In 1947, Jack Lauderdale founded Down Beat Records in Los Angeles. Two years later, the company name was changed to Swing Beat or Swing Records, and then in 1950 that became Swing Time Records. The company traded for another three years before going bankrupt.
Lauderdale’s first recording sessions were actually begun in 1946, but no discs were issued until the following year. He signed the Lucky Thompson Quartet and Felix Gross & His Sextet in the early days of Down Beat Records.
In order to build a reasonable stock of recordings as quickly as possible, Lauderdale also leased masters from Leroy Hurte’s Bronze label, Bob Geddins’ trio of labels (Big Town, Down Town, and Cava-Tone), and the Rene LaMarre/ Bob Geddins label Trilon. These deals gave him the opportunity to re-issue tracks by the Five Soul Stirrers (from Bronze) and Jimmy McCrackin & His Blues Blasters (from Trilon). The deal that Lauderdale struck with Bob Geddins also included an arrangement whereby Lauderdale was able to lease a number of tracks by Lowell Fulson, which he put out on the Down Beat label. When Fulson’s contract with Geddins expired, Lauderdale was able to sign him to Swing Beat and Swing Time.
In 1949, the first label name change occurred, as the result of a legal challenge from Downbeat, the Jazz magazine. The new name Swing or Swing Beat Records was very short-lived, with just a handful of singles issued, before the name changed again to Swing Time.
In 1950, further deals were struck with Leon René at Exclusive Records and Al Patrick at Supreme Records which gave Lauderdale access to all Mabel Scott’s and Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers’ Exclusive masters, plus all the Supreme masters. He was then able to re-issue recordings by Jimmy Witherspoon, Paula Watson, Percy Mayfield, Floyd Dixon, and several Gospel acts.
Lauderdale also continued to sign new names to his label, the best-known of which were Pete Johnson’s Band with Big Joe Turner and the Maxin Trio with Ray Charles.
An important addition to any new label is a Head of A&R. Lauderdale signed piano player Lloyd Glenn to lead the label’s session band, to organise the studio sessions, and to arrange all the music being recorded. Glenn was also a recording artist in his own right who, along with Lowell Fulson, gave the company its biggest hits.
Lauderdale also released singles by a significant number of Gospel singers, including
Sister Katty Marie, The Wingmen Quartet, The Golden Echoes, the Sally Martin Singers, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who recorded just one single with Sister Katty Marie and the D.B. Trio for Down Beat, probably in 1948.
The impact of the double change of name on the company’s releases was minimised by the decision to continue the numbering that was started for Down Beat, with the first release assigned the number 100. All subsequent releases on the three labels ran consecutively from 1947 to 1954, when the last single was released, number 347. A subsidiary label, Flame Records, was used for nine issues, numbered 1001 to 1009.
Ray Charles began recording as a solo artist in 1950 and was able to achieve a consistent level of local sales without breaking through nationally. Fulson, meanwhile, had six top ten national hits, with one number one, “Blue Shadows”, in 1950. Lloyd Glenn came up with two major hits, one of which, “Chica Boo”, went to number one in 1951.
That was as good as it got for Swing Time. The company’s output was generally Blues-based, but the Swing Time sound was unable to compete with the electric Blues coming out of Chicago. As success levels fell, Lauderdale decided to leave the industry to move into tourism and hotels. Lowell Fulson left to join Aladdin Records in 1952 and Ray Charles went to Atlantic. The company ceased recording in 1953 and sold its last stock in 1954.
Artists at Down Beat/ Swing/ Swing Beat/ Swing Time
Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner had three single releases on Down Beat in 1948 and 1949, followed by one on Swing Time for Johnson in 1950. They were both from Kansas City, Missouri, where they became close friends. Johnson was an outstanding Boogie-Woogie pianist and Turner was a Blues shouter. In 1945, the two of them set up the Blue Moon Club in Los Angeles, which gave them the opportunity to record in the city.
Pete Johnson
From the William P. Gottlieb collection at the Library of Congress. (Wikimedia Commons)
Johnson had started out as a drummer in 1922, but by 1926 he was working as a pianist, often alongside Turner. In 1936, he came to the attention of John Hammond, playing at the Famous Door in New York City, and then appearing at Carnegie Hall in the From Spirituals to Swing concert in 1938 with his friend Turner. The two of them provided one of the shows highlights, helping to launch the Boogie-Woogie craze during the closing years of the thirties. Johnson also recorded with Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons. They were the big three of the Boogie-Woogie world. Johnson’s first recording was issued by Vocalion in 1938; it was “Boogie Woogie Prayer”, co-written and played by Lewis, Ammons and Johnson.
