Blue Star Records, 45-B-230)
It was here in Pittsburgh that DiBucci, who we’ll now refer to as Johnny Daye,
recorded his first record for Nick Cenci’s Blue Star label. Blue Star released
the Vogues’ debut single “You’re The One” which became a huge national hit. “Nick
Cenci was nice to me. He taught me a lot about how things were done. I don’t
think we made enough money to cover the session, but I got experience.” The
A-side of Daye’s first record was “I’ll Keep On Loving You.” It was penned by
Joe Rock and Johnny Jack who wrote the Skyliners’ hit "Comes Love.” “I lip
synched on the Clark Race Show, who was on KDKA. I did Terry Lee’s Come Alive
show. I did Teen Times on Channel 9 from Stubenville, OH. We got that here in
Pittsburgh. I was big in West Virginia. I’d play Weirton, Wheeling and
Fairmont. I did the Weirton Community Center and the police had to escort me
out of there. There were hundreds of girls going crazy and I wound up cornered
in the basement.” The B-side of his recording debut was a Marvin Gaye cover, “One
of These Days.” Daye recalls the excitement of meeting Marvin Gaye, perhaps
another influence on his stage name, on one of his visits to New York and says “I never
possessed the amazing talent of Marvin Gaye or Jackie Wilson. I was young and I
could sing and dance a little bit.”
"A Lot of Progress" b/w "You're on Top" (1966 Parkway Records, 119)
Shortly after the Blue Star single, Frankie Day signed Johnny with Parkway
Records who released his sophomore set of tunes, “A Lot of Progress” backed
with “You’re on Top.” Daye says “I hate that record (referring to the B-side).
I could have done such a great job, but they wanted something kind of like James
Brown. It wasn’t until I got to Stax that I was able to do what I wanted. I
don’t think they (Parkway Records) liked me. When I was there ‘The Sound of
Philly’ was Dee Dee Sharp, Chubby Checker and Bobby Rydell. The Philly soul
music at that time wasn’t what it turned out to be. Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff
eventually changed the sound of it. ‘A Lot of Progress’ is a great song. Burt
Keys arranged that. Bernard Purdie played on both sides. He’s one of the
greatest drummers of all time. He put all these signs up with his picture that
said ‘Pretty Boy Purdie.’” The Parkway single failed to chart and Daye, still
under the management of Joe Rock, decided to leave the label. He speaks in
appreciation of Frankie Day again “He continued with his generosity and he let
me out of the contract.”
"Marry Me" b/w "Give Me Back My Ring" (1966 Jomada, M-600) "Good Time" b/w "I've Got Soul" (1966 Jomada,M-603)
Daye quickly auditioned for Johnny Nash who signed him to his Jomada imprint. Refer back to the I DIG PGH feature on Gene Ludwig
who also recorded for Johnny Nash
and incidentally had a similar Bernard Purdie story. “He (Nash) had
just
signed the Cowsills. His wife was Cissy, but her real name was Margaret
and
that’s where the Jomada label comes from. Johnny, Margaret and his
manager Danny.” The first Johnny Daye release on Jomada was “Marry Me”
backed with
“Give Me Back My Ring.” It was one of Daye’s more successful singles in
the Pittsburgh
market. A second single was released on Jomada, “Good Time” along with
“I’ve
Got Soul” on the flip. Nash’s wife Margaret penned the B-side while Daye
recalls that “Good Time” was purchased from Berry Gordy. “Johnny (Nash)
visited
Motown shopping for a track and they sold it to him. It was intended for
Gloria
Gaynor. Gloria didn’t come off on it, so I recorded it instead. Johnny
Nash and
the bass singer from The Drifters are backing me on that track.”
“Johnny Nash hooked me up with the Bobby Bland Revue. I did seven days straight
with them. I made very little money but I had a nice reception.” Another
memorable performance that Daye speaks of is his debut at the Apollo Theater in
1965. “This was during the Civil Rights Movement. There was rioting going on in
Harlem and I was the only white person on the show. I was the only white person
in that building (with the exception of his parents who flew in from
Pittsburgh). James Brown was in the audience wearing a great big white coat and
he called me over after my performance. I was so nervous. He complimented me
and told me I did well. I could hit the stage like James Brown, but I was a
cheap imitation and that bothers me to this day. I was pushed in that
direction. I was a good dancer and singer, but I couldn’t hold a candle to him.
Jackie Wilson complimented me back stage that night too. He said ‘Next time
take that tie off and mess your hair up a little bit.’ James Brown was Mr.
Dynamite. Jackie was Mr. Excitement. He was the black Elvis Presley. The crowd
exploded when he came out.”
It was also here in Pittsburgh where Daye was discovered by Otis Redding.
