Intro
The Isley Brothers started their career in the early 1950s by performing gospel songs in local churches in Cincinnati, Ohio. At the time the group consisted of Ronald Isley (b. 21 May 1941), Rudolph Isley (b. 1 April 1941), O'Kelly Isley Jr. (b. 25 December 1937 d. 31 March 1986) and Vernon Isley (b. 1942(?) d. 24 September 1954).
VERNON ISLEY
The Isley Brothers was originally a quartet but sadly Vernon, at the time the youngest of the brothers, died in 1954. 1
The Cincinnati Post Friday 24 September 1954:
"Death Brings Demands For Safeguards
Vernon Isley, 11, Struck by Truck As He Rides Bike
Vernon Isley, 11, tenor in the Isley Brothers' Quartet, was killed Friday as he rode his bicycle down Cooper Road to Blue Ash school.
The road where Vernon was killed is part of a detour that carries heavy traffic which formerly used Montgomery road, and the youngster's death brought an immediate demand to the state for measures to protect children of three schools who must walk along the road to and from school.
[...]
Vernon and his brother, Ronald, 13, lead in the Isley quartet, had just ridden double to Sycamore High School. It was Vernon's turn to take the bike. "Be careful, watch the traffic," were Ronald's last words to his younger brother.
[...]
The three older Isley brothers are out for football at Sycamore High School.
The family moved to a new home at 9279 Lewis avenue, Blue Ash, Sep. 1. For nine years they lived in Lincoln Heights.
Vernon's father, O'Kelly Isley, works at the new Veterans Administration Hospital as an attendant."
The Cincinnati Enquirer Saturday 25 September 1954:
"BOY SINGER
Killed On Bike
Tenor Of Isley Brothers Quartet Thrown Against Truck In Blue Ash
Vernon Isley, 11, Blue Ash, who sang with three teen-age brothers in the Isley Brothers Quartet, was killed yesterday when he was thrown from his bicycle and landed head first against the steel bed of a truck at 4923 Cooper Rd., Blue Ash. On his way to school, the boy was pedaling on a gravel path beside the road when his bike hit an obstruction and went out of control. Hurled against the truck, the boy suffered a broken neck.
[...]
Member of a widely known entertainment group, Vernon sang tenor in the quartet that was trained and accompanied by his mother, Sallye Isley. Other members of the quartet were Ronald, 13, singing leader; Rudolph, 15, baritone, and O'Kelly Isley Jr., 16, bass. The three older brothers attend Sycamore High School."
In early 195812 Ronald, Rudolph & O'Kelly re-located to New York City and started their career as recording artists.
JIMI ARRIVES IN NEW YORK CITY
The first problem when trying to determine exactly when Jimi joined the Isley Brothers is trying to pin-point when he arrived in New York City. The two events are closely connected: both Ronald Isley and Jimi himself have stated that he joined the band shortly after moving to NYC.
There's a lot of speculation and theories ahead - as usual I'm including some of these here in the hope that someone will be able to provide more information and missing pieces... so please, if you spot an error, omission or questionable reasoning please do let me know at
Jimi, in a taped interview with Klas Burling Stockholm 25 May 1967:
"So I start travel around, I went to New York and won first place in the Apollo amateur contest, you know, 25 $. I stayed up there, starved to death about 2 or 3 weeks, then I got - Isley Brothers asks - you know Isley Brothers? The one with "Twist And Shout" asked if I'd like to, uh, you know play with them so I played with them for awhile."
Ronald Isley told a very similar story about meeting Jimi in the liner notes for the Isley Bros album In The Beginning:
"We were at the Palms Cafe, close to the Apollo, talking to a friend of ours, Tony Rice. He used to work with Joe Tex. I told him we were looking for a guitar player and he started telling me about this guy who had just come in on the bus from his home town. l think it was Seattle-yeah-and he was living at the Hotel Theresa."
So, according to Jimi he had been in New York City for "about 2 or 3 weeks" and according to Ronald Isley Jimi "had just come in on the bus".
To my knowledge the first even remotely confirmed date that we have for Jimi in New York City is based on a booking that Sam Cooke had at the Apollo. Faye Pridgon 2 told the story of taking Jimi to meet Sam at the Apollo on several occasions.6 This is the only booking that Sam Cooke had at the Apollo in 1963 - 1964, so the backstage meeting must have taken place in November 1963:
Friday 22 November 1963 - Thursday 28 November 1963
Apollo Theatre, 125th Street near 8th Avenue, New York City, New York
Fri, Nov 22, 1963 – 448 · Daily News (New York, New York) · Newspapers.com
According to Faye she took Jimi to see Sam the first night that they met but we have no idea how much time Jimi had spent in NYC by then. For now I'll estimate that Jimi may have arrived in NYC circa November 1963, hopefully a more specific / accurate date will emerge in the future.
