The Joe Rock Orchestra from CT
John Prytko
Connecticut area. The big band of JOE ROCK (a ten piece orch.) had
recorded FIVE lp albums and was playing the East coast from New England
to NY, NJ and PA to some of the biggest polka crowds around in the
1950s. They had a tough, driving sound that evolved from the
arrangements of Ken Morey and the 10 musicians in the band.
JOE ROCK was the drummer and the leader; Johnny Dyno was the accordion
player and vocalist; they also had three reed men and two trumpets and a
trombone player along with a full rhythm section of piano, bass and
drums. They trombone was used for fill-ins and often played the 3rd
harmony along with the trumpets for a very definitive and punchy sound.
Joe's 1st album was on Stella records (Bernie Witkowski's record company
)and was a re-release of all of his 45 rpm recordings featuring tunes
such as: The Thunder and Lightning P. an instrumental reminiscent of the
descriptive style of the Romantic period of the 1800s.some of the other
songs from this album included: Over and Under P. and Bull's Eye P.;
Joe's 2nd lp was also on Stella records and was called "Rock Plays a
Party". It featured some very good polka vocals amongst other tunes.
Vocals included: Rock Plays a Party; The Drive in P., and The Girls From
Jersey.
Joe's 3rd album was all instrumentals also on Stella records. The album
was called "The Joe Rock Orch" like the first album. The songs on this
album were all instrumentals and included: Sweetie Pie P (the old
Kohanka P.), Siesta P. and The Clarinet A-la mode P.
His 4th album was on Al Soyka's company name..Glo Records out of CT. The
album was called "The Joe Rock Orch" like the first album and featured a
tune called: Annabelle P. as a vocal.
His final album was recorded on ABC Paramount lable out of NYC(I think)
and featured the Clarinet P., Beer Barrel P. and the Pennsylvania P.. I
believe that he had four out of 12 cuts on this lp and included a total
of four polka bands.
Johnny Dyno took over after Joe died and used the same basic
arrangements while recording a few more recordings under the name of:
"Johnny Dyno and the Ten Pebble".
Some of JOE ROCK'S albums can be found here and there and swapped for
amongst polka fans even today. It you find any of these treasures, put
the music on the stereo, pull up the favorite chair, get your Cuban
cigar and sit back and enjoy the sounds from the glory days of when the
CT area had the best bands around.
Any recollections of the Joe Rock Orch music including the dances?
Johnny Prytko
* Mike Pacholski is one of the collectors of polka records should you be
interested in locating polka music. His address is:
<pach...@maverick.facil.uconn.edu>.
Pavlovjt1
A fine tribute to a tremendous band leader and his orchestra. His songs are as
vibrant and driving and thrilling to listen to now as they were back then. I
only had the chance to see him live once up at the old Lakewood Ballroom in
Barnesville, PA.
We keep him alive today by having our favorite Polka DJ, Georgie Kay on Cable
WALN FM, play one of his or Johnny Dyno's songs for us during the oldies
portion of his show.
I'll save your post and try to find some of those old albums. Do you know if
any have been recorded as cassettes or CD's?
John Pavlovcak
