Who was/is Charles Brown ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more

Charles Brown and His Band

After tearing up the postwar R&B charts with their mellow, cosmopolitan brand of West Coast club blues, pianist and front man Charles Brown came to a parting of the ways with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers (Moore's brother, the equally dazzling guitarist Oscar Moore, joined the act in 1947). The Blazers' personal hit parade for the Exclusive label included Sunny Road, New Orleans Blues, and the immortal Yuletide perennial Merry Christmas Baby, but they broke up nonetheless.

"Johnny Moore got so greedy. They took a lot of money that was supposed to divide and brought home, but he left us out of the picture, Eddie Williams and I, who was the bass player. So it became a problem, not getting along, and I decided to quit,"said Brown."I left them in '48 and organized my own group, called Charles Brown & The Smarties. I went back to Aladdin Records."

The hits came immediately for Brown at Aladdin: Get Yourself Another Fool and the R&B chart-topping Trouble Blues in 1949 and the mournful Black Night, cut December 21, 1950 at Radio Recorders in L.A. with Jesse Ervin's guitar work solidly in the Moore tradition, were among the biggest. Penned by L.A. female songsmith Jessie Mae Robinson, Black Nightpaced the R&B hit parade for 14 weeks in 1951. "Everything I was doing was a big hit with them,"said Charles of his Aladdin hookup. But the good times didn't last. Brown took his final bow on the R&B charts for almost a decade the next year (a holiday offering, Please Come Home For Christmas, brought him back briefly in 1960), and a 1958 dispute with his booking agency laid him low for years as a live act.

"I became a scab musician,"he explained. "I couldn't work in no place unless I paid the union. Well, I couldn't work because I didn't have nobody booking me. So I went into seclusion. That's how I came off the scene."The drought ended during the '80s, when Europe began to beckon. Then in 1990, Bonnie Raitt booked Charles as her opening act. "That really started the ball rolling for me," he said. 

Brown died January 21, 1999 after a full decade back in the spotlight. "I did do something that I thought was part of me, and that the people recognize," Brown said."I can go to my grave thinking that I did do something that got recognition."

Bill Dahl
Chicago, Illinois

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More information about Charles Brown on Wikipedia.org

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Let's Have A Ball (LP)
Charles Brown: Let's Have A Ball (LP) Art-Nr.: KIX34

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-Let's Have A Ball (1945-61) Route 66
$11.26 $18.05
Sail On Blues (LP)
Charles Brown: Sail On Blues (LP) Art-Nr.: JB1106

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-Sail On Blues (1945-47) Jukebox Lil
$11.26 $18.05
Sunny Road (LP)
Charles Brown: Sunny Road (LP) Art-Nr.: LPKIX5

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(Route 66) 16 tracks Charles Brown is one of the most original and yet most underrated artists in blues history today. Charles created a soft but very expressive style of blues which developed in the club atmosphere of Los Angeles in the...
$11.26 $18.05
Race Track Blues (LP)
Charles Brown: Race Track Blues (LP) Art-Nr.: LPKIX17

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(Route 66) 16 tracks, gatefold cover Highly influential blues and rhythm & blues singer and pianist, born September 13, 1922 in Texas City, Texas, USA, died January 21, 1999 in Oakland, California, USA. Brown began his career as a singer...
$11.26 $18.05
Live At Mosebacke
Charles Brown: Live At Mosebacke Art-Nr.: CDRBD200

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Mr.R&B) 10 tracks. Great Live-CD of this R'n'B Hero!Includes 'Please Come Home For Christmas' and 'Bad Bad Whiskey'!
$11.26 $20.31
Live At Mosebacke (LP)
Charles Brown: Live At Mosebacke (LP) Art-Nr.: RJ200

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-Live At Mosebacke (1979 Live in Sweden) Stockholm
$14.66 $19.18
An Introduction To Charles Brown (CD)
Charles Brown: An Introduction To Charles Brown (CD) Art-Nr.: CD0616642

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(2007/Fuel) 14 tracks (47:23) 24 bit mastering, with notes by Bill Dahl. - The 1940s and 1950s masters including the blockbuster 'Drifting Blues, dominating Africa-American jukeboxes in 1946 and climbing to #2 on Billboard's 'Race...
$11.26 $19.18
Hard Times & Cool Blues (CD)
Charles Brown: Hard Times & Cool Blues (CD) Art-Nr.: CDNEX133

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(1994/CASTLE) 25 tracks 1946-56 ALADDIN (73:01) "EVERYBODY EXPECT AFTER YOU MAKE A BLUES HIT THEY FIGURE YOU SING THE BLUES. WELL, I WAS MORE OF A BLUE BALLAD SINGER, NOT A BLUES SINGER, BECAUSE MY NUMBERS ARE MORE OF STORY BALLAD...
$18.05
Drifting & Dreaming
Charles Brown: Drifting & Dreaming Art-Nr.: CDCHD589

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(1946-50 'Modern') (62:41/21)
$18.05
Driftin' Blues (CD)
BROWN, Charles: Driftin' Blues (CD) Art-Nr.: CDDJZ603

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(1989/DCC) 12 tracks
$10.16 $21.45
Driftin' Blues - The Best Of Charles Brown (CD)
Charles Brown: Driftin' Blues - The Best Of Charles Brown (CD) Art-Nr.: CDP797989

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​(1992/EMI) 20 tracks
$22.58
Very Best Of
Charles Brown: Very Best Of Art-Nr.: CDCOL2891

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(2004/Collectables) 25 tracks. With Charles Brown's elegant piano style and a smooth voice that made him sound a little bit like a gruffer Nat King Cole, Brown's jazz-tinged blues (or is it blues-tinged jazz?) is the perfect music for...
$11.26 $20.31
Cool Christmas Blues
Charles Brown: Cool Christmas Blues Art-Nr.: CDBB9561

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(1994 'Bullseye Blues') (50:56/11) Fröhliche Weihnachten mit Charles Brown! Merry Christmas with Mr. Charles Brown featuring the fine guitar of DANNY CARON: Merry Christmas Baby, Santa's Blues, Blue Holiday, Silent Night, Christmas Comes...
$15.56 $18.96
The Cool Cool Blues Of...1945-61 (2-CD)
Charles Brown: The Cool Cool Blues Of...1945-61 (2-CD) Art-Nr.: CDJAS30301

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CD on JASMINE RECORDS by Charles Brown - The Cool Cool Blues Of...1945-61 (2-CD)
$19.18
Blue Over You (CD)
Charles Brown: Blue Over You (CD) Art-Nr.: CDWESM610

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(1999/Westside) 24 tracks - Recorded for the 'Ace' label in Jackson, Mississippi! With the exception of four tracks these recordings were previously unreleased.
$20.31
Charles Brown Sings Christmas Songs (LP)
Charles Brown: Charles Brown Sings Christmas Songs (LP) Art-Nr.: LPKING775

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(1988/King) 12 tracks - Re-issue of the original 1961 'King' album - originally sealed copy
$19.18