Ralph Bass

Ralph Bass (May 1, 1911 – March 5, 1997), born in The Bronx, New York, was an influential rhythm and blues (R&B) record producer and talent scout for several independent labels and was responsible for many hit records. He was a pioneer in bringing black music into the American mainstream. During his long career he worked for such labels as Black & White Records, Savoy Records, King Records, Federal Records and Chess Records, recording some of the greatest performers in black music, including Etta James, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Earl Bostic and groups such as The Platters and The Dominoes. By doing so, he was instrumental in helping to shape their careers. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 as a non performer. [cite web
first=Peter
last=Watrous
year=1919
month=January 17
url=http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/rock_and_roll_hall_of_fame_and_museum/index.html?field=per&match=exact&adxnnl=1&query=BASS,%20RALPH&adxnnlx=1163021260-QqIfTubUEKYBwJ6Yq7twkA
title=Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame Inducts Its 6th Crop of Legends
publisher=New York Times
accessdate=2006-11-08 ]

Career

As a young man Bass visited the South and personally experienced the emotional power of black music in dance clubs. When he began his career as a record producer, segregation was in full effect and black performers were marginalized and relegated to one-night stands performing only to all black audiences in a network of theatres and nightclubs known the Chitlin' Circuit. Bass decided to focus his career on bringing black music and black performers into the entertainment mainstream. [cite web
url=http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet90/hrgroups/hr/900HR0218LV.html
title=Memorial Ralph Bass
publisher=State of Illinois 90th General AssemblyLegislation
accessdate=2006-11-29 ] In the 1940s at Black and White Records Bass got his start as an A&R man. He produced and recorded, among others, Lena Horne, Roosevelt Sykes, Jack McVea (suggesting he record the hug hit "Open the Door, Richard") and T-Bone Walker, including T-Bone's landmark "Call It Stormy Monday". From there he went on to help build two of the most successful independent labels, Savoy Records of New Jersey and King Records of Cincinnati, Ohio.cite book
first= Arnold
last= Shaw
year= 1978
title= Honkers and Shouters
edition=
publisher=Macmillan Publishing Company
location= New York
pages= p. 225, 235-247
id= ISBN 978-0-02-061740-2] During this period, Bass toured the South with various blues bands, noted the large size of the audiences still predominantly black with but with an increasing numbers of whites. He sensed that the audience was changingcite book
first= Charles
last= Keil
year=1991
title= Urban Blues
edition=
publisher= University of Chicago Press
location=Chicago, IL
pages= 100
id= ISBN 0-226-42960-1 ]

At Savoy Records from 1948-51, he recorded Brownie McGhee and Johnny Otis. At Federal Records, a subsidiary of King run by Bass, he turned out a series of R&B hits, including such classics as The Dominoes' "Sixty Minute Man", "Have Mercy Baby" and Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie". When Syd Nathan at King Records at first refused to sign James Brown to record "Please, Please, Please" because he thought the demo was a piece of trash (later changing his mind) Bass signed Brown to Federal and produced "Please, Please, Please", the first Federal single, which was a regional hit and eventually sold a million copies. [cite web
url=http://www.history-of-rock.com/james_brown.htm
title=James Brown
publisher=history-of-rock
accessdate=2006-11-08 ] [cite book
first= Gerri
last= Hirshey
authorlink=
coauthors=
year= 1994
title= Nowhere to Run: The Sory of Soul Music
edition=
publisher= Da Capo Press
location=New York
pages= pp 61-62
id= ISBN 0-306-80581-2 ] He produced the original version of the R&B standard "Kansas City" recorded by Little Willie Littlefield.

In 1959, the Chess brothers hired Bass away from King Records in Cincinnati to serve as A&R Director at Chess Records. [cite web
url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/chess/chesscheck.html
title=The Chess Story
publisher=
accessdate=2006-11-08 ] He was there until 1976, working with blues, gospel, R&B, and rock and roll artists, including Clara Ward, the Soul Stirrers, Etta James, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Sonny Boy Williamson. [cite web
url=http://rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=64
title=Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame
publisher=
accessdate=2006-11-08 ] Later, for MCA Records he produced John Lee Hooker. [cite web
url=http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/2984889/a/Real+Folk+Blues%2FMore+Real+Folk+Blues.htm
title=Real Folk Blues/More Real Folk Blues - Hooker, John Lee
publisher=
accessdate=2006-11-08 ]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.answers.com/topic/bass-mega-man Ralph Bass]
* [http://www.classicjazzguitar.com/albums/artist_album.jsp?album=1051 Ralph Bass' Junior Jazz on Black and White Records]
* [http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet90/summary/900HR0218.html Death Notice 11-14-1997]