(Week of 7/24/04 - 7/30/04)

---

BILL JOHNSON AND HIS MUSICAL NOTES... PART 1 OF 2

"Don't You Think I Oughta Know"/ "Stuff In D Flat" by Bill Johnson And His Musical Notes on Harlem 1011 A/B released in 1947

"How Would You Know"/ "Roselle" by Bill Johnson And His Musical Notes on King 4286-A/AA released in 1949

Above: Photo of Bill Johnson taken from circa 1953 magazine. Caption with photo: "BILL JOHNSON had been prominent in the music business for many years before he started his own 'Musical Notes' combo. In 1936 Bill took the lead alto sax with the Erskine Hawkins band and remained with the Hawk until 1943. It was while he was with Hawkins that Bill penned his now famous 'Tuxedo Junction,' a hit no blues lover will ever forget. Bill and his 'Musical Notes' record exclusively for RCA Victor."

As the above caption suggests, most of The Musical Notes' releases were on RCA Victor (1947-48). However, by 1953, they were long gone from that label. This two-parter will present some of their other labels. A self-contained instrumental/vocal group, they consistently produced excellent recordings, most featuring vocal harmony.

Above: Label image of Harlem 1011A (left) released in early 1947. A different recording of this same song was one side of their first release on RCA Victor 20-2225 in March 1947. Harlem 1011B is an instrumental ...but, because of its rarity, audio has been provided here.

King 4286 (right) was recorded on 2/15/49 and released in March 1949. This is the first of two releases on King by this excellent group. "How Would You Know" is the same song that The Robins released on RCA Victor in 1953.

Gus Gordon handles lead singing chores on these two records.

[Much thanks to Ferdie Gonzalez for providing recording/release dates used at this web site.]

Listen to this week's selections: [Audio restoration by Dave Saviet.]

A) Click on an option below to listen to Bill Johnson And His Musical Notes using Streaming Windows Media Player.

"Don't You Think I Oughta Know" - Harlem 1011 A - 1947
"Stuff In D Flat" - Harlem 1011 B - 1947
"How Would You Know" - King 4286-A - 1949
"Roselle" - King 4286-AA - 1949
"ALL FOUR SONGS" NOT FUNCTIONAL!

B) Click on an option below to listen using Downloading Windows Media Player.

"Don't You Think I Oughta Know" - Harlem 1011 A - 1947 (file size=438KB)
"Stuff In D Flat" - Harlem 1011 B - 1947 (file size=444KB)
"How Would You Know" - King 4286-A - 1949 (file size=438KB)
"Roselle" - King 4286-AA - 1949 (file size=460KB)

This site is non-commercial. All information displayed is provided to further the general public's knowledge of RnB vocal group harmony.