walking upstream…
The Ravens
Jimmy Ricks and Warren Suttles met in New York in early 1946 and built a vocal group around an unusual idea: instead of the high tenor leads that powered most pop-harmony acts, the Ravens would foreground Ricks's cavernous, room-filling bass. Rounded out by Leonard 'Zeke' Puzey and later Maithe Marshall, the group drew on the smooth, jukebox-ready harmony of the Ink Spots, the Mills Brothers, and the Delta Rhythm Boys but inverted their hierarchy, letting the bass carry the melody while a soaring tenor answered above it. 'Write Me a Letter' became the first R&B record to crack the national pop Top 25, in December 1947, and 'Ol' Man River' turned Ricks's voice into a genre landmark, setting a template — a booming bass anchor beneath close harmony — that the coming decade of R&B vocal groups, from the Orioles to the Moonglows, would build on.
the sound in question
1948
Write Me a LetterThe Ravens
walk the tributaries ↓
The Delta Rhythm Boys1940s · Vocal jazz / R&B / Gospel
According to R&B historian Marv Goldberg's account of the group, Jimmy Ricks's specific inspiration was the Delta Rhythm Boys' bass singer Lee Gaines — Ricks and Suttles literally practiced harmonizing along to Delta Rhythm Boys records on a jukebox. Gaines had one of the deepest voices in the business, but RCA reportedly held his lowest notes back to avoid groove wear on 78s; Ricks, recording for a label with no such restriction, pushed the sound further than his own idol had been allowed to.
listen: upstream & here
1941
Dry BonesThe Delta Rhythm Boys
1950
Count Every StarThe Ravens
listen forPlay the Delta Rhythm Boys' 'Dry Bones,' which turns Gaines's bass loose on the melody itself, next to the Ravens' 'Count Every Star' — both make the bass voice the star of the record rather than the floor underneath it.
The Ink Spots1930s–40s · Pop / Vocal Harmony
Jimmy Ricks and Warren Suttles spent hours singing along to records on a Harlem jukebox before they ever formed a group of their own, and the Ink Spots were a staple of that diet. The Ink Spots' plaintive lead-over-hushed-harmony ballad format gave the Ravens a structure to invert once they built their own sound around Ricks's bass instead of a tenor.
listen: upstream & here
1939
If I Didn't CareThe Ink Spots
1948
Write Me a LetterThe Ravens
listen forHear how the Ink Spots' 'If I Didn't Care' sets a high, pleading lead over a murmuring backing group, then flip to the Ravens' 'Write Me a Letter,' which keeps that same hushed, confiding mood but drops the melody down into Ricks's bass register.
The Mills Brothers1930s · Vocal jazz / Traditional pop
The Ravens came up on the same jukebox diet of Mills Brothers records as their Ink Spots counterparts, and it shows in the group's love of a big, swelling vocal arrangement that behaves like a small orchestra — voices stacking into a wash of sound rather than four singers trading a simple harmony line.
listen: upstream & here
1931
Tiger RagThe Mills Brothers
1947
Ol' Man RiverThe Ravens
listen forSet the Mills Brothers' 'Tiger Rag,' with its voices standing in for a horn section, against the Ravens' 'Ol' Man River' — both turn a group of singers into a full band, the Ravens' version dropping Ricks's bass into the role an upright bass would normally play.