Success in Upstate New York
At the end of the summer of 1949, Cavallo moved back to Syracuse, got together some local musicians, and went looking for work, but the clubs in the white section of town were still playing hotel music, so in order to get work, he had to play in black clubs like the Penguin. His big break came at the end of 1949 when his uncle, who owned a large night club called Sorrentos, let him play there. He was expected to play old standards to the mostly Italian audience, but when he sneaked in uptempo R&B numbers, the crowd went nuts. After that, the Jimmy Cavallo Quartet started packing the club, and playing all the R&B they wanted. The band was a phenomenon. In the summer of 1950, he got a steady gig at Di Castros in Sylvan Beach on Oneida Lake.
Word spread fast in Central New York's large Italian community, and Jimmy drew a crowd from an area which spanned from Utica to Rochester to Binghamton, with people flocking by the thousands to dance to Jimmy Cavallo's rocking R&B. In 1950, Jimmy's band was drawing crowds of 1000 to 1200 every Sunday afternoon to DiCastros. In 1951, they cut 2 records for the tiny BSD label, numbers 1004 and 1005. These records were recorded in the basement of the home of label owner Angelo Pergolito, in Auburn, New York, 25 miles from Syracuse. This record label, which lasted from 1951 to 1955, was strictly aimed at recording local talent.
Side A of BSD 1004 was "Ha Ha Ha Blues," which was Jimmy's reworking of a Joe Morris tune, also from 1951, called "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" The flip side was "I Got Eyes For You." BSD 1005 had on the A side, Cavallo's cover of Jimmy Preston's "Rock The Joint." Bill Haley and his Saddlemen's 1952 waxing of that tune marked the dawn of guitar-based rockabilly, but Cavallo's earlier record was done with saxophones and brass in the germinal rock and roll style.
Side B, "Leave Married Women Alone," is an original done also in that vein. He wrote the tune with Diz Utley, another tenor saxophonist, who had honked alongside Cavallo in the earliest days in North Carolina. Other artists on these two recordings are Syracuse natives Elmer "Al" Antonello on drums, Sam Barone on bass, Mike Peluso on keyboards, and Georgie Horton on trumpet. (note: the song was re-written as "Soda Shop Rock" in 1956). Vocals on "Rock The Joint" are Jimmy in the lead with Diz and Horton backing up.
They played Di Castros for two more years and disbanded, and Jimmy went on the road with a new band, in 1953 and '54. A falling-out in Detroit led to this band's demise, and Jimmy's manager appointed him as the new leader of tenor saxophonist Joe Marillo's band, an already-working R & B band in the Buffalo area, and named them "Jimmy Cavallo and The House Rockers." With the dual-sax sound of Marillo and Cavallo, national recognition came for the House Rockers after an audition, in July 1956, for Alan Freed in his studio at WINS in NYC. They soon began appearing at Alan Freed shows and making records for the Coral label.
Read more about this topic: Jimmy Cavallo
Famous quotes containing the words success in, success and/or york:
“Woman’s success in lifting men out of their way of life nearly resembling that of the beasts—who merely hunted and fished for food, who found shelter where they could in jungles, in trees, and caves—was a civilizing triumph.”
—Mary Ritter Beard (1876–1958)
“Woman’s success in lifting men out of their way of life nearly resembling that of the beasts—who merely hunted and fished for food, who found shelter where they could in jungles, in trees, and caves—was a civilizing triumph.”
—Mary Ritter Beard (1876–1958)
“I haven’t seen so much tippy-toeing around since the last time I went to the ballet. When members of the arts community were asked this week about one of their biggest benefactors, Philip Morris, and its requests that they lobby the New York City Council on the company’s behalf, the pas de deux of self- justification was so painstakingly choreographed that it constituted a performance all by itself.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)