1948
IT'S TOO SOON TO KNOW * THE ORIOLES * NATURAL 5000 * USA
I fell in love with this recording when I first heard it on the album Volume 1 The Roots 1947 -52 of the History Of Rhythm & Blues series released by Atlantic in 1968. The sleeve notes by Jonny Meadow introduced many an embryonic British R&B fan to the knowledge that there was this phenomenon known as the big 'bird' groups, and wrote about the above track: "Among the most famous of American birds is the Baltimore Oriole. In 1948, a young woman from Baltimore named Deborah Chessler wrote a song entitled, It's Too Soon To Know. She took a local group called the Vibranaires and renamed them The Orioles. she rehearsed the group with her song and brought them to New York. Ex-band leader Jerry Blain recorded them for his (It's A) Natural label". It would seem that the It's A Natural label might have belonged to Sid Demay, but the record was reissued on Jerry Blaine and Herb Abramson's Jubilee label, with the same catalogue number, as the first of their secular releases, from where it became a national Rhythm & Blues hit. Dinah Washington rushed out a sublime cover and the song went on to became a 'standard and has been covered by generations of ballad singers.