By 1943, Johnny Redd (as Juan Rolando) parlayed his former Chicago radio job into becoming the staff organist for the local radio station KMPC, and the same year became a staff organist and a music clearance agent for NBC radio. These were serious professional-level jobs, so John was already doing very well. The NBC job was earning him $100 per week (a great amount for a time when new cars were under $1000.) Juan Rolando was among the first music personalities chosen to make radio transcription discs for Capitol Records Radio: These were larger 16” vinyl discs made for radio broadcast only – they were never sold to the public. These are significant as his first known recordings and already, his musical skill was being noted and he was working constantly.
In 1943, there was a Juan Rolando single entitled Linda Mujer/Right As The Rain, which was commercially released on the small Cocktail Hour Records label.
He met a former roommate of his sister Frances, the beautiful and talented Beryl DeBeeson, a former dancer. Beryl and his sister Frances had met working at Max Factor and become roommates.
(Beryl had been married twice before; in 1935 when she had her first son, who remained with her 1st husband when they split. She married again in 1940 to an animator at Disney where she was working in special effects. Her father was also a successful animator for Disney and many major companies.)
Newly single, Beryl met John and they fell in love. They married in Mexico on July 21, 1944. Marriage between blacks and whites was still illegal in the USA; California required the races of both parties to be listed on the marriage certificate in 1943, basically codifying the issue so it couldn’t be evaded or ignored. (5 years later, always-progressive California was the first state to legalise interracial marriages.)
John continued appearing as Juan Rolando, playing in supper clubs and lounges, making a reputation for himself as a standout keyboard musician. In 1946, his own Temptation and Chiu Chiu single comes out – two pieces that have since become classics in the Korla repertoire. This is still a 78rpm record format (these are the main format of records through the late 1950s.) Juan Rolando was also featured on the Armed Forces Radio “Jubilee” radio show, which was created and performed for black servicemen. Count Basie, Art Tatum, Lena Horne and other performers were guests on this popular black musical show; John as “Juan Rolando” performed on several episodes – so they must have known the situation from his previous background. Several versions of this show still exist and are available to hear online. It’s fascinating to hear, as his then-prominent jazz skills are rarely heard in Korla’s later recordings, but are quite evident on these shows.
He becomes a staff organist on NBC radio, then develops his own music program at 4:30pm on KMPC in 1945 and then another on KNX radio for a year in 1947, 3:45pm on Saturdays. “Don Juan” as he sometimes signed things, was becoming known nationally.
