So Long, Huey "Piano" Smith

[Mister Moon]

Huey "Piano" Smith, one of the great unsung heroes of rock and roll, passed away this last Monday (February 13), aged 89.

I will post more about him later. Here's the obituary published by those clowns (pun intended) at "Rolling Stone" magazine, who apparently don't know who Frankie (not Freddie) Ford was. Oh well :

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/huey-piano-smith-new-orleans-rock-pioneer-dead-obit-1234680295/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKjhLq4NXIE

[Mister Moon]

Just because he was the author and original performer of "Sea Cruise", Huey "Piano" Smith would deserve a place of honor in the minds and hearts of rock and roll lovers.

But there was so much more about him.

Robert Palmer once wrote that Smith's classic records were funnier than The Coasters' records. I don't know about that. I love The Coasters too, and Leiber & Stoller. But Huey, at his very best (which means the recoridngs he made for Ace between 1956 and the early 60s), was one hell of a rock and roll performer. He had the right songs, the right sound, and his records conveyed the ideal dose of abandon.

Just listen to the original versions (never released at the time) of "Sea Cruise" and "Loberta", the backing track of whom would be used as the basis of Frankie Ford's hit single in 1959. It's just sensational rock and roll, the likes of which are so hard to find.

Dig those top New Orleans musicians blowing their tops at Cosimo's.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7BA1pu4sXk


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su0rhMcawMU

[Mister Moon]

John Fogerty did a fabulous version of "Sea Cruise" ("Sea Kooz", he sings - just great) in 1975, for his first (real) solo album :


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACOhBgw4NWw

[Mister Moon]

This was released in 1958 under Bobby Marchan's name, but it was the same vocalists and musicians.

"Rockin' in China every day, rockin' in my home town, USA", they sing. Funny bizarre stuff. Party music at its bests.

In 1991, I saw the great Barrence Whitfield and the Savages in concert - one of the best damn live performances I have ever witnessed. One of the unexpected highlights was a version of "Rockin' Behind The Iron Curtain". I remember they changed "China" to "Cuba", which was odd, because despite Cuba being a communist country, it's not located behind any curtain at all.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L36U_bXnaCA

[Mike C]

Just because he was the author and original performer of "Sea Cruise", Huey "Piano" Smith would deserve a place of honor in the minds and hearts of rock and roll lovers.

But there was so much more about him.

Robert Palmer once wrote that Smith's classic records were funnier than The Coasters' records. I don't know about that. I love The Coasters too, and Leiber & Stoller. But Huey, at his very best (which means the recoridngs he made for Ace between 1956 and the early 60s), was one hell of a rock and roll performer. He had the right songs, the right sound, and his records conveyed the ideal dose of abandon.

Just listen to the original versions (never released at the time) of "Sea Cruise" and "Loberta", the backing track of whom would be used as the basis of Frankie Ford's hit single in 1959. It's just sensational rock and roll, the likes of which are so hard to find.

Dig those top New Orleans musicians blowing their tops at Cosimo's.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7BA1pu4sXk

Ahh, that explains why the Ford record always sounded so muddy. There was a generational loss in the tape when they overdubbed his vocal onto the tape. Never knew that. Thanks so much!

Always loved his record "Don't Just Know It" which is mentions "My Blue Heaven" in the lyrics. Great stuff!

Here's a rare 1950s performance of the late Smith and the Clowns miming to the record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gdDubu1L2Q

"Ah Ah Ah!!"

[Mister Moon]

Just because he was the author and original performer of "Sea Cruise", Huey "Piano" Smith would deserve a place of honor in the minds and hearts of rock and roll lovers.

But there was so much more about him.

Robert Palmer once wrote that Smith's classic records were funnier than The Coasters' records. I don't know about that. I love The Coasters too, and Leiber & Stoller. But Huey, at his very best (which means the recoridngs he made for Ace between 1956 and the early 60s), was one hell of a rock and roll performer. He had the right songs, the right sound, and his records conveyed the ideal dose of abandon.

Just listen to the original versions (never released at the time) of "Sea Cruise" and "Loberta", the backing track of whom would be used as the basis of Frankie Ford's hit single in 1959. It's just sensational rock and roll, the likes of which are so hard to find.

Dig those top New Orleans musicians blowing their tops at Cosimo's.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7BA1pu4sXk

Ahh, that explains why the Ford record always sounded so muddy. There was a generational loss in the tape when they overdubbed his vocal onto the tape. Never knew that. Thanks so much!

Always loved his record "Don't Just Know It" which is mentions "My Blue Heaven" in the lyrics. Great stuff!

Here's a rare 1950s performance of the late Smith and the Clowns miming to the record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gdDubu1L2Q

"Ah Ah Ah!!"

Thanks for the post !

So many things to comment...

First of all, thanks for the video. I just discovered it the other day. Never saw it before. That's probably "American Bandstand", and it's so neat to see Huey Smith at far left and Bobby Marchan at far right. As usual, no black audience in the studio.

Regarding the original versions of "Sea Cruise" (vocals by Huey Smith and Gerri Hall) and "Loberta" (lead vocals by Bobby Marchan) I included in my first post - they were cut in the summer of 1958 at Cosimo Studio in New Orleans, but were not released as such until 1971, on a Huey compilation album. As mentioned, the backing tracks of both recordings were used for the Frankie Ford hit single a few months later.

However, I'm not sure the removal of the original vocals and the subsequent inclusion of Ford's singing would have necessarily meant a loss in the audio quality of the resulting tape. I can't hear it, at least, but maybe my ears are not what they used to be...