A November 1963 (or earlier) arrival date however clashes badly with what both Jimi himself said about joining the Isley Brothers, "starved to death about 2 or 3 weeks", and what Ronald Isley said, namely "That was in March or April of 1964". There is a gap of circa 3-4 months between November 1963 and March or April 1964 so this does not at all match the story of Jimi joining the Isleys just a few weeks or days after his arrival in NYC...
One possible explanation may be that Jimi "arrived" in New York City more than once. Billy Cox has said that Jimi left Nashville and returned there several times, so it could be possible that Jimi wasn't yet staying in New York City permanently when he met Faye and Sam Cooke in November 1963. This however remains complete speculation on my part.
Faye talked about this time period in a film about Jimi Hendrix:
"We used to go to Palms Cafe, and er, places like Smalls and Spotlight, places around the 125th Street, in the Harlem scene you know, and er... he'd tell 'em he wanted to sit in, right, and these old fuddy-duddy, rough-dried, ain't never been's, you know, they ain't gonna give him a break so, like they just er, act like they don't even know that he's there and er... you know, he'd sit there with this kind of look on his face for a few minutes you know, and he says: "I'm gonna speak to 'em again," you know, and I'd say: "hey don't say nothing to those cats," you know, "cause it's obvious they don't want you to," you know, "play". 10
Jimi was of course very likely rejected by fellow musicians more than once but Ronald Isley might here even be describing the very same evening that Faye talked about as the story is very similar:
"Tony said Jimi had sat in with the Palms band one night and had killed everybody, so we made a date to meet him and hear him. Tony said, 'He's shy.' "The night we met, Tony went up to the bandstand and asked if Jimi could sit in, but the guys in the band didn't want to let him on. So I went up and asked them and they said, "No, he plays too loud' and so forth and I knew it was jealousy. You know, musicians get jealous sometimes."
JANUARY 1964 STUDIO SESSION
Let's have a closer look at the date given by Ronald Isley for when Jimi joined the Isley Brothers, March / April 1964. The date is highly unlikely to be completely accurate.
First there is a January 1964 Isley Brothers recording session to sort through, the liner notes of the Isley Brothers album The Complete UA Sessions state that:
"Jimi Hendrix joined the band in early 1964 and is probably featured on a number of these recordings (most notably the previously unissued instrumental workouts, "The Basement" and "Conch")."
The time frame does loosely fit but it's very hard for me to hear any guitar parts on these tracks that would clearly sound like Hendrix. And as the liner notes say "probably" this seems to have been a guess made by the people compiling the album and not something backed up by the master tapes and / or tape logs.
Also, as far as I know, none of the Isley Brothers themselves have claimed that Jimi is on these tracks (though with 60+ years of interviews with various Isleys that one can go through I might be wrong).
On the contrary, Ronald Isley has actually indirectly stated that Jimi wasn't on the UA session. Again a quote from the In The Beginning -liner notes:
"We made a deal with Atlantic Records to distribute our label, T-Neck. I think we were one of the very few groups who had their own label at the time. Jimi walked into the studio-he'd never been in one before-and said, 'Oh, is this how you make records?' We cut 'Testify' on four tracks.
Regardless of whether recording "Testify" actually was Jimi's first studio session (there may have been an earlier one with the Bonnevilles in 1963, the date of which is however unconfirmed, see the Timeline) what Ronald makes clear here is that the Isley Brothers had not recorded with Jimi before they cut "Testify".
The "Testify" -session may have taken place circa March 1964 (see Recordings With Jimi Hendrix) after the association with United Artists had ended so if it indeed was Jimi's first Isleys recording session then it rules out him playing guitar on the January 1964 session. And if Jimi wasn't playing on the January 1964 tracks he most likely hadn't joined the band yet...
But one has to add that this argument is not watertight. Firstly, there is no confirmed date for the "Testify" recording session. Secondly, the Isley Brothers self-financed the recording and released "Testify" on their own label. So they may well have still been under contract to UA when the recording was made. I do not think that's likely but the possibility has to be considered as such a situation could cause dates to be made up and moved around for legal reasons.
