DJ Hairy Larry Presents Joe Lee Singing You Don’t Learn That In School
From The Archives Of Something Blue July 19, 2026
Joe Lee – Swings On
Thanks Marty. Today we’re going to hear Joe Lee sing a Nat King Cole song.
I first met Joe Lee at Papa Joe’s Records in the early seventies but I never did any music with him until the nineties when he helped with Blues Fest and Blues Alley.
In 1991 we both played with Aaron Love at our first Blues Fest with Joe on sax and I was on guitar. And he was a regular, playing with his own band at many Blues Fests. in 1996 we had an Alley Records reunion featuring Aaron Love, Larry Donn, Sonny Burgess and The Pacers, Willie Lee Riley, Terry Carter, Joe Lee, and the Alley Reunion Band. In 1996 we featured Terry Ray Bradley who recorded “Red Hair and Green Eyes” at Alley when he was 14 and Tuesday Blues with Scott Snellgrove and Joy Sanford. Scott played with The Esquires who recorded “Sadie’s Ways at Alley and Joy Sanford frequently played piano with the Joe Lee Combo.
It wasn’t until later that I worked with Joe on some Alley Records projects. Vivian and I both worked on “The Best Of Alley Records vol. 1 Sounds Of The Sixties” a collection of released Alley Records singles. Scott Snellgrove helped us with the artwork.
Then we did “Joe Lee Swings On”, a jazz album featuring Ben Brogdon, bass; Ronnie Coletta, guitar; and Mike Overall, drums. Joe sang on some of the songs and he also played piano and sax. Except for “What’s New”, that was recorded Live at The Forum in Jonesboro, Arkansas, featuring Joe on tenor, Joy Sanford on piano and John Long on drums.
Vivian did the album artwork from a photo Joe gave her. I digitized the recordings from unreleased master tapes. We all worked hard to create the best album we could and I’m still proud of it today.
Before we finalized the art work Joe noticed how hard I was working and he decided to give me co-producer credits. So that’s how I became a record producer at Alley Records.
We continued working together until Joe died and we became close friends. We did another album that I engineered and mixed, “Boppin’ At The Forest”, Joe’s tribute to Blues Fest. And for a while I would visit him every week and digitize some more of his great recordings including the one where Dizzie Gillespie did a walk on solo with the Jonesboro Jazz Society Big Band.
So, there will always be more Joe Lee on From The Archives Of Something Blue.
And now, here’s Joe Lee on piano and vocals, singing a Nat King Cole song, “You Don’t Learn That In School”. This song, written by Marvin Fisher and Roy Alfred, has funny lyrics, some of them a bit bawdy and some of them playing around with hip jazz vernacular.
Something Blue Archives Featured Concert
Joe Lee – Swings On
archive.org/details/joe-lee-swings-on
Something Blue Archives – List Of Concerts
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You Don’t Learn That In School by The King Cole Trio; King Cole; Roy Alfred; Marvin Fisher
Joe Lee And Friends – Boppin’ At The Forest
archive.org/details/joe-lee-and-friends-boppin-at-the-forest
Joe Lee – Swings On – Liner Notes
music
And that’s Joe Lee singing “You Don’t Learn That In School” from his album, “Joe Lee Swings On”. Don’t miss Something Blue, Saturday night at 10:00, to hear Pk jazz Collective, Regis V Gronoff, Somewhere off Jazz Street, Viktor Séthy, Tom La Meche, and Art Yenta.
Joe Lee – Swings On – Back
DJ Hairy Larry With Viktor Sethy Playing Shadow
Something Blue – Strange – 29 second spot
This is Hairy Larry inviting you to enjoy Something Blue every Saturday night at ten. This week we’re featuring Art Yenta, Tom La Meche, Viktor Sethy, Somewhere Off Jazz Street, Regis V. Gronoff, and Pk Jazz Collective. For more about the show visit the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.
Don’t miss Something Blue, Saturday night at 10:00 PM Central, at kasu.org.
Pk Jazz Collective – Pearls Of Our Life
Now Playing On Something Blue – Well
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