Harlan Leonard born 2 July 1905

Harlan Leonard (July 2, 1905 – November 10, 1983) was an American jazz bandleader clarinetist and alto, tenor and soprano saxophonist from Kansas City, Missouri, United States. 

Harlan Quentin Leonard was born in Butler, Missouri. He attended Kansas City’s Lincoln High School in 1918 where he was given clarinet and saxophone lessons from George Wilkenson and Paul Tremaine. After graduation he became a professional musician and playing briefly with George E. Lee’s Band in Kansas City (1923), he played with Bennie Moten from late 1923 until 1931 where he led the reed section. He also worked with George E. Lee’s band in 1928. In 1931, he and Thamon Hayes formed the Kansas City Skyrockets, which included trumpeters Ed Lewis and James Ross, trombonist Vic Dickenson, and pianist Jesse Stone. Thamon Hayes resigned in June 1934 and Leonard, with Hayes’ blessing, assumed leadership of the group and eventually formed a new band under the name Harlan Leonard and his Rockets. They instantly became favorites with the Kansas City audiences and frequently played gigs at Fairyland Park. 

                                   

After forming his second rendition of The Rockets in 1936, the band head to Chicago and played at the Savoy and Aragon Ballrooms during 1939-1940. Charlie Parker played in this band for five weeks, but he was fired by Leonard for lack of discipline. For six weeks beginning February 1940 the band played at the Golden Fate in Harlem, New York and while doing so recorded for the Bluebird label. The band recorded “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire” which under The Rockets to not reach record hit status until it was turned into a ballad and recorded by other artists. 

Myra Taylor

The song also featured Myra Taylor on vocals, who joined The Rockets after a chance encounter and after watching singer Sullivan delight crowds with her charismatic female vocalist. Leonard recorded several tunes under the Bluebird label though half of the recordings were rejected due to ASCAP bans on union recordings and the jukebox boycott. In addition to being a visionary bandleader, Leonard was a spirited clarinetist and alto and baritone saxophonist, particularly as a soloist. He also had an ear for arrangers. His penmen included, Jesse Stone, Richard J. Smith, Eddie Durham, Buster Smith and Rozelle Claxton. The arrangements by its piano player Tadd Dameron, bore suggestions of the transition between swing and bebop. 

In January 1940, Leonard began recording steadily for RCA and turned out 23 sides that year. Leonard's records set new standards for swing. With a bass-heavy rhythm section and syncopated brass built to get couples up and jitterbugging, Leonard pioneered catchy grooves, the basis of swing. While Leonard's band didn't have Basie's snap or intoxicating drive, it had tremendous lift and jump, setting the tone for R&B to come at the other end of the decade. Tadd Dameron's Rock and Ride, 400 Swing, Dameron Stomp and others recorded in mid-1940 were way ahead of their time. 

During late 1941, the band headed to New York, to compete in the battle of the bands at the municipal auditorium, but they were not very successful. Eventually Harlan Leonard and his Rockets dismantled after he relocated the band to Los Angeles in 1942. Members went their separate ways after a year-long run at Club Alabam in 1945. “I began to think. After 20 years of no family life, travel all the time, I decided to quite- before I, so much in love with my music, got out there and couldn’t get back.” said Harlan. 

He sold all his musical instruments and worked in a defense plant, then took up a job as a civil servant at the post office and made a name for himself at the intentional revenue service in 1949 where he worked until his retirement. Looking back in his bandleader days he says, “If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it a little differently.” He died in Los Angeles in 1983. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, Jazz Wax & harlanleonard wordpress)

Johnnie Morisette born 1 July 1935

Johnnie Morisette (1st July 1935 – 1st Aug 2000) was a singer, songwriter and showman who spent a good deal of his career on the underbelly of society. Throughout the early 1960’s and into the early 1970’s, he issued at least twenty 45’s. 

Most of R&B reference books state that Morisette was born either on Montu or Manui Island in the American Samoa island chain of the South Pacific although he claimed that he was born 50 miles from Rio on Lui Island (which apparently cannot be found on any map). In his infancy he lived with his Godmother in Mobile, Alabama where he first attended Williamson Elementary before going to Owens Junior High where he both sang in and took solos with the school choir. 

He grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry but against his Godmothers wishes he tuned into Gene Nobles blues programmes on Nashville WLAC radio. He learned to mimic the vocal timbres of Percy Mayfield, Charles Brown, Roy Brown, Roy Milton and Billy Eckstine, which he used during later public engagements. It was not long before Morisette was singing lead in his first gospel quartet Bells Of Heaven from Mobile then the Harmonious Harmonettes. He was introduced to Dr. Gizmo who ran a talent show on WMOZ where Morisette always came out on top. 

It was Dr.Gizmo who christened him “Two Voice” as he was able to split his voice by singing in natural and falsetto simultaneously; something that a select number of gospel soloists were able to perfect. One of Morisettes exploits included singing in local clubs and was asked to open for Guitar Slim at Club Harlem, After this, word got around and he wound up opening for Roy Brown, Earl King, Smiley Lewis and Larry Darnell as well as jamming with R&B bands such as Buddy Johnson and Joe Morris. It was around this time he had his first encounter with Sam Cooke. 

                                  

By 1953 Mobile had become too small for Morisette’s talents so he hitched rides to New Orleans and met up with Little Richard. He then hiked to Los Angeles and somehow managed to live on the roof of the Oasis where the action was. He befriended Bordu Ali, who was the manager of Johnny Otis and allowed Morisette to jam with the band. Dootsie Williams of Dootone Records heard him and signed him up. Instead of being a solo singer he was placed in front of a vocal group and named Johnnie Two-Voice & The Medallions, cutting two sides in 1955. In 1956 he duetted with Marsha Ann Johnson with his own compositions “Friends until the End b/w After School Date” on the Chart label. 

Sam Cooke and Johnnie Morisette

In 1959 he sang with the Robins for a short period then met up with Sam Cooke again. Cooke changed the stage name of Johnnie Two-Voice to Johnnie Morisette (his real chosen name) and signed him to his own record label SAR. His biggest hit was “Meet Me At The Twisting Place” which peaked at #18 on Billboards R&B chart also #63 on the Billboard Hot 100.The success of this hit took Morisette all over the nation. When Sam Cooke was killed, in December 1964, Morisette fell into a state of shock which took him on a ten year downward slide into a drunken depression. 

During the Watts riots of 1965 Morisette fled to San Fransisco where he recorded four sides for Bay-Tone Records and the following year one single for Convoy without much success, and then he faded into total obscurity. 

It wasn’t until June 1970 that he sang duet with Mickey Champion resulting in two singles for the Checker label. In 1974 he released the album “Hell All the Way” on the Convoy label. In 1996 after much of his life drinking alcohol, heavy smoking and rock cocaine, Morisette suffered a heart attack and underwent bypass surgery which slowed him down with reliance on a portable respirator. This did not stop him from song writing which he continued to do until his death in San Francisco, California, on 1st August 2000.

(Edited from Opal Nations article & Discogs)