The Formative Years

Product Description:

Personnel includes: Little Richard (vocals, piano); Wesley Jackson, Eddie Lee Williams, Pete Lewis (guitar); Albert Dobbins, Carlos Bermudaz (alto saxophone); Fred Jackson (tenor saxophone); J. Hudson (baritone saxophone); Raymond Taylor (trumpet, trombone, piano, organ); Willie Mays, Don Johnson (trumpet); Willie Wilson, George Washington (trombone); J. Wimby, Devonia Williams (piano); Johnny Otis (vibraphone); George Holloway, Jr., Albert Winston (bass); Donald J. Clark, Mildred Taylor, Leard "Kansas City" Bell (drums); Billy Brooks, Barry Lee Gilmore, Jimmy Swann (background vocals).

Producers: Steve Sholes, Don Robey.

Re-issue producer: Richard Weize.

Recorded in Atlanta, Georgia & Houston, Texas between 1951 & 1953. Includes liner notes by Rick Coleman.

These are the earliest recordings of Richard Penniman (aka Little Richard, aka the Georgia Peach, aka the Greatest) and they show an artist still very much, as the title has it, in a formative stage. At this point, Richard was groping toward his own style and the rock and roll to come; at various times here he sounds - eerily - like blues shouter Roy Brown ("Get Rich Quick") or - equally eerily - Fats Domino ("Every Hour," recorded in 1951, before Domino had really developed his own sound). Other highlights include tracks cut for Peacock Records, including "Always," featuring the Tempo Toppers, his hot stage band (with a woman drummer, no less) and the concluding "Little Richard's Boogie," a jump blues that is a pretty clear signpost toward the future.