Tuesday 14 January 1964
Bell Sound Studios, New York City, New York
The session was produced by Bert Berns, tracks include:
My Little Girl, My Little Girl (Version 2), Open Up Her Eyes, Love Is A Wonderful Thing, Footprints In The Snow, Who`s That Lady, The Basement, Conch. 5
It sounds to me like the same guitar player playing on all of these tracks, and the recordings in general sound like they do all originate from one session. I can't hear any guitar playing on them that would sound like Hendrix with the possible exception of some parts of "Love Is A Wonderful Thing" - which may mainly be down to some of the guitar parts being a bit similar to those on "Testify". It is of course possible that if Jimi had just recently joined the band he may have been "holding back" on his playing - but as reported by many contemporaries Jimi was not very successful in "holding back" in the early days.
If you are interested in making up your own mind I'd suggest listening to the guitar solo in "Footprints In The Snow" and the two instrumentals "The Basement" and "Conch". None of the playing sounds anything like Jimi to my ears, and these would have been the moments for him to "do his thing". The complete 1991 album which compiled all (?) of the songs from the UA sessions is available on YouTube Music
But I can't say that I'm 100% certain that Jimi is not in there just by listening to the tracks. I am not a guitar player myself and if there was a gap of several months months between the UA session and the recording of "Testify" then Jimi might have made a lot of progress in between and gained more confidence. Plus we do not have any audio of Jimi that would predate "Testify", we do not actually have any idea what his playing sounded like in 1962-1963. So I'm keeping an open mind even though currently I do not believe that Jimi plays on these January 1964 recordings. I can't hear anything here that would have impressed the Isleys to the extend that they say Jimi did.
Only two tracks from these sessions were released at the time, on the Isley Brothers 45 "Who's That Lady / My Little Girl" (United Artists UA 714), USA March/April 1964.11
The single was reviewed in the Cash Box 11 April 1964 -issue:
"The Isley Brothers, who did a bang-up sales job with their original version of "Twist And Shout" a while-back, can get on the winning track with this newie-penned by the boys. This one's tabbed "My Little Girl" and it's a captivating, soul-filled opus that sports an attention-getting, undulating beat that builds with intensity. Underlid's another haunting opus that takes a Latin beat route."
Two more tracks were released more than two and a half years later in 1966 on the United Artists subsidiary label Veep. This Cash Box news item from 23 April 1966 partially explains why:
"VEEP BACK—After a release lay-off of about a year and a half, United Artists Records is re-activating the label, which will concentrate solely on R&B-type product. [..] Filling out Veep's artist roster will be the Isley Brothers and Eugene Pitt. UA's New York staff and its country-wide reps are on the look-out for R&B masters, artists and songs in order to secure a continuous flow of new product over the next 12 months."
The Isley Brothers 45 "Love Is A Wonderful Thing / Open Up Her Eyes" (Veep V 1230) USA August 1966
Cash Box 27 August 1966, side A:
"The Isley brothers have a potent, self-penned, R&B outing in this shouting, house shaking, tale of the joys of love. Loads of spin appeal for dancing pleasure."
and side B:
"Strong, soulfilled ballad."
The Record World review in the 10 September 1966 -issue was slightly more laconic:
"The brothers are responsible for music and lyrics on both sides of the disk. The sounds do them credit."
ERNIE ISLEY AND THE BEATLES
The first confirmed Jimi / Isleys -date comes from Ernie Isley:
"When the Beatles played Ed Sullivan, I was on the left side of the couch, my younger brother Marvin was on the right side of the couch and Jimi Hendrix was in the middle. Of course nobody can see the future, so we didn't know it was going to happen. But the Beatles weren't hype, they were genuine, and they were a continental change. My older brother O'Kelly said to me, “Now, I don't know what's going to happen with this new British band, but I think we'll be okay because they do 'Shout' and 'Twist and Shout' like us. And even though they have two guitar players, we have Jimi.” And when he said “We got Jimi,” I looked over and Jimi was grinning ear-to-ear at that remark." 4
This recollection by Ernie was recorded in 2018, more than 50 years after the fact, but 1964 he was a young boy and the Beatles on Ed Sullivan is one of those occasions that everyone remembers so I do believe his memories of watching the broadcast with Jimi to be largely accurate.
