Search - Norman Petty :: Original Norman Petty Trio & Ensemble 1

Pleasant, If Not Exactly Memorable Sound

07/29/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Norman Petty Trio, consisting of Norman (b. 1927 in Clovis, New Mexico) on piano and organ, his wife Violet Ann on piano, and Jack Vaughn on guitar, were a Three Suns sound-a-like group who, while with the RCA subsidiary "X" label in 1954, had a # 14 Pop hit with the Duke Ellington classic Mood Indigo.



Offering a nice harmonizing sound, they would also release instrumentals, but nothing else came even close to the success of Mood Indigo. although Violet Ann's pleasant vocal on If You See Me Cryin' was certainly worthy of some note.



Where Petty and his wife would earn bigger fame, however, was in the recording studio they built in his home town area in 1955. There the late, great Roy Orbison first recorded several sides for the Jewel label, including Ooby Dooby, before re-doing it at Sam Phillip's Sun studios, and Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen, along with The Rhythm Orchids, cut the classics Party Doll and I'm Stickin' With You there for their own Triple D label before seeing the songs go on to great fame under Roulette's guidance.



Buddy Holly also went to Petty's studio after his earlier flops with Decca and re-cut the classic That'll Be The Day which, of course, went on to fame in 1957 under the title The Crickets with Decca's subsidiary Brunswick.



That same year Petty's trio also put out a few instrumental singles, the most successful of which were Almost Paradise (# 56 Billboard Top 100 in April - beaten out by Roger Williams (# 15) and Lou Stein (# 31) - and The First Kiss (# 81 in August).



Petty then went on to produce and co-write several more Holly hits before everything came to an end in early 1959 with Buddy's tragic death.



Other artists who had success under Petty's guidance included The String-A-Longs, whose instrumental Wheels peaked at # 3 in 1961, and Jimmy Gilmer who, with The Fireballs, had THE # 1 record of 1963 - Sugar Shack.



Petty died on August 15, 1984. It would have been a nice tribute if Ace Records had seen fit to include Almost Paradise and The First Kiss either in this volume or in volume two. Surely there was room."