Customer Reviews

I'm Gone

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the days of the 78- then 45-rpm single, the goal of any artist - whether Pop, Hillbilly (Country) or R&B - was a national hit single, as that meant widespread recognition, not to mention lucrative paydays for both artist and their label. But for every such "hit" in any given year - based upon air- and jukebox play and record sales - there were at least four that failed to crack the hit ranks. And more often than not, that lack could be traced primarily to the limited promotional capability of the label (including the infamous "Payola" era).

One who failed to dent any charts was Obediah Donnell "Obie" Jessie, born in Dallas, Texas on December 28, 1936. This long-time R&B/Jazz vocalist, who can find in his Family Tree the name of the legendary Blind Lemon Jefferson and whose pianist mother Malinda once performed as Plunky Harris, began his own singing career in 1952, after the family relocated to Los Angeles, with a quintet calling themselves The Debonaires (the others were Pete Fox, Arthur Lee Maye, A. V. Odom and Joe Winslow).

After Odom and Winslow left they became a quartet with the addition of Richard Berry (who would compose and record the "infamous" Louie Louie long before The Kingsmen), and it wasn't long before Maye departed to form his own group, The Crowns (he would also go on to play eleven seasons in MLB as an outfielder with several teams). His replacement was Beverly Thompson, and around the same time Cornell Gunter came on board which brought them back to their original quintet configuration, recording in 1953, among other sides, I Had A Love, written by Jessie, under the name The Hollywood Blue Jays for the Recorded In Hollywood label ( # 396) owned by record store owner John Dolphin (Dolphin's Of Hollywood).

They then moved on to Modern Records, owned and operated since 1945 by the Bihari brothers, who had them record for their Flair subsidiary as The Flairs. From 1953 to 1955 they had ten singles released without one being able to crack the national charts, although many were quite popular on a local basis. One such was Rabbit On The Log which came out on Flair 1017 in 1953 b/w Down At Hayden's (both sides here) which was actually billed as The Hunters as the Bihari brothers did not want to have three records by the same group competing for attention (they had just released I Had A Love/She Wants To Rock on Flair 1012 and were about to release Tell Me You Love Me/You Should Care For Me on Flair 1019).

Thompson and Berry left the group in 1954, the same year they had Love Me, Love Me, Love Me b/w My Heart's Crying For You come out on Flair 1051 as by The Chimes (not to be confused with the later Doo-Wop group from Brooklyn), their replacements being Charles Jackson and Randy Jones, albeit briefly as both soon also departed and the group disbanded with Jessie deciding to go solo under contract to the famous production team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. He also changed his recording name to Young Jessie (he was, after all, still only 18 years of age).

This is where this Ace volume essentially picks up his career with their usual meticulous sound reproduction and attention to detail in their informative liner notes, beginning with a song he wrote, the much-covered Mary Lou (and a hit in 1959 for Ronnie Hawkins). Jessie's version came out on Modern 961 b/w Don't Think I Will. All this is well covered in the notes.

This fine vocalist, who certainly deserves all the accolades he receives despite the lack of a national hit, also sang harmony on The Coasters' 1957 hits Searchin' and Young Blood, and in later years recorded for Atlantic/Atco, Capitol (primarily Jazz), Mercury, Vanessa and others. Also, in 1955, he and Gunter and Fox had turned up briefly at Robert and Irving Scherman's Tampa Records where they backed up The Dooley Sisters on Shtiggy Boom (Tampa 101) and then had Cindy-Lou b/w Sha-Ba-Da-Ba-Doo come out on Tampa 103, billed as as The Jac-O-Lacs. As a Jazz performer (The Obie Jessie Combo) he recorded the albums What Happened To Jr. In 1995, Here's To Life in 2002, and New Atmosphere in 2009.

The man is talented and this release ensures that his early work will be heard.

..Obediah Donnell "Obie" Jessie born 12-28-36 Lincoln Manor, Dallas.Tx...now 74..mostly forgotton like former mate Richard Berry..Jessie was even a Coaster for a short while..This will sit beside my Richard Berry, Larry Williams & Don & Dewey CD's..& Richard Berry's Louie, Louie was'nt infamous when he wrote & sang it..The later Kingsmen version was mumbled causing some radio stations to ban it..The F.B.I. even investigated it..Can you imagine Agents playing it all day long looking for salacious lyrics to damm rock & roll as the devils tool..!..All the while J.Edgar is living in his then dead mothers house, shacking up with Clyde Tolson & cross dressing..Ok..nothing to do with Young Jessie..Rock On..!

Amazon has this mis-filed. The name is Young Jesse, not Jesse Young.

In any event this is some fine 50s R&B. Especially notable are the tracks from his sessions in NY, with Micky Baker and Sam "The Man" Taylor among the assembled session players.