Quickly he became one of the biggest powers in the R&B business.īenson began doing freelance recording in the spring of 1948 (when he taped at least 6 tracks at a live session at the Pershing Ballroom, edited them, and sold them to Aristocrat). His skill at selling commercial time on his church program landed him an R&B show at WGES toward the end of 1945. Al Benson began his career as a DJ in 1943, with a new gospel show on Chicago radio station WGES. (There is a biographical profile in "Al Benson-The Godfather of Black Radio in Chicago" by the late Charles Walton, available on the Jazz Institute of Chicago website.) In his earlier days, Benson sang, produced shows at a theater in Jackson, worked as a probation officer, and preached. Born Arthur Leaner in Jackson, Mississippi, he arrived in Chicago in 1923.
Parrot Records was the creation of noted Chicago DJ Al Benson (1908-1978). An advertisement for Parrot 1000 and Parrot 782, from Cash Box on August 29, 1953, has led us to realize that the Bessie Griffin single (Parrot 1000) is from 1953 and was released in the company's second official batch. We've discovered that Parrot did not merely lease masters from Swing Time for distribution-there was a formal alliance between the companies from September 1953 through January 1954, during which time they shared a national sales manager. Savoy 1165, with two Joe Williams sides recorded for Blue Lake, came out in July 1955. We have an earlier date for Savoy's first acquisition from Parrot/Blue Lake: it dawned on us that this took place while the label was still active and Al Benson still owned it. We have added to our biography of pianist Henry Gray, who died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Februhe was 95 years old.
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