“Brother Matt (WAMO celebrity DJ) hosted a show at Penn Theater with Wilson
Pickett and Otis Redding. He
(Pickett) didn’t show up, so they asked me to do it. We did three songs. I hadn’t met
Otis yet. We went on and I was busting my ass. I had on a silver suit and silver
shoes with a bow tie. I was dancing and chirping and I looked to my left,
fifteen feet away, and there was Otis Redding slapping his knees laughing. I
was nervous. I thought he hated me. Then he blew me a kiss and watched the rest
of my show. Afterward he said ‘Why don’t you come to Memphis and make records
with me? Give me your number.’ A month later I was at home and my mom said ‘You
have a phone call. It’s someone named Otis Redding.’” Redding invited Daye to a
NARA Convention in Atlanta, the National Association of Radio Announcers. “We
went back to Otis’ house in Macon, GA after. Everybody was there ... Sam &
Dave, Aretha Franklin, Chuck Jackson, James Brown. They were all hanging out
drinking and Otis said ‘Somebody give Johnny a glass of milk.’"
“I left home and I worked the Chittlin Circuit with Otis. Wherever he went I
went. There was another guy with us named Arthur Conley. He was a great kid. Stax
was still a movie theater with a studio in it. The secretary would buzz us in.
I watched a lot of great songs get cut there. Dave (Prater, of Sam & Dave) sold
Oldsmobiles. He was the kindest person. He always said ‘Damn, you’re good.’ I
was intimidated, but they take all that away from you. They were all so
gracious and kind. Understand that at that time we weren’t allowed to stay in
the same hotel or eat together. We’d walk a few blocks to this black woman’s
home where we’d eat instead of restaurants. We spent a lot of money there.” Daye estimates spending at least six months traveling
back and forth to record in Memphis. During this time his manager Joe Rock
co-wrote “I’ve Got Dreams to Remember” with Redding and his wife Zelma. “I was
sitting there watching all of this with so much talent around me.”
"What'll I Do for Satisfaction" b/w "I Need Somebody" (1967 Stax Records, 238)
Daye’s first
release on Stax was “What’ll I Do For Satisfaction” backed with “I Need
Somebody.” The B-side is his personal favorite of the dozen songs in his
discography. “Stax’ house band was Booker T and the MG’s. Al Jackson was always
busy during my sessions, so we used Carl Cunningham who was with the Bar-Kays.
He came up with that beat for ‘What’ll I Do For Satisfaction.’ He was sixteen.
He played on all my Stax sides. We went in one day to do the first record and
we went to a James Brown show that night. We did two songs at a time.”
Things were looking promising for Johnny Daye, but they took
a turn for the worse on December 10th, 1967. “We had a gig in Cleveland and I wanted
to come back to Pittsburgh since I was only two hours away from home. They (Redding
and his band, The Bar-kays) flew that day and the plane crashed. I wasn’t
booked on the gig. Rarely did I ever fly in that plane. I think it was only two
weeks old.” Otis Redding was only twenty-six years old when he died. The crash
also took the lives of the original Bar-Kays line up, including Carl
Cunningham, with the exception of trumpet player Ben Cauley. Cauley, the lone
survivor of the crash, still resides in Memphis. Daye was still signed to Stax
after Redding’s death. He recalls being in Memphis six months later when Martin
Luther King was killed. “We were staying at Steve Cropper’s house and we felt
like we were imposing, so we went to the Travel Lodge. It wasn’t far from the Lorrain
Motel. We were eating at Earl’s Hot Biscuits when that went down.”
"Stay Baby Stay" b/w "I Love Love" (1968 Stax Records, STA-0004)
Daye’s
second release on Stax was “Stay Baby Stay.” He considers it to be the
best song that he ever recorded. At this point the label was under new ownership
and no
longer distributed by Atlantic Records. Al Bell became the president of
the
company, which was now distributed by the Paramount Pictures
Corporation. This change is indicated by the switch from the classic
powder blue label to the yellow label with the finger-snapping logo.
“Joe
(Rock) and I collaborated on ‘Stay Baby Stay.’ I wrote the melody on
guitar.”
Daye laughingly admits, “The three-chord progression I used was used in
10,000
other songs. I would sing some covers in the studio and he (Al Bell)
would say
‘That’s good. We’re going to keep that, but where’s the “Johnny Nash”
Johnny
Day?’ If you listen carefully to ‘Stay Baby Stay’ I challenge you to do
some of
those licks I did as a 19 year old. At the end of the song there’s a
half step
modulation. There was a cue with the organ. It took me eight or nine
takes
before we got it. Steve (Cropper) stopped and showed me the note on the
guitar.
