Biography
In 1950 the New Orleans R&B ensemble the Sha-Weez assembled on the grounds of Booker T. Washington High School. A September 1977 profile by Marv Goldberg in Yesterday's Memories listed the charter members as trombonist and vocalist Edgar "Big Boy" Myles, pianist and vocalist James "Sugarboy" Crawford, guitarist and vocalist Irving "Cat" Bannister, trumpeter Alfred "Hot Lips" Woodard, drummer Eric "Skee-za" Warner, alto saxophonist Nolan "Sha-Wee" Blackwell, pianist Warren "Jake" Myles, and tenor saxophonists Alfred Bernard and David Lastie. The ensemble took its unusual name from Blackwell’s instrumental theme “Cha-Paka-Sha-Wees,” a Creole phrase said to mean “We are not raccoons.” A local radio announcer once introduced the band as the “‘Cha-Paka-Sha-Wees’ musicians,” and the shortened form endured.
Late in 1952 producer Dave Bartholomew placed the Sha-Weez with the New Orleans label Aladdin Records and supervised their first session at Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studios. Although Crawford had been chosen to sing lead, his voice remained hoarse from an earlier performance, so “Big Boy” Myles assumed the role. The resulting single “No One to Love Me” surfaced at the close of the year, scored locally, and secured regional live work along the Gulf Coast.
Aladdin nevertheless declined to issue the balance of the J&M material and scheduled no further dates, even though the group stayed contractually bound. In late 1953 Crawford and Myles began recording for Chess, enlisting guitarist Billy Tate, bassist Frank Fields, tenor saxophonist Leroy “Batman” Rankins, and drummer Chester Jones under the name Sugar Boy & His Cane Cutters. Their Chess debut “I Don’t Know What I’ll Do” marked the label’s first New Orleans–recorded release and received solid local airplay. The follow-up “Jock-A-Mo,” issued in early 1954, also found regional favor; ten years later the Dixie Cups revived it as “Iko Iko,” one of the most durable Crescent City R&B sides. The third Cane Cutters single, “I Bowed on My Knees,” earned a steady engagement at Baton Rouge’s Carousel Club yet concluded the Chess association, leaving more than a dozen sides unreleased.
Myles departed in 1955 to join Li’l Millet & His Creoles, a unit comprising bassist Millet, tenor saxophonists Lee Allen and James Victor Lewis, guitarist Ernest Mare, drummer Bartholomew Smith, and pianist Warren Myles. That autumn the group recorded “Who’s Been Fooling You?” at J&M; for reasons never explained, the Specialty release credited the performance to Big Boy Myles & the Shaw-Wees. A second and final Specialty single, “Just to Hold My Hand,” featured New Orleans session great Earl Palmer on drums and appeared in late 1956, roughly simultaneous with Crawford’s Imperial solo debut “She’s Got a Wobble.” Crawford went on to cut three additional Imperial titles plus lone releases on Montel and Ace.
While traveling to a 1963 Peacock session, Crawford was pistol-whipped by a police officer; the extended hospitalization cooled his interest in secular performance and restricted his singing to church settings. Myles also issued solo sides on Ace, V-Tone, and Pic-One before moving to New York in the late 1960s.
Late in 1952 producer Dave Bartholomew placed the Sha-Weez with the New Orleans label Aladdin Records and supervised their first session at Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studios. Although Crawford had been chosen to sing lead, his voice remained hoarse from an earlier performance, so “Big Boy” Myles assumed the role. The resulting single “No One to Love Me” surfaced at the close of the year, scored locally, and secured regional live work along the Gulf Coast.
Aladdin nevertheless declined to issue the balance of the J&M material and scheduled no further dates, even though the group stayed contractually bound. In late 1953 Crawford and Myles began recording for Chess, enlisting guitarist Billy Tate, bassist Frank Fields, tenor saxophonist Leroy “Batman” Rankins, and drummer Chester Jones under the name Sugar Boy & His Cane Cutters. Their Chess debut “I Don’t Know What I’ll Do” marked the label’s first New Orleans–recorded release and received solid local airplay. The follow-up “Jock-A-Mo,” issued in early 1954, also found regional favor; ten years later the Dixie Cups revived it as “Iko Iko,” one of the most durable Crescent City R&B sides. The third Cane Cutters single, “I Bowed on My Knees,” earned a steady engagement at Baton Rouge’s Carousel Club yet concluded the Chess association, leaving more than a dozen sides unreleased.
Myles departed in 1955 to join Li’l Millet & His Creoles, a unit comprising bassist Millet, tenor saxophonists Lee Allen and James Victor Lewis, guitarist Ernest Mare, drummer Bartholomew Smith, and pianist Warren Myles. That autumn the group recorded “Who’s Been Fooling You?” at J&M; for reasons never explained, the Specialty release credited the performance to Big Boy Myles & the Shaw-Wees. A second and final Specialty single, “Just to Hold My Hand,” featured New Orleans session great Earl Palmer on drums and appeared in late 1956, roughly simultaneous with Crawford’s Imperial solo debut “She’s Got a Wobble.” Crawford went on to cut three additional Imperial titles plus lone releases on Montel and Ace.
While traveling to a 1963 Peacock session, Crawford was pistol-whipped by a police officer; the extended hospitalization cooled his interest in secular performance and restricted his singing to church settings. Myles also issued solo sides on Ace, V-Tone, and Pic-One before moving to New York in the late 1960s.