What 78 are you spinning right now ?

[jeffcrom]

I spun some classical discs today, starting in the acoustic era:

George Barrere (flute) - Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orpheus (Gluck)/Minuet from L'Arlesienne Suite #2 (Bizet); Columbia, 1913

Arnold Foldesy (cello) - Nocturne in E Flat, op. 9, #2 (Chopin)/Serenade (Popper); Odeon, early 1920's

Stokowski/Philadelphia Symphony - Hungarian Dance No. 5 (Brahms); Victrola one-sided, 1917 - Stokowski's first record.

Stokowski/Philadelphia Symphony - Anitra's Dance from Peer Gynt Suite #1 (Grieg); Victrola one-sided, 1917

Stokowski/Philadelphia Symphony - Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orpheus (Gluck); Victrola 12" one-sided, 1917

Then a couple of Stokowsi electrics:

Stokowski/Philadelphia Symphony - March of the Caucasian Chief (Ippolitov-Ivanov)/Dance Orientale (Glazounov) (Victrola, 1927)

Stokowski/Philadelphia Symphony - Pastoral Symphony from Messiah (Handel)/Prelude in B Minor from WTC, part 1) (Victrola, 1929/39)

Barrere was a great flute player, but his instrument didn't record well acoustically. The Foldesy record is gorgeous; I haven't been able to pin down the year with much accuracy.

The Stokowski records are something else. He was the first conductor to understand and manipulate the recording process; he was his own producer, in effect. The one-sided acoustics sound remarkably good for 1917, but the electric recordings are phenomenal. They sound as good as anything I've heard from the late 1920's - as good as the Victor records of Duke Ellington and Paul Whiteman, two other conductors who understood recording and how to make great-sounding records.

[jeffcrom]

I just picked up (for a dollar apiece) someone's little record collection from 105 years ago - nine one-sided 78s from 1904 and 1905. They're in surprisingly good condition - all play well. There's no jazz, of course, or even ragtime - there are several sentimental "Dixie" songs and several comedy routines. But there is a Will Marion Cook song sung by Billy Murray, and one of the comedy routines, "The Robin" by Burt Shepard, is actually quite funny - it's a three-minute introduction to a bird imitation that never actually happens. Nothing earth-shattering here, but it's a fascinating glimpse of American recording history.

[Clunky]

Last night I briefly thought I'd made a discovery . On playing Dial 1005. Tempo Jazzmen Diggin for Diz - featuring Gabriel on trumpet , I wondered why I could hear firstly no Bird secondly I heard an unlisted vibes player. My error was of course to muddle this with "Diggin Diz" recorded the previous day with Parker and without Bags. Anyway it was fun for a brief moment thinking I'd uncovered dome sort of unheard classic. The version on Dial 1005 is rather more secure than the Parker version, wonder why that might be !!!

[Clunky]

Duke Ellington and his Orchestra- Jazz Convulsions/Rockin in Rhythm- Brunswick- UK 02309

[jeffcrom]

Some bebop/early modern today:

Eddie Safranski and the Poll Cats - Sa-Frantic/Bass Mood (Atlantic, 1947)

Eddie Safranski and the Poll Cats - Turmoil/Jumpin' for Jane (Atlantic, 1947)

These are Kenton guys - Ray Wetzel, Eddie Bert, Art Pepper, Bob Cooper, Shelly Manne. Pete Rugolo plays piano and did the charts, presumably.

Lord Nelson and his Boppers - Stardust/Ratio and Proportion (King, 1948)

This is a reissue of a Sonny Stitt record from the Sensation label. Musically, it's great, but it sounds as if it was dubbed from a 78, rather than pressed from the original master.

Howard McGhee - McGhee Jumps/McGhee Special (Modern Music, 1945)

A killer record. Side one has solos by Vic Dickenson (I think) and Teddy Edwards. Side two is all McGhee.

Med Flory - The Fuz/Straight Ahead (Emarcy, 1954)

Nice big-band sides; charts by Flory and Al Cohn, & Doug Mettome is on trumpet.

Fred Dale and His Orchestra - Mean to Me/Laura (Coral, 1954)

This is a little-known one. Fred Dale had a big band at Indiana U. with a bunch of the guys there - David Baker, Jerry Coker, Al Kiger, etc. They won a college big-band contest, and part of the prize was a recording session with some ringers like Doug Mettome and Urbie Green. "Mean to Me" is a great side; Baker did the arrangement.

[jeffcrom]

I have three Jean Goldkette Victor 78s from the 20's, but I had never played them all back-to-back. So I did:

Remember/I Want to See My Tennessee (1924) - "Remember" is not the Irving Berlin song, unfortunately. Didn't know until I looked it up today that this one was recorded at the same date as "I Didn't Know," which had Bix Beiderbecke sitting in. Bix isn't on this record, which is pretty pop-oriented, in spite of the presence of the Dorseys and Joe Venuti.