In the 2017 clip below Ronald and Ernie talk about meeting Jimi Hendrix:
Ernie specifically states in the video (at 2.53) that the Beatles played on Ed Sullivan "for the first time" and that sitting on the couch at his mother's home (where Jimi was staying) watching the broadcast were himself, Jimi and Marvin Isley. Ernie also adds that the comments by O'Kelly about the Beatles and Jimi were made "two or three days after that" during "a meeting with the whole band".
The Beatles' first Ed Sullivan appearance and debut American TV appearance:
Sunday 9 February 1964
"The Ed Sullivan Show", CBS TV Studio 50, New York City, New York
On this day the band first tapes a show that will be broadcast later, on 23 February 1964. This is followed by a live broadcast at 8 p.m. which includes the Beatles performing "All My Loving", "Till There Was You", "She Loves You", "I Saw Her Standing There" & "I Want To Hold Your Hand".
So, Ernie, Marvin and Jimi watching the broadcast together means that Jimi was already playing with the Isleys in early February 1964.
For completeness sake here are the next two Ed Sullivan appearances by the Beatles:
Sunday 16 February 1964
"The Ed Sullivan Show", the Deauville Hotel, Miami, Florida
The second Ed Sullivan Show appearance by the Beatles is broadcast live from Miami at 8:00 P.M. The band performs "She Loves You", "This Boy", "All My Loving", "I Saw Her Standing There", "From Me To You" & "I Want To Hold Your Hand".
Sunday 23 February 1964
"The Ed Sullivan Show", CBS TV Studio 50, New York City, New York
The third Ed Sullivan Show appearance by the Beatles, 8:00 P.M. The Beatles segment had been taped on the 9th of February. The band performs "Twist & Shout", "Please Please Me" and "I Want Hold Your Hand".
So, even if Ernie's recollection were incorrect and he would actually have seen one of the other Ed Sullivan broadcasts with Jimi it would still have been in February 1964. Which one could use as evidence that Jimi could have been the guitar player on the January 1964 session as the two occasions were just a couple of weeks apart. But my current opinion is that it's more likely that whoever played on the January 1964 session was Jimi's forerunner, quit the band shortly after and was replaced by Jimi.
If Jimi arrived in NYC circa November 1963 then his recollection of joining the Isley Brothers after he "starved to death about 2 or 3 weeks" would still be incorrect, there would have been some three months between the start of November 1963 and the end of January 1964. But this is in my opinion within the margin off error when it comes to Jimi's recollections of events. When interviewed by Gus Gossert in October 1968 at the Winterland Arena in San Francisco Jimi said: "Yeah, I came out here before, yeah. I played here at the Fillmore with Ike and Tina and Little Richard about 4 or 5 years ago." The Little Richard gig Jimi is referring to took place 21 February 1965 so roughly three and a half years before the interview, not 4 or 5 years like Jimi estimated.
Whatever actually happened I think it is clear that Ronald Isley was a few months off with his "March or April of 1964" estimate. For now my opinion is that Jimi joined the Isley Brothers in late January / early February 1964, sometime after the 14 January recording session but before the 9 February Ed Sullivan broadcast.
Some idea of the effect of the Beatles and the Ed Sullivan broadcasts on the careers of both the Isley Brothers and Jimi Hendrix can be gotten from this Cash Box review of a then new US Beatles single, "Twist And Shout", published in the 7 March 1964 -issue:
"The group that turned the industry upside down should quickly continue their fantastic ways with this single on Tollie, the new VeeJay label. It's the Isley Bros. smash oldie, "Twist And Shout" (culled from the crews's "Introducing The Beatles" VeeJay LP) that they belt out in exciting fashion. Tune, performed on the recent Ed Sullivan TV'er, is already busting wide open."
Jimi himself later recorded a live version of "Twist And Shout" in 1965 / 1966, see the Curtis Knight Live Recordings.
THE GIGS
And again over to Ronald Isley:
"First gig he played with us was in Canada. He was crazy about places he'd never been to before. It was on that gig that - well, we'd have so much fun playing with him - I'd sing like his guitar (demonstrates) and then he'd play it back at me! Then we went to Bermuda. We played in a baseball stadium. We'd been advertised for months, so the place was filled and those who couldn't get seats were standing on hills overlooking the stadium. It was us and local talent. Our band backed the other acts." 3
Ronald's recollections about the gigs that the band played with Jimi are a perfect match with the known dates and the timeline:
Monday 20 April 1964 with the Isley Brothers
217 Club, 217 Laurier Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada 7
Saturday 23 May 1964 with the Isley Brothers
Bermuda Tennis Stadium, Hamilton, Bermuda
Complete line-up: The Golden Tones, The Calypso Trio, Tiny Ratteray, Clement Joel, Violetta Carmichael, Big Daddy Gates and Speedy Ming.
