Alligator Bogaloo is an album by #jazz #saxophonist #LouDonaldson recorded for the #BlueNote label in 1967 and featuring Donaldson with #MelvinLastie, #LonnieSmith, #GeorgeBenson, and #LeoMorris (later to be better known as Idris Muhammad). The success of the title track surprised Donaldson: "[W]e made the date and we were three minutes short. I said we don't have no more material. And the guy said just play anything for three minutes so we can fill out the time. So I just made the riff.

Aaron Neville, Like It Is (reissued as Humdinger), 1967 on Minit

Although this was released in 1967 on Minit (and Liberty in the UK) as Like It Is, my copy is a 1986 reissue titled as Humdinger, on Stateside (a UK label designed to reissue things from smaller American labels).

As John Broven’s sleeve notes (from 1986) put it:

This album harks back to Aaron’s first recordings for the famed Minit label of New Orleans, between 1960 and 1962. Already his burgeoning talent as an R&B torch balladeer has started to burst through.

The reissue adds two tracks: “Humdinger” and “Show Me The Way.” Allen Toussaint on piano, joining Alvin Tyler (baritone sax), Chuck Badie (bass), Melvin Lastie (cornet), John Bourdreaux (drums), Roy Montrell (guitar), and Nat Perrilliat (tenor sax).

Love it – heavily influenced by Nat King Cole and maybe Sam Cooke, with some New Orleans influence (though not very strong here as on later Neville Brothers records).

My copy via Electric Fetus in Minneapolis MN

#1960s #1967 #1986 #AaronNeville #AllenToussaint #AlvinTyler #ChuckBadie #ElectricFetus #JohnBourdreaux #MelvinLastie #Minit #MinneapolisMN #NatPerrilliat #Reissue #RoyMontrell #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds