*(1953) Meteor ''I'm In The Mood To Be Loved'' (Meteor 5011-A Master) Jimmy Wright & His Orchestra

Описание: ''I'm In The Mood To Be Loved'' (Meteor 5011-A Master) (Robert Ellen) (Molique Music) (2:39)
Recorded March 25, 1953 at Modern, Los Angeles, California

Name (No. Or of Instruments)
Jimmy Wright - Drums & His Orchestra
Merry Dee - Vocals
Porkey Harris - Guitar
Boogie Daniels - Tenor Saxophone
More Details Unknown

Producer - Saul & Joe Bihari
Recording Engineer - Unknown

Recorded on 25 March 1953, but somehow delayed until June, the impact of ''Scotch Mist'' was rapid. "That thing was so big, man, in Texas, Arizona and places like that. I ran into a distributor one day when I was riding with Hugg Boy. He told me, really got a hit. That's a blockbuster'." Huggv Boy was still broadcasting from Autumn's Bop Shop (Adams Boulevard at the foot of Sugar Hill). He, Charles Trammell, KGFJ, and Hunter Hancock were playing it every day for months. lt was an instrumental staple in the area, on a par with Jimmy Forrest's ''Night Train''. Wright indicated it sold well beyond 200,000 copies. From this distance one might question this figure but plainly it sold heavily in Southern California and other specific areas, even if it didn't go national. lt resonated enougb for Ben Waller, whose clients included Louis Jordan, the Robins and Joe Houston to take notice. "He told me, 'I'm coming down to the Riverside Rancho to hear you'', Jimmy recalled. "He was wigged-out by what he experienced at the concert, signed me right on the spot. He asked me, 'Where did you get that nigger beat?'''. Waller arranged a package tour with Marvin and Johnny, the Flairs, the Four Freshmen and Wright for forty-three one-nighters, opening in Sacramento to Arizona, Utah, Texas, Montana, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio, Las Vegas. The show filled the 35,000-seat Montana State University football stadium in Missoula. Wright made $5,000. "l came back and they had us booked everywhere. One 0f his most intriguing gigs was an every Sunday booking at a Santa Monica dance hall (possibly the 5-4 Ballroom). With a fogging machine obscuring the stage, Wright's Cadillac drove out, the musicians emerged and the announcer announced, "Jiiiimmmmy 'Scotch Mist' Wright and his band''. Wright said "It got so we had to have police protection. If we left the stage to walk through the audience, we had to have a cop in front and one in back. The kids would rush up to you and tear your clothes. They wanted souvenirs...l knew I was a star then. 'Scotch Mist' did all that''.

While the band's popularity is not in doubt, the question remains as to how long the Meteor record was on the market. It was the last release under the Modern umbrella but it is unknown if they continued pressing it, or whether it was left to Lester to distribute it by himself and if he was in a position to supply the demand. tour would have generated the demand but was the record available? Joe Bihari is said to have brought Wright back for more recordings in 1953, but the overall sound suggests that the band recorded this session of two instrumentals and four blues vocals elsewhere, although the personnel clearly confirms that the recordings were made on the West Coast: Chuck Higgins and Art Reed, tenors; Russ Young, baritone; Clarence Lively, piano; Porkey Harris, guitar and Charles Norman, bass. The result on Meteor 5011 is a tough, raw record on which the power of Wright's drumming is far better heard. Reed takes the solos and Porkey's mean guitar dominates the sound as vocalist Merry Dee raises a storm with her strident vocals on ''Slow Down Daddy'' and ''I'm In The Mood To Be Loved''. One can imagine that Wright and Lester were in touch and that one or other instigated this follow-up October release (see also Bob Shad reference on page 13). The Wright band continued to record for Cash, Octive and others, while playing bills with T-Bone Walker, Jimmy Witherspoon, Wynonie Harris and Pee Wee Crayton, and of the Gene Norman-Frank Bull Jubilees. By 1956, Wright was getting tired of the life and broke up the band, joining the Rocking Brothers. "I was getting disgusted...Shirley (his wife) was on me all the time to get out of it. I was high all the time. I was taking bennies, 50 or better a day. I was buying three bottles a day''. As time passed, Wright became a truck driver, small-club musician, florist and handyman. Fortunately his wife had seen to it that much of his earnings were wisely invested. At the time of his Saxophonograph LP Jimmy had formed the Jimmy Wright All
Stars with original members of his and Blinky Allen's bands. Sadly he appears to have been forgotten again in the years since.

Project Supervision by John Broven
Notes and Historical Research by Martin Hawkins
Notes and Masters Research by Dave Sax

Source and more information see: Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

- Digitally Remastered

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