Biography
New Orleans R&B group Sugar Boy and His Cane Cutters took shape in 1953, built from the remaining members of the Sha-Weez, an ensemble that had first assembled three years earlier on the grounds of Booker T. Washington High School in the Crescent City. As detailed in Marv Goldberg’s September 1977 profile for Yesterday’s Memories, the Sha-Weez were fronted by James “Sugar Boy” Crawford on piano and vocals alongside Edgar “Big Boy” Myles on trombone and vocals; the peculiar name came from their signature instrumental “Cha-Paka-Sha-Wees,” written by bandmate Nolan Blackwell and loosely rendered from the Creole phrase meaning “We are not raccoons.” A local radio announcer’s introduction of them as the “‘Cha-Paka-Sha-Wees’ musicians” caused the label to stick. Late in 1952, producer Dave Bartholomew placed the Sha-Weez with Aladdin Records and oversaw their first session at Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studios. Although Crawford had been chosen to sing lead, a recent live show had left his voice hoarse, so “Big Boy” Myles took the microphone instead. Their single “No One to Love Me,” issued at the close of the year, became a regional success and secured live dates across the Gulf Coast. Aladdin nevertheless declined to issue the rest of the J&M material or schedule further sessions, though the band remained contractually bound; in late 1953 Crawford and Myles moved to Chess, adding guitarist Billy Tate, bassist Frank Fields, tenor saxophonist Leroy “Batman” Rankins, and drummer Chester Jones to form Sugar Boy and His Cane Cutters. The group’s Chess debut, “I Don’t Know What I’ll Do,” marked the label’s first New Orleans–recorded release and received solid local airplay. Its follow-up, “Jock-a-Mo,” surfaced in early 1954 and likewise found favor in the region; ten years afterward the Dixie Cups reworked the song as “Iko Iko,” one of the most enduring Crescent City R&B hits. The third Sugar Boy and His Cane Cutters single, “I Bowed on My Knees,” earned the band a steady engagement at the Carousel Club in Baton Rouge yet ended their Chess tenure, leaving more than a dozen recordings unreleased. Myles departed in 1955 to join Li’l Millet and His Creoles, after which Crawford disbanded the Cane Cutters to pursue a solo path.