Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Robert Ward & the Ohio Untouchables: “Love is Amazing” b/w “Forgive Me Darling” (Lu Pine Records 1962)
This group is famously remembered for being a launching pad for the Ohio Players. Robert Ward, who was born and raised in Georgia, moved to the Dayton area in 1959. He formed a group featuring future Players Clarence “Satch” Satchell (saxophone, guitar), Marshall “Rock” Jones (bass) and Ralph “Pee Wee” Middlebrooks (trumpet, trombone).
The group was quickly in-demand on the Midwest music scene, filling venues and recording material for small labels. It’s hard to pick a favorite single from the Ohio Untouchables. “I’m Tired” b/w “Up Town,” released by Lu Pine Records in 1964 is a strong single but the A-side of “Love is Amazing” b/w “Forgive Me Darling” is classic midwestern soul. With the proper marketing and distribution, this song could’ve been a major hit.
The group released a pair of singles on Thelma Records in 1964, “Nobody Does Something For Nothing” b/w “Your Love is Real” and “Your Love is Real” b/w “I’m Gonna Cry a River.” By the following year, several of the young guns had left to form the Ohio Players. Ward moved to Toledo, where he lived and worked for more than a decade. He then moved back to Georgia in the late 1970s and was retired until getting a career revival in the 1990s.
In 1995, Relic Records released “Hot Stuff,” a compilation of various tracks by the Ohio Untouchables. Ward passed away in 2008.
Check out a vinyl rip of “Love is Amazing”:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBK80rs9-Ns
Big Jay Bush and the House Rockers: “Dynamite” b/w “Come On Home Baby” (Redbug Records 1962)
Jerry “Big Jay” Bush was born in 1928 and grew up in Colfax, Louisiana. In the 1950s, he relocated to Dayton, where he learned to play saxophone. By the end of the decade, Bush was leading the House Rockers, which was a hot ticket in the Miami Valley club scene into the early 1970s. The musician’s career was tragically cut short when he was murdered on stage in 1972 in a case of mistaken identity.
While the legend of Big Jay Bush & the House Rockers is mostly lost to time, fans from that era still attest to the group’s power and prowess. There is no existing live footage but there is a small discography of two memorable 45s.
“Dynamite” is a killer upbeat R&B dance number packed with double entendre and a danceable beat. The flipside is an equally memorable blues lament about unrequited love. Big Jay Bush & the House Rockers released one other single, “Funky Horns” b/w “Soul Meeting,” on Vangee Records in 1969. “Funky Horns,” is a blatant riff on James Brown, while the B-side has more of a Rufus Thomas vibe.
You can listen to “Dynamite” on YouTube at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iebfASvCGrw
Brenda Lee Jones: “You’re the Love of My Life” b/w “Thread Your Needle” (Rust Records 1966)
The A-side is a groovy slice of mid-’60s R&B, part Tina Turner, part Dionne Warwick. It’s the singer’s best known solo track and the easiest to find online. Rust also released the Jones’ single, “She’s Too Respectable” b/w “I love the Summertime,” in 1966.
Brenda Lee Jones, who was born in Dayton in 1938, first enjoyed success with Welton Young in Dean and Jean. The R&B duo was active from 1958 to 1966 and released some great singles on Rust Records, including two national Top 40 hits in 1964, “Tra La La La Suzy” and “Hey Jean, Hey Dean.”
Jones moved into a solo career when Dean and Jean ended and continued to record for Rust. It’s hard to piece together her full discography because there are releases under different names. In 1968, Rust Records released “Valley of Love” b/w “The Love Game” credited to Brenda Lee Melson. Mercury Records released a pair of singles in 1974. “Super Stroke” b/w “Big Mistake” is credited to Brenda Jones, while “I Am the Other Woman” b/w “Good Thing (What It Is)” is Brenda Jones and Coconut Love. She also appeared on two songs on the 1976 Richard “Groove” Holmes album, “I’m in the Mood For Love.”
Listen to “You’re the Love of My Life”:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_OIUqquc2g
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The Dayton Sidewinders: “Heavenly Love” b/w “Funky Chicken Stew” (Carlco Enterprises 1969)
Most of this hometown group’s recorded output was released in the 1970s but the Sidewinders are worthy of inclusion in the list of ‘60s acts. The B-side of the debut is instrumental party music complete with strange chicken noises and a smoking guitar riff. It’s a big contrast to the A-side, a plaintive love ballad.
The Dayton Sidewinders was led by Carl Cowen, who also ran the band’s label Carlco Enterprises. The group also featured Stan “The Man” Brooks, who is now the host of “The Traffic Jam Happy Hour” from 4 to 7 p.m. Fridays on The Soul of Dayton, broadcasting terrestrially at WHKO-FM (98.7). He was in his early teens when he started playing drums for the R&B group in the late 1960s.
Carlco released several singles from the Dayton Sidewinders in the ‘70s, including “Something” b/w “You’re the One I Need” in 1970. “Go Ahead On” b/w “Phoenix” came out in 1971, followed by “Funky In Here” b/w “Oh Me, Oh My (I’m A Fool For You Baby)” in 1972 and “Let’s Go Down to Funksville” b/w “Slippin’ Into Darkness” in 1974. Unlike many regional acts from the period, the complete Dayton Sidewinders’ catalog received an archival release. Funkadelphia Records compiled the material on the album, “Let’s Go Down to Funksville,” in 2006. It is available on most streaming services.
You can also listen to “Heavenly Love” here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QvE_26QBag
Morrocco Muzik Makers: “Back to School Again” b/w “Pig Knuckles” (Motown Records 1963) This group was best known as the Moroccos but went by an augmented moniker for its widest release, this rarity for Barry Gordy’s pioneering label. The A-side is an upbeat but somewhat corny number about the dreaded end of summer and the possibilities of another year in high school. The real draw here is the B-side, which is a smoking horn-driven instrumental number that would make Booker T & the MGs proud.
Before catching the attention of Motown, the group dropped a pair of great singles as Little Woo Woo & the Moroccos on small Dayton labels. 3M Records released “This Wonderful Girl of Mine” b/w “My One and Only” in 1960 and Greenstar Records released “The Big Swim” b/w “Muzik Megaton” in 1962. Some of the original members left in the mid-’60s but a version of the group carried on into the early ‘80s. Other songs released as simply the Moroccos include “Get Away” b/w “Union Depot,” released by Clear Hill Records in 1972, and “Love, Trust and Understand” b/w “Pressure,” released by Pork Records in 1978. A reformed version of group was active sporadically from 1998 to 2018.
Have a listen to “Pig Knuckles”:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UxmRK-jWrs
If you like these songs, there are plenty of other R&B releases from the 1960s created by hometown talent. A few worth checking out include London Fog & the Continentals’ “Easy Mover” b/w “Trippin’” (Gold Star Records September 1969), Randy & the Viceroys’ “Stay With Me” b/w “Why Must You Go” (Airway Records 1965), the Montarays’ “Kicking and Picking” b/w “Don’t Go Nowhere” (Opus Records 1969) and Soul Inc.’s “Give the Drummer Some” b/w “Summertime” (Movement Records 1968).
Contact this contributing writer at 937-287-6139 or donthrasher100@gmail.com.
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