In 1939, Johnson teamed up with Turner to write and record “Goin’ Away Blues”/ “Roll ‘Em Pete” for Vocalion. Some critics have called it the first Rock & Roll single! Around ten years later, they were still going strong.
Big Joe Turner 1973
Heinrich Klaffs (Wikimedia Commons)
Their three Down Beat singles feature an orchestral backing, with Johnson on piano and Turner in fine voice. For the 1950 Swing Time single, label-owner Jack Lauderdale came up with “Rocket Boogie 88”, parts one and two. The session band consisted of Jewel Grant (alto saxophone), Ralph Hamilton (bass), Jessie Sailes (drums), Herman Mitchell (guitar), Maxwell Davis (tenor saxophone) and Pete Johnson on piano. It is a driving instrumental that no doubt inspired Ike Turner’s “Rocket 88” in 1951.
For Johnson and Turner, Down Beat and Spring Time were stepping stones to further successes. Turner went on to achieve a couple of number one hits on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart, “Honey Hush” in 1953 and “Shake, Rattle and Roll” in 1954, on the Atlantic label. Everyone knows Bill Haley’s version of the second of these, but that was just a cover of Turner’s spectacular original!
The Maxin Trio was formed in Seattle in 1948 by R. C. Robinson, his friend from Florida Garcia McKee (who had come to Seattle with Robinson) and Milton Garret (sometimes listed as Garred or Jarrett), known originally as the McSon Trio, inspired by two syllables from the names of McKee and Robinson.
The group played regularly at the Rocking Chair, a Jazz Club in the Jackson Street area during that year, where they were seen by Jackie McVea, a saxophonist who had come up from Los Angeles to play in Seattle. McVea was impressed by the trio, especially the pianist/vocalist R. C. Robinson, and that impression was reinforced when Robinson asked McVea if he could borrow his saxophone to play a solo during their performance. Robinson’s playing stunned McVea, who told some of his friends about it when he returned to California. One of those he spoke to was Jack Lauderdale, who decided to go to Seattle to hear the group for himself. He too was impressed and approached the trio to suggest that he would like to record them. Two tracks were chosen and recorded in Seattle. Lauderdale took the masters back to Los Angeles and a single was soon issued.
The A-side features a Bluesy Jazz ballad with a typical arrangement called “I Love You, I Love You”. Turning the disc over brings a surprise – a Blues ballad sung in a new style that is pure R&B, with a Blues guitar solo. It is a world away from the majority of the Race Records issued over the previous thirty years. “Confession Blues”, written by Robinson, introduces a new style and a new voice to the music of Los Angeles. The vocalist R. C. Robinson is noted on the disc label by his first names only, Ray Charles! He was just nineteen years old, blind, and a long way from his birthplace in Albany, Georgia, but he was on his way to becoming one of the most important figures in R&B history.
Five singles were released by the Maxin Trio in 1949, two on the Down Beat label and three on Swing Beat, including “Rockin’ Chair Blues”, a tribute to the Seattle venue. The follow-up singles reinforce the impression of innovation, consistently fusing Blues and Jazz, all sung and played with Soul. A second guitarist (Mitchell Webb) was added for “A Sentimental Blues”/ “You’ll Never Miss The Water (Until The Well Runs Dry)”. During this time, the trio were still in Seattle working, while fitting in recording sessions with Lauderdale.
In 1950, the name of the label changed to Swing Time, and the name of the trio changed to the Ray Charles Trio. The release of older recordings makes it difficult to track the group’s progress, especially as two solo releases by Ray Charles were also issued around this time. An added complication came that year, when Charles joined Lowell Fulson as a member of his touring band. The two solo singles, “Late In The Evening”/ “The Ego Song” and “I’ll Do Anything But work”/ “Someday”, were followed in 1951 by a Maxin Trio release, “Ain’t That Fine”/ “Don’t Put All Your Dreams In One Basket”. The two follow-up singles, both issued in 1951, were credited to the Ray Charles Trio. Between 1952 and 1954, when the last Swing Time records were issued, Ray Charles had five solo releases.
