Ray Dean James LIVE at Stein's Hideaway in 1961

Elsewhere on this blog I have written about my father's life, including a transcript of autobiographical writings he left behind. After serving in Korea he returned to Cincinnati, joined a Doo Wop group called The Seniors, and also performed as a solo act in nightclubs all around Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. For a time, his agent was connected to the Newport syndicate and they sent him to perform in mob owned clubs all around the country. Late in 1961 he won a talent contest at a club called Stein's Hideaway. Part of the grand prize was a return engagement at the club. Dad must have got it in his head to record his performance, perhaps for future use as an audition tape or demo. It's interesting to note that the live album as we know it wasn't really a thing in 1961. Live LPs on the record racks at the time were almost exclusively Jazz or comedy records. Much of the material Dad was performing back then is pretty standard fare of the era. But here we see an example of some forward thinking on my father's part that was quite uncommon among young independent artists of the day. I believe my father's experience repairing radar gun sights for the Air Force in Korea sparked a lifelong fascination with gadgets including portable recording equipment.

After Dad passed in 2015 I found a couple old reels of tape that I'd never heard before and I had them digitized. There were a few odds and ends on there including a few performances that I was previously unaware of, but this tape from Stein's was a revelation for a number of reasons. Dad was involved in countless recording studio sessions throughout his lifetime. But there are precious few live recordings and nothing that dates this far back. In addition to my personal interest in a recording like this, this is also an interesting little artifact that documents closing time in an American nightclub on a Tuesday night the week of Thanksgiving in 1961. It's like something out of Mad Men. As you listen, you can practically see Roger Sterling slumped at the bar. I actually had to edit out some of the emcee's introduction as he improvised several minutes of stand up comedy. It was weird, abstract stuff that I found funny in an Andy Kaufman kinda way. But it went on far too long and I wanted to share this recording of my father, not that guy! In just under 8 minutes, a 27-year old Ray Dean James accompanied by a piano trio puts across a first rate medley of standards including "Walking My Baby Back Home". Dad cut a version of this track in a recording session that included a young Bobby Bare on guitar but the recording has been lost. My parents met right around this time and were married the following year. Two years later in 1963 my sister was born and I would join them in '67. By the time my sister and I were kids Dad had all but quit live performance and his only musical activity was songwriting in his free time.

Here's the recording on YouTube: