King Coleman RIP

R&B pioneer 'King' Coleman dies in hospital aged 78
Rhythm and blues pioneer Carlton "King" Coleman has died at the age of 78.

The US singer died on Saturday from heart failure at a Miami hospital, his son said.

Coleman was best known for singing lead vocals on 1959 hit (Do The) Mashed Potatoes, recorded with James Brown's band.

He also released numerous solo singles including Mashed Potato Man and The Boo Boo Song.

Coleman also performed with many artists including BB King and Jackie Wilson.

Radio DJ His son Tony went on to become BB King's drummer.

"I can say that I'm proud to be his son," Tony Coleman said.

"I'm proud to be working with one of his colleagues. He was one of the originals. He was one of the roots, and I'm one of his fruits."

King Coleman was also a radio DJ, starting out in the 1950s on a US station in Tampa, Florida.

More recently, Coleman hosted a nightly radio show called Nothing But Love on WMBM, now a gospel station. BBC More information on Wikipedia

Full discography on Wang Dang Dula

Here's some more of his music:

Sugar Pie DeSanto in Holland 1995

I have just been sent the link to the video below of Sugar Pie which was new to me. I missed her performance that year in Holland so it was good to see!

Sam Dees New Release on Shotgun Records

SHOT 103 is scheduled for release on October 4th. These previously unissued tracks were recorded in the early 1970s in Birmingham, Alabama. 'Fool Of The Year' is already in heavy demand from advance exposure by club and radio DJs. 'Train To Tampa' was featured in the 2009 movie Clubbed courtesy of our publishing company Millbrand Music Ltd.

More details on Shotgun Records

Eddie Floyd New Release on Shotgun Records

SHOT 104 is scheduled for October 11th. Both tracks were recorded in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1979 and are previously unissued. Musicians include Carson Whitsett, Ray Griffin and James Robertson with Jewel Bass and Valerie Kashimura on backing vocals. 'Missing You' also features Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love of The Memphis Horns.

More details on Shotgun Records

Fenton Robinson Live In Holland 1984

Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, Robinson left his home at the age of 18 to move to Memphis, Tennessee, where he recorded his first single "Tennessee Woman" in 1957. He settled in Chicago in 1962. His signature song, "Somebody Loan Me a Dime" (1967) was covered by Boz Scaggs in 1969, but attributed to Scaggs himself, resulting in legal battles. The nationwide distribution of Robinson's own version of the song was aborted by a freak snow storm hitting Chicago. The song has since become a blues standard, according to 1997's Encyclopedia of Blues being "part of the repertoire of one out of every two blues artists.

Robinson re-recorded the song, which was originally recorded in 1967 for the Palos label, for the critically acclaimed album Somebody Loan Me a Dime in 1974, the first of three he would produce under the Alligator Records label. For the second, 1977's I Hear Some Blues Downstairs, Robinson was nominated for a Grammy Award Read more on Wikipedia

Here's a video of him performing in Holland in 1984:



Fenton Robinson Biography

Listen to more of Fenton Robinson's music over on Just The Blues blog

"Daddy Rockin' Strong: A Tribute to Nolan Strong & the Diablos"

The Wind Records, along with help from Norton Records, will soon be releasing a new vinyl LP called "Daddy Rockin' Strong: A Tribute to Nolan Strong & the Diablos" - a full album of Nolan Strong & the Diablos covers. This record is a small attempt at keeping the memory of Detroit's finest R&B singer, Nolan Strong, alive. Nolan Strong & The Diablos were a pre-Motown sensation. The group's hit songs include "The Wind" and "Mind Over Matter." His influence is shown in the trademark falsetto of Smokey Robinson. While Nolan never reached the height of fame as the singers he influenced, he will forever be Detroit's finest.

Read more:

Track list:
SIDE A:
Mark Sultan - "The Wind"
Dirtbombs - "Daddy Rockin' Strong"
Cub Koda - "You're the Only Girl, Delores"
Outrageous Cherry - "Yeah Baby, It's Because of You"
Andre Williams & the A-Bones - "The Way You Dog Me Around"
Danny Kroha & the Del Torros - "Do You Remember What You Did"

SIDE B:
Reigning Sound - "Mind Over Matter"
Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby - "I Want to be Your Happiness"
A-Bones - "Real True Love"
Hentchmen - "Mambo of Love"
Demon's Claw's - "Try Me One More Time"
Gentleman Jesse & His Men - "Harriett, It's You"
Lenny Kaye - "I Wanna Know"


Listen to some tracks on My Space

Panama!: Latin, Calypso & Funk on the Isthmus 1965-1975

One might guess that Panama’s strategic geographic location between continents, cultures, oceans and seas would contribute to a local music flowing with varied streams of influence. Proof of such a supposition can be found on this engaging collection. Focusing on the fecund 1960s and ’70s, Panama! reveals an effusion of hot and cool grooves that draw from various blends of indigenous styles and rhythms, Afro-Latin jazz, and funky American soul.

