Jesse Stone Helped Create Rock & Roll

"He stole my music. But he gave me my name."
--Muddy Waters on Mick Jagger
"When they get you in the record business, someone gonna rip you anyway so that don't bother me... people round you gonna rip you if they can."
-- Muddy Waters
"If you tried to give Rock & Roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry.'"
--John Lennon

Listen up. The daddy wants to ask you a question. Have you heard of Jesse Stone? If you haven't, don't worry about it. Most people haven't. Most musicians haven't heard of him. In fact. most so-called musicologists, who are mostly white males who see music only through white lens, haven't heard of him. Those who have see him as a man on the margins and not a central character. They see rock & roll as a music birthed principally by Sam Phillips, head of Sun Records, made popular by deejays like Alan Fried, Wolfman Jack, and marketed and sealed into white, energetic teeny bopper memory by television hosts like Dick Clarke and Ed Sullivan. Yes, all these guys contributed mightily to the development of rock & roll, especially Sam Phillips. However, what's left out of this white-washed history are the groundbreaking contributions of African Americans, the people who made the music and sometimes developed the white musicians to sing and play it.

You hear about Sam Phillips, head of Sun Records. You hear about the famous deejay Alan Fried. But rarely do you hear about African Americans who understood that, due to the racism in this country, black music was not going to go far in America, unless it was first performed by white artists and promoted by white people as a new genre for white America-- unless it was due perceived as white music. Let's face it, it was due to nothing less than straight-up white racism that rock & roll became a genre in the place. It was, in actuality, little more than a weak derivative of blues and gospel music, two genres of popular music that already had accomplished, seasoned artists going back to minstrel shows and field songs of slaves on southern plantations.

You want a great example of such a black person who understood this racism, who found white musicians to play black music, and who wrote and composed many of the songs they sang? Look no further than Jesse Stone.

Born in 1901, the grandfather of slaves, Stone began singing and performing at the age of five in minstrel shows. In the 1920's, he lead a jazz band whose saxophonist was none other than the great Coleman Hawkins. A few decades later, he was the arranger, composer and comedy writer for those exciting shows at the Apollo Theater. Around 1940, he joined Atlantic Records. As a songwriter, arranger and producer, he found that he could make good money writing for whites. For example, he wrote "Idaho." It was sung by Guy Lombardo and sold three million copies. But he should be remembered most for his work in finding and developing white musicians to play black music and promoting the songs they sang.

In 1954, recognizing that the songs he composed wouldn't go very far if performed by whites, he hooked up with Alan Freid and traveled towns big and small throughout the South, looking specifically for white musicians to sing black music. It was Stone who chose a group called Bill Haley and the Comets for this purpose. And it was Stone who picked out the songs for the group. It was "Shake, Rattle and Roll," a song originally recorded by the great blues shouter Big Joe Turner. It sold a million copies, peeking at #7 on the Billboard's chart, and setting the stage for white teeny boppers to sing and dance to black music.

In 1958, R&B singer Epic Records star Roy Hamilton recorded a Stone tune called "Don't let go." It went to #2 on the R&B charts. Two decades later, the late great Isaac Hayes , working out of Stax Records, with his soulful voice, disco strings and luscious horns, recorded the song. It went to #11 on the R&B charts. Stone also wrote "Flip, flop and Fly," (another song originally made a hit by Big Joe Turner) and "Your Cash Ain't Nothing But Trash," all big hits.

Today, November 16th, is the birthday of Jesse Stone, one of the greatest producers, songwriters, and composers in American history, and a black artist who achieved success despite white racism.