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United Records was founded in 1951 by A&R man Lew Simpkins and his financial partner Leonard Allen. Nighthawk was the only true Delta bluesman on United's roster and they might have been looking at Chess's success with their roster of popular Delta bluesmen. Only two years previously did Nighthawk score big on Aristocrat (soon to become Chess) with his doubled sided hit "Sweet Black Angel/Annie Lee" and the company obviously hoped for a repeat of this success. United recorded him on their very first day of sessions and two of United's first five releases were by "Robert Nighthawk and his Nighthawks Band." Sales never took off and Nighthawk headed back south and wouldn't record again until 1964.
Robert Nighthawk's complete recordings for the United label are collected on "Bricks in My Pillow" a tremendous collection that has recently been reissued on CD with some previously unreleased material. Nighthawk recorded two sessions for United, one on July 12, 1951 and one on October 25, 1952 for its subsidiary States. |
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United's
Leonard Allen scoffed: "Robert Nighthawk? I didn't think nothin'
of him. I didn't go into those joints where they were playing. Lew knew
him- he had Robert Nighthawk in mind for the first session. So after
he cut the session it did nothin'."9
On
his prior records for Chess Nighthawk stuck mostly to a slow, somber
tempo but these sides find him backed by a swinging combo that propels
him almost to the verge of rock and roll on up tempo numbers. The barrelhouse
piano of Roosevelt Sykes and Bob Call or Curtis Jones teamed with the
rock solid drumming of Jump Jackson and Ransom Knowling's snapping bass
lend plenty of excitement while Nighthawk plays some magnificent slide.
Nighthawk's deep mellow voice is perfectly suited to the music as well.
These recordings represent Nighthawk melding the sound of the Delta
with the more urbane sounds of post war Chicago. While these recordings
are more stylistically diverse than his Chess sides they also contained
fewer originals. Most of these songs had been in his repertoire for
years. Nighthawk originally recorded "Take It Easy Baby" back
in 1937 for Bluebird, "The Moon is Rising" was a staple of
his King Biscuit shows and was a remake of Ivory Joe Hunter's 1945 hit
"Blues At Sunrise" (covered prior to Nighthawk's version by
Charley Booker who cut it as "Moonrise Blues" for Modern's
Blues & Rhythm subsidiary in 1952 and Nighthawk's drummer Kansas
City Red often sang the song), while "Nighthawk Boogie" was
his theme song on the broadcasts. "You Missed A Good Man"
was a song Nighthawk likely picked up from Tampa Red who recorded the
song in 1935. The basis of the song actually goes back much further
being copyrighted by Clarence Williams in 1915 as "You Missed A
Good Woman When You Picked All Over Me." The song was first recorded
by Trixie Smith in 1922 and again in 1923 by Eva Taylor the wife of
Clarence Williams. Tampa reworked the lyrics but the the tune and chorus
are identical. "Bricks
In My Pillow" was another cover originally recorded
by Bumble Bee Slim in 1935, "Kansas City" was a cover of Jim
Jackson's 1927 classic and "Seventy-Four" was a song originally
cut by Johnnie Temple as "Gonna Ride 74" for Decca in 1938
and later covered by Willie Love & His Three Aces as "74 Blues"
for the Trumpet label in 1951. "Maggie
Campbell", taken
here with an unusual rhythm that sounds like a big band rumba, was
a song Nighthawk likely picked up through Tommy Johnson who
recorded the song in 1928 as "Maggie
Campbell Blues"
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*Previously unissued Tracks 1,2,6,7,12: Robert
Nighthawk- Guitar, Vocals Robert
Nighthawk- Guitar, Vocals Tracks 1, 2, 4-5, 7, 12 can be found on "Robert Nighthawk: Prowling With The Nighthawk" (Document DOCD-32-20-6) All tracks can be found on "Bricks in My Pillow" (Delmark 711)
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Label scans courtesy Nugrape Records |
