Joe Lutcher

In Memory of Joe Lutcher, sax man and band leader.
 
Joe Workman Lutcher, younger brother of legendary singer-pianist Nellie Lutcher, was an all-purpose alto saxophonist, vocalist and bandleader who recorded from 1947 to 1952. Born as a twin (his late brother was John Edward) in Lake Charles, Louisiana (23 December 1919), to a father who led his own jazz band, Lutcher relocated in 1942 to Los Angeles, where his sister had been living for several years. He formed his own outfit and became the house bandleader at the Look Cafe at Fifth & Main, near Little Tokyo, then relocated to the cities popular Cafe Society at 27th and San Pedro Streets for three years; one night in 1947, record producer Art Rupe came in and decided to record a session with Lutchers Society Cats for his new Specialty label. When Lutchers first single, Rockin Boogie, became his first R&B hit, he joined Capitol Records (recording mostly on its Capitol American jazz series label) for a year. From there he moved on to Modern, London a nd Peacock. He also worked as a bandleader for Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr. and the Mills Brothers. Lutchers popular 1949 Modern recording of Mardi Gras was the basis for the classic Mardi Gras in New Orleans by both Professor Longhair and Fats Domino. Many of Joe Lutchers recordings, especially his Modern sides, have unusually moody, complex and sometime humorous arrangements that are reminiscent of Frank Zappas later recordings. Joe Lutcher abandoned the commercial music business in 1952 for religious and personal reasons. He died in Los Angeles on October 29, 2006, age 85. --Jim Dawson

Joe Lutcher a 1940's and 50's R&B recording artist passed away on October
29th. Alto saxophonist and vocalist Joe Lutcher had R&B hits in the late '40s with "Shuffle Woogie" (for Capitol in 1948), "The Rockin' Boogie" (for Specialty in 1948), and "Mardi Gras" (for Modern in 1949). While he was a competent vocalist, his true forte was the sax. His repertoire mixed instrumentals with vocal numbers, employing an approach that generally fell within the Los Angeles jump blues-R&B style of the late '40s and early '50s, although he often added New Orleans accents and sometimes went into a straighter big-band jazz mode. He's not nearly as well known, though, as his sister Nellie Lutcher, who was a more successful hitmaker as a vocalist. Lutcher was born in Lake Charles, LA, moving to Los Angeles in the early '40s, following his sister (who had moved there in the mid-'30s). He played sax with the Nat King Cole Trio for a time before forming his own band and signing to Specialty in 1947. After some success with both Specialty and Capitol (where Nellie Lutcher recorded), he joined Modern in 1949. Modern encouraged him to add New Orleans spice to his recordings, and one of those tracks, "Mardi Gras," was an R&B Top 20 hit, preceding the more famous version of the song by Professor Longhair. Lutcher did some subsequent records for Peacock, London, and Masters Music, but left R&B for gospel music, forming the gospel label Jordan Records. It's been written that he was influential in advising Little Richard to leave rock & roll for religious studies in the late '50s.  --- Bad Dog Blues