Booker took it to New York and put the strings and The Sweet
Inspirations on
it. I’d never even met them.” Daye recalls Isaac Hayes entering the
studio as
they were recording the B-side “I Love Love.” “Isaac went over and
started
playing that piano that you hear. He wasn’t even on the date. He still
had his
coat on. Keep in mind this wasn’t the same Isaac Hayes that we know
today. This
is when he was part of the song writing team with David Porter (pre-Hot
Buttered Soul).”
“Stay Baby Stay” was Daye’s last record. “When Otis died my
career died. The mood was gone and nobody wanted to come to work anymore. I
didn’t sing again for five years. I was at odds with Joe Rock. Joe did a lot
for me, but he was more interested in being (Elvis Presley manager) Colonel
Parker than he was interested in me being Elvis Presley. Otis loved me. He
thought I was going to be a big money maker for him. I was so discouraged. I
had nobody.” Joe Rock, who passed away in April of 2000, signed another group
of blue-eyed soul artists, The Jaggerz, to Kenny Gamble’s label that same year.
The Jaggerz are perhaps best-known for their 1970 hit “The Rapper” but in 1968 they
were label mates with the likes of Billy Paul and The Intruders on Gamble
Records. “They’d do The Temptations and The O’Jays. They’d do it all just perfect.
There was a time when Jimmie Ross would double on bass and trombone. They were
incredibly talented. Billy Maybray was the most soulful cat. He was a great
drummer as well as a vocalist. It was light years beyond what I could do. That
wasn’t what I was selling. I was a decent looking kid who could sing and dance.
They put a silk suit on me and that’s what I was selling.”
A twenty-year chunk of Daye’s recording hiatus was spent
selling cars at P&W BMW on Baum Boulevard here in Pittsburgh. In 1993 Janet
Jackson covered “What’ll I Do for Satisfaction.” It appeared as “What’ll I Do” on
her fifth studio album, Janet.
Unfortunately this is the only one of Johnny’s four Stax sides that he received
no songwriting credit for. Hence he’s entitled to no publishing money. When
asked to comment he simply replies “I think she did a nice job. It’s actually
very similar.” Johnny Daye finally recorded again in 2007. He’s featured on two
tracks from long-time friend Robert Peckman’s debut CD, Stirrin’ Up Bees. It was done here in Pittsburgh at Jeff Ingersoll’s
Mojo Boneyard Recording Studio. Peckman is a local veteran musician and an
original member of the Skyliners. He was also managed by Joe Rock and he played
with Daye on many occasions during the sixties. Two of Peckman’s numerous
projects over the years include Simon and the Piemen, released locally in
Pittsburgh in the mid-sixties, and Mike & Ike, who released a record on the
Philadelphia-based Arctic label. Daye received songwriting credits on each of
the group’s lone singles, but he admits to having little involvement. “I
never had anything to do with those songs aside from sitting around the studio
goofing off. Joe Rock wrote them and included my name on them. I was just there.
I looked up to Pecky. He smoked a pipe and I started smoking a pipe too because
I wanted to be like him.”
Daye rubbed elbows with an impressive roster of artists and
celebrities in his day, but it’s his blue-eyed soul contemporaries here in
Pittsburgh that he really credits for inspiration. He refers to the local guys
who came out of the same scene, many of whom are still performing. “The
greatest performers that we have in Pittsburgh are Jimmie Ross of The Jaggerz.
He has very unique vocal stylings and tones. He’s the epitome of what I think a
singer should be. He released a Jaggerz album in the nineties and I couldn’t
stop listening to it. Then of course B.E. Taylor and Billy Price. Who’s to say
who’s better? I fall in love with B.E. every time I hear him. I always admired
Billy Price. He’s a hard act to follow. Frank Czuri of Pure Gold (who was a
later member of the Jaggerz as well) is my age. We went to Penn Hills High
School at the same time. I have to give Jimmy Beaumont credit too. He was my
idol from day one. I have much respect for him. There was always competition
and at times there was no love lost, but I love those guys and I want them to
know that.”
Daye admits to “getting the bug to put a band together and do something” on
occasion, but most of his time is spent with his family, his wife Tina and
their young daughters, Marchella and Gianna. “I don’t really hang out in clubs
because I grew up in clubs, but I’m curious to see what the reaction would be. I
can’t dance like I used to. I don’t have the stamina to do what I did then. I
put on a few pounds, but I’m still in pretty good shape. I’d love to get a call
from Steve Cropper to go out and do a Stax show.” Perhaps Johnny Daye will find
his way back to the stage one of these days, but for now he seems content just
knowing that he was a part of musical history. We thank him for the opportunity to speak with him and wish the best for him and his family. Selections from his discography
can be heard on The Complete Stax-Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 2: 1968-1971 and The
Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968. Visit I DIG PGH on YouTube to hear Johnny Daye's complete discography.
