Johnny Ace, R’n’B star from the early 1950s, known as ‘The Tear Beat on the Blue Note’, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature.

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton.

Enjoy a whole library of Phantom Dancer mixes online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 20 September at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

JOHNNY

John Marshall Alexander Jr., known by the stage name Johnny Ace, was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and musician. He had a string of hit singles in the mid 1950s. Ace died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound playing silly-buggers backstage at a concert, aged 25 and had two children.

Born the son of a baptist preacher who allowed no blues in the house. Ace dropped out of high school to join the US Navy. He was reported AWOL for much of his time there.

On discharge he joined Adolph Duncan’s Band as a pianist, playing around Beale Street in Memphis. The network of local musicians became known as the Beale Streeters, which included B. B. King, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, Earl Forest, and Roscoe Gordon. Initially, they weren’t an official band, but at times there was a leader and they played on each other’s records.

In 1951 Ike Turner, who was a talent scout and producer for Modern Records, arranged for Ace and other Beale Streeters to record for Turner’s label. Alexander played piano on some of King’s records for RPM Records and backed King during broadcasts on WDIA in Memphis. When King departed for Los Angeles and Bland left the group, Ace took over both Bland’s vocal duties and King’s radio show on WDIA.

David James Mattis, program director at WDIA and founder of Duke Records, claimed that he created the stage name of Johnny Ace: “Johnny” for Johnny Ray and “Ace” for the Four Aces. 

ACE

Ace signed to Duke in 1952 and released his first recording, “My Song”, an urbane “heart ballad” which topped the R&B chart for nine weeks beginning in September. He began heavy touring, often with Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton. In the next two years, Ace had eight hits in a row, including “Cross My Heart”, “Please Forgive Me”, “The Clock”, “Yes, Baby”, “Saving My Love for You” and “Never Let Me Go”.

In November 1954, Ace ranked No. 16 on the Billboard 1954 Disk Jockey Poll for R&B Favorite Artists.

In December 1954, he was named the Most Programmed Artist of 1954, according to the results of a national poll of disc jockeys conducted by the U.S. trade weekly Cash Box.

Early in 1955, Duke Records announced that three of his 1954 recordings, along with Thornton’s “Hound Dog“, had sold more than 1,750,000 copies.

“Pledging My Love” was a posthumous R&B number 1 hit for ten weeks beginning February 12, 1955. As Billboard bluntly put it, Ace’s death “created one of the biggest demands for a record that has occurred since the death of Hank Williams just over two years ago.”

Soon after Ace’s death, in early 1955, Varetta Dillard recorded ‘Johnny Has Gone’ for Savoy Records. She incorporated many of Ace’s song titles in the lyrics. This was the first of the many teen tragedy records that were to follow in the later 50s and early 1960s

20 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #564
107.3 2SER Tuesday 20 September 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 2YYY Young Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 – 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 2RDJ Burwood Wednesday 12 – 1pm 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2RRR Ryde Friday 11am -12 noon 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Les Brown
Leap Frog (theme) + Long Ago and Far Away	Les Brown Orchestra (voc) Doris Day	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NYC WABC CBS NYC 7 Jul 1944
Straighten Up and Fly Right	Les Brown Orchestra (voc) Butch Stone	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NYC WABC CBS NYC 7 Jul 1944
Going My Way	Les Brown Orchestra (voc) Gordon Drake	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NYC WABC CBS NYC 7 Jul 1944
Bizet Has His Day + Leap Frog (theme)	Les Brown Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NYC WABC CBS NYC 7 Jul 1944
Set 2	Woody Herman
Blue Flame (theme) + The Magpie	Woody Herman Orchestra	‘World Jazz Series’ Madison Square Garden WCBS CBS NYC 5 Jun 1960
Apple Honey	Woody Herman Orchestra	‘World Jazz Series’ Madison Square Garden WCBS CBS NYC 5 Jun 1960
Caldonia	Woody Herman Orchestra (voc) Woody Herman	‘World Jazz Series’ Madison Square Garden WCBS CBS NYC 5 Jun 1960
Set 3	Stan Daugherty
Blue Days (theme) + Just Anybody	Stan Daugherty Orchestra	KXOK St Louis 5 Feb 1942
Half a Love	Stan Daugherty Orchestra	KXOK St Louis 5 Feb 1942
A1 in the Army and A1 in my Heart + Few and Far Between	Stan Daugherty Orchestra	KXOK St Louis 5 Feb 1942
A Heavenly Hideaway + Blue Days (theme)	Stan Daugherty Orchestra	KXOK St Louis 5 Feb 1942
Set 4	Johnny Ace 1954 R’n’B
Don’t You Know	Johnny Ace	‘Musty Dusties’ AFRTS Hollywood 5 Jan 1968
Never Let Me Go	Johnny Ace	‘Musty Dusties’ AFRTS Hollywood 5 Jan 1968
No Money	Johnny Ace	‘Musty Dusties’ AFRTS Hollywood 5 Jan 1968
Pledging My Love + Let’s Go (close)	Johnny Ace + The Routers (on Let’s Go, 1962)	‘Musty Dusties’ AFRTS Hollywood 5 Jan 1968
Set 5	Women Singers on 1940s Radio
Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah	Ginny Simms	‘Your Hit Parade’ WEAF NBC NYC 1 Mar 1947
There’s a Small Hotel	Ella Logan	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
Long Ago and Far Away	Elizabeth Rogers (voc) Russ Morgan Orchestra	Garden Court Hotel Claremont San Francisco 11 Jul 1945
Santa Catalina	Dorothy Collins (voc) Raymond Scott Orchestra	Rose Room Palace Hotel KQW CBS San Francisco 16 Sep 1947
Set 6	1930s – 40s Australian Swing
Pink Elephants	Jim Davidson and his Palais Royale Orchestra	Comm Rec Sydney 6 Jun 1933
Jungle Jive	George Trevare Orchestra (voc) Elsie Wardrope	Comm Rec Sydney 1943
Hang Your Heart on a Hickory Limb	Jim Davidson and his Australian Broadcasting Commission Dance Orchestra	Comm Rec Sydney 24 Jul 1939
There Goes That Song Again	George Trevare Orchestra (voc) Elsie Wardrope	Comm Rec Sydney 1943
Set 7	Radio Trad Jazz
Strut Miss Lizzie	Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band (voc) Roger Bell	3AW Melbourne 1949
St Louis Blues	Louis Armstrong All-Stars	Blue Note WLS ABC Chicago 11 Dec 1948
Royal Garden Blues	Jimmy Dorsey Dorseyland Band	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1950
Hindustan	Bob Crosby Bobcats	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NYC 4 Jul 1939
Set 8	1930s Dance Bands
The Very Thought of You (theme) + Flowers for Madame	Ray Noble Orchestra (voc) Al Bowlly	‘Coty Hour’ WEAF NBC Red NYC 13 Mar 1935
The Continental	Henry Busse Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1935
When Gimbal Hits the Cymbal	Joe Haymes Orchestra	Grill Room Hotel Alpen WABC CBS NYC 29 Jan 1935
Tea for Two + Close	George Hall Orchestra	Radio Transcription New York City 1937