My Grandfather, The Cotton Club, And Billy Eckstine


As The Sunsets On Another Sweltering Hot Day
In Manhattan, New York. My Grandfather, 24
Year Old Ira Davis Gets Off The Bus After A Long
Ride From Chattanooga, Tennessee.

His Destination The World Famous Cotton
Club In Harlem, The Black Mecca Of
Entertainment Back In Those Days, Where
Many African American Jazz Stars Performed
Along With The Jazz Swing Bands Of That Era.

It Was 1944 And One Of The Biggest Jazz Singers
Of The Day Was Billy Eckstine Whom My
Grandfather Came All The Way From Down South
To See.

As He Walked The Few Short Blocks To The Club, He
Felted The Need To Just Start Singing And In A Clear
Strong Baritone Voice, He Began To Sing



SINGING

"Alone From Night To Night You'll Find Me To Weak
To Break The Chains That Bind Me.

I Need No Shackles To Remind Me, I'm Just
A Prisoner Of Love.

For One Command, I Stand
And Wait Now From One Who's Master Of
My Fate Now.

I Can't Escape For It's To Late Now, I'm Just
A Prisoner Of Love.

What's The Good Of My Caring If Someone Is
Sharing Those Arms With Me.

Although She Has Another, I Can't Find Another
For I'm Not Free.

She's In My Dreams Awake Or Sleeping, Upon
My Knees To Her I'm Creeping,

My Very Life Is In Her Keeping, I'm Just A
Prisoner Of Love."

END OF SINGING



The Crowd Cheered As He Finished The Billy
Eckstine Song. It Was Then That He Realized He
Was At The Entrance To The Cotton Club.

As He Finish Shaking Hands And Greeting
The Many Fine Ladies, He Walked Into The Swank, Polished
Club, Got Him A Shot Of Bourbon, Lit His
Cigarette And Listened As The MC Came Onto
The Stage

"Ladies and Gentlemen Thanks For Coming
Out This Evening To The Cotton Club. The First
Performer Of The Evening Is None Other Then
The Man With The Golden Voice. Mr. Billy Eckstine."


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Comment by Edie Antoinette on January 11, 2010 at 7:07pm
They were...I agree Cindy.
Comment by Patricia OldSkooler on December 23, 2009 at 1:35pm
I Love it ,Awesome!!!
Comment by Edie Antoinette on December 23, 2009 at 1:20pm
Bravo!
I love that pic too--he looks like Cab Calloway on there.

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The history of the Butlers/Raw Soul is dense, but for all of us music nerds, that's normal. It is not totally clear what year the Butlers actually formed but they released their first single in 1963 on Liberty Records. That single was "She Tried To Kiss Me" and another single followed on Guyden entitled "Lovable Girl." After the Guyden single the Butlers took a break not recording another record until the single "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" was released on the Phila label in 1966. The group also backed Charles Earland and Jean Wells on one Phila single ("I Know She Loves Me"). 


As you might be noticing, the Butlers were doing a fair amount of recording but not achieving much success. The group's recordings sold regionally but never had the promotion to make an impact on the national scene. After the single with Phila, the Butlers moved to the Fairmount label (part of the Cameo-Parkway family) and released a handful of singles, some being reissued singles of the past. The Butlers were with Fairmount for 1966-67 and then moved to Sassy Records. Sassy released the group's greatest single (in my opinion) "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" b/w "If That's What You Wanted." A copy of that 45 sold for just under $500 last summer on eBay. Even though that isn't that much in the world of record collecting--it's still a hefty sum. The Butlers released another single on Sassy ("She's Gone" b/w "Love Is Good") that appears to be even 
harder to come by then the "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" single.

 

The true history become a bit blurred here as the AMG biography states that the Butlers last record was released on C.R.S. in 1974 (". However, between 1971 and that single, Frankie Beverly formed a group called Raw Soul and released a number of singles. Some of the songs recorded by Beverly during this period are "While I'm Alone," "Open Up Your Heart," (both on the Gregor label) and "Color Blind." "Color Blind" was released by the Eldorado label and rerecorded by Maze. Beverly's big break came when Marvin Gaye asked Raw Soul to back him on a tour. Gaye helped Beverly/Raw Soul get a contract at Capitol. Beverly decided to take the group in a different direction, a name change occurred, and Maze was created. 

The above isn't the most complete history of Beverly but hopefully someone will know a way to get in touch with the man or his management because a comprehensive pre-Maze history needs to be done on Frankie Beverly (his real name is Howard, by the way). Below you'll find every Frankie Beverly (pre-Maze) song available to me right now ("Color Blind" will be up soon). 

If you have a song that is not included below, shoot it over to funkinsoulman (at) yahoo.com and it will go up in the next Frankie Beverly post (later this week--highlighting Maze). Also, if you have any more information please share your knowledge. The Butlers material has been comp-ed sporadically (usually imports) but the entire Maze catalog has been reissued and is available. 

Enjoy.  "She Kissed Me" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967) 
 
 "I Want To Feel I'm Wanted" (not sure which label or year) "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" (Phila, 1966) "Because Of My Heart" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)
   
 "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" (Sassy, 1967)
   
 "If That's What You Wanted" (Sassy, 1967)
 



Frankie Beverly is one of those cats that has lasting power. He started in the music business doing a tour with doo wop group the Silhouettes and then formed his own group called the Blenders. The Blenders never recorded a single, Beverly wouldn't appear on wax until forming the Butlers a few years later. Along with Beverly, the Butlers included Jack "Sonny" Nicholson, Joe Collins, John Fitch, and Talmadge Conway.

Beverly would later enjoy great success fronting Maze and Conway would become a
well-known penning Double Exposure's
"Ten Percent" and the Intruders' "Memories Are Here To Stay." 
 While Maze is a phenomenal group, Beverly's work before that group will always stand out as his best (imo).
The Butlers produced tunes that most Northern Soul fans would kill for and Raw Soul gave the funksters something to pursue. The Butlers recorded their first single in 1960 titled "Loveable Girl". Left to right John Fitch, T Conway, Frankie Beverly, Sonny Nicholson and Joe Collins. 

Frankie Beverly12/6/46 - 9/10/24

Power...Through Simplicity ♪♫♪

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