Many of the tracks have Big Band arrangements and Ray Charles models his vocals on Nat King Cole, but on the stand-out tracks, he returns to the Bluesy feel of “Confession Blues”. “Someday” and “Late In The Evening” are two good examples of the new style. Several of the other releases are ballads sung in the old orchestral style, with a few Jazz standards and the Rock & Roll “Kissa Me Baby” showing Charles’ versatility. “Why Did You Go” is a powerful Soul/Blues track. The best of all is probably “Hey Now”.
In June 1952, Ahmet Ertegun bought out Charles’ contract with Swing Time for two and a half thousand dollars (2025 value is approximately thirty thousand dollars) and Charles moved to Atlantic Records on the East Coast.
Jack Lauderdale still had a few tracks in the tape library at Swing Time, which he wanted to issue. The final Charles’ single on the old label, issued during 1953 when Charles had left, was “Misery In My Heart”/ “The Snow Is Falling”, which are both excellent! Ray Charles was at Lauderdale’s labels for only three years, but he had three top ten R&B hits in that time. “Confession Blues” went to number two, “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand” reached number five, and the Rock song “Kissa Me Baby” peaked at number eight. His first number one with Atlantic (“I’ve Got A Woman”) was only two years away.
In 1997, the New York company Night Train International issued a compilation of all the tracks Ray Charles recorded for Jack Lauderdale, entitled “The Complete Swing Time and Down Beat Recordings 1949-1952”. It is a double CD collection, featuring forty-five tracks, including several unissued songs and alternative versions of others. It is essential listening for all Ray Charles fans and for anyone interested in the origins of R&B.
Lowell Fulson benefitted from Bob Geddins’ policy of signing licencing deals with other companies. Having made six singles during his first two years at Geddins’ Big Town Records (1946 and 1947), Fulson’s recordings were then licensed to Jack Lauderdale’s labels. “Wee Hours In The Morning” was issued on Down Beat in 1947, with Fulson’s first name spelt Lowel, followed by eleven further singles in 1948.
Lowell Fulson in Paris in 1980
Photo: Lioneldecoster (Wikimedia Commons)
The only hit that Fulson had had on Bob Geddins’ Down Town label, “Three O’Clock Blues”, was re-issued by Lauderdale on Down Beat as “Three O’Clock In The Morning” but it failed to chart. The follow-up did much better. “Come Back Baby”, on Down Beat, reached number thirteen on the Billboard R&B Chart in 1949.
From that small start, things quickly expanded. Lauderdale had taken over Fulson’s contract when it expired in 1948 and he now made Fulson the number one artist at Swing Time. Ten singles by Fulson were released in 1950, five in 1951, three in 1952, and one in both 1953 and 1954, as Swing Time was being wound down. Several of these tracks feature Ray Charles on piano.
Five of these Swing Time singles made the R&B chart, “Every Day I Have The Blues” (number three), the Lloyd Glenn composition “Blue Shadows” (number one), “Lonesome Christmas (I & ll)” (number seven), “Low Society Blues” (number eight), all in 1950, and “I’m a Night Owl (l & ll)” (number ten) in 1951.
Lowell Fulson’s Number One Hit
The final Lowell Fulson release on Swing Time was “Cash Box Boogie”/ “My Daily Prayer” in 1954. As Jack Lauderdale had decided to sell up, Fulson switched to Checker in 1954. Before the year was up, Fulson was back at number three on the R&B Chart with “Reconsider Baby”! The eight years that Lowell Fulson spent recording in Los Angeles proved a good basis for his later work. He went on to have a long career.
One of the songs mentioned above has particular resonance for fans of B. B. King. “Three O’Clock Blues” was King’s first hit. King was a young DJ in Memphis when he first heard the song. He began to play it very positively and was given the song by Fulson as a mark of gratitude, including all the publishing rights too. A nice gift! King recorded it on the RPM label and took into the R&B Chart, where it stayed for seventeen weeks, including five weeks at number one in 1952. Fulson was a good songwriter!
He was also an innovator in terms of the Blues, taking inspiration from the Mississippi Delta Bluesmen but also from the slow swing of Lloyd Glenn on the piano. The number one hit “Blue Shadows” is musically sophisticated and has a distinctive alto saxophone backing courtesy of Earl Brown. The B-side, “Low Society Blues”, which also charted, has a guitar solo that shows off Fulson’s single-note style, that B. B. King also used. Both tracks are firmly on the R&B side of the Blues. Alongside T-Bone Walker, Fulson made Los Angeles and the West Coast an important area for the development of post-war Blues. He added Soul to his output in the sixties, writing “Tramp”, a song that Otis Redding and Carla Thomas took into the charts.
He deserves to be much better known.
