Wednesday, July 30, 2008

B. Bumble And The Stingers - Chicken Chow Mein



B. Bumble and the Stingers was an instrumental ensemble in the early 1960s, who specialized in making rock and roll arrangements of classical melodies. Their biggest hits were "Bumble Boogie" and "Nut Rocker", which reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1962. The recordings were made by session musicians at Rendezvous Records in Los Angeles.

Some of the main guys contributing to B. Bumble & The Stingers hits: On piano were, Ernie Freeman, Al Hazen, Lincoln Mayorga, and Leon Russell. On guitar, Rene' Hall and Jan Davis. On drums, Earl Palmer, Sharkey Hall, and Mel Taylor.

B. Bumble And The Stingers - Chicken Chow Mein

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amazing how you keep coming up with this stuff.

Thanks for another great post...

Funky16Corners said...

Didn't Kim Fowley have something to do with this group?

Devil Dick said...

Larry,
Is there anything you don't know???

Here's the Fowley Connection:

In 1959, Earl Palmer, RenĂ© Hall and Plas Johnson, all African American musicians from Louisiana, were the house band at Rendezvous Records. According to Palmer, the three friends “always talked about how we could make some money and not leave the studio. One day I said, 'Let's do a rock version of "In The Mood".[1] The single, credited to the Ernie Fields Orchestra, became a hit, reaching # 4 on the US pop charts in early 1960.

Hall then came up with the idea for B. Bumble and the Stingers, taking the same approach to a piece of classical music. Prompted by record producer Kim Fowley, he approached pianist Jack Fina, whose 1946 swing arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumble Bee" for Freddy Martin and his Orchestra, called "Bumble Boogie" (RCA Victor 20-1829), had reached # 7 on the charts and been used in the 1948 Walt Disney animated film Melody Time. Using Fina's arrangement, Fowley recorded pianist Ernie Freeman on two tracks, one using a grand piano for the rhythm part, whilst the other featured a doctored upright with thumb tacks attached to the hammers. The other musicians on the session, at Gold Star Studios, were Palmer on drums, Red Callender on bass, and Tommy Tedesco on guitar.[1]

"Bumble Boogie" went to # 21 on the Billboard charts in June 1961. Because the session musicians all had other studio commitments, a teen band from Ada, Oklahoma, who had played no part in the recording itself, were recruited to handle promotion and public appearances. Their names were given as Fred Richards, Ron Brady, and "Billy Bumble", a pseudonym for guitarist R. C. Gamble.

Anonymous said...

Tommy, I have to say that I absolutely admire EVERYTHING you know about music. It feels good to learn something new everyday about things I didnt know about. When I was younger, I always knew more then ALL my friends about music and I thought I knew alot, and I think I still do for being 27, but I love when I go to blog, 85% of the time, I LEARN! And for me... I can't explain the enjoyment I receive from it!

Like Larry said, "You're a record mentore(how ever you spell it)

That Irish Coffee lives proudly amongst the rest of my GREATS in my iPod, it's a awesome pyshc record... OH by the way, you got anymore of them, 2 songs isn't enough... I'm too greedy!!!!

MY REQUEST:
Is that you post a blog on Fuzzy Duck... soon, as I have said an old friend's dad had the record, it's a great one, and I will never be able to afford it, and your definitely the ONLY person I know who is educated on it, and OWNS IT! It NEEDs to live in my iPod!!!!

Anonymous said...

EDIT:
i meant to say

"but I love when I go to YOUR blog, 85% of the time, I LEARN! And for me... I can't explain the enjoyment I receive from it!"

Zer0_II said...

Hello again DD. I wanted to invite you and your readers to my new social network that I have created. It's similar in appearance to myspace (minus all the hormone-crazed teenagers), but it is intended to serve as a hangout for artists, musicians, and music lovers. I have also included a forum category for music bloggers such as yourself to promote their blogs and share updates. If you are interested, here is the url:

http://digitalmeltd0wn.ning.com

I hope to see you there. Take care.

Zer0_II

Devil Dick said...

Thanks for chiming in guys i do really appreciate it! but sandy i'm just a knuckle head record collector, kind of a musical jack of all trades and master of none... unless you want to talk east coast hardcore then i know a few things. Most stuff i just dig up on the web i know a little a head of time but most stuff is out there if you look.

This blogging and poasting 45's and album cuts has schooled me many times and I find new things that i never knew only because i'm looking...

anywho, i will post the fuzzy duck sometime in the future but right now the JJB and i have a computer problem, (it crashed and burned) and other than a few things i already have in my auto-post ready to go i can't and won't be able to upload and post anything new for a while.... but hang in there i have a few cool old 45's coming up and then who know... but i will be back!!!

Anonymous said...

AWESOME... but as far as I am concerned... you know far more then anyone I have met! You are a musical GOD in the Loves house!

Much love to you and Jables!