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The Bebop Story

by Babs Gonzales

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1.
Oop-Pa-A-Da 05:55
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2.
Babs' Mood 03:26
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3.
Bebop Santa Claus 03:54
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4.
Round Midnight 06:03
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5.
Keep an Ugly Woman 04:07
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6.
La! La! 03:49
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7.
The Bebop Story 02:34
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8.
Song for Lady Day 05:42
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about

Babs Gonzales was born Lee Brown in 1919, in Newark NJ. African-American by birth, he allegedly adopted a Hispanic surname to circumvent anti-black racism in the entertainment business, claiming he "didn't want to be treated as a Negro."

The stylish Gonzales could play piano and drums, but preferred to front his band as vocalist, explaining, "It's easier to sing and, above all, it's less tiring. We don't sweat while playing and we always look handsome. Plus, a singer usually earns more money than an instrumentalist." His lyrics and vocalizing were renowned for humor, sarcasm, satire, parody, passion and sophistication.

Although known to break into scat during choruses and breaks, Gonzales rejected the label "scat singer," insisting he was a "jazz singer." Dig: "Scat is a technical way of interpreting a melody by paraphrasing it by means of onomatopoeia," he pointed out. "Scat singers do not improvise. I do not stop improvising, like an instrumentalist. I improvise on the harmonic frame and use chords of passage."

In his long career, Babs worked with a veritable Who's Who in Jazz, including Jimmie Lunceford, Charlie Barnet, Lionel Hampton, Tadd Dameron, Sonny Rollins, Wynton Kelly, Fats Navarro, Lucky Thompson, Eddie Jefferson, Charli Persip, Bud Powell, and more, more, more and more.

He operated a New York nightclub called Babs' Insane Asylum, published a "bebop dictionary," served as actor Errol Flynn's personal chauffeur, founded his own label (Expubidence Records), and spent some of his later years living in Sweden and Denmark. He has been referred to as "the inventor of the bebop language."

Babs loved the ladies, and the ladies loved Babs.

Died of cancer in Newark, January, 1980.

credits

released October 14, 2022

Originally issued on vinyl on Expubidence Records, Newark NJ, ca. 1971.

1. "Oop-Pa-a-Da" recorded in Paris, 1969
2. "Babs' Mood" recorded in New York, 1971
3. "Bebop Santa Claus" recorded in New York, 1971
4. "Round Midnight" recorded in Paris, 1971
5. "Keep An Ugly Woman" recorded in New York, 1963
6. "La! La!" recorded in Copenhagen, 1962
7. "The Bebop Story" recorded in New York, 1957
8. "Song for Lady Day" recorded in New York, 1958

All vocals by Babs Gonzales

All songs composed by Babs Gonzales except:
"Babs' Mood" by James Moody/Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields
"Round Midnight" by Thelonious Monk/Cootie Williams/Bernard Hanighen

The following players were listed on the original homemade LP sleeve. Additional personnel are unknown. Insofar as these tracks were recorded over a span of 14 years and in three countries, the rest is guesswork.

Clark Terry (trumpet, trk 4)
Gene Ammons (sax, trks 6, 8)
Johnny Griffin (sax, trk 4)
James Moody (sax, trk 7)
Benny Green (sax, trks 6, 8)
Horace Parlan (piano)
Paul Chambers (bass)
Roy Haynes (drums)

Cover photo by William P. Gottlieb
Cover design by Tony Kellers/Twelve3.com

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Cosmic Spy Music Hoboken, New Jersey

Finding things on the scrapheap of history that we know don't belong there, and salvaging them.

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