Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Five Bucks, Four Shades, and Five Peaks

 The Four Shades
Clockwise from top:  Gerald Gantt, Robert Stallworth
Casey Hynes, and Joel Scherzer

 Interview with Robert Stallworth and Joel Scherzer conducted January-March 2012.

Last year I received a cryptic e-mail from a record collector who told me about a doo-wop single recorded in Colorado, or one that had ties with someone in Colorado. The single, "Alone and Blue," by The Five Bucks, blew me away. In all of my years of collecting, I had never heard the single. But what caught me as odd was while the sound was something straight out of the 1950s, the actual single appeared to be, at least, issued in the 1970s.

I tried every possible avenue to locate information on the group. Who were these guys? Why was there absolutely no information on this record?

So, after almost a year of searching, I contacted my dear friend, and fellow Colorado record collector, Joel Scherzer.

"Yeah, I know about the Five Bucks," he told me. "I put out that record."

Well how about that...

In the mid 1970s, Joel and fellow music lover, Robert Stallworth, who was attending medical school in Boulder,  teamed up with Casey Hynes, a professor at CU-Boulder, and fellow student Gerald Gantt, to occasionally sing doo-wop tunes--a genre they all loved. They soon decided to form their own group, the Four Shades, and start up their own label, Race Records.

The first release from the group was "Yes Sir! That's My Baby," and the b-side, "Stormy Weather" (Race 1000).



Looking for additional material to release on their new label, Scherzer looked to Stallworth's extensive record collection--and several acetates of unused material from R&B groups, whose real names are lost to posterity.

"While looking for old records in Gary, Indiana in the 1970s, I came upon three acetates, possibly recorded in the 1950s, of unknown and unnamed singing groups," said Stallworth. "The songs were "I Got Goofed," "Just Rhymes," and "My Mama Done Told Me." When we were putting together our label, we decided to release these, and give the group the name of The Five Bucks."

"I Got Goofed" and the flip "Just Rhymes" was the second release for the label (Race 1001).



Needing a fourth song to put out a third single, the duo used a 1971 recording Stallworth had made while a student at Millikin University.

"We never performed anywhere, we just sang together for fun. I had a radio program, and a crude way of recording at the station. So one night I asked the guys to come up and sing a song. We decided to do our version of the Delacardos, "Got No One."


Along with Stallworth, the members of the group were lead singer Gregory Purvis, Nelson Harvey, Ronald Thompson, and Charles Fields.

"After the recording, I decided to add a sixth voice," Stallworth said. "I added a falsetto tenor top to the background."

The song was renamed "Alone and Blue," and was the b-side to "My Mama Done Told Me" (Race 1002).


 The Four Shades would record just one more single, "Let It Please Be You"/"I Thought You'd Care" (Race 1003--red vinyl).


The group eventually broke-up, after Gantt headed off to graduate school, and the other members pursued other interests.

 In 1987, Stallworth and Scherzer teamed up again to release "Sittin' on the Porch"/"Hair-Net" (Jay-R 100). The record was credited as the 5 Peaks.

"I only minimally knew Maurice Simpkins at the time of the Race releases.  I was in Colorado and Maurice was in Chicago," Stallworth said.  "I did not really reconnect with Maurice until after I moved back to Illinois, which was in 1982.  Maurice and I were friends again by 1983.  One day while I was at this apartment, I noticed an acetate on the floor behind his living room couch.  It was "Sittin' On The Porch" as done by Maurice and his group, The Five Chimes.

"I asked Maurice if he could get some of his singing friends to record two songs and I would have them pressed up.  I asked Maurice if he could re-do "Sittin On The Porch" and he agreed, since it was a song which he already knew."

 "Sittin' on the Porch" was a departure for us in that the recording included instrumental accompaniment.  Robert sang lead and overdubbed the bass part.  I didn't sing on this one, but I came up with the name and design of the label, the name of the group, and also helped with the distribution," said Scherzer. "It got airplay on various radio stations around the country, most notably WCBS-FM in New York."

The song was released on the Jay-R label (JR 1000), and was later included in the Heavy on Doo-Wop CD series.  