Cosimo Studio, at that point, included multitrack equipment, which meant that all they had to do was to substitute the original singing track for a new one, that's all. There are quite a few examples in the Ace catalog of that era where we can see this kind of thing. For example, the "Rockin' Pneumonia" single by Smith himself featured the vocal version on side one and the instrumental version on side two. Of course, the instrumental one was just the same as side one without the voices.

Fast forward over ten years, and we can see how in 1971 Ace used the same "Sea Cruise" backing track as the basis of a new version by one Little Shelton. Listen closely, and the backing is the same old one, with just a few instruments added, and the new voice :



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFOOp5SgUnc



By the way, many years ago I purchased a CD on a mid-price label which included 30 tracks from Ace, and much to my surprise, a few of them were uncredited alternate takes to the ones I already knew - one of them being "Sea Cruise" by Frankie Ford. The backing track was the same, but the vocals were different. Check it out :

https://www.discogs.com/release/9944345-Various-Kings-Of-New-Orleans-R-n-B

[Mike C]

Just because he was the author and original performer of "Sea Cruise", Huey "Piano" Smith would deserve a place of honor in the minds and hearts of rock and roll lovers.

But there was so much more about him.

Robert Palmer once wrote that Smith's classic records were funnier than The Coasters' records. I don't know about that. I love The Coasters too, and Leiber & Stoller. But Huey, at his very best (which means the recoridngs he made for Ace between 1956 and the early 60s), was one hell of a rock and roll performer. He had the right songs, the right sound, and his records conveyed the ideal dose of abandon.

Just listen to the original versions (never released at the time) of "Sea Cruise" and "Loberta", the backing track of whom would be used as the basis of Frankie Ford's hit single in 1959. It's just sensational rock and roll, the likes of which are so hard to find.

Dig those top New Orleans musicians blowing their tops at Cosimo's.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7BA1pu4sXk

Ahh, that explains why the Ford record always sounded so muddy. There was a generational loss in the tape when they overdubbed his vocal onto the tape. Never knew that. Thanks so much!

Always loved his record "Don't Just Know It" which is mentions "My Blue Heaven" in the lyrics. Great stuff!

Here's a rare 1950s performance of the late Smith and the Clowns miming to the record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gdDubu1L2Q

"Ah Ah Ah!!"

Thanks for the post !

So many things to comment...

First of all, thanks for the video. I just discovered it the other day. Never saw it before. That's probably "American Bandstand", and it's so neat to see Huey Smith at far left and Bobby Marchan at far right. As usual, no black audience in the studio.

Regarding the original versions of "Sea Cruise" (vocals by Huey Smith and Gerri Hall) and "Loberta" (lead vocals by Bobby Marchan) I included in my first post - they were cut in the summer of 1958 at Cosimo Studio in New Orleans, but were not released as such until 1971, on a Huey compilation album. As mentioned, the backing tracks of both recordings were used for the Frankie Ford hit single a few months later.

However, I'm not sure the removal of the original vocals and the subsequent inclusion of Ford's singing would have necessarily meant a loss in the audio quality of the resulting tape. I can't hear it, at least, but maybe my ears are not what they used to be...

Cosimo Studio, at that point, included multitrack equipment, which meant that all they had to do was to substitute the original singing track for a new one, that's all. There are quite a few examples in the Ace catalog of that era where we can see this kind of thing. For example, the "Rockin' Pneumonia" single by Smith himself featured the vocal version on side one and the instrumental version on side two. Of course, the instrumental one was just the same as side one without the voices.

Fast forward over ten years, and we can see how in 1971 Ace used the same "Sea Cruise" backing track as the basis of a new version by one Little Shelton. Listen closely, and the backing is the same old one, with just a few instruments added, and the new voice :



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFOOp5SgUnc



By the way, many years ago I purchased a CD on a mid-price label which included 30 tracks from Ace, and much to my surprise, a few of them were uncredited alternate takes to the ones I already knew - one of them being "Sea Cruise" by Frankie Ford. The backing track was the same, but the vocals were different. Check it out :

https://www.discogs.com/release/9944345-Various-Kings-Of-New-Orleans-R-n-B

Wow, thanks for the info! I didn't realize Cosimo Studio's had multitrack capabilities in 1958. I thought the overdub was done to two track tape, such as we saw on the chorus overdub of Elvis' "Shake, Rattle & Roll." This would give meant recording the overdub onto a copy of the Smith track which has resulted in generation loss.

Amazing info, Mister Moon.

[Mister Moon]

Wow, thanks for the info! I didn't realize Cosimo Studio's had multitrack capabilities in 1958. I thought the overdub was done to two track tape, such as we saw on the chorus overdub of Elvis' "Shake, Rattle & Roll." This would give meant recording the overdub onto a copy of the Smith track which has resulted in generation loss.

Amazing info, Mister Moon.

Well, I don't know exactly which was the equipment they used at Cosimo Studio at that point, but it wasn't certainly a simple monaural recorder, otherwise they could never have removed the original vocals from a tape as they did so often.

Many studios around that time were starting to use more sophisticated tools. Gold Star in Los Angeles is another example. We have lots of stuff recorded by Eddie Cochran there, where, for example, he overdubbed himself playing different guitar parts onto the same song. A big favourite of mine is "Strollin' Guitar", from 1959 - a masterpiece of rock and roll coolness where we can hear Eddie playing at least three different guitar parts, backed only by Connie Smith's electric bass. Here's the originally released mix, followed by an insight into the recording process of the song. The final complete take we hear at the end of the second video is the released master without the last guitar overdub :


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpwxxQQtRvo



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCHpRYQX8PU