Jack McVea...........

Jack McVea

Jack McVea (November 5, 1914 – December 27, 2000) was an American swing, blues, and rhythm and blues woodwind player; he played clarinet and tenor and baritone saxophone. His father was the noted banjoist Satchel McVea, and banjo was Jack McVea's first instrument.

Born John Vivian McVea in Los Angeles, California, and playing jazz in Los Angeles for several years, he joined Lionel Hampton's orchestra in 1940. From 1944 on he mostly worked as a leader. Perhaps his most impressive performance as a sideman in those years was at the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert in 1944. From 1966 till his retirement in the 1980s he led a group which played traditional jazz at Disneyland, called "The Royal Street Bachelors" in New Orleans Square.

McVea was leader of the Black & White Records studio band and was responsible for coming up with the musical riff for the words "Open the Door, Richard". Ralph Bass got him to record it in 1946 and it became immensely popular, entering the national charts the following year, and was recorded by many other artists.

He is also known for his playing on T-Bone Walker's "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad)." McVea also played on 1945's "Slim's Jam" by Slim Gaillard alongside Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

McVea died in December 2000, at the age of 86.

OBITUARY

NY TIMES         Jack McVea, Bandleader With a Noteworthy Novelty Hit, Dies at 86 By BEN RATLIFF Jack McVea, a tenor saxophonist and bandleader who was a writer of the 1947 novelty hit "Open the Door, Richard," died on Dec. 27 in Los Angeles. He was 86. Mr. McVea started out playing ukulele in a band led by his father, the banjoist Isaac (Satchel) McVea, who was the first black radio host in Los Angeles, with an early-1920's show on KNX called "The Optimistic Doughnut." Jack McVea graduated from Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, which at the time was producing a number of important jazz musicians, including Dexter Gordon, Melba Liston and Ernie Royal. He worked in the house band at the Club Alabam on Central Avenue in Los Angeles, where jazz sizzled in the 1940's, played with Eddie Barefield's big band, and by 1940 had begun a three-year stint with Lionel Hampton as a baritone saxophonist. In 1944 he took part in the first presentation of Jazz at the Philharmonic, the popular touring revue produced by the impresario Norman Granz. Mr. McVea's place in the history of American music was determined largely by two events, one popular and one obscure. One was his role in creating "Open the Door, Richard," a song based on a comedy routine by the entertainers Dusty Fletcher and John Mason, who performed it in black theaters in the 1930's. Mr. McVea, along with Fletcher, Mason and Dan Howell, changed the words of the routine to eliminate racial stereotyping and set them to a rhythm-and-blues melody. Mr. McVea had the first hit version of the song in 1947. Other recordings followed almost immediately: by Fletcher, by Count Basie and finally by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five. The success of the song ensured Mr. McVea work with his band around the country for the next several years, after which he became a sideman for hire, working briefly for MGM and leading a band in Las Vegas. The other milestone in his career was his participation in a slight but memorable studio jam-session track, "Slim's Jam," recorded with Slim Gaillard and Charlie Parker, when Parker was playing on the West Coast in 1945. In the record's jokey routine — released under Gaillard's name on the small Bel-Tone label but reissued regularly since because of the evergreen interest in Parker — Gaillard, with his loopy sense of humor, introduced Mr. McVea as "Jack MacVouty," and Mr. McVea proceeded to play a sweet, economical and archetypal rhythm-and-blues solo. In 1966 he started working at Disneyland, hired by Walt Disney himself, playing clarinet with the Royal Street Bachelors band in the theme park's New Orleans Square. He kept the job for 27 years, retiring in 1992. Mr. McVea is survived by two daughters, Lyta McVea-Abdullah of Los Angeles and Jacqueline Grant of Rolling Hills, Calif.; a son, Robert L. McVea of Hawthorne, Calif.; 10 grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren.

Here's a few tunes...........

Baby look at you-Wynonie Harris w/ Jack McVea
Baby make up your mine- JMcV and his All Stars
Bartender boogie- JMcV and his All Stars
Blues with a feeling-Rabon Tarrant w/ JMcV and his All Stars
Butch- JMcV and his All Stars
Carlos- JMcV and his All Stars
Chop chop boom- JMcV and his All Stars
Crows being evicted-Jack McVea and his Door Openers
Dirty money blues-Rabon Tarrant w/ JMcV and his All Stars
Don't blame me- JMcV and his All Stars
Don't let the sun catch you crying- JMcV and his All Stars
Evening- JMcV and his All Stars
F Minor boogie- JMcV and his All Stars
Fiddlesticks-JMcV Orch
Fish for supper- JMcV and his All Stars
Groovin' boogie- JMcV and his All Stars
Inflation blues- JMcV and his All Stars
It never should have been this way- JMcV and his All Stars
Jack Frost- JMcV and his All Stars
Jack's boogie- JMcV and his All Stars
Mumblin' blues- JMcV and his All Stars
My business is COD- JMcV and his All Stars
My Grandfather-JMcV Orch.
Naggin' woman blues- JMcV and his All Stars
New Deal- JMcV and his All Stars
No worry blues-JMcV Orch.
No, no you can't do dat Mon- JMcV and his All Stars
O-kay for baby- JMcV and his All Stars
Oh, how I miss you tonight-JmcV and his Orch.
Ooh Mop- JMcV and his All Stars
Open the door Richard- JMcV and his All Stars
Play it over- JMcV and his All Stars
Rainy day blues 1-Rabon Tarrant and Jack McVea
Rainy day blues 2- JMcV and his All Stars
The crows boogie-JMcV Orch.
The key's in the mailbox- JMcV and his All Stars

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TTYCJB3V

Don't bruise the feeling-JMcV and his Orch
'Frisco blues-JMcV and his All Stars
Gaucho Hop-JMcV and his Orch
Hoo Doo you baby-JMcV and his Orch
Let's ride, ride, ride-The Savoys, Jack McVea & His Orchestra & Louise Beatty
Nobody in town can bake a sweet jelly roll like mine-JMcV and his Orch
On the sunny side of the street-JMcV and his Orch
Opus boogie-JMcV Orch.
She's gone with the wind-Wynonie Harris and JMcV and His All Stars
Somebody changed the lock on my heart-Wynonie Harris and JMcV and His All Stars
Tarrant blues-JMcV and His All Stars
Tatoe pie-JMcV and His All Stars
Tequila Hop-JMcV Orch
Trying to tell ya-JMcV and His All Stars
Two timin' baby boogie-JMcV and His All Stars
Ube Dubie-JMcV and his Orch.
We're together again-JMcV and His All Stars
Wine-O 1-JMcV
Wine-O 2-JMcV and His All Stars
Wynonie's blues-Wynonie Harris and JMcV and His All Stars
You brought me heartaches-JMcV and his Orch.
You can come back home-JMcV and His All Stars



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