Chubby Jumps

"New Orleans Lover Man"
Chubby Newsome, Deluxe, 1949

As the bio I’ve linked to reveals, Chubby Newsome wasn’t from New Orleans; but she became well-known and made her most popular recordings there, starting in 1948 on Miltone/Deluxe with her signature tune, “Hip Shakin’ Mama”, backed up by Paul Gayten’s band. Rather than the slow blues grind of that song, “New Orleans Lover Man” is an upbeat jump number she did a year later with the Dave Bartholomew Band for Deluxe. I’ve picked it as one of my continuing spotlights on the female artists of the New Orleans music scene, as they have been in the minority over the years.

The sound quality on this one is a bit muddy, as it was transferred to LP from a 78 rpm by the Official label for a compilation they did on her. But it’s definitely worth hearing. If you want to find Chubby's stuff on CD, you can get a number of her sides via two worthy compilations. The first is Jump ‘N’ Shout on Delmark, which has Regal sides from the early 1950’s by her, as well as Deluxe and United sides by other NOLA-related artists. The other is a four CD box on Proper called Gettin' Funky: The Birth of New Orleans R&B. It contains Chubby’s Deluxe sides, including today’s feature, as well as a generous helping of other influential New Orleans performers from the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. If you are at all interested in that era of Crescent City R&B, I encourage you to check out both the budget-priced collection and the single Delmark CD.