The Harlem Hamfats was a Chicago jazz band formed in 1936. Initially, they mainly provided backup music for jazz and blues singers, such as Johnny Temple , Rosetta Howard , and Frankie Jaxon , for Decca Records . Their first record, "Oh! Red", became a hit, securing them a Decca contract for fifty titles, and they launched a successful recording career performing danceable music.
13-893: The group's inclusion in the dirty blues genre is due to such songs as "Gimme Some of that Yum Yum" and "Let's Get Drunk and Truck". Despite their name, the Hamfats were based in Chicago . They were assembled by record producer and entrepreneur J. Mayo Williams for the purpose of making records — perhaps the first group to be so created. None of the members of the band were actually from New York. Kansas Joe McCoy (guitar, vocals) and his brother Papa Charlie McCoy (guitar, mandolin) were from Mississippi; Herb Morand (trumpet, vocals), John Lindsay (bass), and Odell Rand (clarinet; 1905 – 22 June 1960) were from New Orleans; Horace Malcolm (piano), Freddie Flynn (drums) and Pearlis Williams (drums) were from Chicago. The diverse geographical backgrounds of
26-479: A plantation between Bolton and Edwards, Mississippi . Their mother, Eliza, also sang and played the guitar . Carter made his recording debut in 1928, backing Alec Johnson, and was soon recording as a solo musician. He became one of the dominant blues recording acts of the 1930s, recording 110 sides . He also played with and managed the family group, the Mississippi Sheiks, and several other acts in
39-667: The music industry in the 1940s. Carter had strokes and died of a cerebral hemorrhage at Shelby County Hospital, in Memphis, on September 21, 1964. He is buried in Nitta Yuma Cemetery, Sharkey County, Mississippi . Carter's style of playing the guitar and his songwriting have won him fans long after he died. One of the most notable examples is the Irish blues rock guitarist Rory Gallagher , who performed several of Carter's songs, including "All Around Man." Carter
52-561: The area. He and the Sheiks often performed for whites , playing the pop hits of the day and white-oriented dance music , as well as for blacks , playing a bluesier repertoire. Carter went partly blind during the 1930s. He settled in Glen Allan, Mississippi , and despite his vision problems did some farming but also continued to play music and perform, sometimes with his brothers. He moved to Memphis, Tennessee , and worked outside
65-648: The most explicit blues song preserved at a commercial pre-war recording session". The noteworthy musicians who used the style included Bo Carter , Bull Moose Jackson , Harlem Hamfats , Wynonie Harris , and Hank Ballard and The Midnighters . Compilation albums include The Copulatin' Blues (Stash Records: 1976, re-released Mojo Records: 1996), Them Dirty Blues (Jass Records: 1989) and You Got to Give Me Some of It: 55 Risque Blues and R&B Classics 1928–1954 (Jasmine Records: 2015). Bo Carter Armenter (or Armentia ) Chatmon (March 21, 1893 or January 1894 – September 21, 1964), known as Bo Carter ,
78-685: The musicians played a role in the band's sound, which blended blues, dixieland and swing jazz . Led by Morand and Joe McCoy, the main songwriters, the group initially provided instrumental backing to Williams's stable of artists, including Frankie Jaxon , Rosetta Howard , and Johnny Temple . They were perhaps the first studio recording band to become a performing act in their own right, and they recorded extensively. Their first hits were "Oh! Red", recorded in April 1936, and "Let's Get Drunk and Truck" (originally recorded by Tampa Red ), recorded in August of
91-536: The same year. "Oh! Red" was popular enough to be covered by Count Basie , the Ink Spots , Blind Willie McTell , Blind Boy Fuller and Bull City Red , various Western swing bands, and Howlin' Wolf . Some of their other recordings, such as "We Gonna Pitch a Boogie Woogie", more clearly presage the rhythms of rock and roll . Their most recognizable work may be the modern jazz tune " Why Don't You Do Right? ", written by Joe McCoy and included on their 1936 record under
104-514: The sound of the Harlem Hamfats less commercially attractive. The band was not considered the most innovative group of the time, and many of their original works dealt with sex, drugs and alcohol, which may have prevented its music from being more widely available. However, as a small group playing entertaining music primarily for dancing, they are considered an important contributor to 1930s jazz, and their early riff-based style would help pave
117-492: The title "The Weed Smoker's Dream". The song contains numerous references to drugs. The lyrics were later changed and the tune refined. Lil Green recorded it as "Why Don't You Do Right", a song about a conniving mistress and her broke lover, in 1941, and it was later recorded by Peggy Lee with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. By 1939, singer Morand had returned to New Orleans , and changing fashions had made
130-436: The way for Louis Jordan 's small-group sound a few years later, rhythm and blues , and later rock and roll . Dirty blues Dirty blues (also known as bawdy blues ) is a form of blues music that deals with socially taboo and obscene subjects, often referring to sexual acts and drug use. Because of the sometimes graphic subject matter, such music was often banned from radio and available only on jukeboxes. The style
143-809: Was an early American blues musician . He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks in concerts and on a few of their recordings . He also managed that group, which included his brothers Lonnie Chatmon on fiddle and, occasionally, Sam Chatmon on bass , and their friend Walter Vinson on guitar and lead vocals . Since the 1960s, Carter has become best known for his bawdy songs, such as "Let Me Roll Your Lemon", "Banana in Your Fruit Basket", "Pin in Your Cushion", "Your Biscuits Are Big Enough for Me", "Please Warm My Wiener" and "My Pencil Won't Write No More". However, his output
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#1732775395745156-523: Was most popular in the years before World War II , although it experienced a revival in the early 1950s. Many songs used innuendo, slang terms, or double entendres , such as Lil Johnson 's "Press My Button (Ring My Bell)" ("Come on baby, let's have some fun / Just put your hot dog in my bun"). However, some were very explicit. The most extreme examples were rarely recorded at all, a notable exception being Lucille Bogan 's obscene version of " Shave 'Em Dry " (1935), which Elijah Wald has noted as "by far
169-402: Was not limited to dirty blues . In 1928, he recorded the original version of " Corrine, Corrina ", which later became a hit for Big Joe Turner and has become a standard in various musical genres. Carter and his brothers (including the pianist Harry Chatmon, who also made recordings) first learned music from their father, the fiddler Henderson Chatmon, a former slave, at their home on
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