Hour One of this week’s Blues Before Sunrise is a trip back to the crossroads of jazz and blues — when the music of Harlem ballrooms, Hollywood stages, and Chicago clubs all flowed from the same deep river. Before we settle into the modern blues of the later hours, Steve Cushing opens with a set that paints the picture of where it all began: the swing years, when humor, elegance, and rhythm lived side by side.
The hour kicks off with Bobby Smith’s “Cinder Bottom,” a lively number that immediately sets the tone — sly, sharp, and filled with that unmistakable late-night swagger. Then comes a block of pure Cab Calloway, one of the most dynamic entertainers in American music. “Long About Midnight,” “There’s a Cabin in the Cotton,” “The Lady with the Fan,” “I Learned About Love from Her,” and “The Scat Song” showcase every facet of Cab’s persona — the elegant crooner, the mischievous jiver, the bandleader who could drive a room wild with a single “Hi-de-ho.”
Calloway’s music was showmanship with substance, rooted in blues phrasing and carried by swing orchestration. His blend of humor and sophistication helped bring Black vernacular culture to mainstream audiences without losing its edge — a theme that resonates throughout this week’s show and connects directly to Jim O’Neal’s lifelong respect for those who shaped the music’s early image.
Next comes a turn toward June Richmond, one of the great yet underrecognized vocalists of the swing era. Her run here — “Don’t Worry ’Bout That Mule,” “Don’t Jive Me Like That,” “Ride On – Ride On,” “Midnight Stroll,” and “Are You With It” — glows with warmth and rhythmic precision. Richmond, who sang with Duke Ellington and Jimmy Dorsey before moving to Europe, was among the first Black women to front a white orchestra. Her recordings capture the poise of jazz phrasing married to the emotion of the blues.
The program then shifts from vocal to instrumental fire with Julian Dash, the gifted tenor saxophonist best known for his work with Erskine Hawkins. “Preachin’,” “My Silent Love,” “Deacon Dash,” and “Blue Velvet” deliver an exhilarating mix of swing and sermon — the sacred meeting the secular in tone and attitude. Dash’s sound carries both Sunday morning and Saturday night in every phrase.
The Marshall Brothers’ “I Won’t Believe You” adds a harmony touch that nods toward early doo-wop, showing how vocal group style was already emerging from the big-band setting. Albert Ammons follows with “St. Louis Blues,” bringing Chicago’s boogie-woogie piano into the mix — a sound that would soon migrate directly into the urban blues Jim O’Neal would later chronicle.
A brief detour through Josephine Baker’s “Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight” reminds listeners of the international reach of this music — Baker, the Missouri-born star who became a Parisian icon, kept one foot planted firmly in the blues tradition even as she reinvented stage performance for the modern world.
The hour closes with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis’s “Dizzy Atmosphere,” a sleek instrumental that bridges swing and bebop. It’s a perfect closing statement: the sound of the blues evolving, stretching, and reinventing itself — the same story that runs through every hour of Blues Before Sunrise.
Hour One, then, isn’t just a warm-up — it’s the overture to the night’s theme. It shows how the glamour of the swing era and the grit of the blues share the same roots. Long before Jim O’Neal picked up a tape recorder or a pen, artists like Calloway and Richmond were already building the foundations for the world he would spend his life documenting.
Hour 1 Playlist
CINDER BOTTOM – Bobby Smith
LONG ABOUT MIDNIGHT – Cab Calloway
THERE’S A CABIN IN THE COTTON – Cab Calloway
THE LADY WITH THE FAN – Cab Calloway
I LEARNED ABOUT LOVE FROM HER – Cab Calloway
THE SCAT SONG – Cab Calloway
DON’T WORRY ’BOUT THAT MULE – June Richmond
DON’T JIVE ME LIKE THAT – June Richmond
RIDE ON – RIDE ON – June Richmond
MIDNIGHT STROLL – June Richmond
ARE YOU WITH IT – June Richmond
PREACHIN’ – Julian Dash
MY SILENT LOVE – Julian Dash
DEACON DASH – Julian Dash
BLUE VELVET – Julian Dash
I WON’T BELIEVE YOU – Marshall Brothers
ST. LOUIS BLUES – Albert Ammons
WONDER WHERE MY BABY IS TONIGHT – Josephine Baker
DIZZY ATMOSPHERE – Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis