| Frank "Sugarchile" Robinson - Caldonia |
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From movie "No Leave No Love" 1946
Frank "Sugarchile" Robinson
SUGAR CHILE ROBINSON (By Dave Penny)
Born Frank Robinson, 1940, Detroit, Michigan
The history of 20th century entertainment is
littered with child prodigies; from Shirley
Temple in the 1930s, Toni Harper in the 1940s
and Frankie Lymon in the 1950s. On the whole,
although precociously talented, child
entertainers were usually saddled with
inferior, childish material that, while
perhaps cute at the time, were usually
novelty acts that grew tiresome pretty
quickly. Some couldn't handle the swift drop
in popularity and turned to drink or drugs,
while others retired gracefully and
concentrated their energies in other
directions. One such was that tiny bundle of
Detroit dynamite, "Sugar Chile" Robinson.
Born Frankie Robinson, the youngest of six
children, in Detroit in 1940, "Sugar Chile"
began pounding on the family piano as a
toddler - he reputedly banged out a
recognisable version of Erskine Hawkins'
Tuxedo Junction at the age of two - and by
1945 he had been "discovered" by pianist and
bandleader Frankie Carle. Within a year he
was asked to play at a Whitehouse party for
President Harry Truman, had guested with
Lionel Hampton's Orchestra and even appeared
performing the title song in the 1946 MGM
romantic comedy film "No Leave, No Love". It
was not until July 1949, however, that he
made his first records for the Capitol label,
when, in the consummate company of jazz
veterans Leonard Bibbs on bass and drummer
Zutty Singleton, Robinson took his first two
releases into the Billboard R&B chart in late
1949; Numbers Boogie made it to number four,
while Caldonia (What Makes Your Big Head So
Hard) only reached number 14. His subsequent
national tour broke box-office records eve
rywhere and it is claimed that his appearance
at Chicago's Regal Theatre remains the
biggest one-week attraction of the theatre's
entire history, easily beating the jazz
royalty of the day like Count Basie and Duke
Ellington. Robinson toured with Basie in 1950
and made a celebrated musical short with the
Basie Sextet and Billie Holiday in Hollywood
in August to showcase his hits. The Christmas
season of 1950 witnessed Sugar Chile's first
European release and Christmas Boogie c/w
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer sold well
enough to spark a European tour in 1951,
including rave reviews for his spot at the
London Palladium. He was a big hit on US
radio and TV all through 1951 and then, while
still in his pre-teens, Robinson's career was
suddenly over; his last single release was
issued in August 1952, shortly followed by a
10" compilation LP of boogie woogie that
featured many of his 1952 recordings.
Apart from a few radio transcriptions and
film soundtracks, "Sugar Chile" Robinson's
complete recording career - a period of just
under three years - has been reissued in its
entirety on one 2003 CD compilation,
"Chronological Classics 1949-52". If he
really was only nine years old at the time,
the performances from his first session such
as Vooey, Vooey Vay, Caldonia and Numbers
Boogie were quite astonishing. As with other
child stars, like Toni Harper, Robinson was
frequently burdened with immature material,
but even nursery rhyme knock-offs such as
Sticks And Stones, Christmas Boogie and
(Rock-A-Bye) Baby Blues were transformed into
entertaining performances with hip and clever
touches. The youngster acquitted himself as a
pianist exceptionally well on the few
instrumentals, particularly Lazy Boy's
Boogie, and for variety he occasionally
switched to organ or celeste on later
sessions.
Once the hits had dried up and he was
released from his Capitol Records contract,
there were one or two more reports in the
trade papers of the day - he was reported in
August 1954 as playing The Blue Note in
Chicago with modern jazzer Gerry Mulligan (!)
- and then nothing! What happened? Did his
voice break? Did the novelty of an infant
boogie virtuoso suddenly lose its appeal when
he hit 12? Was he really found out to be an
adolescent midget in disguise? Last year it
was announced that a 62 year-old "Sugar
Chile" Robinson had been rediscovered living
in Detroit, where he has worked mainly
outside music for almost 50 years (although
he is rumoured to be the same Frank Robinson
who co-owned the obscure Detroit-based soul
label, Lando Records, in the 1960s) , and was
brought out of retirement to pound the
ivories once again at a music festival which
celebrated pre-Motown music from the Motor
City. The internet has been strangely silent
since, so I am unsure whether the festiva l
even took place. Does anybody know?
CD: The Chronological Sugar Chile Robinson,
1949-1952 (Classics 5052, released in 2003).
24 tracks.
Tags : Caldonia 40's Frank "Sugarchile" Robinson |
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Affichage : 97469
Durée : 143 s |
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