Bill Hayes Orch. with Perry Cain, vocal - "Hurry Home Baby" (unissued) / "I'm Sorry I Was Reckless (With Your Heart)" (Sittin' in With 560)
"Hurry Home Baby" (Link to Soundcloud)
"I'm Sorry I Was Reckless (With Your Heart)" (Link to Soundcloud)
This is the seventh in a series exploring little-known aspects or recordings of Houston's African-American music scene of the 1940s and 1950s.
Last week, when I wrote that Perry Cain's "Big Timing Grandma" was his "second and final record," I had forgotten about his late 1949/early 1950 session with the Bill Hayes Orchestra on the Sittin' in With label. In my defense, it must be admitted that this was a forgettable session, sounding like demos intended for Charles Brown. Bob Shad's rushed field sessions in Houston produced very little in the way of good music. What is shocking about these sessions is that Shad didn't even record Houston's best bands (I.H. Smalley, Sammy Harris), even though they presumably were available, instead preferring young and inexperienced groups like Bill Hayes's and Ed Wiley's. Thus, a great opportunity was lost. It is doubly disappointing since Shad was a jazz veteran (SIW's first releases were by Chu Berry) who genuinely appreciated good musicianship. But there is little of that in evidence on the SIW singles.
The best song from this session, "Hurry Home Baby," was left unissued until 1998, when it appeared with "I'm Sorry I Was Reckless" (mistitled "Reckless") on a generic reissue entitled The Real Blues Brothers, Volume 2. What is noteworthy about this is the sound quality. Obviously taken from the master tape or disk, not a 78, it shows the huge sonic difference between what was recorded and what the final pressing sounded like.