From:   "Dik de Heer"
Date:  Mon Aug 18, 2003  1:22 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Jimmy Preston

JIMMY PRESTON

Born James Preston, 18 August 1913, Chester, Pennsylvania
Died December 1984, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Alto sax blower Jimmy Preston is another one of the legion of 
postwar R&B figures that can accurately be cited as a genuine 
forefather of rock & roll. His chief claim to fame: the blistering 1949 
smash "Rock the Joint" (# 6 R&B), which inspired a groundbreaking
cover by Bill Haley & the Comets in 1952.

"Rock the Joint" wasn't Preston's first trip to the R&B Top Ten. Earlier
in 1949, he'd hit with "Hucklebuck Daddy" (# 4). Both were cut for Ivin 
Ballen's Philadelphia-based Gotham logo. The scorching sax breaks 
on "Rock the Joint" weren't Preston's doing, but tenor saxist Danny
Turner's. Preston cut rather prolifically for Gotham through much of 
1950 (including a session with jazzman Benny Golson on tenor sax)
before switching to Derby Records and scoring his last hit, a cover of
Louis Prima's "Oh Babe" (with a vocal by Burnetta Evans, # 5 ). 

The moment for Jimmy Preston soon passed. By 1953 he had given 
up music for the church. Meanwhile, a Chester homeboy named Bill
Haley had recorded a hopped-up country version of his record. The
guitar solo on that version of "Rock The Joint" would be repeated note
for note on "Rock Around The Clock".

Further reading: Jim Dawson and Steve Propes, What Was the First
Rock 'n' Roll Record? (Boston : Faber & Faber, 1992), page 52-54.

Available CD's:
Rock The Joint (Collectables, 1991, 14 tracks)
1948-50 (Flyright, 1995, 20 tracks).