Take 5 With Andy Kirk

One of the bands from Kansas City that many remember with fondness with Andy Kirk and the Clouds of Joy. A popular swing band of the thirties into the forties the bands' sound was attributable to the piano and arranging skills of Mary Lou Williams as well as the marvelous tenor sax of Dick Wilson. Balladeer Pha Terrell was also popular with the sides with his vocals selling many copies. This week we sample five choice recordings by this fabled band.

We start with the band's theme, Mary Lou Williams' "Walkin' and Swingin'."

Next up is Williams' arrangement of "Moten Swing," which arguably is the finest version of this song other than the Benny Moten Band's original.

Arguably their biggest hot was "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" with Pha Terrell's memorable crooning.

The band celebrated Williams with "The Lady Who Swings The Band."

We close this Take 5 with a feature for guitarist Floyd Smith, "Floyd's Guitar Blues."

Farewell Crown Prince Waterford

Word arrived over a month later that Rev. Solomon Charles "Crown Prince" Waterford passed away at the age of 90 on February 1. The Oklahoma City native began a recording career (I believe with Jay McShann) and recorded for Capital, Mercury and King Records and composed over thirty blues compositions. A terrific shouter in the vein of Walter Brown and Jimmy Witherspoon his earliest recordings have been compiled on the Classics label, In more recent years he moved to the Jacksonville Florida area where he served a a minister. In 2002 he had his first recordings in decades, All Over But the Shoutin' for Cypress Records.

This info taken from his myspace page, link.

In a description of the CD by Geechie Smith & Crown Prince Waterford - Swingin KC Combos on Blue Moon on www.bluebeatmusic.com has some stuff inconsistent with the above, sayig he was born Charles, born in Jonesboro, Arkanasas and sang in bands that included Andy Kirk and the Clouds of Joy (with Charlie Christian and Abe Bolar) before beginning his career as the Crown Prince of the Blues in Chicgao during the 1940s and started recording for hy-Tone and Aladdin in addition to Capitol. Here is the pertinent link.