BIG BOB DOUGHERTY and his Orchestra
Mar 54
503-A - Whale (Don Carlos Music)
(B Dougherty)
503-B - Okey Pretty Baby (Don Carlos Music)
(L Dougherty)
COSMOPOLITAN RECORDS 503
458 4th Avenue, Leavensworth, KS
503-A is a tuff fast Rhythm and Blues tenor sax instrumental led by Dougherty and accompanied by piano, bass, drums and guitar. Nice drum solo near the end of side A. Slightly shaky Vocals on 503-B is by Lonnie Dougherty, who I presume is a brother of Bob. Note the dodgy spelling on the label (which makes me wonder if “Whale” was supposed to be “Wail”.) Regardless, it’s a nice tune with good piano, sax and guitar solos. It bring up an image in my mind of a tiny, dimly-lit stage in some smokey bar with all the customers sitting around very small tables.
Despite being quite a prolific recording artist, I haven’t as yet nailed down any kind of biography on Bob. He was based at the time of this recording around Leavensworth, KS but played and recorded across the Missouri river in Kansas City, MO. He recorded for Westport, KCM, Kay and Cardinal - all out of K City - and also recorded for Decca and the Long Island Shelley/Golden Crest label set-up. According to notes by John Broven on the Golden Crest Instrumental CD (ACE CDCHD 724), Bob’s band probably featured Elsie Carr (piano), Ted Williams (Gtr), Jackie Lewis (Bs) and Corky Jackson (dms) in 1959.
Don Carlos Music appears on quite a few releases on Wolf-Tex Records (Wolf City, TX)
Source: Phillip J Tricker
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These labels shots bring back memories. I was over at Ray Topping's house one day and saw a batch of his more recent 78s. Suddenly I was confronted with this record and after taking a second look realized that it was the long missing 503 that we thought we'd never find. I pointed it out but being as it is R&B, it hadn't entered Ray's mind either. Anyway, I reported it back to PJ who in time made an offer that Ray couldn't refuse and here it is.
ReplyDeleteDave Sax