The Five Chords were a New York based doo-wop group consisting of Armuster (known as Rudy) Martin, Barbara R. Martin, John Jones, Evans Clark and Dillard Crittenden. The three songs were cut in August, 1958 at Belltone Studios in New York.
The group got to Jamie Records through Ted McRae, the arranger of their sessions who promised their manager, Henry Tobias, to make contact with the label. McRae’s source of contact with the label is unknown but Henry Tobias was himself a music publisher with a couple of companies, including Tobey, Alvin and Patore Music. He also summered in the White Mountains as the entertainment director of Wentworth Hall. Given that Henry Tobias had his own music companies that worked out of the same building, 1650 Broadway, as the first Jamie distributor, George Goldner and his Gone and End Records, were in, it seems surprising that he needed an intermediatrly like Ted McRae, who otherwise seemed to have no affiliation with Jamie/Guyden. Apart from the Brill Building at 1619 Broadway, 1650 was a major music business center where Henry Tobias noted in a letter to the company in Philadelphia that he had saved himself a trip to Philadelphia when he got to see Jamie executive Harry Finfer when he was visiting George Goldner in the building.
The group had one release on Jamie, “Don’t Just Stand There (Do Something)” b/w “Love Is Like Music (Do Re Mi)” (Jamie 1110) but they had cut four songs, including “Crazy Rock” and “I’d Do Anything For You.” Jamie failed to put out the second pair of recordings when a problem within the band made them unavailable to tour and support the record.
