FREEDOM 1513; JULY 1949

 

One of the ground rules of this project from the start was to confine the music being covered to rock ‘n’ roll exclusively. It’s not as if there aren’t enough records to review in rock’s now seventy one years of existence (as of 2018) to necessitate “filling out” the rolls with records and artists from other genres just to have enough content.

But of course nothing exists in a bubble untouched by outside influences, nor did rock spring up from nowhere without any DNA coming from previous musical styles. Because of that we’ve frequently made mention of those origins, jazz primarily, some gospel in the vocal approach and the hybrid transitional styles that originally stemmed from jazz but which took on a different look and feel over the course of the 1940’s to make it something else entirely.

The two dominant musical genres NOT really touched upon so far are two that often get a lot of credit in some circles for actually spawning rock ‘n’ roll, namely country music and blues.

Their omission here is NOT by accident.
 

High As The Sky
Jesse Thomas was 38 years old and was marking his twentieth anniversary as a professional artist, having cut his first sides for RCA-Victor way back in 1929! That those initial three sessions – two of which he backed another blues singer, Bessie Tucker – all took place in the two months prior to the stock market crash at the end of October. When The Great Depression sent the record industry into a tailspin the blues were the first type of music to be shown the door at the record companies.

It’d take Thomas 19 years to find his way back inside a studio again by which time a lot had changed.

There’s little doubt that Thomas would’ve probably stuck with the blues exclusively had he not landed at Freedom Records out of Houston, a new company with a decidedly more modern musical outlook. Though they would certainly venture into pure blues during their brief three year run their larger musical sensibilities had already been irrevocably shaped by the house band, presciently dubbed The Hep-Cats who were led by saxophonist Conrad Johnson and pianist Lonnie Lyons, versatile musicians who specialized in the most unbridled rock mayhem you could find.

This record therefore is as much a reflection of these young Texas roustabouts who were shaping up to be the premier self-contained rock group before such a thing was commonplace as it is about itinerant bluesman Jesse Thomas who just happens to be the one caught in the middle of the maelstrom that took place in the studio when he arrived to cut his one and only session for the label.

But that said Thomas, as he’s already shown on his handful of sides in the blues field, was perfectly adaptable musically to different ideas, even backed a gospel act at one point, and on Let’s Have Some Fun he shows he’s more than capable of adjusting his thinking to rock ‘n’ roll, adapting his own strengths to those of the band who turn this into a powerful group effort, their enthusiasm spurring Thomas on and keeping this from slackening off in the least.
 

You Don’t Have To Worry
It’s still fitting I suppose that Thomas gets to kick this off with a harsh toned guitar intro, adding immediate sizzle to the track that the others capitalize on when they come in. He’s earned that much after so many years in the wilderness. Yet the music initially bows to the call and response vocals which immediately let’s you know this is no modest blues after all and gives you fair warning that you might want to grab onto something and brace yourself for what is to follow.

Following that first stanza though Thomas basically takes a back seat to the others who waste no time in making their presence known as boldly as possible with Lyons hammering the keys as Sam Williams takes the first of multiple solos on the tenor saxophone, dragging Let’s Have Some Fun far away from any blues label it could have applied to it and placing it squarely in rock ‘n’ roll. The lyrics that follow are just set-ups for the next round of explosives the band unleashes, but Thomas for his part seems perfectly compliant in this shift to rock, his voice sounding more exuberant than it had before, and for that matter than it ever would again, as he lets loose a series of cries of exultation throughout, alternately responding to the others freewheeling musical stylings and in fact encouraging it at other moments.

That’s the power of rock music, something we keep pointing out around here, the communal aspects it contains are among its most enticing qualities. A sense that the party will never cease and if you want to have a good time, or as the song says “have some fun”, then you’d better come along for the ride. There was always plenty of room to join the party, in fact nobody ever seemed to be turned away as long as their commitment to the music and the attitude rock demanded of you were legitimate.

With Thomas, at least on this date, it was on both counts.

He sounds as if he’s having the time of his life, cutting loose and getting caught up in the atmosphere. Even during the one section where things slow down for Nunu Pitts’ bass solo (the first extended one to be heard in any rock song) Thomas leads into it by urging him to “beat it out”.

The sax returns and they largely leave the lyrics behind, shed like the partygoers clothing and inhibitions as Thomas yelps and shouts while the musicians show off, including Thomas slicing his way through a vibrant guitar solo at the midway point, but just one of many sounds that give this record a sense of complete abandon. As if the first rock bass solo that’s included on the track wasn’t enough to make you sit up and take notice Allison Tucker then chips in with one of the first real drum solos we’ve encountered to bring things to an appropriately calamitous ending.

Thomas, like you the listener and really ANY one who gave themselves over to the joys of rock ‘n’ roll, are left worn out by the unhinged ruckus they created together. Each one of them contributing to the feeling of exuberance that separated rock music from everything else under the sun and – as if there was any doubt – which marked rock as decidedly different than the downbeat nature of the blues.
 

 

Say Why!
But let’s be honest, although Thomas gets credited here and contributes mightily with his guitar and unrestrained shouting, this is really a Hep-Cats record in every way and the reason it’s being included. Much like the earlier Lonnie Lyons credited Flychick Bounce, the group effort is the drawing card here and it’s not hard to envision their usual centerpiece, Goree Carter, stepping into Thomas’s role and doing the exact same thing with the exact same exhilarating result.

That’s not to knock Thomas at all, but just to show that Freedom Records, who’d ironically hoped to steer the aforementioned Carter INTO more blues just a few short months ago because it seemed at the time like the more bankable avenue, now have all but corrupted a genuine blues artist and gotten him drunk on rock ‘n’ roll once the label saw what kind of output this studio band was capable of dealing out.

So maybe it’s not surprising, in spite of all the enthusiasm they work up here and the joy they all seem to have in creating this noise together, Jesse Thomas would leave Freedom Records and rock ‘n’ roll behind after Let’s Have Some Fun. A tourist in the land of rock rather than a resident.

Thomas would stick to the blues almost exclusively after this, whether the more basic no-frills approach that he’d learned coming up or occasionally venturing into a more uptown approach. Though much of it was quite appealing none of it would make much of an impression commercially, even as the blues itself enjoyed its most fruitful years on the charts in the years to come he could never find the right situation to elevate himself to prominence.

But then again never again did he have the musical backing of a group of hell bent rockers who had a vision of their own to satisfy, one that might’ve drastically differed from his own vision but which enthusiastically welcomed him into the fold of rockers in an all too brief moment where the stars were aligned and the blues suddenly had some fun.
 
 
SPONTANEOUS LUNACY VERDICT:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
(Visit the Artist page of Jesse Thomas for the complete archive of his records reviewed to date)