Buddy And Claudia, "I Wanna Hug Ya, Kiss Ya, Squeeze Ya" c/w Claudia Swann With Buddy Griffin [and The Moonglows], "Please Come Back To Me," Chess 1586 (rel. 1/1955)

 

Brothers James and Edward "Buddy" Griffin put together a rhythm and blues band that was a huge success post-war. Focused on the East Coast, the Griffins delivered jump blues, big-band r&b-jazz and a good time for any audience. Buddy doubled as vocalist, and often duetted with Margie Day. Their records were staples of roadhouses all over the country and they epitomize the sound of early r&b, when its ties to jazz and swing were still strong.
        In late 1954, as Black vocal music moved away from its jazz roots, the Griffin band and guest singer Claudia Swann (who'd marry Buddy Griffin and take his name) made one single for Chess Records in Chicago. Chess had just signed vocal group The Moonglows, with leader Harvey Fuqua (no stranger to the Jukebox) and had them do uncredited backup vocals on one side of this single and one Bo Diddley's classic "Diddley Daddy" for Checker, their other main imprint. Both releases preceded The Moonglows' first Chess single, "Foolish Me."
       It might have been a good move to publicize The Moonglows' guest berth on this record, but it seems Leonard and Phil Chess skipped that class in Marketing 101: Tips and Tricks. Thus, not until blues scholars learned, from session logs, that the famed vocal group performed on these two sides, was the truth revealed.
        While there are no musical surprises on either side of this single, released in the first weeks of 1955, it does what it does with exquisite style and feeling. The Griffins' band is in fine form on "I Wanna Hug Ya, Kiss Ya, Squeeze Ya" as Buddy and Claudia deliver a bluesy harmonized vocal stand--their own composition. This is still close to a jazz vocal in the more conventional big-band style. Their modal harmonies have a suggestion of modern jazz, but the songform and performance are strictly classic blues with a stroll rhythm before that dance existed.
        A bootin' sax solo also ties this to 1954; that style would continue into the classic period of rhythm and blues, but lose much of its jazz roots over time. It's surprising to hear touches of bebop in early r&b (e.g., the guitar solo in The Crows' 1954 hit "Gee") but they are there. Not here, though! The warmth of this couple's harmonies is most pleasing and the song is excellent for what it is.

Someone--anyone--might have mentioned that new Chess

artists The Moonglows were heard on one side of this early

1955 single. Good marketing, yes? Alas, no one gave it a thought.

"Please Come Back To Me" has The Moonglows buried in the mix but present. It's a pity how low they are in the musical landscape, as Claudia takes a feelingful solo stand, as Cash Box might have deemed this performance. The song has a classic blues-jazz form, and could have been recorded by any Black jazz orchestra from the late 1930s on.
        Someone in the control booth must have noted how faint The Moonglows are at record's start. They become much louder as it goes on. I picture hand gestures and someone mouthing "move up to the mike" as the disc-cutter or tape recorded captured this performance. Thank goodness that happened!

Claudia Griffin made no further recordings unless she sang as part of the Griffin band. They appear to have quit recording by the end of the 1950s; their time had come and gone. There are many fine recordings in the first five years of the decade that presage rock 'n' roll and classic r&b and await rediscovery. This is just one of them.

Tomorrow: the titanic debut disc of Tiny Topsy, Federal Records' vocal powerhouse, who delivers a catchy song by Otis Blackwell and Eddie Cooley and bests a recent hit by Lillian Offitt on a 1957 platter well worth the acquantance of your ears!