The collection begins in high style with strong descarga-style blowing by sax-man Jose “Chomba” Silva on Los Exagerados’s “Panama Esta Bueno Y Ma.” With a big-but-gentle Sonny Rollins tone, Silva lays down lines that dance with the rhythmic facility of Antillean Beguine. Rafael Labasta adds searing, stratospheric Cuban-style trumpet to the dialed-in montuno laid down by piano, upright bass and percussion. It’s Latin jazz with a few surprising – and very appealing – twists. (The Afro-Cuban/Puerto Rican/Salsa continuum was obviously beloved in Panama during those decades, and related approaches show up on many of the tracks collected here.)Read full article at Dusted Reviews

Buy CD at Sound Way Records

Cheers to Les Main Noires Blog for tip.

C.P. Love Interview

Vocalist C.P. Love might well be best known for a song he didn’t record, rather than one he did. Love had been offered “Groove Me” by King Floyd but passed on the song, feeling Floyd deserved to record it and would do a better job with it. While he could have recorded a major hit, Love still managed to notch a couple of regional successes and assembled a compact, but enjoyable resume of soul and R&B recordings.

Born Carleton Pierre Love in 1945, he was raised on the West Bank of New Orleans. At the age of 12, Love taught himself to play guitar and formed a four-piece band. He later switched to bass when he joined Little Benny and the Creoles, a group that sometimes featured Walter Washington. Originally, Love didn’t sing, but when the vocalist couldn’t learn new material, he began fronting the band on bass and vocals. Eventually, Love dropped the bass and concentrated on singing. Read full interview at Ponderosa Stomp site




You can find a full discography and further information on C.P. Love's early recordings on Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven. You can also listen to his two best recordings - 'I Found All These Things' and 'So Glad You've Gone' on Deep Soul Heaven which don't appear to be on You Tube.

The Life and Times of H-Bomb Ferguson

Born Robert Percell Ferguson in Charleston, South Carolina, he was the eleventh of twelve children. His father was a baptist preacher who paid for piano lessons for his son, on condition he learned sacred melodies. But Ferguson had other ideas. "After church was over, while the people was all standing outside talking, me and my friends would run back inside and I'd play the blues on the piano."

At the age of 19, he was on the road with Joe Liggins and the Honeydrippers. They moved to New York, where Ferguson branched off on his own, getting a gig at the nightclub Baby Grand Club in Harlem, billed as "The Cobra Kid."

His 1951-1952 recording contract with Savoy Records produced some of his best recordings. Drummer, Jack "The Bear" Parker, who played on the Savoy dates, allegedly bestowed the singer with his explosive moniker. Other accounts credit Savoy record producer, Lee Magid, with coining H-Bomb's handle; either way, his dynamite vocals fulfilled the billing. However, it was not until 1955 that rock and roll became a sensation, when Bill Haley & His Comets' version of "Rock Around the Clock" became a hit.

Ferguson retired from touring in the early 1970s, but made a number of comebacks. Backed by the Medicine Men, he recorded his first album, Wiggin' Out, for Chicago's Earwig Records in 1993.



He died in 2006 at the Hospice of Cincinnati of complications from emphysema and cardiopulmonary disease.



His early work was featured in a compilation album H-Bomb Ferguson: Big City Blues, 1951-54. Wikipedia

Screamin´ Joe Neal

Two legendary 45s, one on the Emerge label, one on Shippings. A mainstay at the Peppermint Club at Skinker and Delmar in St Louis, the biggest club around at the time, as well as the BQ Lounge and Jazz Alley. One local guitarist recalls "He got his name from crawling around the audience on his knees. He would creep up on a woman and scream at them. Scare the shit outta them." Screamin' Joe was hit by a truck and is largely paralyzed. Read My Space


More information on the Peppermint Club at Missouri Digital Heritage