BLIND BLAKE - Bahamian Calypso - EXCELLENT 1951 ART Records 5-record Album AL-3
ART Records 5-record Album AL-3, 78 RPM.

BLIND BLAKE - Songs of the Islands - Bahamian Calypso

"A Group of Bahamian Songs by Blind Blake and the Royal Victoria Hotel Calypsos" .



1951 issue.



Records are in EXCELLENT condition, look virtually unplayed. Labels are Nice. Binder is in Very Nice Condition, light shelf wear.

Blake Alphonso Higgs (1915, Matthew Town, Inagua, Bahamas – 1986), better known as "Blind Blake", was the best-known performer of goombay/calypso in the Bahamas from the 1930s to the 1960s.

For much of his career, Blind Blake was based at the Royal Victoria Hotel in Nassau. Included in his wide repertoire was "Love, Love Alone", a song (by Trinidadian calypsonian Caresser) about the abdication of Edward VIII. Blind Blake's version of this calypso is said to have been enjoyed by the former king himself, who, as the Duke of Windsor, served as Governor of the Bahamas during World War II.

His style was a mix of Dixieland jazz, calypso/goombay, and American folk, probably because of the close proximity the Bahamas has to the USA.

Higgs played banjo and sang, releasing 4 albums during his tenure at the Royal Victoria Hotel, one with singer Lou Adams, and several other lesser albums towards the end of his career. His first four albums were released on Floridian label Art, including a 10" with Lou Adams. Although sadly never famous in his own right, his music has been covered by the likes of Dave Van Ronk ("Yes, Yes, Yes", although the original is actually called "The Duck's Yas-Yas-Yas", a 1929 hit by blues pianist-singer James "Stump" Johnson, also successfully recorded by Oliver Cobb that same year[1]), Pete Seeger ("Foolish Frog"), Lord Mouse and the Kalypso Katz ("Tomatoes"), The Percentie Brothers ("Goombay Drums") and perhaps most famously The Beach Boys who covered his 1952 recording of the Caribbean folk song "John B Sail" ("Wreck of the John B") and called it "Sloop John B". - from wikipedia

Tracks are:

J.P. Morgan
Jones (Oh Jones)
Yes Yes Yes
Pretty Boy
Run Come See
Love, Love Alone
Lord Got Tomatoes
Pigeon
Watermelon Spoilin' On the Vine
Never Interfere With Man and Wife

Terrific and Scarce BLIND BLAKE 5-record Album in EXCELLENT, Unusually Fine Condition.

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 _gsrx_vers_565 (GS 6.7 (565))