Blue eye: LOUIS BROOKS/ Nashville R&B

vendredi 19 juillet 2019

LOUIS BROOKS/ Nashville R&B

LOUIS BROOKS/ Nashville R&B

Louis Brooks is certainly not what one could call a "major" blues artist and he is mostly remembered for having brought to the limelight one of the most famous Nashville bluesman Earl Gaines, waxing several 45s with Earl as the featured vocalist of the band. Louis is nevertheless a very good sax player and bandleader and his large enough recorded output made between 1951 and 1959 certainly deserves to be better known, although facts about Louis' life are rather scarce.

Born Louie O'Neal Brooks on 19 March 1911 in Nashville, Tn he was the son of a noted New Orleans sax-player who gave his thirteen children the taste for the music (eleven played an instrument!). We don't know how and when Louis' father settled in Nashville but there - probably during the 1940's - Louis formed a band, The Hi-Toppers that were regularly playing in clubs like the Sugar Hill. Brooks was "rocking the house" with his wide range of tenor sax playing, backed by his combo with Lowell Phillips tickling the ivories, Ollie Brown on bass and Billy Sherrill on drums with featured young vocalists Larry Birdsong, Helen Hebb or Earl Gaines and even a young Latimore!. Their reputation was solid enough for the Hi-Toppers to be hired by local labels like Bullett, Republic or Tennessee to play studio sessions behind R&B Nashville artists such as Christine Kittrell or Rudy Greene.

Under his name (Louis Brooks and His Hi-Toppers), Brooks recorded several instrumentals and some vocals featuring Earl Gaines. They hit very high in 1955 with the first version of 24 hours of the day, then named It's love baby which climbed up to # 2 on the R&B Charts and would be covered by many artists like Ruth Brown, Hank Ballard and rerecorded by Earl Gaines under his name after he'd quit Louis Brooks' band.

It seemed that this success opened a lot of touring possibilities for The Hi-Toppers but Brooks was making a good living working by day at the First National Bank of Nashville and didn't want to try the hectic and unsecure life of a full time professional musician. During the 60's, Louis focused to raising his family and disbanded the Hi-Toppers sometime during this decade. He would never record again and died at his Nashville home 5 May 1993.

We have been able to gather all Brooks' recordings under his name, minus two rare tracks (One slow rock; It's driving me mad ) and unfortunately the copy of Please understand that we have is cut short at about half time. Since, our friend Earthbound has given us a .mp3 copy of Please Understand and It's drivin' me mad. Thanks a lot, Earthbound.
If anyone has those numbers, a .mp3 copy would be a welcome addition to this post. Thanks to Andy G. and Robert Goodman for sharing their 45s.

This article is largely based on David Whiteis book Southern Soul blues, Blues/ A regional experience (Bob Eagle/ Eric Le Blanc) and the website Black Cat Rockabilly.

Gérard HERZHAFT

Louis Brooks, t-sax; Lowell Phillips, pno; Ollie Brown, bs; Billy Sherrill, dms. Nashville, Tn. 1951

01. Almost boogie

02. Wine hangover

Louis Brooks, t-sax; Lowell Phillips, pno; Ollie Brown, bs; Billy Sherrill, dms. Nashville, Tn. 1952

03. Keep pushing

One slow rock

Louis Brooks, t-sax; Lowell Phillips, pno; Ollie Brown, bs; Andy Davis, dms. Nashville, Tn. 1954

04. Waddle trot

05. Bus station blues (vcl: Andy Davis)

06. Double shot

07. Time out