Ray Charles Is In Town - Chronology 1958

Same venue, same period, maybe same gig.

Same venue, same period, maybe same gig.

Source here.

Ray Charles at his Wurlitzer.

Dance hall gig, 1958; photos by Paul Hoeffler. The dancing girl (who seems to pick some small change) in the last photo may be is Margie Hendricks. Almost certainly To be associated with this caption: "[at] roller rink, Rochester, NY, 1958. Saxophonist Hank Crawford  is behind Charles and either Pat Patrick or Le[r]oy Cooper [?] is in background". The roller rink then is Eddie's Roller Palace in  Chestnut Street. And that's Leroy indeed.

This photo recently surfaced, confirming a few of the suppositions in the captions to the photos above. F.l.t.r.: Leroy, Ray, Hank Crawford, Pat, Margie, Gwen, Darlene. Photo by Paul Hoeffler.

Mary Ann Fisher, from Baltimore Afro-American's Afro Youth Page, Aug 2, 1958.

1958

Rockhouse will peak at #79 on Pop chart and #14 on R&B chart.

Born: David Robinson (to Della Robinson).

January 1958

The Cookies join the touring band. (Rehearsals in St. Louis, debut in Youngstown, Ohio).

6 January 1958

Billboard Review Spotlight on Talkin' Bout You / What Kind Of Man Are You (“with a new fem. artist [Mary-Ann Fisher], a real gasser [...]. Strong sides").

From Cashbox, Jan. 25, 1958.

10 Years Atlantic anniversary ads in Billboard.

10 January 1958
The Cookies join the touring band.

18 January 1958
At "grand re-opening" of Trianon Ballroom, Chicago IL in "Rock with Rick" show; with The Spaniels, J.B. Lenoire and Al Smith and his band.

February 1958
Ray Charles makes it official - taking The Cookies on the road with his touring show. Margie Hendricks and Pat Lyles go with Charles full time (the girls who continue as The Cookies are Ethel (Darlene) McCrea, Dorothy Jones, and Dorothy Ross).

3 - 8 or 9 February 1958
Club Bel-Aire, Chester PA.

9 February 1958
Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo NY.

15 and 16 february 1958
With his "big Rockin' Band" and Mary Ann Fisher at State Theater, Hartford CT with Frankie Lymon, Th Hollywood Flames, The Playmates.

Ad from Hartford Courant, 9 Feb.

17 February 1958

Recording session for Atlantic in New York.

20 February 1958

Recording session for Atlantic in New York.

2 March 1958
Free show (organized with help of Zenas Sears) for severely burned children at William A. Harris Memorial Hospital in Atlanta GA ("Ray Charles [...] started the entertainment rolling [...] and, just as an example of what can happen, caused one little girl, who had been unable to even stand, get up and dance").

6 March 1958

Ray and Della Bee buy house in LA.

 29 March - 4 April 1958

Nixon Theater at 52nd and Chestnut in Philadelphia PA, em-ceed by Cannonball, "sensational disc jockey at Radio Station WDAS", also featuring Chuck Willis, Robert and Johnny, The Moonglows, Jo Ann Campbell, The Mello Kings and The Chuckies; "more than 40,000 persons, the majority of them teenagers are expected to visit [...] during the seven-day run [...]; source: Philadelphia Tribune, Mar. 29, 1958).
Next stop: Erie, PA.

April 1958

Release of the single Yes Indeed / I Had A Dream.

From Cashbox, Jul. 5, 1958.

10 April 1958

Recording session with Milt Jackson at Atlantic in New York.

14 and 16 April 1958
Club Bel-Aire, Chester PA.

21 April 1958
Carnation Ballroom, Omaha NE.


29 April 1958
9 - 1 dance gig, advertised with The Cookies, at April Showers Ball, Southside (National Gueard) Armory, Indianapolis IN.

May 1958

From Billboard, May 5.

5 May 1958

Midnite show at the Howard Theatre, Washington DC; with Mary Ann Fisher, The Cookies, The Turbans, Heartbeats, Robert & Johnnie, Bobby Ephram, and comedians Wiltshire & Brooks.

5 - 10 May 1958

Showboat, Philadelphia PA.

16 – 21 May 1958

Howard Theater in Washington, D.C.

23 May 1958

Concert at Royal Theatre in Baltimore MD.

30 May - 5 June 1958 
 A week at the Apollo in New York City NY, with Dr. Jive, The Heartbeats, The Drifters, The Cadillacs, The Crowns, Tiny Topsy, Ann Cole, Solomon Burke, and The 3 Cookies. Schiffman index card: "4750.00", "Augmented band fairly well although most musicians are not good at playing show. Small outfit had good specialty. 3 Cook[i]es and Mary Ann Fisher helped make a good act".

June 1958

Release of the album Soul Brothers (with Milt Jackson) by Atlantic.

Ad in The Jazz Review, November 1958.

14 - 15 June 1958

Carr's Beach Ballroom, Annapolis MD. With Mary [Ann] Fisher and The Cookies as an "extra added attraction".

