C.O.D.A., CODA, Cincinnati Oldies &
DooWop Association, Oldies &
DooWop, Cincinnati Oldies & DooWop
DooWop Association, Oldies &
DooWop, Cincinnati Oldies & DooWop
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The History of CODA
THE ROOTS OF CODA by John Volz (Written April, 2004)
A young couple came up to me last week and said they heard that I was instrumental in
helping to start CODA. They were contemplating joining the club. Their parents had
apparently loved the “Oldies” and they were raised listening to this kind of music. They had
a very nostalgic feeling when they happened to stop by last Sunday at Jim & Jack’s and
heard us singing acappella. They had also said they had never heard acappella “doowop”
live and in person. They felt so good afterward that they just had to come back. The odd
thing was they were in their early twenties and the age for most CODA members is from
mid forties to early sixties. We do have one family that are members and the youngest is
17 and the oldest, her grandmother, is 83, but that is a rarity. They probably were
influenced by relatives that were already club members. This young couple just came out of
nowhere and wanted some information about CODA, how it was started and what were the
goals of the club. I explained that CODA is an acronym for Cincinnati Oldies & Doowop
Association. It took about a half hour to answer their questions. When I explained to them
that most of the core members have been friends for forty to fifty years, they were amazed,
and wanted to know everything about CODA. So I began at the very beginning, the mid
1950’s.
Most of us were fortunate to be young teenagers in an area called “Downtown”. That was a
very broad term but that’s what everyone called it and we were very proud to be from that
neighborhood. Today that area is referred to as Over the Rhine, the Main Street district,
Liberty Hill, the Pendleton district, and Inwood Park. Those of us from the Over the Rhine
referred to anything above McMicken as upper Vine. In those days it was a hard working,
blue collar community that was bounded by Central Parkway on the south and west, as the
Parkway turns sharply northward, by McMillian on the north and Reading Road on the east.
One of our pastimes was either singing or listening to groups sing on the corner, an activity
that in Cincinnati was indigenous to “Downtown”. In the evening we would sing under the
street lamps on our favorite corner and at times there would be forty to fifty people standing
around listening and dancing. Every couple of blocks had their own singing groups and
loyal fans. Periodically, the singing groups would compete against each other. While most
of the city was listening to one kind of music, we were singing something else. In those
days it was referred to as “race music” or black rhythm and blues. We were singing songs
by the Flamingos, Moonglows, Spaniels, Teenagers, the Diablos, Clovers, Harptones, the
Eldorados and on and on. We were white kids singing black oriented music. We were also
singing what is now termed “doo wop”.
This term “doowop” was coined the early to mid ‘80s. In Cincinnati, “doo wop” started in
and around Washington Park. The teens in that area were influenced by local black groups
such as the Students, Luther Bond and the Emeralds and the Isley Brothers. Soon four and
five piece singing groups were springing up all over downtown. In Over the Rhine there
were vocal groups like Mac Brown and the Legends, the Capris, that later became the
Casinos, they Styles, the Visions and the Fashions. In the Main Street district, we had the
Essex, the Del Rios and the Gladiators that sang in Ziegler Park, which is across the street
from what is now The School for Creative and Performing Arts. On Liberty Hill around
Milton Street were the Globes, the Del Tones, and the Notations. If you have the
Notations’ record and it is in mint condition, it is worth about $800. Later on in the 60’s,
Inwood Park had a female group called the Teardrops that had a lot of success. These are
all groups that performed on stage. For every group that did appear in clubs there were
probably half a dozen groups that didn’t get beyond practicing in someone’s living room,
basement, or the street corner. As we began our own families, we moved away from the
old neighborhood. A lot of the guys became lead singers for their own bands, and as the
music changed, so did the style of the bands. Now after all these years, we’re all back to
singing the songs we started with. I can’t begin to calculate how many bands in Cincinnati
can be traced back to those singing groups of the mid to later 50’s. There is a song called
“Looking for an Echo” that says, “We were singing oldies, but they were ‘newies’ then and
today when I play my old 45’s I remember when …”.
In 1986, John Javna wrote in the Doowop Songbook, “Singing is one of the nicest things in
life that you can do with people. If you’ve ever harmonized you know the magic feeling
when you hear your voice mix with someone else’s. You also know how much fun it is just
to try.” That says a lot about CODA. What is extraordinary is that many of those singers
are still performing for CODA, a club that was formed in February, 2002 by a couple dozen
long time friends, but the roots go back much father than that. CODA began in a small
watering hole in Camp Washington called the Taft Field Tavern. But, the T.F.T. only seats
about 40 people so we have relocated to a larger gathering place, Jim & Jack’s on River
Road, a club that seats about 300. We are a non-profit organization created to promote,
preserve, perform and play the music of our youth. It’s great to see young people
interested in helping us to achieve that goal.
