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Harlem – Week Of 8/25/08 – King Records Story, Pt. 2

21st August
2008
written by Matt The Cat
The
KING RECORDS
Story
Part 2

Matt The Cat finishes his review of The King Records R&B; Story with part 2 of 2 on this week’s Harlem. We’ll dig deep in the vaults and shine the spotlight on the great vocal groups, band leaders and blues shouters that came out of the King label before the rock n’ roll “explosion” of the mid-1950s. You’ll hear Little Willie John, Wynonie “Mr. Blues” Harris, Roy Brown, The “5” Royales, The Swallows and many more. Only King Records spin on my turntable this week.

Harlem Airs on XM-5:
Monday, 8/25 @ 1pm EST
Tuesday, 8/26 @ 9pm PST & midnight EST
Friday, 8/29 @ 6pm EST
Sunday, 8/31 @ 11am EST

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Harlem, Uncategorized

Jerry Wexler – R.I.P.

15th August
2008
written by Matt The Cat

Jerry Wexler

1917 – 2008

Jerry Wexler was one of those rocks in our business. It was like he was always there and now at age 91, the great record man, producer, journalist Jerry Wexler has left this Earth. In the 1940s he was an accomplished music journalist for Billboard Magazine, coining the phrase “rhythm and blues” to describe black recordings. Up to this point, Billboard referred to its black records chart as “race records” or even worse, “sepia records”. Jerry found a phrase that was not only more musically descriptive, but also far less insulting and divisive.

Ahmet Ertegun, the co-founder of Atlantic Records brought Jerry Wexler in to replace his departing partner, Herb Abramson in the early 1950s. Under Wexler and Ertegun, the label continued to thrive as Ray Charles hit his creative peak and R&B; slowly turned into soul music. During the mid-1960s, Ertegun began to focus more on signing the rock n’ roll acts (Cream, The Young Rascals, Led Zeppelin) while Jerry stayed true to his R&B;/Soul roots. He produced some of the greatest soul records of all time for the likes of Aretha Franklin and worked closely with the musicians of Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL and Stax in Memphis.

He published one of the greatest books on the music biz in “Rhythm & The Blues: A Life In American Music”. Jerry Wexler was a true American music pioneer and should always be remembered for his great contribution to the art form we love so much. I bet Ray Charles is filling Jerry in on all that’s gone on as they jam in that place where all the great spirits go. Jerry Wexler, R.I.P.

-Matt The Cat
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Harlem – Week Of 8/18/08 – King Records Story – Pt. 1

14th August
2008
written by Matt The Cat
The

KING RECORDS STORY

Part 1

Syd Nathan launched KING RECORDS in 1944 as a country & western label in his native Cincinnati. He controlled every aspect of the business from recording, record pressing, album jacket printing and even distribution. He got into the R&B; market in 1947 with the signing of Bull Moose Jackson. For the next 2 weeks, Matt The Cat digs deep into the satellite vaults to feature the hit, misses and influence of this “king of all labels”. There will be vocal group sounds from The Midnighters, The Swallows, The Dominoes and the “5” Royales as well as down-home R&B; from Bull Moose, James Brown, Little Willie John and Freddy King. This is part 1 of a 2 part special on The King Records Story.

Harlem Airs on the 50s on 5:
Monday 8/18 @ 1pm EST
Tuesday 8/19 @ 9pm PST and midnight EST
Friday 8/22 @ 6pm EST
Sunday 8/24 @ 11am EST

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Harlem, Uncategorized
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