11 / 11
Allen and Black encored that autumn
with
Don’t Leave Me To Cry
, a torch
ballad primarily featuring the duo’s
distaff half, b/w
I Dedicate My Heart
,
more of a true duet. The spring of 1955
brought
Be My Baby
b/w
Ain’t Nobody
Home But Me.
Black wrote
I’ll Live My
Life Alone,
which the pair cut for Rolontz
on March 2, 1955 at Victor’s Studio 2
with Budd Johnson on tenor sax and
Ernie Hayes on the 88s (Howard Biggs
led the band).
Baby Please Don’t Go
was
chosen as its plattermate.
Rolontz traveled back to Richmond to
produce the pair’s last Groove session on
October 14, 1956, which appears to have
utilized Black and Allen’s own combo,
or at least a half-dozen local musicians
including saxist Eugene Nelson and
trombonist Ulysses Hines. Black was
strongly featured on
Into Each Heart
(Some Tears Must Fall),
half of their
Groove farewell platter. From the same
date comes the previously unissued
What
Makes Me Love You So
(both songs were
written by Pearl White and Hartwell
Brown, ostensibly members of Black and
Allen’s inner circle).
Apart from a subsequent single on
World-Wide, that closed out Oscar and
Sue’s lovey-dovey discography. But
Savoy Records issued Black’s solo
soundalike cover of Joe Barry’s 1961
swamp pop smash
I’m A Fool To Care
,
Oscar managing a #94 pop hit with it that
spring. Black went for a clean sweep,
covering Barry’s flip,
I Got A Feeling
, for
his B-side.
Not everything on Groove’s busy
release slate was recorded at RCA’s tiny
Manhattan enclave. Los Angeles-based
vocalist Sonny Brooks waxed his only
12
PREVIEW