In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

262 Listen to Dr. Jive Joe Davis booked the Mastertone Studio for late evening on the first Friday of 1956 to record titles from the Scale-Tones. Typically, Davis rehearsed the group before the session and at least one song was recorded at a runthrough session, with only a pianist and drummer in attendance. He jotted down seven titles on a scrap of paper and only “Easy Baby” survived on an acetate. The group was augmented by James Fernanders, who might be responsible for the high female-like, falsetto part heard on this track, but not on the session, from which he was absent. Davis’s notes list a session from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 5, but had 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday scrawled on it, inferring that the rehearsal was planned for Wednesday evening followed by the recording session the next day. In fact, the recordings took place on Friday. For this date, Davis carefully assembled perhaps the strongest possible rhythm section : pianist Al Williams, Mickey Baker on guitar, bass player Milt Hinton, all of whom were driven by Panama Francis on the drums. In a moment of inspiration he added Warren Lucky on tenor sax, surely the most exciting of all his sax session men, despite the frequent presence of Sam Taylor. The group recorded only three of the titles they rehearsed, although “Easy Baby” was allocated a fourth matrix number initially, but it had to be canceled, presumably through lack of time. Davis chose to issue “Dreaming and Dreaming” and “Everlasting Love,” which teamed a ballad with pretty guitar from Mickey Baker, and a mid-tempo, raunchy number with plenty of excellent tenor sax. That left “Working for My Baby” as perhaps one of the better up-tempo R&B/vocal group titles of the 1950s never to have been released at the time, with truly memorable work from Warren Lucky over chunky chords from Baker and Milt Hinton’s solid bass line. The released coupling, Jay-Dee 810, sadly ended this uneven but occasionally exciting label series for Davis. Chapter Eleven Listen to Dr. Jive 263 Unfortunately the exceptionally talented Warren Lucky (whose Jay-Dee 809 proved to be the penultimate label release) lapsed back into obscurity, although he continued performing and got some session work in the city. In 1961 he was playing at the “Baby Grand,” along with singer Linda Hopkins and emcee Nipsey Russell. Today, aside from his work with Dizzy Gillespie and his association with Davis, Lucky remains virtually unknown to all but the most ardent jazz or R&B scholar. The Scale-Tones, too, slipped from sight and, on behalf of the group, Don Archer accepted 25.00 “in full payment” for the two released songs. Jay-Dee 810 sold so poorly that Davis probably failed to even recoup the session fees. Their single was released on February 18, by which time Davis had already recorded two further sessions, one by another vocal group, the Chestnuts, and the other with his current pop hope, Dean Barlow. Unusually, five titles were recorded at the Dean Barlow session, but only four released. This time, pianist Howard Biggs also served as the arranger and he recruited guitarist Everett Barksdale, with Lloyd Trotman on bass and Panama Francis, as usual, on drums. The two-sax front line comprised Davis session stalwarts Sam Taylor on tenor and Haywood Henry on baritone. Three of these titles, “Hi Ya Honey,” “Can’t Stand It Any Longer,” and “Listen to Dr. Jive,” are good up-tempo numbers with plenty of room for the soloists and workman-like vocals from Dean Barlow. In typical Davis fashion, one of the two ballads recorded recycled the old Bon Bon hit, “Truthfully,” which had also done well for Steve Gibson’s Red Caps on Victor. Recorded on January 18, “Hi Ya Honey” and “As God Is My Judge” (Davis 444) received a brief review in The Billboard on February 4, which demonstrates how quickly a highly motivated Davis could operate. “Listen to Dr. Jive” remained unreleased until 1983, possibly as the session typically called for only four titles, leaving this title the odd side out when Davis issued these selections by the Chestnuts in 1956. Nonetheless, Davis took the precaution of copyrighting “Listen to Dr. Jive” (a homage to New York show presenter and DJ on Station WWRL, Tommy Smalls) on April 16, 1956. Booked through the prestigious Shaw Artists Corporation on Fifth Avenue , several of Dean Barlow...

Share