Joel Scherzer lives in Pueblo and runs a successful online used record operation. Robert Stallworth is now retired in Nevada, after a career in medicine. Casey Hynes divides his time between Colorado and Paris, France. Gerald Gantt's whereabouts are unknown.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Creighton Jazz Ensemble

Side One:
Spotlighter
Windsong
Getting Straight
Can't Take My Eyes Off of You
The Stripper
Close to You
Totem Pole
Spelunker's Folly

Side Two:
Black Magic Woman
The Swizzler
Suburban Soul
The Way You Look Tonight
Funky Turtle
Mantilla Lace
Easy Mover

Received this album from Dave Ray, owner of Beat Pharm, the uber-cool record store, located on Union Avenue, by the library, in Pueblo. Could spend all day in there.

Dated 1972, and under the direction of R.L. Bollig, the 32 member Creighton Jr. High Jazz Ensemble of Lakewood (saxophone, flute, trumpet, trombone, piano, bass, and drums) sounds more like a junior high assembly stage band, than an actual jazz group, but I won't judge the kids too harshly.

I usually don't go for school band things, but this one intrigued me, if only for the fact that the kiddos do an spirited version of "Black Magic Woman."

The album appears on the IM record label of Denver (IM-10641-1972). A quick search of the address finds that it's now home to an insurance company.

1863 S. Pearl - former home of IM Records

By the way...I grew up attending what was then called junior high school, so I'm not sure when they became "middle schools," or when they decided to go up to ninth grade in some parts of the country. Back in my day, ninth grade was high school, but I digress.

Evangelist Elma and the Children of Truth


Side One:
Get Ready
Fill My Cup
I Can't Help But Serve the Lord
O Happy Day
Sweet Sweet Spirit

Side Two:
Swing Down Sweet Chariot
God is So Real
Sermonette
Get Ready

I'm a sucker for gospel albums. While I haven't been a church-goer in decades, I nonetheless understand the heart and soul that goes into these records. That, and the fact that they're the most overlooked, and plentiful pieces of vinyl at most thrift stores will make the genre one I probably post more than occasionally on here.

The local gospel LPs I usually find are fairly generic, with Osmond-looking families, posed in matching clothes, and a matriarch in a gravity-defying beehive. As I almost always bring my portable turntable when I hunt for vinyl, it becomes apparent rather quickly that most of these albums will have sanitized songs, and really nothing worthy to write about.


Elma Howze began her preaching career in 1950. The first House of Prayer started in her living room in Colorado Springs, in 1974. It soon moved to 203 E. Bijou (the current location of the YMCA, and across the street from the First Presbyterian Church), and later located to 324 N. Wahsatch.

God Is So Real was pressed on the prolific Colorado Springs-based John Law Enterprises record label (4105N10--no year), which was known for releasing numerous local Christian recordings throughout the 1970s. Since the songs were recorded at the church, the production is pretty dismal, and obviously best experienced live.

Michael Harp is the stand out performer, as the lead tenor in the Children of Truth. He's backed by Denise Waldon, lead soprano; Eddie Philon, barritone; Deborah Vaughn, 1st alto; Metta Huff, 2nd alto, and Demitta Clausell, 2nd soprano. Musicians include Fred Huff, drummer (and album producer); Beverly Harp, piano; David Vaughn, lead guitar, and Paul Jackson, bass.

Elma Howze left Colorado Springs in 2001 to form the House of Prayer in Mcintosh, Alabama.

Mozart Festival 1972



 Johann Friedrich Reichart - Te Deum
Mozart Festival 1972
PSO 8125 (no label name)
Pueblo, Colorado
Side One:
Overture and "Te Deum Landamus"
Terzetto: "Te ergo quaesummus"
"Salvum Fac Populum Tuum"

Side Two:
"Dignare Domine"
In te Domine speravi"
March from The Magic Flute
Chorale and Fuge

Performed on January 23, 1972, Memorial Hall, Pueblo.

Listen to a sample of "Te ergo quaesumus"
 
Lori Von Gundy - soprano
Charlene Vecchio - mezzo soprano
Kathie Marcum - alto
John Pinner - tenor
Jerry Matthew - bass

Gerhard Track and Sid Rosen - conductors

The festival, which was started in Pueblo in 1971 by former Pueblo Symphony director Gerhard Track, returned the following year with a performance of "Te Deum," by Johann Friedrich Reichart (1752-1814).

The concert featured a 300 voice choir, made up of high school students from Crowley (Ordway), Fountain, Lamar, Las Animas, Lake County (Leadville), La Junta and Rye.  The Pueblo Youth Symphony accompanied the performance.