Bob Tate (July 2, 1932 – August 3, 1993) – Don't Worry Bout Me (1961)
Sam Cooke's multi-talented touring musical director composed and arranged this superb jam, the B-side to a single by Jennell Hawkins on Dynamic Records.
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Bob Tate was a multi-instrumentalist who played on several West Coast R&B classics starting in the late 1950s and was Sam Cooke’s touring bandleader.
Born in Oklahoma but raised in Phoenix, Arizona, he learned to play several instruments starting at a young age, including saxophone, flute, and piano. He attended the then-segregated Carver High School, where he first learned to arrange music, and later graduated from Arizona State University.
Tate joined the Navy in 1951 and arranged for military bands during his service. At one concert for legendary Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, the emperor was so impressed by the music that he asked to meet the arranger, and took a picture with Tate.
He moved to Los Angeles in the late fifties where he worked as a session musician. In 1958 he was hired as Sam Cooke’s musical director for his touring band.
The following year, the rockin’ loneliness anthem “Love, Loves” (1959) was one of the first of Tate’s songs to be recorded. He co-wrote it with Guitar Shorty, aka David William Kearney. It was the B-side to Shorty’s “How Long Can It Last?” and Tate arranged both sides. Released on the small L.A. label Pull Records, it is a very rare record today.
In the early sixties, he composed the music and led the backing band on a single by Jennell Hawkins released by Dynamic Records, “I Pity The Fool” (1961) b/w the superb jam “Don't Worry Bout Me.”
Tate remained as Cooke’s touring musical director until the singer’s tragic murder in 1964. Three decades later, in a profile of Tate, he claimed to know the truth behind what really happened:
“According to Bob, the commonly accepted version that Cooke was killed by a woman the singer supposedly attacked is wrong. He says the woman stole Cooke's wallet and that when Cooke went to report the theft, the vocalist was shot by a jittery motel clerk who thought Cooke was a burglar.”
In 1970, in one of his last professional recording sessions, Tate arranged “Tu-Wai-Apocha-Wai,” the upbeat B-side to Lonnie B. (aka Lenny West) and Viki G. (aka Viki Phillips)’ single “Somebody Loves Me.”
Happy Heavenly Birthday to the great Bob Tate.
Further info:
“Benefit for Bob Tate,” by Robert Baird, Phoenix New Times, July 28, 1993.
#jazz #soul #R&B #SamCooke #BobTate