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John Sinclair

The hardest working poet in the industry

If I Could Be With You E-mail
If I Could Be With You
Thursday, 09 February 2006 11:35
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"If I Could Be With You"

for Penny


From the stage
of Detroit's

world-famous
Graystone Ballroom

on Woodward Avenue
just south of Canfield

Ladies &
gentlemen, the fabulous

Victor re-
cording artists: Please

join me
in welcoming our

very special
guests tonight--

the legendary Mc-
Kinney's

Cotton
Pickers!


oh if i could
be with you one

hour tonight, if i were
free

to do
the things

i might, i'm
tellin' you

true. i'd be
anything

but blue,
if i

could be
with you



They came to Detroit in 1926, up
from Springfield,

Ohio, led by the circus
drummer, William Mc-

Kinney, & boasting
on banjo & oc-

casional vocals, Mr.
Dave Wilborn

On tenor, alto, soprano &
bass saxophones, oboe

& violin, Mr. Wesley
Stuart

On piano & arrangements,
the great Todd Rhodes

Playing the alto & so-
prano saxophones &

bass clarinet, George
"Fathead" Thomas

On trumpet & arrangements,
John Nesbitt

On trombone &
baritone horn, Mr.

Claud
Jones

The orchestra's dance team,
sousaphonist June Cole

& drummer
Cuba Austin

& in the saxophone
section, the band's musical

director, on alto,
soprano & bass

saxophones, oboe & violin,
Mr. Milton Senior--

They called themselves Mc-
Kinney's Syncos

in Springfield, but
when they came to Detroit

to replace the Jean Goldkette Orchestra
at the Graystone Ballroom

in September 1927
their Caucasian employers,

wise in the ways of Detroit,
insisted that they change

their name
to the Cotton Pickers

& without much choice in the matter
so they became--

First at the Arcadia
down the street from the Graystone

for five months
in 1926 the Syncos

stormed Detroit
& were engaged

by the Goldkette
organization

as its first "all-
colored orchestra" for

two weeks at the Graystone
& then in the summer

of 1927 Jean
Goldkette signed Don Redman

as musical director
of McKinney's Cotton Pickers--

direct from the Fletcher
Henderson

Orchestra
in New York City, the

father
of the jazz

arrangement
& a giant of jazz

at just under
five feet tall, Don Redman

beat the band
into shape

with his mighty arrangements
& for the princely sum

of $300.00 per week
Don Redman

led the band
to international stardom,

a Victor recording contract,
a radio wire

out of the Graystone
onto WJR

with its 50,000 watts
of clear channel power,

"the Great Voice
of the Great Lakes,"

McKinney's Cotton Pickers
rose up out of Detroit

to light up the world
with the music of Don Redman--


if i could
be with you one

hour
tonight

if 1927
if the Graystone

were still
standing



Don Redman
stayed with the Cotton Pickers

till 1931
& went out on his own then

with several of the re-
maining members

but George Thomas was already dead
in an auto accident

on the road,
November 1930,

& the driver,
one of the brightest

trumpet stars
of the 20s,

Joe Smith, was quickly
drinking himself crazy

& Milton Senior had left
& would kill himself

before the 30s
were over

& another trumpet man,
John Nesbitt,

who was Fathead's
closest friend

in the band
also lost his wife

& Nesbitt was lost
to the bottle

& on a west coast trip
where the Cotton Pickers

headlined
over the Fletcher

Henderson
& Duke Ellington

Orchestras, when people
in Hollywood

heard their first
orchestral arrangements

in jazz
in 1931

the band fell apart
& never recovered

its former
glory--


if i could be
with you one

hour to-
night if i

could be
with you



McKinney's Cotton Pickers, 'the
Mississippi Muddies

of Syncopation,' the
'Sensation

of the Automobile
City,'

their entire recorded output
of 56 sides

for Victor
in now available

only on five
out-of-print

French
'Black & White'

RCA LPs
& the only man still alive

from the original Pickers
is my man, Dave

Wilborn, who brought this
back to life for me

& made me sing
this little song

& who still sings his
own song as

sweet as
ever

& says
from the stage today,

"Thank you ladies &
gentlemen and

back in 1928
up at the Graystone Ballroom

Woodward & Canfield
while with McKinney's Cotton Pickers

We were the first black band
to broadcast

out of Detroit
over WJR

Our theme was a
beautiful love song

of the 20s
written by Don Redman--

I was there to sing
that song

over the airways
& by the

grace
of the good Lord

I'm here to sing it for you
tonight,"

January 7,
1979,

at the Paradise Theatre
in Detroit


i'm so blue
i don't know

what to do
all day long

i sit & dream
of you

i did wrong
when i let you

go away
now i dream

about you
night & day

i'd be happy
if i had you

by my side
i'd be happy

if i knew you
were my bride

if i could
be with you

one hour tonight
& i was free to do

the things
i might

i want you to know
that you couldn't go

until i showed you honey how i
loved you so

if i could be
with you

i'd love you strong
if i could be with you

i'd love you
all night long

i'm tellin' you
true, you'd be

anything
but blue, if i

could be
with you--

for just one hour--
if i

could be
with you



Detroit
March 25/June 1, 1982/

New Orleans
January 1994

Music by
McKinney's Cotton Pickers



3.1.6125
 
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