Baltimore Shrubbers

The Baltimore Shrubbers came together in Baltimore in the early 1940s, with Jimmy Preston on saxophone, Rudy Rutherford on guitar, Jerry Wilson at the piano, William 'Peg Leg' Bates on bass, and Charles 'Chuck' Norris on drums. They were part of the local scene that mixed jazz and blues, playing for audiences who wanted something to move to.

In 1947 they recorded '7 O'Clock Jump,' a sax-driven number with a bluesy feel that caught on first around Baltimore and then further out. It became their calling card, though they put out other songs like 'Boogie Woogie Shuffle' and 'Jumpin' at the Savoy' in the years that followed. Their catalog also includes tracks like '9 Mile,' 'Afrothunder,' and 'Dream Of You.'

Like many Black bands of that period, they worked within a segregated industry and didn't break through to the national spotlight the way some of their contemporaries did. They kept playing through the late 1940s and into the early 1950s, leaving behind a handful of recordings that still turn up on R&B collections.