In March’04, we had a best of Cincinnati Oldies groups’ night at Jim & Jack’s called “The
Big Show”. It was so successful, that we did it again in May. On the third Sunday of every
month we have our doowops at Jim & Jack’s from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The CODA Sunday in
May we had a teenage choral group, MACxima, who performed doowop for us. In addition
to our dances, our picnics and doowop socials, CODA is fulfilling another goal. In August’
04, a nationally famous group appeared in Cincinnati. CODA hosted The Skyliners of
“Since I Don’t Have You”, and “This I Swear” fame.
A lot of things can be accomplished by friendship, persistence and working together, even if
it does take 40 or 50 years. Today CODA has well over 200 members from Greater
Cincinnati. We also have members from as far away as San Francisco, CA, Grants, NM,
Pittsburgh, PA, Bloomington, IN, Morehead and Louisville, KY and we are growing every
month. Maybe someday one of those two young people will be a board member or an
officer of CODA and perhaps one day they will talk about how they joined the club 40 years
ago.
CODA HALL OF FAME by Rudy Tassini
One day I was thinking about the Group Harmony Hall of Fame in Sharron, Pennsylvania, a
town just north of Pittsburgh, my hometown. I knew about the many groups and individual
artists from Pittsburgh like the Marcels, Del-Vikings, and the Skyliners that have been
honored in Sharron. I realized that nothing has ever been done for the great groups and
individual artists from Cincinnati. I really didn’t know the groups from Cincinnati that well, so
I needed some help. I brought my idea of starting a hall of fame here to the Coda board of
directors. This was three years ago. We talked about it and everyone though it was a great
idea. We voted on it and it passed and the Coda Hall of Fame became a reality. I needed
some help so we formed a committee to select our first group. I went to people like John
Volz, Bernie Vaske, and Carlos Campbell for ideas on the history of groups and individual
artists of doowop from the 50’s and 60’s who made Cincinnati famous. Some of the
criteria were that they had to have a hit record and we would honor the groups in
chronological order.
The first inductee into the CODA Hall of Fame was Otis Williams and the Charms in July,
2005. Luther Bond and the Emeralds were inducted in April, 2006. The Students (Ralph
Byrd, Roy Ford, Richard Johnson, Wilbur Longmeier and Dorsey Porter) were inducted in
at the Flamingos concerts in October, 2006. We will try to keep this going until all our great
groups are all honored.
THE ROOTS OF CODA by John Volz (Written April, 2004)
A young couple came up to me last week and said they heard that I was instrumental in
helping to start CODA. They were contemplating joining the club. Their parents had
apparently loved the “Oldies” and they were raised listening to this kind of music. They had
a very nostalgic feeling when they happened to stop by last Sunday at Jim & Jack’s and
heard us singing acappella. They had also said they had never heard acappella “doowop”
live and in person. They felt so good afterward that they just had to come back. The odd
thing was they were in their early twenties and the age for most CODA members is from
mid forties to early sixties. We do have one family that are members and the youngest is
17 and the oldest, her grandmother, is 83, but that is a rarity. They probably were
influenced by relatives that were already club members. This young couple just came out of
nowhere and wanted some information about CODA, how it was started and what were the
goals of the club. I explained that CODA is an acronym for Cincinnati Oldies & Doowop
Association. It took about a half hour to answer their questions. When I explained to them
that most of the core members have been friends for forty to fifty years, they were amazed,
and wanted to know everything about CODA. So I began at the very beginning, the mid
1950’s.
Most of us were fortunate to be young teenagers in an area called “Downtown”. That was a
very broad term but that’s what everyone called it and we were very proud to be from that
neighborhood. Today that area is referred to as Over the Rhine, the Main Street district,
Liberty Hill, the Pendleton district, and Inwood Park. Those of us from the Over the Rhine
referred to anything above McMicken as upper Vine. In those days it was a hard working,
blue collar community that was bounded by Central Parkway on the south and west, as the
Parkway turns sharply northward, by McMillian on the north and Reading Road on the east.
One of our pastimes was either singing or listening to groups sing on the corner, an activity
that in Cincinnati was indigenous to “Downtown”. In the evening we would sing under the
street lamps on our favorite corner and at times there would be forty to fifty people standing
around listening and dancing. Every couple of blocks had their own singing groups and
loyal fans. Periodically, the singing groups would compete against each other. While most
of the city was listening to one kind of music, we were singing something else. In those
days it was referred to as “race music” or black rhythm and blues. We were singing songs
by the Flamingos, Moonglows, Spaniels, Teenagers, the Diablos, Clovers, Harptones, the
Eldorados and on and on. We were white kids singing black oriented music. We were also
singing what is now termed “doo wop”.
