[Vintage-Audio] Attn. Lee

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Hi All,

Lee Hazen, a former RCA Nashville Studio B audio engineer, once told me 
about a really low Bass singer that he saw in the halls there every now and 
then. I am wondering if it was the late J.D. Sumner?

Now J.D. and his Stamps quartet backed Elvis Presley the last seven years of 
the King of R&R's life. In fact, remember the famous telecast live from 
Hawaii done by Elvis in 1972? I have the evening before known as the 
"Alternate Aloha" take on CD. J.D. can be heard at the end of one song 
hitting a note so low that island residents may have thought one of the 
volcanos the Hawaiian islands are formed from had belched!

I do know that a number of individuals, as well as groups, had J.D. in the 
background doing what he was world famous for, hitting Bass notes below 32 
Hz. Now some claim to be lower than J.D., but this man could actually sing 
down there! Not just make a low noise as some do.

I remember when I heard J.D. Sumner live here in Flint when he was in his 
forties and singing Bass for the famous Blackwood Brothers quartet. Several 
other groups had been on before the Blackwood Bros. here in Flint's 
beautiful Whiting Auditorium. Now when J.D. and the group walked out onto 
the stage, the sound men who worked at the Whiting were seen to rush to the 
controls and turn down the sound level! Everybody present saw them doing 
something, then realized as the group started to do its first song what the 
sound guys had done! Everybody got a big laugh out of it, but probably 
nobody any more then J.D. himself! Always a showman, always funny and never 
a disappointment.

Lee, I wonder, if I send you a photo of J.D. Sumner would you be able to 
tell if he was the guy you saw in the halls at Studio B.?




Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO
dfischer at usol.com
HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
http://www.w9wze.net
HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
hhrp.w9wze.net