GTS110
Blues
Gabes was a bar in Seattle that catered to Jazz & Blues-seamen, gamblers, pimps, hustling broads & chippies, oh don't forget the pinball mechanics, pill heads & addicts. Sounds like it was quite the place.
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When I bought the Shamrock Tavern in Seattle, the seamen and street people didn't cotton up to me at first. It took 6
months for me and my crazy music to win them over - and then it was standing room only for years. You see we started
with blues and never changed except for jazz. That was it for 17 years. Jazz and blues - you never had it so good.
Hell, I didn't know that these singers were legends-to-be. I just loved them and so did my crazy customers.
Sometimes during the break of music, the screams of the whores and chippies defying each other, I never could figure
out why they placed such a distinction between giving it away and selling it.
Jack and Betty helped run the Shamrock for awhile - then came Ed, an old seaman bartender, and his wife Maria, Ed and
Maria came to my rescue many times - they were one of the good things that happened at first.
Jazz and blues - folk - rhythm and blues - what a hell of an umbrella covers all these forms and interrelates them. But
that is for the musicians, writers, managers, and the critics - not for me.
I am a listener and have been for over 55 years. I just got stung with the bug and have been in love with jazz and blues
practically my whole life.
The tunes in this album were basically the tunes I played on a juke box at the original Shamrock and later 'Gabe's' a
downtown Seattle joint in the 1950s and 1960s.
Now we had an old juke box with one speaker and we would turn it up as loud as we could. The customers were mostly
seamen and street people - pimps, hustling broads and chippies - gamblers and boozers - pinball mechanics (some of the
most loveable bastards of all) - pill-heads and addicts.
It was a rough joint and we only had one light in the place - the juke box. Constant fights - the seamen were mean. But it
was exciting too. Seamen and street people are something else and we never knew what the hell would happen any
given moment.
Wow, did seamen love to fight - drink - screw and listen to jazz and the blues. And Jack and Betty were right in there
with them - running tremendous shifts. Jack started drinking pretty heavy - but what the hell. Just another visit from the
Liquor Board.
And now we had another segment of society added to our very unusual clientele - the gay boys. They loved the blues
and the seamen. Pretty touchy at times. Special rules and all that. One to the can at a time and no fraternizing with
straights.
I have always been confused as to the exact musical differences between rock and roll and rhythm and blues. Music
experts can give you a technical difference. My ear tells me there is a great difference. Like as if they put a hill billy kick
in a rhythm and blues tune - it becomes rock and roll. One thing it seems to adapt itself to the white dancing styles. Just
as soul music adapts itself to the black dance movement.
Although I have been a blues and jazz addict most of my life, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be
programming these sounds. True, I have always collected jazz, blues, swing, and some popular music but this was
dictated more by love and necessity (I owned a lot of taverns) than by reason. Blues and jazz are my obsession.
This two-album set comprises just a few rhythm and blues highlights of the late '40s to the late '60s. Some of the
greatest and toughest are not represented. It would take 20 albums to chronicle a fairly complete history of the great
rhythm and blues hits. This saddens me but for what it's worth, here they are.
There are 25 years of great memories shared by thousands of my customers. I particularly dedicate this set to my
beloved son Mike McManus, who shared my dream and made it possible; to Richard Schenkar, who unselfishly and
devotedly gave the benefits of his extensive research in ragtime, jazz, and blues history to this project when it was just
an idea; to my beloved friend Robert Hardwick, who discovered me, promoted me, put me on radio - he's the first man
on a commercial radio station who had the guts to feature blues, jazz, Dixieland, any old thing that Gabe loved and he
did it with Our Hour - four hours every Saturday morning - and, to my knowledge, first exposed the city of Seattle to Jack
Dupree's famous song "Walking the Blues"; to Buddy Webber who played my stuff almost as much as Hardwick; and to
Danny Niles, a real friend, who's helping us tell people about this album.
By Gabe McManus.
**
Got me the strangest woman
Believe me, this chick's no sinch
But I really get her going
When I whip out my big ten-inch
Record of a band that plays the blues
Well a band that plays its blues
She just love my big ten-inch
Record of her favorite blues
No no babe
Last night I tried to tease her
I gave my love a little pinch
She said now stop that jivin'
Now whip out your big ten-inch
Record of a band that plays the blues
Well a band that plays the blues
She just loves my big ten-inch
Record of her favorite blues
I, I, I cover her with kisses
And when we're in a lover's clinch
She gets all excited
When she begs for my big ten-inch
Record of a band that plays the blues
Well a band that plays the blues
She just love my big ten-inch
Record of her favorite blues
My girl don't go for smokin'
And liquor just make her flinch
Seems she don't go for nothin'
'Cept for my big ten-inch
Record of a band that plays the blues
Band that play the blues
She just love my big ten-inch
Record of her favorite blues
(Bull Moose Jackson)
**
A1.John-Fever (Little Willie) 2:39
A2.Walkin' The Blues (Champion Jack Dupree) 2:49
A3.Sick & Tired (Lula Reed) 2:25
A4.Shake 'em Up (Roy Brown) 2:38
A5.Work With Me, Annie (The Midnighters) 2:45
A6.Cherry Wine (Little Esther Phillips) 2:20
A7.60-Minute Man (Billy Ward & Dominoes) 2:27
A8.Ride Jockey Ride (Lamplighters) 2:34
B1.Keep On Churnin' (Wynonie Harris) 2:54
B2.Rocket 69 (Todd Rhodes& Connie Allen) 2:37
B3.10 inch Record (Bull Moose Jackson) 2:14
B4.Black Diamond (Roy Brown) 2:26
B5.Jealous Love (Lula Reed) 2:26
B6.Bloodshot Eyes (Wynonie Harris) 2:42
B7.Sexy Ways (Midnighters) 2:28
C1.Salty Dog (Lamplighters) 2:33
C2.Monkey, Hips & Rice (Five Royales) 2:52
C3.T-99 (Tiny Bradshaw) 2:56
C4.Rock Love (Lula Reed) 2:05
C5.Wasn't That Good (Wynonie Harris) 2:26
C6.Annie Had A Baby (Midnighters) 2:36
C7.Gal From Kokomo (Roy Brown) 2:30
C8.All Around The World (Little Willie John) 2:53
D1.I Want A Bow Legged Woman (Bull Moose Jackson) 2:45
D2.Quiet Whiskey (Wynonie Harris) 2:27
D3.Use What You Got (Freddy King) 3:03
D4.Queen Of Diamonds (Roy Brown) 2:52
D5.Loving Machine (Wynonie Harris) 2:24
D6.Shake That Thing (Wynonie Harris) 2:14
D7.Adam, Come and Get your Rib (Wynonie Harris) 2:22
**
NoPassword
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DLink MU
DLink FF
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