My 100 Favorite R & B Artists.
SavoyBG
was make up a list of my 100 favorite R & B artists and then I did a countdown
in similar style to the vocal group survey shows that we do each year. Starting
with artist 100 and working my way down I would play a song by each artist and
then talk about the artist after the song, explaining why they made the list.
When I got to the top 10 or so I started playing at least two songs by each
artist. In selecting the songs I tried to play something that typified the
artist's style, although maybe not something that was too well known.
In order for an artist to have made the list, they had to have done at least a
couple of things that really moved me, and of course the overall amount of good
to great records that they made was a big factor. Here's the list of my 100
favorite R & B artists, counting down from #100 to #1.
100 - Magnificents - Not many records, but 3 or 4 of them just kill me.
99 - Jewels - Love their raw sound
98 - Floyd Dixon - Great Texas bluesman
97 - T-Bone Walker - Tremendous guitar innovator
96 - Roy Milton - Monster West Coast R & B kingpin
95 - Diablos - Tremendous unique Detroit group sound
94 - Charms - Essentially a "cover" group, but made lots of very good sides
93 - Four Buddies - First of many Balt-Wash, DC groups on the list
92 - Sam Cooke / Soul Stirrers - Made alot of pop oriented stuff, but enough R
& B to get him on here including the Soul Stirrers years.
91 - Lavern Baker - Several killers
90 - Valentines - Ultimate in that Rama/Gee NY uptempo sound
89 - Bobby Mitchell & Toppers - New Orleans
88 - James "Sugarboy" Crawford - Some killers recorded for Chess and Imperial
87 - Larks - Killer ballads and some fine uptempo sides too
86 - Castelles - Didn't make that many records, but several sensational ballads
85 - Slim Harpo - Uncompromising sound right into the late 60's
84 - Willie Mabon - First of many Chicago bluesmen.
83 - Heartbeats - Numerous sensational NYC ballads.
82 - Charles Brown - Premier song stylist with classic X-mas sides
81 - Lowell Fulsom - Underrated great bluesman.
80 - Little Jr. Parker - Stupendous smokers on Sun and Duke
79 - Lloyd Price - Great material for Specialty and KRC, went downhill with Don
Costa after "Stagger Lee."
78 - Flairs/Young Jessie - West Coast R & B, baby!!!!
77 - Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - Huge influence on 50's rock and roll
76 - Freddy King - B.B. King deciphle
75 - Ravens - Pioneer group with great singers
74 - Professor Longhair - Pioneer artist of my favorite sound - New Orleans R &
B
73 - Shirley & Lee - Lots of smokers for Aladdin and Imperial
72 - Ike & Tina Turner - Great until she sold out to pop
71 - Little Milton - 35 years of excellent material. Bobbin sides are
unheralded.
70 - Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson - Classic blues shouter
69 - Big Maybelle - She moves me, baby!!!
68 - Champion Jack Dupree - Legendary bluesman
67 - Guitar Slim - Unique killer bluesman
66 - Smokey & Miracles - Not that big on Motown, but liked loads of his records
65 - Jr. Walker & All-Stars - Not the typical "Motown Sound."
64 - Little Walter - Muddy Waters band member made it on his own
63 - Penguins - Alot more to these guys than "Earth Angel"
62 - Chuck Willis - Atlanta R & B burner
61 - Roy Brown - Great New Orleans blues shouter
60 - Cardinals - Classics on Atlantic
59 - Lamplighters - Underrated killer group
58 - Solomon Burke - Sweatin, preachin, testifying, baby...that's R & B
57 - Ruth Brown - Queen of R & B from 1950 to 1955
56 - Sam and Dave - Uncompromising Southern soul
55 - Nat "King" Cole - Made alot of pop, but lots of good R & B too.
54 - Harptones - One of NYC's finest
53 - Solitaires - Spectacular sided for Hy Weiss's Old Town banner
52 - Marvin and Johnny - Modern stuff is sensation. Great on Specialty and
Aladdin too
51 - Cadillacs - Legendary NYC sound
50 - Dinah Washington - Could do it all, pop, jazz, country, R & B etc....
49 - Coasters - Some novelty stuff wears thin, but lots of great records in
there
48 - Moonglows - Great until late '56, then changed their style
47 - J.B. Lenore - Unuique and grossly underrated bluesman
46 - John Lee Hooker - Did it for 50 years!!!
