UNCOMMON LABELS - PART ONE
"Amazin' Willie Mays"/"Basin Street Blues"
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"Quit Hanging Around"
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"Say Hey" Mays Now A DISK Hero
NEW YORK, Aug. 7, 1954—Home-run swatter Willie Mays seems to be a most popular music biz personality these days. To date there have been at least five records released about Willie... four of them under the title of "Say Hey,” a well known Maysian expression.Diskings released to date include one with Willie Mays himself and the Treniers on Epic Records; another with the Singing Wanderers on Decca; one with the Ray Anthony ork on Capitol; one with the Johnny Long ork on Coral; and one, the original, with the King Odom Quartet on Perspective.
The Perspective record almost caused a real hassle. The first Willie Mays waxing was made by Sam Florman and Henry Engel, an engineer and a furrier respectively. It was their first pop wax effort. However, when they were ready to release the disk the New York Giants refused permission, claiming it would invade Willie’s privacy. However, Perspective finally released the disk after the Epic platter came out.
Above: Perspective label released in August 1954. This "new" group is David "King" Odom and "unknown" other members. It was King Odom's last record. The King Odom Quartet had releases on Musicraft (1948) and The King Odom Four had releases on Derby (1950-51) and Abbey (1952).Click HERE for an article about The King Odom Quartet by Marv Goldberg.
(Will open in a separate window)
Not much could be found about this record, the artists, or the label itself. It was released in February 1955. A review in The Billboard dated 2/19/55 states "a bright performance of a bouncy opus" with a mundane 60 rating. Could this have been Betty Ann Grove, a "TV Canary," who had a release on the Majar label in May 1955? Does the record number (A-1154) indicate it was recorded in November 1954? Probably not, as the flip (non-vocal group) was asigned B-1155. Numbering of some of their releases in 1956 did appear to indicate session dates (#61656 & 11756). There were at least two country and western releases on the label in 1956. A later version of the label had "(Spell It Backwards)" below "Ci-Sum."
While this week's labels are "uncommon," they have commonality to each other. Notice they both have maroon color with silver printing and an exactly same size and location silver border ring. The word "RECORDS" on both labels is an exact match... in size, font style, and spacing. The song titles and composer credits' font styles are also the same for both (with the titles the same exact size). And both labels give a complete address. Is this all a coincidence? Your comments/thoughts on this are requested.
Above: Savannah Churchill And The King Odom Quartet. Odom is third from the left (standing partially behind Savannah).
Above: Pittsburgh Press newspaper dated 6/17/49.
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Above: Ottawa Citizen newspaper dated (Left) 8/22/50, (Right Top) 8/23/50 and (Right Bottom) 10/16/51. The group's piano accompaniest for this 1951 appearance, Clarence "Peanuts" Johnson, had been with them, for a short time, a few years earlier.
Listen to this week's selections: [Audio restoration by Dave Saviet.]
A. Stream RealAudio...
1. Amazin' Willie Mays - The King Odom Quartette
2. Basin Street Blues - The King Odom Quartette
3. Quit Hanging Around - Betty Ann With Artones
ALL THREE played in sequenceB. Download RealAudio...
1. Amazin' Willie Mays - The King Odom Quartette
2. Basin Street Blues - The King Odom Quartette
3. Quit Hanging Around - Betty Ann With ArtonesC. Stream/Download Media Player...
1. Amazin' Willie Mays - The King Odom Quartette
2. Basin Street Blues - The King Odom Quartette
3. Quit Hanging Around - Betty Ann With Artones
[To download audio files, right-click on link
and then click "Save (Link) Target As..."]
(Afro-American Newspaper 8/7/48)
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