"If I Could Be With You"

For Penny


From the stage
of Detroit's
world-famous
Graystone Ballroom
on Woodward Avenue
just south of Canfield
Ladies &
gentlemen, the fabulous
Victor recording artists: please
join me
in welcoming our
very special
guests tonight—
the legendary McKinney's
Cotton
Pickers!
oh if i could
be with you one
hour tonight, if i were
free
to do
the things
i might, i'm
tellin' you
true. i'd be
anything
but blue,
if i
could be
with you
They came to Detroit in 1926, up
from Springfield,
Ohio, led by the circus
drummer, William McKinney, & boasting
on banjo & occasional vocals, Mr.
Dave Wilborn
On tenor, alto, soprano &
bass saxophones, oboe
& violin, Mr. Wesley
Stuart
On piano & arrangements,
the great Todd Rhodes
Playing the alto & soprano saxophones &
bass clarinet, George
"Fathead" Thomas
On trumpet & arrangements,
John Nesbitt
On trombone &
baritone horn, Mr.
Claud
Jones
The orchestra's dance team,
sousaphonist June Co345345le
& drummer
Cuba Austin
& in the saxophone
section, the band's musical
director, on alto,
soprano & bass
saxophones, oboe & violin,
Mr. Milton Senior—
They called themselves McKinney's Syncos
in Springfield, but
when they came to Detroit
to replace the Jean Goldkette Orchestra
at the Graystone Ballroom
in September 1927
their Caucasian employers,
wise in the ways of Detroit,
insisted that they change
their name
to the Cotton Pickers
& without much choice in the matter
so they became—
First at the Arcadia
down the street from the Graystone
for five months
in 1926 the Syncos
stormed Detroit
& were engaged
by the Goldkette
organization
as its first "allcolored orchestra" for
two weeks at the Graystone
& then in the summer
of 1927 Jean
Goldkette signed Don Redman
as musical director
of McKinney's Cotton Pickers—
direct from the Fletcher
Henderson
Orchestra
in New York City, the
father
of the jazz
arrangement
& a giant of jazz
at just under
five feet tall, Don Redman
beat the ba346346nd
into shape
with his mighty arrangements
& for the princely sum
of $300.00 per week
Don Redman
led the band
to international stardom,
a Victor recording contract,
a radio wire
out of the Graystone
onto WJR
with its 50,000 watts
of clear channel power,
"the Great Voice
of the Great Lakes,"
McKinney's Cotton Pickers
rose up out of Detroit
to light up the world
with the music of Don Redman—
if i could
be with you one
hour
tonight
if 1927
if the Graystone
were still
standing
Don Redman
stayed with the Cotton Pickers
till 1931
& went out on his own then
with several of the remaining members
but George Thomas was already dead
in an auto accident
on the road,
November 1930,
& the driver,
one of the brightest
trumpet stars
of the ’20s,
Joe Smith, was quickly
drinking himself crazy
& Milton Senior had left
& would kill himself
before the ’30s
were over
& another trumpet man,
John Nesbitt,
who was Fathead's
closest friend
in the band
also lost his wife
& Nesbitt was 348348lost
to the bottle
& on a west coast trip
where the Cotton Pickers
headlined
over the Fletcher
Henderson
& Duke Ellington
Orchestras, when people
in Hollywood
heard their first
orchestral arrangements
in jazz
in 1931
the band fell apart
& never recovered
its former
glory—
if i could be
with you one
hour tonight if i
could be
with you
McKinney's Cotton Pickers, 'the
Mississippi Muddies
of Syncopation,' the
'Sensation
of the Automobile
City,'
their entire recorded output
of 56 sides
for Victor
in now available
only on five
out-of-print
French
'Black & White'
RCA LPs
& the only man still alive
from the original Pickers
is my man, Dave
Wilborn, who brought this
back to life for me
& who still sings his
own song as
sweet as
ever
& says
from the stage today,
"Thank you ladies &
gentlemen and
back in 1928
up at the Graystone Ballroom
Woodward & Canfield
while with McKinney's Cotton Pickers
We were the first black350350 band
to broadcast
out of Detroit
over WJR
Our theme was a
beautiful love song
of the ’20s
written by Don Redman—
I was there to sing
that song
over the airways
& by the
grace
of the good Lord
I'm here to sing it for you
tonight,"
January 7,
1979,
at the Paradise Theatre
in Detroit:
i'm so blue
i don't know
what to do
all day long
i sit & dream
of you
i did wrong
when i let you
go away
now i dream
about you
night & day
i'd be happy
if i had you
by my side
i'd be happy
if i knew you
were my bride
if i could
be with you
one hour tonight
& i was free to do
the things
i might
i want you to know
that you couldn't go
until i showed you honey how i
loved you so
if i could be
with you
i'd love you strong
if i could be with you
i'd love you
all night long
i'm tellin' you
true, you'd be
anything
but blue, if i
could be
with you—
for just one hour—
if i
could be
with you

—Detroit
March 25> June 1, 1982/
New Orleans
January 1994