From:  "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Fri May 7, 2004  1:28 am
Subject:  This Is My Story : Preston Epps
 
PRESTON EPPS

Born 20 July 1930, Oakland, California

This time, brothers and sisters, you get two for the price of one : this bio
is as much about Art Laboe as it is about bongo player Preston Epps.
In the late 1950s, one of the men who made things happen in Los Angeles
was DJ (at KPOP), TV show host and promoter Art Laboe who put on shows
starring all the big names who came through town as well as numerous
locally popular acts. In 1958, Laboe expanded his interests to include two
record labels, Starla and Original. Starla quickly fell by the wayside, but
Original came to the fore with two consecutive instrumental hits in the
summer of 1959 : "Bongo Rock" by Preston Epps and "Teen Beat" by
Sandy Nelson, both co-written by Laboe under his songwriting pseudonym,
Arthur Egnoian. Sandy Nelson had previously recorded for Laboe as a
member of Kip Tyler and the Flips on Starla. Original was soon renamed
Original Sound.

Preston Epps learned how to play the bongos while stationed in Okinawa
during the Korean War. He soon became adept at other percussive instruments
as well. After leaving the service he worked as a waiter, club manager, and at
a gas station. At night, he played in Hollywood coffeehouses. It was while he
was playing at one of these establishments that Epps was spotted by Art Laboe,
who wasted no time getting him into the studio. Together they wrote the very
infectious "Bongo Rock", which captured the imagination of the nation's kids
enough to take it to # 14 on the Billboard charts. But if there is one instrument
that offers very limited possibilities for musical variety, it is the bongo. Once 
you've heard one bongo solo, you've heard them all. Laboe tried to solve this
problem by dressing up his productions with flutes, strings, jungle sounds
and such, but only "Bongo Bongo Bongo" managed to make any chart noise
(# 78 in August 1960). The song was co-written by Laboe (as Egnoian) and
a young Jack Nitzsche, who also co-wrote (with Epps) "Call of the Jungle",
which - clocking in at 12:38 - made up the entire second side of Preston's first
LP, "Bongo Bongo Bongo".

Other LP's followed, "Bongola" (on Top Rank) in 1961 and "Surfin' Bongos" in
1962, but the public had lost interest. After the success of "Walk Don't Run '64",
"Raunchy '65" and "Teen Beat '65", Epps decided to give it one more go with
"Bongo Rock '65", but all to no avail. However, a remake of "Bongo Rock" by
The Incredible Bongo Band (a studio band assembled in Canada by producer
Michael Viner) went to # 57 in 1973, on MGM.

Preston Epps was the master of a narrow field. In the early seventies he toured
and recorded with Johnny Otis. He was still active in the late nineties, performing
in clubs in Southern California and the Southwest region of the United States.

CD: Bongo Rock (Collectables). Released in 1999.

Sources used:
Wayne Jancik, Billboard book of one-hit wonders, 2nd ed 1998, page 78.
Rob Finnis, Liner notes for "Golden Age of American Rock 'n' Roll, Vol. 1"
(Ace 289).
All Music Guide.