The Four Bars, "Hey Baby" c/w “Grief By Day, Grief By Night," Josie 005 (rel. 7/1954)

The Four Bars came from Washington DC (currently under siege by The Orange Stain’s execrable stormtroopers) and were around for ages without a hit record. Their local fanbase may have been sufficient to keep them afloat.

Theirs is a typical tangled story, which I’ll entrust to the great Marv Goldberg to tell at length.* Here are my Cliff’s Notes:

Members Eddie Daye and Melvin Butler first sang together in a gospel group for the Armed Services. Once they got into civvies again, in 1953, they looked to go pro and recruited other members. As The 4 Bars of Rhythm (name soon truncated) they played night spots around the nation’s capital and developed a following for their jump-blues sound and tight vocal ensemble. They met Deborah Chessler, who managed the then-biggest group in r&b, The Orioles. She couldn’t manage them but put her foot in the door of Jubilee Records.

The group was signed to its Josie imprint and their first single, which we’ll spin today, came out in the summer of 1954. It’s a powerful example of first-stage r&b—before the example of Clyde McPhatter’s Drifters shook up the scene. (Their smash hit “Honey Love” was a recent release, and it sent out shock-waves of influence that doomed old-school groups like the 4 Bars on the record charts.)

That said, this is one heck of record. In its infancy, vocal group r&b had a tie to modern jazz—as heard in the opening to “Hey Baby,” with its fancy guitar chords. (The Crows’ 1954 hit “Gee” has an almost bebop guitar solo.) Though the vocal style harks back to the early post-war period, the beat is up-to-date and a simple arrangement spotlights the group’s dynamic vocal blend. The marvelously-named Alphonso Feemster takes the easygoing lead on this beguiling bopper. With frequent interjections by that piercing reverb-heavy guitar, as a small rhythm section moves the beat along, this B-side sure sounds like a hit to me. I believe that, had the label gone with this as the A, they could’ve gotten an r&b chart hit. I, of course, have the benefit of hindsight (and a bit of a golden ear, if I may brag).

Once upon a time, Cash Box reviews were in recognizable English--except for that last phrase.

“Grief By Day, Grief By Night” sounds like the travails of a migraine-sufferer. It is an atmospheric slow-grind blues ballad with a lead by Eddie Daye (who penned both sides). This is a supper-club blues; music to be enjoyed from the comfort of one’s table, a stiff drink in one hand, a smoke in the other. (Nothing unhealthy about that regimen.) It’s a song that might show up in a post-war Humphrey Bogart movie as he reconnoiters in some dark night-spot. Rhythm and blues of 1954 pushed past this older approach, and this feels like a B-side to these ears. A fine song and superb performance, but not danceable and thus a potential juke-box and DJ flop.

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One must give this group credit for perseverance: without one chart hit to their name, they made 17 singles over a 15-year period, including one release on the holy-grail soul label Shrine Records. Eddie Daye created a label (Dayco Records) for the group, and they backed soul singer Betty Wilson on a 1967 release that goes for close to 5K in top condition. (That’s probably more than the group earned that year.)

I’m curious to hear some of their later sides to see how they changed with the times. It fascinates me to see the ongoing evolution of vernacular music, record by record.

* Here's his account of the group's history: 

https://www.uncamarvy.com/4Bars/4bars.html

Tomorrow: girl group The Ribbons with their second—and quite rare—single for Marsh Records. Lordy, this one was hard to find. I have a triumphant story about this disc. See you tomorrow!