31876

Lou Donaldson - The Scorpion

Released - 1995

Recording and Session Information

"Cadillac Club", Newark, NJ, 2nd set, November 7, 1970
Fred Ballard, trumpet; Lou Donaldson, electric alto sax; Leon Spencer, organ; Melvin Sparks, guitar; Idris Muhammad, drums.

tk.10 Laura

"Cadillac Club", Newark, NJ, 3rd set, November 7, 1970
Fred Ballard, trumpet; Lou Donaldson, electric alto sax; Leon Spencer, organ; Melvin Sparks, guitar; Idris Muhammad, drums.

tk.13 Alligator Bogaloo
tk.14 The Scorpion
tk.20 The Masquerade Is Over

Full Session Information[edit]

"Cadillac Club", Newark, NJ, 1st set, November 7, 1970
Fred Ballard, trumpet; Lou Donaldson, electric alto sax; Leon Spencer, organ; Melvin Sparks, guitar; Idris Muhammad, drums.

tk.1 Foot Pattin' Time
tk.2 The Scorpion (alternate take)
tk.3 I'll Be There
tk.4 Bye Bye Blackbird
tk.5 Brother Soul (theme)

"Cadillac Club", Newark, NJ, 2nd set, November 7, 1970
Fred Ballard, trumpet; Lou Donaldson, electric alto sax; Leon Spencer, organ; Melvin Sparks, guitar; Idris Muhammad, drums.

tk.6 Turn It On (Leon's Tune)
tk.7 Untitled Bossa Nova
tk.8 Untitled Blues
tk.9 Funky Mama
tk.10 Laura
tk.11 This Is Happiness
tk.12 Brother Soul (theme)

"Cadillac Club", Newark, NJ, 3rd set, November 7, 1970
Fred Ballard, trumpet; Lou Donaldson, electric alto sax; Leon Spencer, organ; Melvin Sparks, guitar; Idris Muhammad, drums.

tk.13 Alligator Bogaloo
tk.14 The Scorpion
tk.15 I'll Be There
tk.16 Bye Bye Blackbird
tk.17 Turn It On
tk.18 This Is Happiness
tk.19 Peepin'

Session Photos

Photos: Francis Wolff/Mosaic Images / 
https://www.mosaicrecordsimages.com/

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
The Scorpion	L. Spencer Jr.	November 7 1970
Laura	Raskin	November 7 1970
Side Two
Alligator Boogaloo	L. Donaldson	November 7 1970
The Masquerade Is Over	Wrubel-Magidson	November 7 1970

Liner Notes

You won't find any discussion of the Newark, New Jersey jazz scene in the history books. Even the estimable Swing City by Barbara Kukla, a history of Newark nightlife, only goes as far as 1950. Yet the most glorious years of Newark jazz were the early '50s to the early '70s, the years when the Hammond organ dominated the scene. Little clubs, with no cover or admission charge, were the standard. Often the bandstand would be in the center of a circular bar.

It was a setting that welcomed genuine talent without frills or fancy presentations. If homegrown Newark talent such as Sarah Vaughan or Dionne Warwick no longer worked the clubs, it didn't mean that you couldn't find them hanging out. Rhoda Scott, Woody Shaw and Larry Young came directly out of this scene while players who moved to the community such as Jimmy Ponder or Houston Person were nurtured by the work available there.

The period of greatest activity occurred during the mayoral regime of Hugh Adonizio (1962-70). By the time of the riots in Newark (1967) such storied clubs as Frederick's Lounge and The Front Room were history. But the riots were a mere blip on the radar screen of activity in the downtown area. While the Cliche and Jimmy McGriffs Golden Slipper are well remembered watering holes of that time, the major corner was at Williams and Halsey streets. On one side was The Key Club and directly across the street was The Cadillac Club.

The Key Club was an important nightspot in Newark for many years. It's original location was on West Street but its greatest celebrity was achieved after the move to Williams & Halsey. The Cadillac was slightly larger and did not have the longevity of The Key Club. It's building housed a number of different clubs through the years. The Key Club was owned by Jean and Walter Dawkins while the Cadillac was owned by Jukebox Harry.

Jukebox Harry was large in the coin machine business. He had boxes and cigarette machines in most downtown Newark locations. When club owners would have money problems, Harry was frequently a source of financing. The collateral pledged was invariably the business itself. Jukebox Harry collected liquor licenses the way kids collected baseball cards and his jazz clubs always had a black manager fronting for him.

As one might imagine, there was considerable rivalry between The Key Club and The Cadillac. Surprisingly, the artists themselves were steadfast in their loyalty. Grant Green and Willis Jackson were among those who always worked The Cadillac. Jimmy Scott and Jack McDuff were among two of many who were on view at The Key Club. Lou Donaldson was a Key Club guy. So what is the 1970 Donaldson band doing, making a live album, at The Cadillac?

