The fifth hour keeps the Lefty Bates spotlight in motion by placing its material within a wide field of voices, orchestras, small groups, and later blues-rock. It is an hour that resists a narrow definition of Chicago rhythm music. Instead, it lets related sounds appear beside one another: vocal-group records, jazz performances, R&B sides, organ-led material, and a closing selection by Fleetwood Mac.
The Charioteers open with “My Hearts on Ice,” putting vocal harmony at the front of the hour. Lester Young follows with “These Foolish Things,” then Arthur Prysock brings “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.” Georgia Carr’s “Sun Forget to Shine This Morning” continues a sequence led by distinctive singers, but the program does not linger in one mode for long. Brother Jack McDuff’s “Tough Duff” changes the pace, placing jazz organ into an hour that is otherwise full of vocal records and rhythm-driven sides.
Al Smith Orchestra returns with “Foolin’ Around Slowly,” a useful connection to the preceding hour, where the orchestra appears twice. Honey Brown’s “No Good Daddy” follows, then the Eldorados bring “Rock & Roll for Me.” The movement from orchestra to solo singer to vocal group is one of the hour’s defining features. Each record has its own space, while the programming keeps a firm sense of continuity.
Johnny Pate Quartet’s “The Elder” gives the hour another small-group jazz entry. Priscilla Bowman’s “Sugar Daddy” returns to a singer-led selection, and Earl Washington’s “Misirlou” follows. Washington was also heard in Hour 4 on “Wolf Call,” so his appearance here helps bind the two portions of the Lefty Bates feature together. The sequence does not require a single artist to dominate; instead, it keeps returning to performers whose recordings establish the musical setting around the featured guitarist.
The Chargers appear with “Miss Letha Jones,” after their Hour 4 opening selection, “Large Charge.” Their second appearance creates another link across the feature. Horace Palm’s “Ena” and Tiny Topsy’s “Just a Little Bit” continue the set of compact recordings, while Piney Brown’s “Sugar in My Tea” and Tommy Powell’s “That Cat Is High” maintain the hour’s interest in vocal personality and rhythmic lift.
The final stretch is especially varied. Aristo Kats bring “Boogie in C,” then Fleetwood Mac closes with “Albatross.” That last placement expands the hour’s chronology and changes its surface without breaking the program’s broader attention to guitar-centered blues and related music. The title is not treated as a summary of the hour; it is simply the final recording in a sequence that has made room for several different approaches.
As the concluding hour of the five-hour program, this set functions as more than an afterthought to the Lefty Bates spotlight. It continues the special segment’s premise by surrounding Bates-associated material with recordings from artists and groups that widen the listener’s sense of the period and its musical traffic. Vocal harmony, jazz organ, R&B, orchestral accompaniment, and blues guitar all have a place here.
The hour also shows the value of careful contrast. Lester Young and Brother Jack McDuff do not sound like the Eldorados or Tiny Topsy, yet their placement creates an hour of connected variety rather than a collection of unrelated detours. By the time “Albatross” arrives, the program has traveled through a substantial range of recordings while retaining the focused, record-by-record character that defines Blues Before Sunrise.
Hour 5 Playlist
My Hearts on Ice — Charioteers
These Foolish Things — Lester Young
Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool — Arthur Prysock
Sun Forget to Shine This Morning — Georgia Carr
Tough Duff — Bro Jack McDuff
Foolin’ Around Slowly — Al Smith Orch
No Good Daddy — Honey Brown
Rock & Roll for Me — Eldorados
The Elder — Johnny Pate Quartet
Sugar Daddy — Priscilla Bowman
Misirlou — Earl Washington
Miss Letha Jones — The Chargers
Ena — Horace Palm
Just a Little Bit — Tiny Topsy
Sugar in My Tea — Piney Brown
That Cat Is High — Tommy Powell
Boogie in C — Aristo Kats
Albatross — Fleetwood Mac