Daddy Knows / Green Dolphin Street

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 1963

Label: Garpax Records

The notes below were written before a copy of the released "Daddy Knows"/"On Green Dolphin Street" Garpax single surfaced to clarify that Gary Paxton produced it and Gerald Wilson did the arrangements.

It seems likely that credited arranger Gerald Wilson supplied personnel for the backing band on these recordings because at the time Donna Lee was appearing with the Gerald Wilson Band at Basin Street West.

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This four-song acetate surfaced in 2020 and originated in the personal collection of Western Recorders recording engineer Chuck Britz. The record had no labels or inscriptions and the only thing written on the Audiodisc sleeve it came in was "Jazz" and "Gary Paxton".

Alec Palao, an authority on the history of Gary S. Paxton, identified the performer as Donna Lee and confirmed that the music on the acetate was identical to a master reel in the Garpax archive.

He also stated that "two of the songs (Daddy Knows / Green Dolphin Street) were slated to be a single on Garpax in late 1963 - at least that’s what paperwork indicates, although I have never seen a copy of the disc myself." and that it was scheduled as Garpax 44178 -- which is a single-number gap in the Garpax discography.

Currently, there is no further information such as who the musicians are and whether or what role Paxton and Britz may have played in its production. Alec Palao did offer this: "Gary rarely worked at Western Recorders in those years, although he did frequently use their disc-cutting service for acetate dubs...I am 90 per cent certain the production or release was a favour Paxton was intending to do for someone. This was a frequent occurrence once 'Monster Mash' had made its mark."

Whatever the case, the addition of this record to Donna Lee's discography is an important one because it uniquely represents the distinctive jazz night club act she toured the country with, and headlined in New York, for years -- before she signed with Columbia in 1967 and recorded songs that replaced the simple small band backing heard here with a big orchestra and wall of backup singers.