Search - Champion Records Story :: The Champion Records Story, Vol. 1 Blues & Rhythm

A R&B/Soul Historian's Delight

06/06/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To this point Amazon is batting 1.000 when it comes to erroneously listing the contents of the Blue Label releases for The Bullet And Sur-Speed Records Story, The Poncello Records Story: Tennessee R&B, the Ref-O-Ree Records Story: Southern Soul, as well as this one (started in the mid-1950s), by attributing all the contents of each to one artist - in this case Gene Allison.



The correct listings for this Champion labels compendium, which had ceased operations by 1960, are as follows: 1) Somebody Somewhere - Gene Allison; 2) You're My Baby - Gene Allison; 3) Oo Wee Honey - Larry Birdsong; 4) Let's Try It Again - Larry Birdsong; 5) Three Times Seven - Earl Gaines; 6) Best of Luck Baby - Earl Gaines; 7) Sittin' Here Drinkin' - Earl Gaines; 8) I'm Just What You're Looking For - Christine Kittrell; 9) I Thank Him - Christine Kittrell; 10) Blue Night - Jimmy Beck; 11) Am I Losing You - Little Ike; 12) Blue Organ - Johnny Bridgeforth; 13) Real Good Man - Al Garner; 14) Love Me A Long Long Time - Ted Jarrett with The Daddy Dean Orchestra; 15) The Road - Ted Jarrett with The Daddy Dean Orchestra; 16) I Can't Stand to See You Go - Clenest Gant & Don Q; 17) Love Me Always - Clenest Gant & Don Q; 18) Fool - Cliff Butler; 19) I'm So Satisfied - Herbert Hunter; 20) Hurry Hurry - Rudy Green.



The common threads for these independent Tennessee labels are producers Ted Jarrett and W.C. "Red" Wortham, entrepreneurs with a deep love for R&B and Southern Soul, and when you glance through the artists presented in each volume you will often see the same names. You also won't find any hit singles, although many were huge regional favourites and several of the artists did have national hits at other times and with other labels. In my review of the Poncello and Bullet/Sur-Speed Records volumes I touch upon some of the more prominent ones (some of whom appear in more than one of the volumes) such as Larry Birdsong, Levert Allison, Earl Gaines, Arthur K. Adams, The Buford Majors Band, Johnny Bragg, and "Shy Guy" Douglas.



Here you will see the name Christine Kittrell, yet another who started out singing gospel. Born in Nashville on August 11, 1929 she began singing professionally at the Cadillac Club, and in the late 1940s/early 1950s toured the southern states before cutting her first sides for Tennessee Records in 1951/52 (Don't Do It b/w Old Man, You're Slipping with Louis Brooks & His Hi-Toppers, Sittin' Here Drinkin' b/w I Ain't Nothing But A Fool, and Heartache Blues b/w You Ain't Nothing But Trouble. Christine would go on to record for a wide array of labels such as Republic (where in 1954 she cut Lord Have Mercy which featured the as yet unknown Little Richard on piano with his band, The Upsetters), Vee-Jay, Federal, and King. But despite racking up many regional hits, and selling records in the 20,000 range, and appearing in shows with the likes of Earl Bostic, Fats Domino, Ruth Brown, Johnny Otis, Louis Armstrong, Paul Williams and Count Basie, a national hit would elude her. In the mid-1960s, while entertaining the troops in Vietnam, she was wounded by shrapnel. On December 19, 2001 she sadly passed away at age 72 from emphysema.



As with the other releases this will appeal more to historians and those fans dedicated to the sounds of Tennessee R&B/Soul and always on the lookout for rarities such as Am I Losing You? by Isaac "Little Ike" Hamilton. The flip of She Can Rock (see Volume 2), this dates to 1959 and is one of only two sides recorded for Champion. The sound is adequate (perhaps not up to the standards of hapless audiophiles), the liner notes by Fred James informative, and the price is great."