See the Isley Brothers Live Dates -page for more information. 8
THE ROYAL GAZETTE 22 MAY 1964
MOVIE NIGHT
Finally, there are two very nice b & w films available on YouTube. These must have been shot for use as stock / news footage, they show scenes shot around New York City in February 1964 9 so from right around the time relevant to this page. There is not much happening in the film but you get a glimpse of many familiar locations, "highlights" listed below.
8.03 - 8.18 WLIB
at 125th Street and 7th Avenue (now called Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard)
WLIB was home for both Jack Walker, "The Pear Shaped Talker" (see the Atlantic party at the Prelude) and Douglas "Jocko" Henderson (see Jayne Mansfield)
8.18 - 8.25 Hotel Theresa
7th Avenue (now called Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard), 124th to 125th Street
WLIB was actually housed in the Hotel Theresa -building which still exists today. According to Ronald Isley Jimi was staying at Hotel Theresa when the Isleys found him. Jimi certainly did stay at the hotel in 1965 when he send a postcard to his father and gave his address as "Theresa Hotel 2090 Rm 416 7th Av NY"
9.31 - 9.56 Big Wilt's Smalls Paradise
at 135th Street and 7th Avenue (now called Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard)
The building still exists today. King Curtis recorded a live album at Big Wilt's Smalls Paradise in 1966, Jimi jammed there with Lonnie Youngblood in 1969. Jimi must have visited Smalls Paradise many times in 1963-1966, we just don't have any known dates.
8.30 - 8.38 Frank's Restaurant
315 West 125th Street
This is where Jimi held a press conference for the United Block Association in 1969. The building still exists.
9.10 - 9.55 Apollo
125th Street near 8th Avenue
The film shows the Apollo marquee advertising Gloria Lynne and the Jimmy Smith Trio who were booked for 7 February - 13 February 1964. Jimi played at the Apollo with the Isley Brothers in June 1964.
10.24 - Palm Cafe
209 West 125th Street
An advertisement for "Rudy Williams and his Rocking Combo" can be seen in the window of the cafe. This probably isn't the band that wouldn't let Jimi sit in but it does tell us that Palm Cafe had live music. Faye did not specify where Jimi's unsuccessful attempt to jam with the house band took place but it might very well have been at the Palm Cafe. I think it's much more likely that Jimi would have tried to sit in here than for example at Small's Paradise. In any case this is where Jimi tried to audition for the Isley Brothers. The building still exists.
12.07 - 12.34 Harlem - 125th Street
This is a New York City Subway station that was probably closest to the Apollo and The Prelude. In the film you can see a New Haven Line -train arriving and the "125th Street" -sign of the station. The station is still there at the exact same spot.
SOURCES
1 Vernon Isley's date of death is routinely given as 1955 by all available sources. This is clearly incorrect as there were many contemporary news reports about his passing leaving no doubt that he died on the 24th of September in 1954. Even the official Isley Brothers website says he was 13 at the time of the accident which is not correct as the "Card Of Thanks" from the family published in The Cincinnati Enquirer Sunday 10 October 1954 issue states "age 11, who passed away September 24, 1954."
I haven't, however, been able to confirm his date of birth from any reliable source. It's usually given as 1942 which may be correct since Vernon was 11 years old at the time of his death in 1954.
2 over the years many variations of her name have been used: Litho-Faye Pridgon, Faye Pridgon, Lithofayne Pridgon, Fayne Pridgon etc. Experience Hendrix uses Lithofayne "Faye" Pridgon, since they had direct contact with Faye I am assuming that this is the correct "official" spelling of her name and that "Faye Pridgon" is what she used in everyday life.
