For those unaware, this is the first volume featuring the guitar work of Blues side man Lefty Bates.

The incomparable Ronnie Boysen from Denmark presents another volume of this brand new series focused on Side Men of African American artists. Lefty Bates worked with the El Dorados, the Flamingos, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Etta James, the Aristo-Kats, the Hi-De-Ho Boys, the Moroccos, and the Impressions.

Lefty Bates was an American Chicago blues guitarist. He led the Lefty Bates Combo and worked with the El Dorados, the Flamingos, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Etta James, the Aristo-Kats, the Hi-De-Ho Boys, the Moroccos, and the Impressions. A regular on the Chicago blues scene, his major work was as a session musician on numerous recordings in the 1950s and 1960s.

Early in the ’50s, Bates formed a trio with bassist Quinn Wilson, a former member of the Aristo-Kats, and the legendary Chicago pianist Horace Palm. This group gigged for much of the ’50s, sometimes expanding to a quartet by adding a horn player. There were very few recordings released under his own name, including a solitary release on Boxer in 1955, another on United several years later, and two sides done on Apex at the close of the ’50s.

He also did a record with his group for the Mad label in 1958, a company whose name summed up the disposition of most people in the independent record business as well as the feelings of artists once the sides are released and go nowhere. This was certainly the case with Bates: none of these sides achieved any notoriety, but that apparently did not matter to Bates.

Indeed the lion’s share of his bread came from club gigs and session guitar work on other people’s recordings. For many years he was a stalwart at Chicago blues scene clubs such as the legendary Theresa’s, and appeared in the second guitar position on many records by blues giants such as Jimmy Reed and Buddy Guy.

Playing rhythm guitar on a blues record is not the fastest path to glory, as listeners sometimes emphasize the lead guitar in rhythm & blues and forget about the rhythm being so expertly provided by this type of player. Bates was versatile, able to handle the laid-back shuffle of Reed as well as the aggressive, sometimes mind-numbing assault of Guy.

He also shows up on a variety of sessions by lesser-known players such as Larry Birdsong and Honey Brown. He was also one of the few rhythm guitarists who could follow John Lee Hooker off into the one-chord ozone. This ability to adapt to a variety of settings within the blues genre was the main reason he was chosen as a member of what would become the house band for the famous Vee Jay label; along with other players such as bassist, bandleader and manager Al Smith, and the juicy, honking saxophonist Red Holloway.

This group of players began working under the auspices of the Chance record label, a precursor to VeeJay, whose motto and philosophy was summed up in its name: once cut, there was a chance that a side might end up getting released, and yes, just a chance the musicians involved might get paid, although holding one’s breath awaiting the check was not a smart idea. The label operated out of a garage and developed some of the earliest Jimmy Reed sides with the doggy backup band entitled the Spaniels.

Meanwhile, Vee Jay apparently upped the ante and lured away some of the session players by offering the rich sum of $41.25 per man per session, although Holloway admitted in an interview the musicians ...might have to wait a couple of months before you got that. Typical arrangements for these sessions were thrown together with no preparation, or waiting time on the other hand. The players had to be ready to put something together behind whatever lead singer the company was recording, whether it was a gut-bucket country bluesman gone electric or a more sophisticated doo wop group.

Bates got into a similar jack-of-all-trades situation with the upstart Club 51 label, another Chicago outfit that recorded the fascinating mixture of blues, R&B, doo wop, and jazz that was going on during this period. At Club 51, however, the left-handed axeman was the honcho, leading up the studio bands under names such as the Lefty Bates Orchestra.

Some of the records for this label combined Bates and his sidemen -- often the same players that were on the Vee Jay sides -- with vocal groups such as the Five Buddies or solid Chicago bluesmen such as pianist Sunnyland Slim. In the ’70s, Bates took over leadership of the Ink Spots, at that point more of a franchise than a group.

1. Tommy Powell & His Hi De Ho Boys – That Cat Is High [Decca 7231] (1939); 2. Aristo-Kats – Watch Yourself Baby [RCA Victor 20-1954] (1946); 3. Aristo-Kats – Boogie In C [RCA Victor 20-1954] (1946); 4. Big Bertha Henderson – Rock, Daddy, Rock [Chance 1143] (1953); 5. The Flamingos – You Ain’t Ready [Chance 1149 (1953) Red Holloway’s Orchestra; 6. Jimmy Eager & His Trio - Please Mr. Doctor [Sabre 100] (1953); 7. Danderliers Vocals & Dallas Taylor - Chop Chop Boom [States 147] (1955) 8. Al Smith’s Progressive Jazz – Beale Street Stomp aka Chop Chop Boogie- [Meteor 5013] (1953); 9. Ben Imon - I Really Love You [Vee Jay 177] (1956); 10. Al Smiths Combo – Foolin’ Around Slowly [Vee Jay 174] (1956); 11. Honey Brown with Lefty Bates Combo - No Good Daddy [Club 51 Record Co.107] (1956); 12. The Moroccos - Bang Goes My Heart [United 204] (1956); 13. The Eldorados, Al Smiths Orch. – Rock n Roll’s For Me [Vee Jay 180] (1956); 14. Camille Howard - Rock n Roll Mama [Vee-Jay 198] (1956); 15. Al Smith - One Two Cha Cha [Falcon 1001] (1957); 16. Johnny Pate Quintet - The Elder [Federal 12312] (1957); 17. Priscilla Bowman & Sugar Daddy [Falcon 1008] (1957); 18. Lefty Bates and His Band – Chicago Cha Cha [United 206] (1957); 19. The Dells - A Distant Love [Vee Jay 251] (1957); 20. Lefty Bates and His Band – Somebody Will Understand [United 206] (1957); 21. Lefty (Guitar) Bates & His Recording Band – Back Ground [MAD 1011] (1958); 22. Earl Washington – Misirlou [Vee Jay 905] (1958); 23. The Chargers - Miss Letha Jones [B.E.A.T 1006] (1959); 24. The Spaniels - I Like It like That [Vee Jay 310] (1959); 25. Lefty (Guitar) Bates and His Orchestra – Rock Alley [APEX 951] (1959); 26. Horace Palm – ENA [APEX 952] (1959); 27. Tiny Topsy – Just A Little Bit [Federal 12357] (1959); 28. Piney Brown And His Blues Toppers – Sugar In My Tea (Cream In My Coffee) [Mad 1295] (1960)

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