Dueling Turntables- Bad Ass Sidekicks….. Jerome Green

Jerome Green was a mainstay of the Chess Records label from the mid-’50s onward — best known for playing maracas on the recordings of Bo Diddley, he also played on the records of Chuck Berry, Billy Boy Arnold, Billy Stewart, and Willie Dixon, among others. Green was, according to some sources, a tuba player who preferred jazz, but when he and Bo Diddley ended up in their first group — the Langley Avenue Jive Cats — at the start of the 1950s, he switched to percussion. He didn’t want the hassle of moving a drum kit to their performances, however, and so chose the maracas as his instrument, and he developed a mean and distinctive sound with them. His work with Bo Diddley included a shared vocal appearance on the latter’s biggest-selling pop single, “Say Man,” as well as performances as a member of Bo’s touring band. He was sufficiently well-known to earn a place in the narrative of the Animals single “The Story of Bo Diddley.” Jerome Green’s work with Bo Diddley ended in 1964 when Greenmarried and decided to get off the road. He passed away sometime during or around 1973. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Jerome Green’s biography:
The year 1999 marked the 40th anniversary of the release of Bo Diddley’s chart hits “Say Man” and “Say Man, Back Again”, (arguably the first ever rap hit singles, hitting the charts a full 20 years ahead of The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” hit of 1979/1980), both of which heavily featured the voice of the much-loved and fondly-remembered musician Jerome Green, for so long an integral part of the Bo Diddley group sound from around 1950, when he joined The Langley Avenue Jive Cats, up until the end of 1964, when he married and quit the group.

The look and the sound of his double pair of maracas playing was to have a profound influence upon the young Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones), Paul Jones (Manfred Mann), Phil May (Pretty Things), Van Morrison (Them) and numerous other British groups in the early 1960s.

Born around 1934, Jerome was a jazz-loving tuba player who lived in Chicago in the apartment below Bo Diddley’s 2nd wife Ethel “Tootsie” Smith. Recruited initially to pass the hat around whilst The Jive Cats played on street corners, he was soon taught to play the maracas by a Bo Diddley who was keen to fuel the rhythms of his group, but unwilling to have to carry a complete set of drums around the streets of Chicago.

His recording career with BO DIDDLEY lasted for almost a decade, from March 1955 until November 1964, and included the following memorable vocal contributions:

“Jerome’s Greatest Hits”:
Bring It To Jerome (July 1955)
Down Home Special (October 1956)
Say Man (January 1958)
Bo Meets The Monster (September 1958)
I Love You So (Spring 1959)
Say Man, Back Again (September 1959)
Signifying Blues (January 1960)
Bo’s Vacation (February 1961)
Not Guilty (February 1961)
Background To A Music (June 1961)
Give Me A Break (Man) (January 1962)

Jerome’s TV Appearances:
Toast of The Town (The Ed Sullivan Show) (CBS, November 1955)
Scene at 6.30 (Granada, UK, September 1963)
Thank Your Lucky Stars (ABC, UK, September 1963)

Jerome Green is believed to have died in New York, around 1973. In 2002, the popular Pittsburgh, PA-based rock & roll group The Hi-Frequencies paid their own lasting tribute to him when they wrote and recorded a track titled “Jerome Green”.

Below is “Say Man”. Pretty much thee best of their interplay, I think.

Amongst other “men behind men” combos to come, I would say that the Chuck D and Flavor Flav duo  is a nod or in the park.