Juke In The Back

1956: Jukebox Rhythm Review, Pt. 1

This week, we journey back 70 years as the "Juke In The Back" puts the ol' Rockola Jukebox front and center and we present part 1 of a 2 part feature on the biggest jukebox jivers from 1956. It was the first full year of Rock n' Roll Music crossing over from its Rhythm & Blues roots into mainstream Pop Culture. The line between R&B and Pop was getting more and more blurred, but there were still many records that Black audiences were dancing and romancing to, that were not heard at all by White audiences. We'll hear a few of those on this week's program from big artists such as Muddy Waters, Ruth Brown and Little Walter. We'll also dig on some certified crossover hits from Chuck Berry, The El Dorados, The Platters and The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon. So grab a nickel, grab a dime and let's make some time with the top jukebox spinners from the first half of 1956 on this week's Jukebox Rhythm Review with host Matt The Cat.

George Goldner, Pt. 3 - Gone & End Records

It's part 3 of our 3 part series on record man, George Goldner. He is said to have had the "golden ear" for hit records and songwriter Jerry Leiber even complimented his talent for picking hit songs by saying that Goldner had, "the musical taste of a fourteen-year-old-girl." Born to Jewish immigrants in 1919, Goldner's first love was Latino dance music and he began his career by opening night clubs and starting Tico Records, a Latino label in 1948. By 1953, he was interested in Rhythm & Blues and began releasing records under the Rama subsidiary. In early 1954, he set up Gee Records and scored a huge hit in early '56 with The Teenagers, "Why Do Fools Fall In Love." By mid-'57, due to his gambling debts, Goldner sold Tico, Rama and Gee to alleged mobster Morris Levy. This week, we will take a close look at Goldner's last R&B labels that he would run independently: Gone & End Records. Both new labels did well with Gone scoring hits with NY vocal group, the Dubs and Goldner-arranged instrumental "7-11 (Mambo No. 5)" by the Gone All Stars featuring Buddy Lucas on tenor sax. End soon followed with million-sellers from The Chantels, The Imperials and The Flamingos. Both labels proved that Goldner still had the magic ear for picking the music teenagers wanted to hear and buy, but eventually both labels would face the same fate as Goldner's early record companies. You'll get the full story of Gone and End Records and the finale of George Goldner on this week's "Juke In The Back."

George Goldner, Pt. 2 - Gee Records

It's part 2 of our 3 part series on record man, George Goldner. He is said to have had the "golden ear" for hit records and songwriter Jerry Leiber even complimented his talent for picking hit songs by saying that Goldner had, "the musical taste of a fourteen-year-old-girl." Born to Jewish immigrants in 1919, Goldner's first love was Latino dance music and he began his career by opening night clubs and starting Tico Records, a Latino label in 1948. By 1953, he was interested in Rhythm & Blues and began releasing records under the Rama subsidiary. We featured Rama Records in part 1. This week, the "Juke In The Back" with Matt The Cat will take a close look at Goldner's second R&B label, Gee Records. It's been said that the label was named after the huge success of The Crows single, "Gee" on Rama Records, but it's more likely that he named the Gee label after himself. Gee was very vocal group focused and we'll hear seldom-played classic records from The Coins, The Five Crowns, The Valtones, The Debonaires and The Quintones. Goldner scored the biggest and most influential hit of his entire career on Gee with "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" by The Teenagers featuring 14 year old Frankie Lymon. The late, great Herbie Cox of The Cleftones was in Goldner's office when the Teenagers auditioned as The Premiers and we'll hear Herbie recall that story as well as how the Cleftones came to sign with Goldner. Next week, we'll close the series with a spotlight on Gone and End Records, Goldner's last 2 labels under his stewardship.

George Goldner, Pt. 1 - Rama Records

We begin a multi-part series on record man, George Goldner. He is said to have had the "golden ear" for hit records and songwriter Jerry Leiber even complimented his talent for picking hit songs by saying that Goldner had, "the musical taste of a fourteen-year-old-girl." Born to Jewish immigrants in 1919, Goldner's first love was Latino dance music and he began his career by opening night clubs and starting Tico Records, a Latino label in 1948. By 1953, he was interested in Rhythm & Blues and began releasing records under the Rama subsidiary. This week, we'll take a close look at Goldner's first R&B label, which helped put Rock n' Roll on the musical map with the 1953 smash, "Gee," by New York vocal group, The Crows. "Gee" crossed over to a very respectable #14 on the pop chart and just might be the first Rock n' Roll hit by a Rock n' Roll group. From there, Goldner signed The Wrens, The Valentines, The Joytones, The Heartbeats, The Harptones and other NY groups that are now considered vocal group royalty. His house band was led by the tenor great, Jimmy Wright, who put his sax stamp on all these classic records for Goldner's various labels. Next week in part 2, Matt The Cat will focus on Gee Records as we continue our look into the ground-breaking labels of George Goldner.

Notes: Matt The Cat presents the soul that came before rock n' roll: 1950s rhythm and blues. Each week, this underrated and rollicking music plays on that old Rockola Jukebox in the back.

If you wanted to hear rhythm & blues during the 1950s, you couldn't get it from the juke box in the front. No, no! In order to hear that glorious, down and dirty R&B, you had to go to the low-lit, spit-shined "Juke In The Back." These songs are the building blocks of rock n' roll. These are the records that inspired Elvis and single-handedly led to the rock n' roll explosion of the mid-1950s. Big Joe Turner, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, Wynonie Harris, LaVern Baker, Roy Brown, Joe Liggins, Professor Longhair and many more take center stage on The Juke In The Back. Matt The Cat hosted a similar program on XM Satellite Radio called "Harlem" and now he brings this great music and information to Pacifia.

