Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band

Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band was a big band/swing/disco band, formed in Brooklyn New York. Their biggest hit was "Whispering" / "Cherchez La Femme" / "C'est Si Bon," which hit number twenty-seven on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1977. They topped the Hot Dance Club Play chart with "Cherchez La Femme" / "Sour and Sweet" / "I'll Play the Fool."

The band released three albums between 1976 and 1979. The self titled debut, "Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Meets King Pennett", and "Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Goes to Washington". The debut album was the only one to garner some commercial success, while the latter two albums have found a cult following in the following decades. In 1984 a smaller band lineup, known as "Dr Buzzard's Savannah Band" (omitting the word "original") released a new album, "Calling All Beatniks".

Band members Thomas "August Darnell" Browder and Andy Hernandez later formed Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Cory Daye provided the lead female voice in the group. Daye also had some later chart success as a solo act, with the album, Cory & Me, and the singles "Pow Wow" and "Green Light."

Their 1976 song "Sunshower" recorded with Daye, has been sampled by a number of contemporary artists, including A Tribe Called Quest, M.I.A., Ghostface Killah, De La Soul, and Doug E. Fresh. It was also remixed by Japanese recording artist, Fantastic Plastic Machine. The song was also featured in the film Boyz 'N The Hood. The song "Cherchez La Femme" was covered by Ghostface Killah in 2000, as "Cherchez La Ghost" on his Supreme Clientele album.

Discography

Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band (1976)

RCA Victor

Side A

1. I'll Play the Fool
2. Hard Times
3. Cherchez la Femme / Se Si Bon
4. Sunshower

Side B

1. We Got It Made
2. You Got Somethin' / Betcha the Love Bug Bitcha
3. Sour and Sweet / Lemon in the Honey

Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Meets King Penett (1978)

RCA Victor

Side A

1. Mister Love
2. Nocturnal Interludes
3. The Gigolo and I
4. I'll Always Have a Smile for You

Side B

1. Transistor Madness/Future D.J.
2. An Organ Grinder's Tale
3. Soraya/March of the Nignies
4. Auf Wiedershen, Darrio

Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Goes to Washington (1979)

Elektra

Side A

1. Didn't I Love You Girl?
2. Call Me
3. New York at Dawn
4. R.S.V.P. (Réspondez S'Il Vous Plait)

Side B

1. The Seven Year Itch
2. Once There Was a Coloured Girl...
3. Italiano

Calling All Beatniks! (1984)

by Dr. Buzzard's Savannah Band

Passport Records

Side A

1. Do That Girl (3:32)
2. Forever (4:35)
3. Lucky Day (4:27)
4. Christmas In N.Y. (4:09)

Side B

1. Missing On Highway 33 (3:58)
2. The Ballad Of Bobby (4:11)
3. Bass Bottle Baby (4:03)
4. Pretty Baby (4:34)

The Very Best of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band (1996)

RCA (Compilation)

1. I'll Play the Fool
2. The Gigolo and I
3. Sunshower
4. Hard Times
5. Mister Love
6. Cherchez La Femme/Se Si Bon
7. I'll Always Have a Smile for You
8. An Organ Grinder's Tale
9. You Got Something/Betcha the Love Bug Bitcha'
10. Transistor Madness/Future DJ
11. Sour and Sweet/Lemon in the Honey
12. We Got it Made/Night and Day
13. Nocturnal Interludes
14. Soraya/March of the Nighnies
15. Auf Wiedersehen, Darrio

See also

• Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band (album)
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

External links

• Savannah Band Is Waiting for You, American by Kevin McMahon
• [1]ON MYSPACE
• [2] at discomuseum.com