Hen Gates And His Gaters

Records by Hen Gates and His Gators were compiled by taking old R&B masters and repressing them for the emerging rock 'n' roll market. Close inspection of the tracks reveals they were taken from 1940's Freddie Mitchell masters from the Derby label and given new titles. The album jacket, with a photo of cruising white teenagers, describes this band but, there was never any Hen Gates and never any Gators. The Masterseal LP's have been re-released on CD with the original album photo, but now the text has the words "with Freddie Mitchell" on the cover. Mitchell's name does not appear on the original 1957 vinyl issue. This listing should not be confused with the Hen Gates who recorded piano parts with Charlie Parker for Savoy and James Moody for Blue Note. Additionally, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie used the Hen Gates alias on a Parker session.