LOU SARGENT

SARGENT, LOU  - was Luther Steinberg, scion of a prominent music family. From the Beale Street barrelhouses to the Stax era, the Steinbergs were present. Milton Steinberg was a pianist at Pee Wee's Saloon from around 1910 until the 1950s and had four sons who became musicians (Luther, Wilbur, Morris, and Lewie) as well as a daughter, Nan, who sang with Fats Waller and various swing bands. Luther played trumpet, while Wilbur and Lewie both played bass. Their last name was honestly come by, it seems.

Luther McCallum Steinberg, Sr. ^

Either Milton of his father was the product of a union between a Beale Street pawnbroker and an African American woman, although the brothers were reportedly brought up in the Catholic faith. Luther and Wilbur led the first African American band on television in the mid-South. Either Sam Phillips or Chess Records changed Luther's name to Lou Sargent and Wilbur's to Les Mitchell.

The pseudonym Lou Sargent was coined by Chess Records for "Ridin' The   Boogie", the sole release for a band nominally fronted by trumpet-player Luther Steinberg,   but which was effectively Phineas Newborn Jr's band (whom Jackie Brenston would annex   following his split with Ike Turner). However, the Lou Sargent name has generally become   associated with Steinberg, whose brother Wilbur played the bass on the session and sung  lead on the flip-side "She Really Treats Me Wrong".

Luther Steinber and His Trumpet & His Orchestra featuring Luther (left), Lewie (2nd from left), and Wilbur (standing in front of mic boom). >

Luther later married WDIA on-air personality and black socialite Martha Jean Jones, and Left Memphis to work for Lionel Hampton, as did Morris, who later worked with B.B. King, Willie Mitchell, and other bands. Wilbur, who sings on ''She Really Treats Me Wrong'', became a bassist at Stax and Hi Records (he's reportedly on Ace Cannon's signature hit, ''Tuff'' and Rufus & Carla Thomas's ''Cause I Love You''). Lewie also became a bassist at Stax, playing on Booker T's ''Green Onion''. As the sole surviving brother, Lewie was on-hand to acknowledge the debt that Memphis music owed the Steinbergs when they were accorded a Brass Note on Beale Street's Walk of Fame in November 2010. Luther's wife, Martha Jean the Queen, became a radio legend in Detroit (her station's call-letters, WQBH, was, she said, an acronym for Queen Broadcast Here), and on the occasion of her death in February 2000, it was noted by Billboard that Luther Steinberg had died on February 15, 2004, age of 72. Both died back in Memphis. Luther and Martha Jean's daughter, Dianne Steinberg Lewis, sang back-up for Rod Stewart, Peter Frampton, and others, and has recorded quite prolifically. (CE)

Chess 1465   Lou Sargent and his Orchestra
Ridin' the boogie / She really treats me wrong (July 1951) 

  

Recorded in May 1951 at Memphis Recording Service. B-side vocals by Les Mitchell.