1946: Jukebox Rhythm Review, Pt. 2

The "Juke In The Back" once again puts our old Rockola Jukebox in the forefront as we spotlight the biggest Rhythm & Blues jukebox hits of 1946. This week, in part 2, we'll focus on the second half of the year, featuring three #1s from Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five. During 1946, Jordan held the top spot on the Race Record Chart for an incredible 35 weeks. The King Cole Trio scores one of their most memorable hits, "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons," which tops the Pop Chart, but only makes it to #3 R&B. The Ink Spots continue to dominate, but like Nat "King" Cole, they're scoring bigger Pop Hits. Jay McShann tells us about his "Voodoo Woman Blues," while Roosevelt Sykes takes us down that "Sunny Road." T-Bone Walker, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup and Julia Lee make appearances as well as Bull Moose Jackson, who makes his first chart appearance in the middle of 1946 for Queen Records. Matt The Cat wraps up 1946 with movie and sports highlights and as always, the "story behind the story," on some of the greatest blues and rhythm records of all-time.

1946: Jukebox Rhythm Review, Pt. 1

Kick off the New Year, by looking back 80 years to 1946! The "Juke In The Back" once again puts our old Rockola Jukebox in the forefront as we spotlight the biggest Rhythm & Blues jukebox hits of 1946. In part 1, we'll focus on the first half of the year, featuring Wynonie "Mr. Blues" Harris' first hit as a solo artist and bandleader with Illinois Jacquet's group backing him up. Louis Jordan scores 2 #1s during the first half of the year, while Lionel Hampton holds to top spot for 16 non-consecutive weeks. The Ink Spots score the biggest record of the year with "The Gypsy," which actually sold more copies to Pop audiences and remained #1 on the Pop Chart for an impressive 13 weeks. Roy Milton, Billy Eckstine, The King Cole Trio and The Blues Woman all make appearance on this week's show. Next week, we'll dig in on the second half of the hugely musically significant year of 1946 on the Juke In The Back.

Christmas Leftovers & New Year's Resolutions

Matt The Cat has dug up some more R&B Christmas treasures and added a few tunes about New Years for this weeks continuation of the Juke In The Back R&B Christmas Spectacular. The holiday juke is jumpin with cool tunes by Big John Greer, Champion Jack Dupree, Lowell Fulson, The Moonglows, Marvin & Johnny and many more. The range of topics is wide, from dancing Santas to lonely Christmases to making up with your baby on New Years Eve. Miss Rosie stops by with her New Year's resolution. So get hungry for some Christmas leftovers and plan to end the year on a high note with Matt The Cat on the Juke In The Back.

R&B Christmas

Go ahead, grab a glass of 'nog, sit back and relax and dig on some great vintage Rhythm & Blues Christmas tunes. This entire Juke In The Back is loaded with fantabulous Christmas records from the late 1940s and 1950s. Its the yuletide soul that came before rock n roll. From the all-time classics by Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters and The Orioles to some rarer Christmas plattahs from Amos Milburn, JB Summers and The Five Keys. So get all lit up like a Christmas Tree and groove to the Cool Yule with Matt The Cat.

Don & Dewey

Don Bowman and Dewey Terry never scored a national hit record, but together as the 1950s duo Don & Dewey, they remain one of R&B and early Rock n' Roll's best kept secrets. They grew up as friends in Pasadena, CA, joining fellow students at John Muir High School to form The Squires. In 1955, the group scored a local Los Angeles hit with "Sindy," which has since become a vocal group classic, but when no follow-up hits materialized, Don & Dewey were persuaded to go off on their own by local manager John Criner. After a few sides for local labels Spot and Shade tanked, Criner sold their contract off to Art Rupe, owner of the much larger Specialty Records in LA. Rupe and his A&R man, Bumps Blackwell worked with Don (who was now known as Don Harris) & Dewey, trying to turn their frantic brand of up-tempo jump blues into something, but it never really caught on. Don & Dewey remarkably wrote most of their own material, which was not a standard practice back in the '50s and though they couldn't score hits with their own recordings, other artists were able to. Dale and Grace took Don & Dewey's "I'm Leaving It All Up To You" to the top of the pop chart (#6 R&B) in '63 and the Righteous Brothers cracked the pop chart with their version of "Justine" in '65. The Olympics made a hit out of "Big Boy Pete" in '60, while The Premiers entered the top 20 with "Farmer John" in '64. This week, Matt The Cat reveals the story of one of early Rock's craziest duos as he loads the ol' Rockola Juke with their jumpin', jivin' sides on the Juke In The Back.

R&B Car Songs

The juke is jumpin' with records focusing on classic R&B songs about cars. The automobile is a "road tested" symbol of the American Dream. We have all this land and the car gives us the freedom to get from one place to another. We'll dig on some tunes about Cadillacs, Buicks, Mercurys and Model Ts. Chuck Berry, who made his early career on youth-oriented car songs will make a few appearances. Plus, musicologists Billy Vera and Steve Propes drop by the "Juke In The Back" to make their cases that the first rock n' roll song might have been about a car. So grab your keys and prepare to be taken for a ride on this week's "Juke In The Back" with Matt The Cat.