18 June 1958
Chester Center, Chester PA.

20 - 26 June 1958
Flame Show Bar, Detroit (with "his band and revue featuring Mary Ann Fisher [and] the 3 Cookies").

5 July 1958

Blues in the Night program at Newport Jazz Festival, with Gerry Mulligan Quartet, Joe Turner, Pete Johnson, Chuck Berry, Big Maybelle, and at midnight Mahalia Jackson; live recording for Atlantic.

Newport Jazz Festival 1958: program.

Photos by Bob Parent, from a later tour brochure.

Photo used in I Love Quincy, 'under' anecdote about playing the Elks Club in Seattle, but I assume it's from the Newport concert.

Photo by Lee Friedlander, dated in 1956, but probably (watch the microphone!) taken - while Margie Hendricks took a solo elsewhere on stage - at this Newport concert: Pat Lyles, Mary Ann Fisher, Gwen Berry.

Ray Charles (probably playing "Hot Rod [The Spirit Feel]" - identified as David Newman by a Turkish magazine.

Photo by Bob Parent.

 

11 [to 17?] July 1958
Apollo Theater, New York City NY. Schiffman index card: "5000.00", "Overpaid. Audience did [unreadable] with much enthusiasm."

18 July 1958
Palais Royale Ballroom, Toronto, with The Cookies and Mary Ann Fisher.

Ad from The Oregonian.

23 July 1958
Sweet's Ballroom, Oakland CA.

Summer 1958

Shrine Auditorium,  with Sam Cooke.
Corporate ad in Cashbox by Atlantic:

From Cashbox, Jul. 26, 1958.

August 1958

Release of the single You Be My Baby / My Bonnie.

From Cashbox, Aug. 16, 1958.

2 August 1958 (or Aug. 3, after Jazz Cavalcade?)
One-nighter at Elks Lodge Ballroom, Los Angeles CA;  with "The Cookies, Atlantic recording Artists, who will be playing their first Los Angeles date". See original articles here. 

3 August 1958

At 14th Annual Cavalcade Of Jazz at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles CA (with Sammy Davis Jr., Little Willie John, Sam Cooke, Ernie Freeman, Bo Rhambo, Billy Preston and Clark Kids; emceed by d eejays Jim Randolph, Hunter Hancock, Charles Trammel and Huggie Boy).

Ad and article from Los Angeles Sentinel, Jul. 23 and Aug. 7.

8 - 10 August 1958
5-4 Ballroom in Los Angeles CA, with Mary Ann Fisher and 'The Cookies".

17 August 1958
Graystone Ballroom in Detroit MI.

30 August 1958

Labor Union Hall, New Orleans LA.

September 1958

A week at the Howard Theater in Washington

1 September 1958

Ponchartrain (Center) Park Stadium, New Orleans LA.

6 September 1958

Labor Union Hall, New Orleans LA.

October 1958

Release of live album Ray Charles At Newport.

Release of the single Rockhouse Parts I & II.

6 - 12 October 1958
Showboat, Philadelphia.

9 October 1958
Art Ford's Jazz Party, a jazz show presented simultaneously on tv and on radio, airs Hallelujah I Love Her So. See this.

15 October 1958
Smalls Paradise, New York City NY.

28 October 1958

Recording session for Atlantic in New York.

Undated photo shot at Atlantic Studios in New York (from Sepia Magazine).

Possibly from the same session.

November 1958

Release of the single Tell All The World About You / (Night Time Is) The Right Time.

Arrested for drug possession in New York.

From Jet, 4 December 1958.

3 November 1958

Billboard Review Spotlight on Rockhouse Parts I & II ("a first class wax").

5 November 1958

Recording session for Ray Charles Presents David Newman, at Atlantic in New York.

10 November 1958

Billboard review of Ray Charles At Newport ("jazz material is not as strong, but it's a sock album").

14 – 20 November 1958

Howard Theatre, Washington DC; with Timmie Rogers, Dee Clark, The Pastels, The Cadillacs.

18 November 1958
This Little Girl Of Mine nominated for BMI Award. Read this. 

27 November 1958

Two shows at 4th annual Thanksgiving Eve Carnegie Hall Jazz festival, New York City NY, presented by Kenneth Lee Karpe, with MJQ, Chris Connor, Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross; according to Billboard (1 December), Charles "scored well" with I've Got A Woman and On The Other Side [= Outskirts? BS] Of Town , and others".

Collection Joël Dufour.

December 1958

Going West, from New York.

Brownsville, Pittsburgh (inventing What'd I Say on the spot).

From Billboard, Dec. 15.

1 December 1958

Billboard Review Spotlight  on The Right Time ("sung with feeling with an assist from a group of chicks") / Tell All The World About You.

Ad in Billboard, December 8.

Ad in Billboard, December 29.

31 December 1958

Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans LA.

These photos were probably taken at Atlantic's studio in New York, sometime during the late 1950s.