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Jodimars were formed in 1955 by three members of Bill Haley's Comets. They named their group by taking letters from their names....JOe D'Ambrosio, DIck Richards, and MARShall Lytle. The full line-up was Marshall Lytle, Dick Richards, Max Daffner, Joe D'Ambrosio and Charlie Hess.
In 1955 Joey, Dick and Marshall expressed their discontent with things in The Comets to a certain Peggy King, a singer who encouraged them to form their own group. Joey and Dick immediately decided to take her advice. Marshall agreed soon after. They wanted to somehow incorporate their own names into the group, so they worked on various permutations and settled on the Jodimars. They then approached their friend Frank Pingatore, a member of the Haley entourage, and asked him to become their manager. Frank, an aspiring songwriter/arranger who had seen two of his compositions, 'Happy Baby' and 'Two Hound Dogs' recorded in the last year, was reluctant to leave Bill Haley's Comets, but he agreed to supply material for the group to record and set them up with a veteran showbiz manager from New York, Larry Taylor.
During a pause in the Comets' schedule, the Jodimars quickly recruited three Philadelphian musicians to complete their group: pianist Bob Simpson, drummer Jim Buffington and lead guitarist Charlie 'Fingers' Hess. All were familiar with the Haley sound and Charlie had even performed briefly with Bill Haley back in 1949 as a member of the All-Western Sextet, a group Bill sang with just before forming the Saddlemen. The Jodimars rehearsed for a few days in the basement of Luigi Boccelli's home in Upper Darby, PA., then went to a recording studio in Camden, New Jersey to record a demo. Larry Taylor took the demo to New York in search of a record label and returned with a contract from Capitol Records.
On Labor Day 1955, they decided it was time to break the news to Bill Haley and give their notice. The Comets were in Wildwood, New Jersey, having just completed a very successful engagement at Hunt's Pier. Bill Haley tried to talk them out of it and offered them a raise on the spot, but they already had their own recording contract and several weeks of bookings. They saw the kind of money there was to be made....
A week or so after playing their last gig with Bill Haley at the Broadwood Hotel in Philadelphia, Joey, Dick and Marhsall drove to New York to begin their career as the Jodimars. The first recording session was at Capitol's studios on West 46th Street in Manhattan, where the group waxed their first and most famous release, 'Well Now Dig This', backed with 'Let's All Rock Together'.
This and all future Capitol sessions were produced by Andy Wiswell. In an effort to duplicate the now-familiar Haley style, Wiswell hired session drummer Billy Gussak as well as famed guitarist Tony Mottola for the 'fast finger' solos on these numbers. He also recruited a seaman from Brooklyn Navy Yard to toot the bosun's whistle on 'Well Now Dig This', the clarion call that kicks off what has since become a rock'n'roll classic.
The disc received considerable airplay and became a moderate regional hit, selling well enough to pay back Capitol's advance and earning the group modest royalty checks. However, the record failed to make a dent in the national charts. It was the Jodimars' misfortune to record for Capitol at the height of the label's success in the pop field. 'Well Now Dig This' was Capitol's sixth best seller in November 1955, but the other five were all massive hits.
Following their opening gig at the Palace Theatre in New York, the Jodimars began an extensive tour of the Eastern U.S. and Canada. The stops included Washington DC., Pittsburgh, PA., Toronto and London, Ontario. They then headed west for a thirty day string of one-nighters, starting in Denver, Colorado, working their way South and back up North all the way to Lowell, Massachusetts. At about the same time, Bob Simpson and Jim Buffington quit the group, tiring of the touring grind. The band decided to continue without a pianist and recruited as its new drummer Max Daffner, a flamboyant showman with a unique double bass drum kit, who specialized in extravagant solos. With Frank Pingatore at the helm the band was now booked into the major rock'n'roll venues, the highlight of which was the Alan Freed 'Easter Jubilee Of Stars' at the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre in April 1956. The show ran for ten days and broke all box office records. Look at the lineup! The Platters, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, The Jodimars, The Flamingos, The Cleftones, The Valentines, The Willows, Ruth McPhadden, The Rover Boys, Cindy & Lindy and Dori Anne Gray, backed by the Alan Freed Orchestra featuring Sam 'The Man' Taylor and Big Al Sears, all for just two Dollars!
While Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers and The Platters were the obvious star attractions, The Jodimars' wild stage routine made them a tough act to follow. In fact, the 'Straightjacket' closer whipped up the fans to such a frenzy that after the first few shows the Jodimars were requested to tone down their act. It seems the New York Police were concerned about reports of rioting at similar shows and were determined to keep the audience in control, patrolling the aisles and whisking away potential 'troublemakers'. Billboard magazine referred to the police presence at this show as creating an Alcatraz-like atmosphere in the audience, compared to the riotous proceedings on stage.
The Jodimars' success at this show earned them an appearance on Alan Freed's syndicated TV show in May 1956, as well as a spot on the coast-to-coast Kate Smith Show. Chart success, however, was another story. 'Dance The Bop' was released in March 1956 and once again, while doing moderately well in some regions, it did not break nationwide. Dick Richards feels it was simply a matter of Capitol not backing the group with the promotional effort it gave to its pop stalwarts, which at the time included Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Nat 'King' Cole, Stan Freberg and Nelson Riddle. The group also had its difference with Andy Wiswell, who was in charge of their sessions.
Wiswell flatly rejected their suggestion that they record rock'n'roll cover versions of R&B hits, a regular part of their stage act. Wiswell did spend quite a lot of time with the Jodimars in the studio. Capitol session logs reveal that it took an exhausting 37 takes to get 'Bayou Baby' to his liking but for all that work the tune ended up replacing 'Natural Ditty' as the b-side to 'Dance The Bop'.
Record releases continued in 1956 - 'Rattle My Bones'/Rattle Shakin' Daddy' in September and 'Clara-Belle'/'Midnight in December - without success. The Jodimars continued to maintain their hectic touring schedule, but without a hit record it would become difficult to maintain the interest of the rock'n'roll public. It was at this time that the Jodimars adjusted their sights and headed west in search of gold - which they found in the casino lounges of Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada.
1957 saw the Jodimars' last Capitol release, 'Cloud 99'/'Later'. Their contract with Capitol was not renewed. Undaunted, the group headed back west to resume their career as a show band, this time in Harold's Club in Reno, Nevada, the town's largest and best known casino. Their act took the town by storm - what began as a four week engagement in the spring of 1957 was extended through the summer and into October, breaking all attendance records for the club. They became the biggest act in town. Such was their success that the club owner, Harold Smith, changed the marquee to 'Harold's Club - Home Of The Jodimars'.This "space" is dedicated to them.
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