MISSISSIPPI JOOK BAND
Le Moise Roosevelt Graves (December 9, 1909, Meridian, Mississippi – December 30, 1962, Gulfport, Mississippi), credited as Blind Roosevelt Graves, was an American blues guitarist and singer, who recorded both sacred and secular music in the 1920s and 1930s.
On all his recordings, he played with his brother Uaroy Graves (c.1912–c.1959),who was also nearly blind and played the tambourine. They were credited as "Blind Roosevelt Graves and Brother". Their first recordings were made in 1929 for Paramount Records. Theirs is the earliest version recorded of "Guitar Boogie", and they exemplified the best in gospel singing with "I'll Be Rested". Blues researcher Gayle Dean Wardlow has suggested that their 1929 recording "Crazy About My Baby" "could be considered the first rock 'n' roll recording."
In July 1936, they were located by the talent broker H. C. Speir, who arranged for them to record in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, according to some sources at the train station, although Speir later told Wardlow that the recordings took place in a temporary studio, in the Hotel Hattiesburg, at Mobile Street and Pine Street. For the session they were joined by the local piano player Cooney Vaughn, who performed weekly on radio station WCOC in Meridian prior to World War II. The trio were billed on record as the Mississippi Jook Band. In all, they recorded four tracks at Hattiesburg for the American Record Company - "Barbecue Bust", "Hittin' The Bottle Stomp", "Dangerous Woman" and "Skippy Whippy". According to the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, these "...featured fully formed rock & roll guitar riffs and a stomping rock & roll beat".
The Graves Brothers did not record again. After the war, Roosevelt Graves is thought to have moved to Gulfport, Mississippi.
For a number of years, the subject of Uaroy's identity was disputed. In several books, magazine articles, and album liner notes that mentioned the Graves brothers, the names "Aaron" or "Leroy" were substituted for Uaroy, on the assumption that the otherwise unknown name Uaroy must have arisen due to the poor penmanship of a recording company employee whose handwritten notes were misinterpreted. This controversy was put to rest in 2004, when photographic copies of the Paramount files were posted to the internet, and it could clearly be seen that the person who wrote up the recording session notes had written in a careful, almost printed hand, "Uaroy Graves."
In October 2008, the recordings by the Graves brothers and the Mississippi Jook Band, and others who recorded in Hattiesburg, were commemorated by a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail, established to preserve the state's musical heritage.
More info about BLIND ROOSEVELT GRAVES :
MARK`S Music Collection : The Mississippi Jook Band was comprised of three musicians specifically assembled for one recording session in a now demolished hotel in Mobile Street in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on 20 July 1936.
The Mississippi Jook Band was Cooney Vaughn (Piano), Roosevelt Graves (guitar) and Aaron (Uaroy) Graves (tambourine).
Although the band was only together for one day and one recording session, which produced only four tracks, the four recordings by the Mississippi Jook Band are considered historically significant by the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll.
The Mississippi Blues Trail marker "Roots Of Rock And Roll" on Mobile Street in Hattiesburg, Mississippi describes them as:
"“ROOTS OF ROCK AND ROLL – Rock and roll is rooted in the blues of Mississippi. The Mississippi Jook Band (brothers Roosevelt and Uaroy Graves and pianist Cooney Vaughn) earned a niche in the annals of rock after they recorded in Hattiesburg in 1936, nearly two decades before rock and roll exploded in the 1950s. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll noted that their blues recordings “featured fully formed rock and roll guitar riffs and a stomping rock and roll beat.”
Track List:
1. Hittin' The Bottle Stomp 0:00
2. Dangerous Woman 2:37
3. Skippy Whippy 5:23
4. Barbeque Bust 8:12
These recordings were taken from Mississippi Blue: Rare Cuts 1926-1941, a 4 CD set released on JSP Records: http://www.mississippibluestravellers...
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