This term “doowop” was coined the early to mid ‘80s. In Cincinnati, “doo wop” started in
and around Washington Park. The teens in that area were influenced by local black groups
such as the Students, Luther Bond and the Emeralds and the Isley Brothers. Soon four and
five piece singing groups were springing up all over downtown. In Over the Rhine there
were vocal groups like Mac Brown and the Legends, the Capris, that later became the
Casinos, they Styles, the Visions and the Fashions. In the Main Street district, we had the
Essex, the Del Rios and the Gladiators that sang in Ziegler Park, which is across the street
from what is now The School for Creative and Performing Arts. On Liberty Hill around
Milton Street were the Globes, the Del Tones, and the Notations. If you have the
Notations’ record and it is in mint condition, it is worth about $800. Later on in the 60’s,
Inwood Park had a female group called the Teardrops that had a lot of success. These are
all groups that performed on stage. For every group that did appear in clubs there were
probably half a dozen groups that didn’t get beyond practicing in someone’s living room,
basement, or the street corner. As we began our own families, we moved away from the
old neighborhood. A lot of the guys became lead singers for their own bands, and as the
music changed, so did the style of the bands. Now after all these years, we’re all back to
singing the songs we started with. I can’t begin to calculate how many bands in Cincinnati
can be traced back to those singing groups of the mid to later 50’s. There is a song called
“Looking for an Echo” that says, “We were singing oldies, but they were ‘newies’ then and
today when I play my old 45’s I remember when …”.
In 1986, John Javna wrote in the Doowop Songbook, “Singing is one of the nicest things in
life that you can do with people. If you’ve ever harmonized you know the magic feeling
when you hear your voice mix with someone else’s. You also know how much fun it is just
to try.” That says a lot about CODA. What is extraordinary is that many of those singers
are still performing for CODA, a club that was formed in February, 2002 by a couple dozen
long time friends, but the roots go back much father than that. CODA began in a small
watering hole in Camp Washington called the Taft Field Tavern. But, the T.F.T. only seats
about 40 people so we have relocated to a larger gathering place, Jim & Jack’s on River
Road, a club that seats about 300. We are a non-profit organization created to promote,
preserve, perform and play the music of our youth. It’s great to see young people
interested in helping us to achieve that goal.
In March’04, we had a best of Cincinnati Oldies groups’ night at Jim & Jack’s called “The
Big Show”. It was so successful, that we did it again in May. On the third Sunday of every
month we have our doowops at Jim & Jack’s from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The CODA Sunday in
May we had a teenage choral group, MACxima, who performed doowop for us. In addition
to our dances, our picnics and doowop socials, CODA is fulfilling another goal. In August’
04, a nationally famous group appeared in Cincinnati. CODA hosted The Skyliners of
“Since I Don’t Have You”, and “This I Swear” fame.
A lot of things can be accomplished by friendship, persistence and working together, even if
it does take 40 or 50 years. Today CODA has well over 200 members from Greater
Cincinnati. We also have members from as far away as San Francisco, CA, Grants, NM,
Pittsburgh, PA, Bloomington, IN, Morehead and Louisville, KY and we are growing every
month. Maybe someday one of those two young people will be a board member or an
officer of CODA and perhaps one day they will talk about how they joined the club 40 years
ago.
CODA HALL OF FAME by Rudy Tassini
One day I was thinking about the Group Harmony Hall of Fame in Sharron, Pennsylvania, a
town just north of Pittsburgh, my hometown. I knew about the many groups and individual
artists from Pittsburgh like the Marcels, Del-Vikings, and the Skyliners that have been
honored in Sharron. I realized that nothing has ever been done for the great groups and
individual artists from Cincinnati. I really didn’t know the groups from Cincinnati that well, so
I needed some help. I brought my idea of starting a hall of fame here to the Coda board of
directors. This was three years ago. We talked about it and everyone though it was a great
idea. We voted on it and it passed and the Coda Hall of Fame became a reality. I needed
some help so we formed a committee to select our first group. I went to people like John
Volz, Bernie Vaske, and Carlos Campbell for ideas on the history of groups and individual
artists of doowop from the 50’s and 60’s who made Cincinnati famous. Some of the
criteria were that they had to have a hit record and we would honor the groups in
chronological order.
The first inductee into the CODA Hall of Fame was Otis Williams and the Charms in July,
2005. Luther Bond and the Emeralds were inducted in April, 2006. The Students (Ralph
Byrd, Roy Ford, Richard Johnson, Wilbur Longmeier and Dorsey Porter) were inducted in
at the Flamingos concerts in October, 2006. We will try to keep this going until all our great
groups are all honored.
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