ROCK PIONEER JESSE STONE'S FINAL APPEARANCE IS AT ASA MEETING

By JOHN MIGLIACCIO

Jesse Stone's birth certificate may have stated his age as 97, but when he got up in front of audiences during the American Society on Aging's (ASA) 45th Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla., in March, the official documents could have been off by at least half a century. The same goes for his wife, Evelyn McGee Stone, whose energy and style belied her 78 years, as she sang several sets of jazz and blues classics, some of them written by her husband.

In what was his last performance before his death on April 1, Stone demonstrated exactly what made him a pioneering songwriter and performer. Hailing him as a "Developer of Rock's Early Hits," the New York Times' obituary referred to him as "a record producer who introduced 'black music' to a white audience." He died after falling ill at his home in Altamonte Springs, Fla.

'SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL'

Writing under the name of Charles Calhoun, Stone had penned the foundation songs of rock and roll history--"Shake, Rattle and Roll," "Good Golly Miss Molly" and hundreds more, especially for Atlantic Records, during a career that spanned much of this century. "Shake, Rattle and Roll" was first recorded in 1948 as a "race record" (the term once used for recordings deemed acceptable only for play to black audiences) by "Big Joe" Turner. It shook up the entire culture in 1954 when it was rerecorded by Bill Haley and the Comets and crashed through the racial barrier into acceptance by white audiences and radio stations. The breakthrough became complete the following year with Elvis Presley's recordings of many of Stone's tunes and arrangements. He was inducted into the Rhythm-and-Blues Hall of Fame in 1992.

Born in Kansas, Nov. 16, 1901, Stone was the grandson of slaves from Tennessee who had been freed and given land to settle. He was performing in his family's minstrel shows by age 5 and learned to play eight instruments, as well as sing and dance. During the 1920s, his jazz group included saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. In the 1940s he wrote the swing tune "Idaho," which became a hit in separate renditions by Guy Lombardo, whose version sold 3 million copies, and by Benny Goodman and Jimmy Dorsey.

In a lecture at the ASA conference titled "The Blues and Older Minority Musicians," which he co-presented with his wife Evelyn, Stone revealed that his favorite creative effort was songwriting. He was also fascinated with technology, and built his first computer from a kit when he was in his 80s.

The couple also performed as part of the "Bo Diddley Track," the annual ASA conference program aimed at honoring elderly legends of blues-related American musical forms. Evelyn McGee Stone kept over 150 conference-goers dancing to her marvelous tunes at a local club, then reprised her performance at the ASA Gala the following evening. Jesse Stone roused the dancing crowd as well with a featured performance of "Shake, Rattle and Roll," delivered with the enthusiasm of a teenager.

HIS RHYTHM SWEETHEART

Married when Evelyn was in her 50s and Jesse in his 70s, the Stones belatedly rekindled a romance begun during World War ii, when Evelyn was the lead singer of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, a mixed-race swing band. Jesse was their musical director. Aside from a newly revitalized career with the release of her first compact disk, "Jump Back," Evelyn was Jesse's primary caregiver, making the rounds for his dialysis treatments and providing constant love and attention while he wrote ideas and lyrics for new songs in a small notebook he carried.

The Associated Press reported that shortly prior to his final hospitalization, Jesse penned his last song. He watched Evelyn playing with their dog, she later reported. "I had been saying to the dog, 'That's it, that's it,' and he wrote a song, and that's the title."

John "Elwood" Migliaccio is president, Maturity Mark Services, White Plains, N.Y., and is co-creator of the Bo Diddley Track.

 

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