⬇️ T.J. FOWLER ⬇️
(2CD)
BIOGRAPHY
After studying piano at home and at the Detroit Conservatory of Music,
Fowler began providing musical entertainment for patrons at his father's
pool hall. His earliest professional engagements were with bands led by
saxophonist Guy Walters and trumpeter Clarence Dorsey. Fowler assembled his
own hot little group in 1947 and accompanied saxophonist Paul "Hucklebuck"
Williams on that artist's first recordings for the Savoy label.
T.J. Fowler began making records as a leader in 1948, beginning with small
labels like Paradise and Sensation and landing his own contract with Savoy
in 1952, sometimes featuring singers Freddie Johnson, Alberta Adams, and
Floyd "Bubbles" McVay. Fowler's ensemble was also used to back vocalist
Varetta Dillard and guitarist Calvin Frazier. Near the end of 1953 Fowler
took his act to Chicago to wax what are believed to have been the only
recordings he ever made outside of Detroit.
Issued on the States label, these sides were presented as by "T.J. Fowler
and the Band That Rocks the Blues." Back in Detroit, Fowler and his men
served as the backing band for T-Bone Walker and spent the next few
years gigging around the Motor City and southeastern Michigan.
By the end of the 1950s, Fowler was living in the industrial city of Ecorse
(just south of River Rouge), where he ran his tiny independent Bow record
label and led a jazz organ combo. Hired in 1959 by the relatively
inexperienced Berry Gordy, Fowler applied his music industry know-how and
managerial expertise to help Gordy create and establish the Motown record
label. Fowler continued gigging with his jazz band but eventually ceased
performing altogether, operating a landscaping service and settling into
semi-retirement as a businessman in Detroit, where he passed away on May 22,
1982.