Frank Minion was born January 3, 1929 in Baltimore. He attended that city’s schools until the Army called him to its ranks. Just for kicks he began singing with a group of fellow MPs, and rather rapidly wound up being a member of the 15th Army Band. Because of his showing great promise, the Army was responsible for his entrance to the University of Minnesota, where he was a math-major and, of course, a music student. Upon leaving school at the age of 19, he returned home, where he joined the Lou Bennett Quartet, which at the time was one of the East Coast’s finest groups. Working with Bennett proved to be an interesting and invaluable training period for him, and resulted in his first recording, for Apollo Records in 1954—a 78 rpm disk, with a bop styled reading of two well known standards: How High the Moon, and Sweet Lorraine.

In the following years he gravitated towards rhythm and blues and pop, and so in 1956 he recorded a disk with the Howard Biggs orchestra for Vik—the RCA Victor subsidiary label. It included two pop songs: Please Send Her Back to Me, with Doo-Wop vocals, that boasted a midtempo R&B feeling that made them perfect for slow jive dancing; and How Much Land, an uptempo featuring twangy guitar, and wailing sax. Both songs had one factor in common, they were made for dancing.

Headstrong and restless, Frank soon formed his own group, and went on to enjoy a great deal of  success and recognition along the East Coast. Still, as Baltimore disc jockey Kelson Fisher mentions in the liner notes of “The Soft Land of Make Believe,” “when the opportunity came to enter a dramatic school in New York City, he disbanded his trio and attended and finished his dramatic course. Music, however, is his first love and staying in New York, he worked the better night clubs, including Birdland, where he sang with Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, Bill Evans, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Burrell, Ed Thigpen and Jimmy Jones. They all agree—as I do—that this is a man with all the tools to make it big in singing or writing. I’m betting that once you hear this tremendous LP, you’ll be a Frank Minion convert for life. “Side one  is an original suite, done with the superlative backing of Tommy Flanagan, George Tucker, Roland Alexander, and Dannie Richmond.

“In this odyssey Frank delivers his message in his usual modern idiom of how Main Street in a town can become like a drug to some cats. Hence the title Black Opium Street. How they just have to be on the scene, to be a part of the joy, misery, hate and love that makes Black Opium Street an irresistible magnet with its gals, queers, the woeful musicians, the jazz, and all of the phases of life, exposed to the habitués of the Main Street. Frank paints a starkly realistic picture, that will hold you riveted to your chair from his introduction to Black Opium Street until he rolls up the sidewalk with his narration of the closing theme Later.

“On side two Frank is joined by two all-star rhythm sections, that he has known and worked with on many occasions. It is no wonder, therefore, that the set comes off in an easy, relaxed and compelling sound.

“The first three tracks were done with the famous Miles Davis anchor men, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb, who play Frank’s vocal adaptations of Miles’ All Blues beautifully. For the first time I hear a vocalist sing the tune in 6/8 time and in minor, certainly no easy way
to execute a melody.

“So What by Miles and Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk round out this group’s work, as Frank demonstrates his inventiveness with multi-voicing on Flamenco Sketches (All Blues) and Midnight. The lyrics are his, except on Midnight. Closing the set, Frank is joined on the last two tracks by an equally talented group, consisting of Jimmy Jones, Kenny Burrell, Ed Thigpen, and Joe Benjamin.”

Holy Mackerel, Who Stole the Mambo, and Watermelon—an interesting offbeat blues in the fever tradition, where he shouts, with echoes, as if from the bayou, to a muffled, jungle drum beat—are a further demonstration of Frank Minion’s forward sound. On these recordings Frank Minion shows he had a style all his own. In the words of Kelson Fisher, “as a radio announcer, I’ll guarantee you will dig this record the most—and then some.”

Jordi Pujol —From the inside liner notes of "Frank Minion's Complete Recordings 1954-1959" (FSRCD 985)