4th Cekcion was an American brass-rock band from Bellaire, Texas, that released a self-titled album on local-press Solar Records in 1970. Members: Greg Isaacs (vocals, keyboards), Stewart Rojo (guitar), Mike St. Clair (bass), Louie Broussard (percussion), Richard Cantu (woodwinds), Gary Weldon (brass) Background 4th Cekcion formed in Bellaire when brass player Gary Weldon and reedist […]
ZZ Top is an American hard-rock/blues trio from Houston that released five albums on London Records between 1971 and 1976, scoring FM evergreens with “Tush” and “La Grange.” After the frontal pair of guitarist/singer Billy Gibbons and bassist Billy Etheridge grew long, matching beards, the band signed to Warner Bros and released another five albums […]
Leon Haywood (Feb. 11, 1942 — April 5, 2016) was an American soul singer from Houston who initially emerged as a singles artist for Fantasy, Imperial, and Fat Fish during the mid-1960s. Early in the following decade, he re-emerged as a soul-funk album artist with four longplayers on 20th Century between 1973 and 1977, followed […]
Eloise Laws — aka Lavern Eloise Laws (born Nov. 6, 1943) — is an American soul singer from Houston who issued singles sporadically on CBS and Music Merchant between 1968 and 1973. In 1977, she released back-to-back albums on Invictus and ABC Records, followed by two further albums on Liberty and Capitol between 1980 and […]
Lightmen Plus One were an American jazz-funk band that released two albums on Judnell circa 1970/71, followed by two further albums on bandleader Bubba Thomas’ Lightin’ Records between 1972 and 1975. Members: – Discography: Free as You Wanna Be (1970 • The Lightmen) Fancy Pants (1971) Energy Control Center (1972) Country Fried Chicken (1975 • […]
Ronnie Laws (born Oct. 3, 1950) is an American saxophonist and flutist from Houston who played in Earth, Wind & Fire circa 1972/73. Discography: Pressure Sensitive (1975) Fever (1976) Friends and Strangers (1977) Flame (1978) Pressure feat. Ronnie Laws (1979) Every Generation (1980) Solid Ground (1981) Mr. Nice Guy (1982) Mirror Town (1986) All Day […]
Michael White (May 24, 1933 — Dec. 6, 2016) was an American violinist and composer from Houston who played in jazz-funk pioneers The Fourth Way at the turn of the 1970s. Discography: Pneuma (1972) Spirit Dance (1972) The Land of Spirit and Light (1973) Father Music, Mother Dance (1974) Go With the Flow (1974) The […]
King’s X were an American hard-rock band from Houston that released six albums on Atlantic between 1988 and 1996, followed by further titles on Metal blade during the subsequent decade. Members: Doug Pinnick (vocals, bass), Ty Tabor (vocals, guitar), Jerry Gaskill (vocals, drums) Discography: Out of the Silent Planet (1988) Gretchen Goes to Nebraska (1989) […]
Debra Laws (born Sept. 10, 1956) is an American soul singer from Houston who released the album Very Special with accompanying singles on Elektra in 1981. She is the last-born in the musical Laws clan, which also includes flutist Hubert Laws, vocalist Eloise Laws, and saxophonist Ronnie Laws. Discography: Very Special (1981) Moments (1993)
Hubert Laws (born Nov. 10, 1939) is an American flutist from Houston. He is the eldest of kin in the musical Laws family, which also includes saxophonist Ronnie Laws and vocalists Eloise and Debra Laws. Discography: The Laws of Jazz (1965) Flute By-Laws (1966) Laws’ Cause (1969) Afro-Classic (1970) Crying Song (1970) The Rite of […]
Fever Tree were an American psych-rock band from Houston that released three albums on Uni in 1968/69, followed by a fourth on Ampex in 1971. Members: Michael Knust (guitar), Rob Landes (keyboards, woodwind), John Tuttle (drums), EE Wolfe III (bass), Dennis Keller (vocals), Grant Johnson (keyboards), Kevin Kelly (drums), John Clarry (drums), Kenny Blanchette (bass) […]
Billy Harper (born Jan. 17, 1943) is an American free-jazz saxophonist from Houston. Discography: Capra Black (1973) Jon & Billy (1974 • Billy Harper & Jon Faddis) Black Saint (1975) Love on the Sudan (1977 • Billy Harper Quintet) Soran-Bushi B.H. (1978) In Europe (1979) Knowledge of Self (1979) Trying to Make Heaven My Home […]
A-440 were an American rock band from Houston that released three garage-psych singles on the local labels Sona and Cinema in 1967/68. In 1978, the reactivated band issued the symphonic-rock/opera Ulysses: The Greek Suite on 20th Century. Members: Ted Neeley (vocals), Carlos Luevano (guitar), Craig Meacham (bass), Ian Hoffman (drums), Michael Rapp (keyboards), Yvonne Iverson […]
Archie Bell & The Drells were an American soul group from Houston that released three albums on Atlantic in 1968/69. After a pair of 1973 singles on T.K.-subsidiary Glades, the group released four albums on TSOP/PIR between 1975 and 1979. Members: Archie Bell (vocals), Lee Bell (vocals), Lucious Von Haskins (vocals), Joe Cross (vocals), James […]
Kashmere Stage Band (KSB) were an American funk ensemble comprised of students from Kashmere High School in Houston. The band was directed by music teacher Conrad O. Johnson, who led KSB through multiple iterations over a 10-year period. After a 1969 no-label release, a series of live and studio albums were issued on self-press Kram […]
The Red Crayola were an American psych-rock band from Houston, Tex., that released two albums on International Artists in 1967/68. The nameplate was reactivated in 1979 for the Radar Records release Soldier-Talk, recorded with members of Pere Ubu. A string of titles followed on Rough Trade and RecRec during the early 1980s, mostly in collaboration […]
Johnny “Guitar” Watson (Feb. 3, 1935 — May 17, 1996) was an American R&B guitarist who was active as a session player and solo artist for more than four decades, starting in the early 1950s. Between 1973 and 1984, he released a string of jazz-funk albums on Fantasy, DJM, and Valley Vue. As a bandleader, […]
Oran “Juice” Jones is an American soul singer from Houston. Discography: Juice (1986) G.T.O.: Gangsters Takin’ Over (1987) To Be Immortal (1989)
Billy Preston (Sept. 2, 1946 — June 6, 2006) was an American soul singer and keyboardist from Houston. He was born William Everett Preston on September 2, 1946, in Houston and mostly raised in Los Angeles by his mother. A child prodigy, he taught himself organ without any lessons. At age 10, he played organ […]
Horace Tapscott (April 6, 1934 — Feb. 27, 1999) was an American jazz pianist from Houston. Discography: The Giant Is Awakened (1969 • Horace Tapscott Quintet) Flight 17 (1978 • Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra) Songs of the Unsung (1978) In New York (1979) The Call (1979) Live at the I.U.C.C. (1979 • Horace Tapscott With […]
