(Week of 7/16/05 - 7/22/05)

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"Sammy's Choppin' Block" by Skeets Tolbert And His Gentlemen Of Swing on Decca 8534 A released in 1941

"The Stuffs Out" by Skeets Tolbert And His Swing Gents on Decca 7630 A released in 1939

Above: Photo of The Skeets Tolbert Quartette from about 1946. (L-R) Ebenezer Paul (bass fiddle), Skeets Tolbert (sax-clarinet), Andrew Maize (piano), and James Johns (guitar). Personal management by Harold Oxley.

The personnel on "Sammy's Choppin' Block" are Tolbert, Carl Smith (trumpet), Otis Hicks (tenor sax), Red Richards (piano), John Drummond (bass fiddle), and Hubert Pettaway (drums).

The personnel on "The Stuffs Out" are Tolbert, Smith and Pettaway, Lem Johnson (tenor sax), Fred Jefferson (piano), and Al Hall (bass fiddle).

Above: Labels for Decca 8534 A recorded on 10/2/40 and Decca 7630 A recorded on 7/5/39. Wonder what Decca's criteria was for their 7000 "race" series versus their 8000 "sepia" series when they overlapped in 1940 - 1942.

Skeets and his band backed up several female blues singers such as Babe Wallace, Jean Eldridge and Yack Taylor.

Listen to this week's selections: [Audio restoration by Dave Saviet.]

A) Click on an option below to listen to Skeets Tolbert using Streaming Windows Media Player.

Sammy's Choppin' Block - Decca 8534 A - 1941
The Stuffs Out - Decca 7630 A - 1939
"BOTH SONGS" NOT FUNCTIONAL!

B) Click on an option below to listen to Skeets Tolbert using Downloading Windows Media Player.

Sammy's Choppin' Block - Decca 8534 A - 1941 (file size=422KB)
The Stuffs Out - Decca 7630 A - 1939 (file size=508KB)

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