45 - Buddy and Ella Johnson - Ella had the sexiest voice in R & B
44 - Ivory Joe Hunter - Great sides from mid-40's to the late 50's
43 - Wilson Pickett - Legendary soulman started with the Falcons
42 - Jerry Butler - Soul stylist supreme
41 - Louis Jordan - Grandfather of R & B
40 - Amos Milburn - Tops among boogie woogie sound
39 - Impressions - Superb soul sound after 50's start
38 - Aretha Franklin - Picked up where Dinah Washington left off
37 - Huey "Piano" Smith - Unbelievable New Orleans party music
36 - Jimmy Reed - One record after the other, all great for mamy years
35 - Jackie Wilson - Great transitional artist (R & B into soul)
34 - Checkers - Underrated killer group, ballads and uptempo
33 - Five Keys - Could have been higher, they didn't have that one side that
really destroyed me.
32 - Wynonie Harris - Blues shouter extraordinaire
31 - Dells - Over 40 years of super material
30 - Dominoes - Big dropoff after leaving Federal or would be higher
29 - Temptations - Tons of classic sides!!!
28 - Elmore James - Took about influence!!!
27 - Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) - Uncompromising harp blues sound
26 - El Dorados - Baby I Need You/My Loving Baby just crushes me
25 - Flamingos - Sound like angels
24 - Bobby "Blue" Bland - Great for 45 years now
23 - Swallows - Totally unique sound. Denby and Rich equally awesome
22 - Jimmy McCracklin - Great soul-blues sound for almost 50 years
21 - Chuck Berry - More of a rock and roller, but made lots of R & B
20 - Little Esther - My favorite female artist, her best is "Aged and Mellow"
19 - Orioles - What can I say?
18 - Howlin' Wolf - Killer
17 - Bo Diddley - His first LP is my favorite album other than "greatest hits"
things
16 - Ray Charles - Could do everything, killer stuff on Atlantic
15 - Five Royales - Virtually ignored by most group collectors
14 - Hank Ballard and Midnighters/Royals - Both sides of everything were great
from the beginning into the 60's
13 - Spiders - New Orleans sound with a great group!!!
12 - Sticks McGhee - That's right, Sticks McGhee at # 12. His King material is
awesome
11 - Spaniels - Loads of killers for VJ
10 - Robins - Bobby Nunn and the boys are tough to beat
9 - Muddy Waters - Emperor of Chicago blues
8 - Drifters - Still making great songs into the 90's!!!!
7 - James Brown - The King
6 - Clovers - The top group on the list.
5 - B.B. King - He's been moving up for years. Made more singles than any
artist who ever recorded!!!!
4 - Joe Turner - About a dozen things on Atlantic are absolute killers!!!
3 - Smiley Lewis - Grossly underrated
2 - Little Richard - RCA and Peacock stuff is sensational,
Specialty = AWESOME
1 - Fats Domino - Great sides one after the other, I collected his records
with a frenzy for many years.
Bill Bugge
SavoyBG wrote in message <19990108010321...@ng139.aol.com>...
What I did
>was make up a list of my 100 favorite R & B artists
>21 - Chuck Berry - More of a rock and roller, but made lots of R & B
>
> 2 - Little Richard - RCA and Peacock stuff is sensational,
> Specialty = AWESOME
>
> 1 - Fats Domino - Great sides one after the other, I collected his
records
>with a frenzy for many years.
Interesting list. I compliment you on many fine choices. I would like to
ask, however, if you rate Chuck Berry below Little Richard and Fats Domino
because you consider many of his records to not be R&B? Considering all his
records, would his rating change, especially versus the other two?
>
>
>
--
Bill Bugge
-----------------------------------
Remove one "b" from address to reply.
>
SavoyBG
and Fats Domino because you consider many of his records to not be R&B?
Considering all his
records, would his rating change, especially versus the other two?>>
Fats and Little Richard would both be in the top 5 of any list I did, whether
it's broken down by R & B, or just my top artists of any kind. Chuck would move
up a little on an all-encompassing list, but not quite into the top 10.
I prefer the sax/piano sound of the early to mid-50's to the guitar sound of
Chuck Berry. Plus Chuck has no early records at all as he never recorded on his
own until 1955. Fats Domino had 24 singles (48 songs) out by the time Berry
started. Richard had his tremendous RCA stuff along with the Peacock material
before Berry ever started.
Also, Berry never made a good ballad in his career. All these factors keep him
a little outside of my overall top 10.
Delwoodjef
I got down to the top four of your list and was pleasently surprised.