"I don't know why we were at The Cadillac," Donaldson said recently. "I guess we had decided to do a live album and we just needed a club to do it in. I don't recall much about the place since most of my playing in Newark was at The Key Club." It is not surprising that Blue Note had wanted to record in Newark since the scene was sizzling. Grant Green had recorded at The Cliche in August while Charles Earland was cut live at The Key Club in September. Jimmy McGriff would soon record not only his own group but singer Junior Parker at The Golden Slipper.

"We changed trumpet players the way you change socks," said organist Charles Earland, remembering his own tenure with the Donaldson band. Bill Hardman, Blue Mitchell, Melvin Lastie, Big Eddie Williams and Gary Chandler were only some of the trumpet players who passed through the Donaldson band. Fred Ballard, heard on this occasion, was from Wichita, Kansas and, as Donaldson recalls, was only with the band a few weeks.

The remainder of the accompaniment is well know. Organist Leon Spencer, Jr. is from Houston, Texas and joined the Donaldson group earlier in 1970. He would stay until late 1972 and was an accomplished composer as well as a fine organist. Along with Sparks and Muhammad, he served as a house rhythm player for Prestige during 1970 and 1971, appearing on eight separate projects at that time. Melvin Sparks, also from Houston, had apprenticed with Jack McDuff prior to joining Donaldson and by this time was a recording artist in his own right. Idris Muhammad was the man who introduced New Orleans funk beats into the New York scene. He had first joined Donaldson in 1965 and by this time was no longer travelling with the band. He would continue to make each Donaldson recording session into the '80s.

As for the leader himself, he was into his electronic period. The Varitone was an attachment for saxophone, with an amplifier. Popularized by Eddie Harris, its practitioners included not only Donaldson and Harris but Rusty Bryant, Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons, who, unlike the others, chose not to record on it. It came along at a time when bands were getting louder and the electronics permitted saxophonists to compete for level without undue strain on the embouchure. First used by Donaldson on his Hot Dog album, it would remain as a part of his recordings throughout the 70s.

The program here is reasonably typical of a Donaldson set from this time. [There are funk tunes, ballads and swingers. "Peepin'" and "Alligator Boogaloo" (note the spelling) were big hits for Donaldson and The Scorpion was the latest in that line. 'Footpattin' Time" has also been known as "Jump Up."] The performances by all concerned are well up to standard. By the time this session was recorded, great change had been initiated for the city of Newark.

Hugh Adonizio ran for his third term as mayor at the same time he was on trial for a wide variety of corruption charges. He was not reelected but he was convicted and served a long jail term. The new mayor was Kenneth Gibson, the first black mayor in the history of Newark. Gibson was an amateur saxophonist and Newark bandleaders knew they were in for a long night if he showed up, with his horn, on their gig.

Gibson was elected as a reform mayor. Part of what he was elected to reform was the peripheral activities that made the Newark jazz scene possible. His success in doing that can be judged better by others but one fact that is not discussed and will not likely be a part of Gibson's legacy is that when he left office in 1986 there was not a single full time jazz club left in Newark. The scene that had seemed so healthy and vibrant in 1970 was over before the end of that decade - wrecked in large part by the drugs, crime and double digit inflation of the time.

The last full time jazz club actually limped into the '80s. It was Sparky J's, run by Sparky Jacobs, on the site of the old Cadillac Club. The club was owned by Jukebox Harry who also owned the shorter-lived Mister Wes on Broad Street. According to Jimmy McGriff, the building that housed The Cadillac (and is now Jets Restaurant) was sold to new owners by Jukebox Harry in the late '80s.

It would be easy to end the story right there and to suggest that Newark would be like post-Pendergast Kansas City or early '60s New Orleans (after DA Jim Garrison's cleanup campaign). And to certain old timers it did appear that the baby had been thrown out with the bath water. Yet Newark has proved to be a most resilient city. It has managed to come back to jazz respectability driven by all jazz WBGO-FM and the Newark Jazz Festival. There is little club activity, but that which is in place shows signs of continuing. The current mayor, recently elected to a third term, governs under a cloud of investigation; accused of misusing campaign funds. Some things never change.

It would be easy to suggest that Lou Donaldson hasn't changed. His playing hasn't changed nor has the mixture of ballads, blues and bebop in his sets. Yet he has long since given up his electronics and even returned to leading a piano based rhythm section in the early '80s. When he went to play in London four or five years ago, he was astonished to find kids in the discos dancing to "Alligator Boogaloo." in 1991, he reorganized the organ combo (now featuring dynamic veteran Lonnie Smith) and even brought it into the Village Vanguard in New York where organ combos had never been featured. The results were a sold out week and several return visits.

And speaking of return visits, as these notes were being written Sparks and Muhammad were off to England for another extensive tour. The music that they helped create as members of the Lou Donaldson band is known in Europe (and in Tokyo) as Acid Jazz. They are considered among the pioneers of the music. Donaldson himself was also headed for Europe to play "Peepin'" for dancers. He has been a professional band leader for more than forty years and, by this time, has seen it all. He knows how to get over, just as he knew back in 1970 when he was recording at The Cadillac Club in Newark and working for Jukebox Harry.

-Bob Porter
WBGO fm
Newark, New Jersey