(Redd Foxx was born Jon Elroy Sanford in Dec 1922, in the poor part of St.
Louis, Missouri [younger brother of Fred G. Sanford Jr.]; he died on the set of
'The Royal Family' TV show in Oct 1991 - by then he had hit hard times and was
said to owe about $3 million to the IRS.) {Walter "Dootsie" Williams also died
in 1991}
"Lucky Guy" is on Savoy 630-B from 1946.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lBclOZYktk
I have the A side, "Let's Wiggle A Little Woogie"
(red Savoy label says: Vocal by REDD FOXX, KENNY WATT'S BROOKLYN BUDDIES, Kenny
Watts, Piano: {Stafford} "Pazzuza" Simon, Tenor Sax: ... )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_jBE5x-6U4
the band was actually Kenny Watts & His Jumpin' Buddies
Recorded Sept 30, 1946 in Newark, NYC, under the direction of Savoy's top
producer Teddy Reig, together with four other tracks, "Let's Wiggle A Little
Woogie" was Redd's first recording:
http://www.jazzdisco.org/savoy-records/discography-1946/
* Savoy 630 Redd Foxx/Kenny Watts - Let's Wiggle A Little Woogie / Lucky Guy
* Savoy 631 Redd Foxx/Kenny Watts - Fine Jelly Blues / Redd Foxx Blues
* Savoy 645 Pete Brown - Back Talk Boogie {not RF} / Shame On You
"While the tunes had a bluesy feel they also had a humorous edge, which not only
helped to turn the focus away from Redd's voice, which was serviceable at best,
and hadn't yet developed its later gravelly growl, but also played off the hip
attitude of "the funniest dishwater on this earth" {a comment made by a once
close friend, later known as Malcolm X, referring to the time when Redd, then
known as Chicago Red, kept the kitchen staff in stitches as he washed dishes at
Jimmy's Chicken Shack in Harlem during 1943}."
" 'Lucky Guy' was the funniest of Redd's five Savoy tracks, an upbeat number in
which Redd sings about his woman, who he knows will never go out and cheat on
him because of her physical ailments - lyrics that would have been perfectly
suited to future {1972} 'Sanford and Son' junk dealer Fred G. Sanford."
Redd Foxx EP and LP discography 1946 - 1962 {1956 - 1967} [all on Dootone/Dooto]
http://www.bsnpubs.com/la/dootone/dootone.html
"the vast majority of the albums released by the label were raunchy party
records, or "blue" material. As with most comedy records before the late 1960s,
the language on these discs was not actually obscene at all, but rather,
"suggestive," with the double-entendres. But in the 1950s, these records stayed
under the record store counter unless somebody came in and asked for them. The
most successful comedian on the label was Redd Foxx (real name: John Elroy
Sanford), and he sold thousands of records on college campuses before most
people ever heard of him. Redd Foxx was a comedian on the burlesque circuit,
providing the comedy routines between the strippers. He had teamed up in
Baltimore in the early 1950s with comedian Slappy White as the duo "Redd &
White." After the duo agreed to go their separate ways in the mid-1950s, Foxx
relocated to California and signed a long contract with Dootsie Williams'
Dootone label. Foxx and Williams had a falling out around 1963, but Foxx was
legally tied to Dooto until Frank Sinatra bought his contract for Sinatra's Loma
label in 1967.
Geoff