I don't know a lot about the Smiley Lewis tracks, I have a few; the other three
guys, Richard, Joe Turner, and Fats, well what can I say. I really like Joe
Turner's stuff.
RCosta1
Smiley kicks ass. Or at least he did. Bruce , I wont waste my time maaking out
a list. I ll just adopt yours. Cant argue with any of them. Ron
Bob Roman
> 16 - Ray Charles - Could do everything, killer stuff on Atlantic
Yes, he could do everything. He didn't cross categories--he transcended
them. He is rivaled only by Picasso as possible artist of the century.
He is 15 spots too low.
> 92 - Sam Cooke / Soul Stirrers - Made alot of pop oriented stuff, but enough R
> & B to get him on here including the Soul Stirrers years.
And poor Sam is 90 spots too low.
These two men invented soul.
Bob Roman
SavoyBG
Come on, what about Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, etc..
Mark Dintenfass
(SavoyBG) wrote:
Granted Chuck was no ballad singer, but his Charles Brownish "Drifting
Blues" isn't bad at all, and "Havana Moon" isn't bad either. But I can see
where someone whose first love is sax-oriented r&b would put Chuck lower
on the list than us Chuck-worshippers since his style actually derives as
much from country and hard blues as it does from r&b. He did, nonetheless,
consider Louid Jordan to be his main inspiration.
--
md
Jim Colegrove
Where does the Louis Jordan inspiration reference come from? In "Chuck
Berry: The Autobiography" the only mention of Louis Jordan is in
reference to Louis's guitarist Carl Hogan. In his Rolling Stone
interview, his references to influences are Charlie Christian, Carl
Hogan and T-Bone Walker.
--
Jim Colegrove
co...@dfw.net
*Visit The Cool Groove*
http://www.dfw.net/~coolg
Mark Dintenfass
> Mark Dintenfass wrote:
> >
> > In article <19990108100531...@ng118.aol.com>, sav...@aol.com
> > (SavoyBG) wrote:
> >
> >
> > Granted Chuck was no ballad singer, but his Charles Brownish "Drifting
> > Blues" isn't bad at all, and "Havana Moon" isn't bad either. But I can see
> > where someone whose first love is sax-oriented r&b would put Chuck lower
> > on the list than us Chuck-worshippers since his style actually derives as
> > much from country and hard blues as it does from r&b. He did, nonetheless,
> > consider Louis Jordan to be his main inspiration.
> >
>
> Where does the Louis Jordan inspiration reference come from? In "Chuck
> Berry: The Autobiography" the only mention of Louis Jordan is in
> reference to Louis's guitarist Carl Hogan. In his Rolling Stone
> interview, his references to influences are Charlie Christian, Carl
> Hogan and T-Bone Walker.
Fair question, and I'm embarrassed that can't find a source in my few
files. (I have the Rolling Stone interview and thought it was from there,
but, as you say, it isn't.) Nonetheless, I am fairly confident that he
made the statement in some interview or article, possibly another piece in
Rolling Stone. I think he meant he derived his use of comedy and
story-telling in his work from Jordan, though I probably should have said
more accurately that Jordan was "one of his main inspirations" rather than
implying he was the foremost one. Chuck has always given lots of credit to
Muddy Waters and Charles Brown, along with the names you mention.
--
md
SavoyBG
>BURNING slow blues.
I agree that "Wee Wee Hours" is a real good slow blues record, but I wouldn't
call it a ballad. My point was that Chuck Berry is really not a great singer.
Bob Roman
> >
> > Where does the Louis Jordan inspiration reference come from? In "Chuck
> > Berry: The Autobiography" the only mention of Louis Jordan is in
> > reference to Louis's guitarist Carl Hogan. In his Rolling Stone
> > interview, his references to influences are Charlie Christian, Carl
> > Hogan and T-Bone Walker.
From the R&RHoF Jordan bio: (http://www.rockhall.com/induct/jordloui.html)
Jordan not only supplied a good deal of the slang of early rock and roll
but also directly influenced the freewheeling spirit of its
progenitors, including Bill Haley and Chuck Berry. The latter paid
tribute to Jordan with this simple declaration: "I identify myself
with Louis Jordan more than any other artist."
Bob Roman
Mark Dintenfass
Bob Roman <ro...@xp.psych.nyu.edu> wrote:
Thanks a million, Bob. I was fairly sure I hadn't dreamt the Berry quote
about Jordan. Now I wonder what the source for the HoF quote is.
--
md