The passing of a legend and more

My uncle was a well known musician back in the days of Jerry Lee and recorded at Sun studios with Elvis and more and used to play with our own Jerry Haynes here on the forums.

I'm in the middle of converting studio masters and reel to reel recordings of them all and trying to hunt down musicians and players who may of played on them,

Jerry if you could please help me out with names I'd appreciate it..

Keep us posted.

tell us more - who was your uncle? maybe i misread but if he recorded with elvis it would almost have to be johnny bernero or jimmy lott since they're the only musicians other than scotty and bill known to have recorded with elvis at sun aside from the million dollar quartet recordings...

there are some fairly extensive sun discographies out there by colin escott and martin hawkins... it might be an idea to contact roland janes... (guitarist for billy riley's little green men and JLL and sun's #1 house guitarist...) he's still alive and well and can be reached through sun... he was in the middle of it all and knew everybody... jack clement sam phillips' co-producer is still alive as well...

most of the guys known to have recorded at sun have been tracked down and a lot of session details are out there so some of this info might already be in the ether... regardless i'd say 80% of the sun guys can be accounted for aurally... where it gets hard are the unlabeled demo recordings sent to sun but recorded elsewhere... i have all the discographies right here so maybe i can help...

BTW, if there's unissued rockabilly stuff bear family records might be interested...

tj

here's some of my uncles posts, he went by Buzz, or Buzzard, Prentice

bassist and drummer

here's one of his story's a friend of his told me,,

I am sorry to hear about the passing of my friend and fellow band member Aubrey "Buzz" Prentice . We began playing in a band together when I was 15 and Buzz was 16. We played in Junior Upchurch’s band. Buzz played drums and I sang and played guitar.
When I was (17) I formed my own band which included Buzz on drums, Jerry Brantley on lead guitar, Robert Burdine on bass and I played guitar and sang. Jerry was from Caruthersville, Buzz was from Hayti, Robert Burdine was from Steele and I grew up outside Caruthersville in a little community called McCarty.
We played many clubs in the area which included club “Zanza” at Hayti and for several years we played nightclubs throughout Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. We played a lot of the clubs that Elvis played when he was first getting started.
In 1959, John Ritter’s father, Tex Ritter came to Hayti to do a show. Our band played for him. After the show he asked if we would like to come to California and work with him. A couple of months later we were on our way to California. We made several apperances on Tex Ritter’s TV show and played other shows with him. When Tex began playing nightclubs we had to return because I was not old enough to be in nightclubs. We returned home and continued playing shows.
When our bass player, Robert Burdine, had to leave the band because of his job we were left without a bass player. We knew where we could get a drummer, but we needed a bass player. I remember the day very clearly when Buzz said “I can play the bass.” I didn’t know Buzz even knew the chords on the guitar or bass, but we got a bass and, without missing a beat, Buzz began playing the bass. He became a very professional bass player and, later, player on my first two records.
The drummer we found was ‘Jimmy (Skeeter) Powers from Steele. He was 14. In Missouri and neighboring states if a member of the band was 21 or over, you could act as a guardian. This allowed Skeeter, Buzz and me to play in the nightclubs.
We recorded our first recording session at Sun Recording Studios in Memphis. The same recording studio where Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Oberson and Charley Rich did their first recordings.
Our first recordings were Twisting Jane and It’s a Miracle. Buzz played bass on both records and did an excellent job. I was in the music business for 27 years and Buzz was the best bass player I ever had the honor to play with.
We played several weeks in Chicago, but we all got homesick and headed back home.
In the winter of 1962 we were playing at the Hotel Noble in Blythville, Arkansas. A club owner from Indianapolis flew down to hear us play. After hearing us play he handed me $200 and said we were hired to open his new club called “Suzie’s Twist club.
Buzz, Skeeter and myself packed up an old 1952 Desoto and headed for Indianapolis, Indiana. We were booked for two weeks. I stayed for 15 years. Buzz stayed for a year and returned to Hayti.
I lost touch with Buzz, but later learned he had moved to California. In 1978 I moved with my family to California. I found Buzz. We got together and talked over old times. A few years later Buzz told me he was moving back to Missouri to retire.
It’s odd how and when things happen. A few years back, Buzz put together a cd of the first songs that we recorded along with some of the records we later recorded. Yesterday on the way home from work, I was playing the cd. Buzz introduced the songs and talked about old times.
When I got home, I got a call informing me that Buzz had passed away. I had just pulled in my driveway after listing to Buzz introduce the old songs we recorded when I walked into the house to learn that he had passed.
I am sad today and I want to extend my condolences to his family and friends. I know all of you will miss Buzz, and so will I.
Dean Wolfe

We recorded four songs at Roland James studio in Memphis and this was one of the songs. I still have a reel-to-reel tape of the session. Bobby Woods played piano on "Twistin' Jane" and he later went on to record the Memphis session with Elvis. Another little known fact was that there were three piano players on the Memphis Session, Bobby Woods, Elvis himself and another unknown player named Ronnie Milsap. "It's A Miracle" was recorded at Phillips International which is what Sun Records became after Sam Phillips made a ton of money off of Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and of course, Elvis. Charley Rich played the piano on the record as he was one of their studio musicians. Roy Orbison was under contract to Sun Records but he didn't enjoy the same success until later when he moved back to Texas and joined another label.

sorry I don't have more..

I have the studio master tape with no way to even listen or recover the songs from it

here's a link to a clip and label shot of twistin' jane (http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/search.php?type=title&key=Twistin%20%20J)... it's available on some european compilation albums... roland janes can be reached through sun if you'd want to contact him... so you have other songs than the ones you put on soundclick? i like the 2nd one it's got that mid/late 50s memphis sound...

if you'd be interested in possibly getting them released judging from the songs on soundclick this is not the kind of stuff bear family or ace would put out... however the uptempo tunes are in a style that cees klop at collector / white label records (http://www.collectorrecords.nl/?page=history) or hans peter zdrenka at buffalo bop / dee - jay records (http://dee-jay-records.de/index.html) often put out... very little or no money would be made but it might be a nice posthumous tribute...

if any of the stuff on the reels is 50s stuff too i'd love to hear it... i'm sorry to hear about your loss...

tj

if i remember correctly i think roland is actually still working at sam phillips' recording service and not at sun... tj

Here's a shot of Buzz on bass at a club in Huntington Beach, Ca. around the early 80's I think. It's Buzz along with Brian Lonbeck on lead guitar, myself on Pedal Steel, Carol Randolph (also deceased) on vocal and Bruce MacLachlan on drums. This was taken at the Tony Treece benefit. I'm sorry he's looking at the drummer as it's the only photo I have of him. As far as other names, I can't really remember much about those days as we weren't always "straight"........JH in Va.

Here's the rockers from when I believe he was 16

Hayti , Buzz on stand up,

http://images.topix.com/gallery/up-K8THPFT9FRNIK5OA.jpg

This is Bobby Neal 1956, Buzz on drums

http://images.topix.com/gallery/up-LDT97EEJAL8C6JFM.jpg

as I get them sorted I'll post more..

Those are sweet pics. I spent the last few years studying Beale Street bands and lesser knowns that came out of Memphis. alot of these guys are mentioned in the reference materials I read over the summer. Gotta love it ! Rockin Good times.

One of my favorites is "It Came from Memphis" tells how blues/country became rockabilly literaly overnight at a fish fry on Beale Street....great story.