Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Bobby Peterson Quintet - The Hunch - Love You Pretty Baby



Re-post since divshare screwed up the files for this post the 1st time. So here it is again and this time w/ a file that works for Love You Pretty Baby!

Bobby Peterson was a pianist / vocalist from Chester, Pennsylvania, who started out imitating Ray Charles in smoky little bars on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Further musical apprenticeship was served as piano player for a vocal outfit known as the Apollos. In 1958 Bobby teamed up with sax player Joe Pyatt, who needed a singer and key- board player for his new combo and the Bobby Peterson Quintet was born. The other members were David Butler (drums), Chico Green (bass) and Jamo Thomas (congas and bongo). They made six remarkable singles for Buddy Caldwell's Philly-based V-Tone label between 1959 and 1961, before disbanding permanently in 1962.

The band started to play in clubs with a mixed repertoire of current R&B hits, Ray Charles favourites and a few originals, when Lawrence Kerrin, a local talent scout and promoter, heard them at the Skyway Inn in southwest Philadelphia. Kerrin and Joe Pyatt collaborated writing the Quintet's first single, a simple sax/piano instrumental called "The Hunch". Kerrin introduced the combo to Buddy Caldwell, who operated his new V-Tone and Len labels out of the back of his upholstery store on Ridge Avenue. "The Hunch" (c/w the vocal "Love You Pretty Baby") managed to climb to # 71 on Billboard's national pop charts, but a note-for-note cover by Paul Gayten on the Gordy family's embryonic Anna imprint did slightly better, peaking at # 68 in November 1959.

The quintet followed this up with a powerful two-part instrumental, "Rockin' Charlie", which was used as a theme by ace deejay Jocko Henderson. They began doing one-nighters up and down the eastern seaboard, and were brought to Chicago by Buddy Caldwell to record their third single, the great "Irresistible You" (written by Luther Dixon), coupled with a wild instrumental, "Piano Rock". "Irresistible You" went to # 15 R&B and # 96 pop in the autumn of 1960 ; Bobby Darin would record the song a year later and take it to # 15 pop. The group was now touring all over the country, with stars like Jackie Wilson, Jerry Butler and Smokey Robinson.

"Been Saving My Love For You"/"Three Street" was the fourth V-Tone single for the Bobby Peterson Quintet. Released in early 1961, it was not as strong as the first three, but still sold quite well. "One Day"/ "Mama Get Your Hammer" probably got the least airplay of all six singles. The wild "Mama Get Your Hammer" should have been the A-side IMHO. This was followed by another great instrumental, "Smooth Sailin', Parts 1 & 2", which sold a fair amount. But the young musicians were already tiring of the hard road life and drummer David Butler chose to settle down and get steady work. Joe Pyatt, the real leader of the group, joined Dave "Baby" Cortez's combo as sax man in 1962, while Chico Green went on to work with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters. Jamo Thomas joined several combos and scored a # 98 pop hit in 1966 with "I Spy For the FBI". Bobby Peterson himself recorded two further singles under his own name for Atlantic and Centaur, and returned to the rounds of Chester's clubs. In the 1980s he was playing in a funky aggregation called Self-Destruct.


The above lifted from, http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/bobby_peterson.htm: who intern lifted it from someone else.... either way, you get 2 cool cuts today and some info i didn't know until i swiped it....

Bobby Peterson Quintet - The Hunch
Bobby Peterson Quintet - Love You Pretty Baby

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great find! Thanks for this one. I remember his semi-hits Smooth Sailing and Rcckin' Charlie.

Jeff in San Diego said...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but "Love You Pretty Baby" does not download.
 

Devil Dick said...

hey Jeff, thanks for the heads up. Divshare dumped a bunch of my files and i just have not had the time to re-upload the affected files.... Sorry about that. I will try to get to the ones that a messed up up soon...

The Hound said...

One to keep an eye out for by Bobby Peterson Quintet on V-Tone is Mama Get The Hammer (There's A Fly On Baby's Head), for my money, his finest moment.

Devil Dick said...

Thanks hound, i'll keep an eye out for that one!