Obie Jessie Vocals, Kent Brinkley bass, Don Mumford drums, Peter Guidi sax, Rene van Helsdingen piano. The superlights Quintet toured Holland and Belgium during the summer of 1982 and was sponsored by Philip Morris Holland, The tour was executed with the Stage Bus also called the Jazz Bus. More information about this album and the group is available at René's website. This album was recorded and mixed on 28 and 29th of August 1982 at the Farmsound Studio, Heelsum, Holland by engineer Wil Hesen. The original album consisted of 5 songs. Songs 6 to 9 were added for this internet re-release. I Got You Under My Skin (Cole Porter) 07.38 (featuring Obie Jessie) 2 Roll Em Pete (Big Joe Turner, Pete Johnson) 03.14 (featuring Obie Jessie) 3 Mingus On My Mind (R. van Helsdingen) 06.56 4 TNT (R. van Helsdingen) 09.17 5 Without A Song (Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose, Edward Eliscu) 08.34 (featuring Obie Jessie) (rough mix - unreleased material) 6 Softly, As In A Morning Sun Rise (Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein) 08.29 7 Blues Novox (R. van Helsdingen) 08.08 8 Mingus On My Mind – Take 2 (R. van Helsdingen) 06.53 9 TNT (un-mixed) (R. van Helsdingen) 09.12 Rene van Helsdingen – Birth of the Stage Bus / 85 concerts, Holland and Belgium. On the cover and in several printed publicity materials Rene reported the following: "To promote oneself is a very risky business especially when you do not have a large organization to back you up. In the month of April 1982 I thought up the idea of the “JAZZ BUS (STAGE BUS)” and by the 4th of September the tour was over. The whole thing took just 5 months. “Tour 82”. I have always been convinced that you make an impression on the listener by doing something unusual. “Anybody can put up poster”, I thought, “but who drives around in a crazy jazz bus (the Stage Bus). So with a folder of cartoon drawings to illustrate my ideas, I went on the road. The presentation had to be funny but at the same time convincing. After the first 10 bookings things started moving fast. “Ïn the afternoon we’ll park the bus in the busiest part of town and do a 1 hour concert which will serve as a great publicity for your evening concerts”, I told the club owners. “I guarantee you a full house” The plan was completed. The band on the road with the Stage Bus giving afternoon performances in the open air, a stage of steel framework 7x3 meters was going to be constructed and welded together for the band to play on. But then things became risky as I had already made part of the bookings without taking into consideration the finances needed to put such a thing together. Welding the Stage for example, was going to cost a lot of money and it was almost time to make airline ticket reservations for the American musicians to come over to Europe. After many attempts with several different companies, one company, Philip Morris, finally took to the idea and after that other sponsors followed. By June 1982 the program for the tour was completed: 85 concerts throughout Holland and Belgium. The next angle to take care of was publicity. I quickly designed some posters and program flyers for immediate distribution. During this time we were also working on the 1963 Mercedes bus which needed to be refitted. Ten seats were put in we created storage space for sound installation, stage, folding chairs for the public, commercial signs and in the rear of the bus six beds where we could relax whilst traveling from one concert to the other. Under the bus we installed a system of racks on which we could load the foldable wooden planks that made up the floor of the stage. On the roof we welded a pole which was to serve as one of the main supports for the tent and a coat of fresh paint made the Stage Bus look like new. Three days before the tour the bus was ready and the musicians had arrived from the USA at our headquarters in central Holland to start rehearsing the music. The 30th of June the last messages were sent to everyone involved in the tour letting them know that the tour would start as planned: July 1st 1982" Vocalist Obie Jessie joined pianist Rene van Helsdingen for an 85 concert-tour through Holland and Belgium from July 1st until September 4th, 1982 Obie Jessie was born 45 years ago in Dallas Texas. For many years he has been living and working in Hollywood Los Angeles. In the fifties under the name of Young Jessie, he composed his first big hit: Mary Lou. After this, many other beautiful hit songs poured from his heart and pen. He also composed for Frank Zappa, Esther Philips, Bob Segar etc. During the tour in 1982 he performed many of his own songs of which “I am people too” never failed to get the audience singing along with the band. He impressed everybody no matter what their musicallete background, with his warm velvety sound, his suppleness and his complete command of many vocal styles. For example those outstanding vocal acrobatics which in the language of jazz are known as scat singing. With a tremendous understanding of showmanship, Obie Jessie always appeared on stage with a sharp suit and a smile.