3 lp The Isley Brothers & Jimi Hendrix - In The Beginning (T Neck TNS 3007) USA 1971
4 Ernie Isley interview published by Ultimate Classic Rock 31 January 2018 https://ultimateclassicrock.com/ernie-isley-interview-2018/
5 The session information comes from the Isley Brothers CD The Complete UA Sessions (EMI CD GOLD 1024 / 7243 8 38371 2 0) UK 1996. I have not found any clear errors in the 14 January 1964 session information but the information for the tracks recorded at two 1963 studio dates which make up the rest of the album may not be entirely correct. The booklet lists the dates and tracks as follows:
15 August 1963
Bell Sound Studios, New York City, New York
Produced by Bert Berns, tracks include:
Surf And Shout, Please, Please, Please, Tango, What'cha Gonna Do, Stagger Lee, You'll Never Leave Him, Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go, She's Gone, Shake It With Me Baby, Long Tall Sally, Do The Twist
16 August 1963
Bell Sound Studios, New York City, New York
Produced by Bert Berns, tracks include:
She's The One
The first thing that one notices here is that the session on the 16th apparently produced only 1 track whereas the previous day the band recorded 11. This seems completely out of proportion - could it be possible that someone has made a typo or misread someone else's writing? "15" and "16" would be easy to confuse with another. Were the tracks actually more evenly spread over the two dates or was there in fact just one day of recording and the "16" in the liner notes is a typo and should be "15"? Or was someone just being extremely accurate and that one track was recorded after midnight... ?
An even harder to explain problem with these sessions is this acetate single of "Tango":
https://www.popsike.com/Northern-Soul-The-Isley-Brothers-Tango-Bell-Sound-Acetate/283747182776.html
According to the seller who sold the disc on UK eBay 24 January 2020 the take on the single is the same one as officially released. Provided that that's correct and that the acetate is authentic then there is a problem with the dates: the acetate label has "5/13/63" typed on it. It would have been impossible to cut an acetate of "Tango" on 13 May 1963 if the song was only recorded 15 August 1963. So once again the available information does not add up.
This of course also casts some doubt on the accuracy of the 14 January 1964 session information but so far I haven't found anything that would directly put the date and track list in doubt. So for now I'm assuming that the information is correct (but with some reservations...)
Another acetate with tracks from the August session exists with "Surf And Shout" and "What'cha Gonna Do":
https://www.popsike.com/rare-Soul-Acetate-45-ISLEY-BROTHERS-surf-and-shout-Hear/350864242327.html
This one is dated "8-19-63" on the label (Popsike actually has two different copies) which fits nicely with the CD liner note info. These "Surf And Shout" -acetates use a different way of noting the date compared to "Tango" and have been typed on different machines so they are unlikely to have been made at the same time or by the same person.
6 a Faye Pridgon interview / story was published in the September 1982 issue of Gallery, a transcript can be found here: http://www.theisleofhendrix.gobot.com/about.html
Faye was also interviewed by Peter Guralnick for the book Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke.
7 the address of the club is confirmed by a bankruptcy declaration for John Nelson published in the 13 March 1965 issue of the Montreal Star
8 As with everything else on this page there is something to slightly muddy the waters here as well: the Isley Brothers also had a booking at the Esquire Show Bar in Montreal, Canada from Monday 21 October to Sunday 3 November 1963. Ronald Isley said "First gig he played with us was in Canada. [...] Then we went to Bermuda". If by the gig in Canada he would have meant the October 1963 gigs then there would have been a 7 month gap between those and the gig in Bermuda 23 May 1964. Which would have been a very long period of time to cover with "then we went". And between those two gigs the Isley Brothers played several concerts around the USA, we have no pictures or other documentation of Jimi participating in any of these until the 20 April 1964 gig in Montreal. The first known pictures of Jimi on stage with the Isley Brothers are from Montreal 1964 - which fits in perfectly with Ronald's "First gig he played with us was in Canada" -statement.
9 probably filmed 11 February 1964 based on newspaper headlines. The film was for sure done in February 1964 as the Apollo marquee advertises Gloria Lynne and the Jimmy Smith Trio who were booked for 7 February - 13 February 1964. It would be easy to get an exact date for the film with access to Amsterdam News as full newspaper headlines are shown in part 2 of the video at circa 7.45.
10 interview with Faye from a film about Jimi Hendrix (1973), on my DVD copy the interview starts at 18.34. Faye and Ronald both talk about "Palms" but the actual name of the cafe was "Palm Cafe". Similarly, "Smalls" if often spelled "Small's" but there was no apostrophe in the name on the marquee, "Big Wilt's Smalls Paradise". Both marquees can be seen in the videos embedded on this page.
11 none of the United Artists releases of this 45 seem to have the sides labelled as "A" or "B". Based on the matrix numbers on the single "Who's That Lady" was the A side. Cash Box and Music Vendor (aka Record World 11 April 1964) however both though that "My Little Girl" was the A side.
12 the "early 1958" -date comes from the 1964 UK tour program biography