Little Hatchet Band - Oh Its Tight

Notes on these recordings by Jim O'Neal: THE LITTLE HATCHET BAND, M&M LP-3001. Tracks: Oh, It’s Tight; 1611 Breakdown; Sweet Black Angel; Little Bitty Woman; All Night Long; Hatchet’s Rock; Baby, Please Come Back to Me; Everything Gonna Be Alright; I Need You By My Side. In 1970, German blues enthusiast Hartmut Munnich made a pilgrimage to the heart of Mid-American blues territory, the legendary 12th & Vine district in Kansas City, Missouri – just in time, too, before the neighborhood was urban renewed and all the bars and other businesses were demolished. Hartmut took his portable tape recorder into the Last Round-Up at 1611 E. 12th Street. This album is the amazing document of two summer nights with The Little Hatchet Band, led by harmonica player and singer Provine Hatch, Jr., better known as Little Hatch, with guitarists Lewis Patties, William "Blues Boy" Wells or Little Joe Robinson on guitar, Troy Banks on organ, and Sam Boyd or another unidentified musician on drums. Wells sings on one track and plays some stinging guitar on others. The recording captures the authentic sound of the band’s equipment at the club – the performance is charged with excitement but it’s all in raw, ultra-low fidelity – the vocals are hard to hear, and so are the drums. If you’ve been to enough juke joints, you know the deal. Another German blues nut, Fritz Marschall, heard the tapes and started his own label to put this album out. Only 400 were ever pressed, and this was the only release to ever appear on M&M Records. In keeping with the homegrown quality of the recording, the packaging consisted of a sheet of paper with a photo of the band and a list of song titles pasted on to the front of the plain white jacket, with nothing on the back. But in keeping with the meticulous documentation of blues that European collectors are known for, the album came with a few pages stapled together as an insert, with xeroxed photos of Hatch and various musicians, a bio, and a complete discography of the recording. Fritz has since expanded the booklet with updated info on Hatch (who died in 2003 after becoming K.C.’s favorite traditional bluesman with a new young audience), and more vintage photos, including one of Hatch in a band with fellow K.C. blues veterans Millage Gilbert and King Alex Littlejohn (neither of whom appear on the LP). I was one of the under 400 people to own a copy of this record (in fact I think I had a box of 25 of them at one time which I sold back in the ‘70s through ads in Living Blues magazine), and by a weird twist of fate, years later I moved to Kansas City and learned that my new father-in-law’s family ran the club where this album was recorded. This music has never been released on CD but if we can get enough money together, we plan to issue a CD on the Stackhouse label, with Fritz Marschall’s cooperation. Fritz has donated a mint copy of the LP (jacket is VG+, slightly worn) to be auctioned to continue the fundraising. So be a sponsor and bid now! For more information on Stackhouse Recording Company, click here: http://stackhouse-bluesoterica.blogspot.com/2006/07/stackhouse-recording-company.html -- Jim O'Neal

Added 13 May 2026