Dinah/After I Say I'm Sorry (1926) - "Dinah" is more like it; the band's starting to swing hard.

Me and My Shadow/I'm Gonna Meet My Sweetie Now (1927) - "Sweetie" is really good. Bix is on this one, but doesn't solo. He plays lead trumpet in one section, though, which gives the band a totally different sound. Bill Challis, who arranged this tune, like to put Bix on top of the brass sometimes for just that reason - to give the section a different color. Steve Brown shows himself to be one of the great bass players of early jazz on this record. And the Victor engineers were the best in the business by 1927 - this record sounds amazing.

[jeffcrom]

A few Piedmont blues discs today:

Brownie McGhee - Workingman's Blues/Step It Up and Go No. 2 (Okeh). The label calls him "Blind Boy Fuller #2." Side one has some great Sonny Terry harp.

Sonny Terry - Lost John/Fox Chase (Library of Congress). Wild!

Gabriel Brown - Down In the Bottom/Bad Love (Joe Davis). Nice raw blues from 1943.

[Clunky]

some shellac pulled at random from the shelves

Googie Rene Big time/Midnight- Class- early R& R with R&B feel -not bad

Jazz Gillum - Reckless rider blues/ look on yonder wall- Victor- acoustic blues - excellent

Edited January 22, 2011 by Clunky

[jeffcrom]

Scored a stack of 78s in Augusta, Georgia yesterday - jazz and "hot dance" from the twenties and thirties. The highlights:

Six Brown Brothers Saxophone Sextet - Darktown Strutters Ball/Van Eps Trio - Rasberries (Victor, 1917). Nice raggy pre-jazz.

Leona Williams and Her Dixie Band - Mexican Blues/Uncle Bud (Columbia, 1922). Her "Dixie Band" is the Original Memphis Five, one of my favorite bands from the 20's.

Broadway Broadcasters - That Certain Party/No Man's Mamma (Cameo, 1925). One of those anonymous dance band 78s that sometimes turn out to be pretty good. Red Nichols has a solo on side one, and there's a trombone solo on side two that sounds like it might be Miff Mole.

Harry Reser - Heebe Jeebes/Ukulele Lady (Columbia, 1925). Pretty cool banjo solos - not jazz, exactly, but very modern for the time. Very well recorded, too.

Lucille Hegamin - No Man's Mamma/Dinah (Cameo, 1926). Pretty good vaudeville/jazz singing. None of the authorities seem to know who was in the band, but the clarinet player is good.

Chick Bullock and His Levee Loungers - Darkness on the Delta/Gene Kardos and His Orchestra - Goofus (Conqueror, 1932/33). Some of the discographies I looked at suggested that "Darkness" may have Bunny Berigan on board. There's a beautiful trumpet solo, but it's obviously not Berigan - Sterling Bose, maybe?

Duke Ellington - Solitude/Moonglow (Silvertone, 1934). This one is a bit of a mystery. Silvertone was a Sears store label, but they weren't supposed to be active in 1934, when Conqueror was the Sears label. I'm guessing this is a 1940's reissue of the 1934 Brunswick record - it's the same takes as on the Mosaic box.

There was one modern jazz record in the stack:

Milt Page Trio Featuring Oscar Pettiford - It's Only a Paper Moon/Soda Pop (Manor, 1944). This is a Nat Cole Trio-styled group. OP is credited on the label, and has a great solo on "Soda Pop."

[jeffcrom]

Staying up late with Bennie Moten on Victor:

Kansas City Shuffle/Yazoo Blues (1926)

Moten Stomp (1927)/_reverse is "Blue Guitar Stomp" by Clifford Hayes' Louisville Stompers)

Kansas City Breakdown/Get Low-Down Blues (1928)

South/She's No Trouble (1928).

I've been on record as saying that the Moten band was corny and not very good before 1929 or so. Consider that withdrawn. Five of these seven sides are bluesy and heavy. "South" was a jukebox favorite for years, and my copy is a 1940s issue of the 1928 original. That one and the flup side are the the weakest of the bunch, but the rest are very cool.

Edited January 25, 2011 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

Yesterday and today I cleaned and played all the 78s I picked up in Alabama and Mississippi last week. (No Charley Patton Paramounts, unfortunately.) It's a wide variety of music. I won't list the duds, but the winners are:

University Six - Oh! If I Only Had You/I Ain't Got Nobody (Harmony, 1926). Really nice hot jazz, with Tommy Dorsey and Adrian Rollini on board.

Eddy Howard - Old Fashioned Love/Stardust (Columbia, 1940). Is some ways, this was the real revelation of the bunch. Eddy Howard was a decent singer, but Teddy Wilson organized the backup band, which includes Bill Coleman, Ed Hall, Bud Freeman, and Charlie Christian. There is a short, but stunning, Christian solo on "Stardust." This track is not included the Columbia's "complete" Charlie Christian set.

Dean Hudson and His Orchestra - Blitzkrieg/You're Gone (Okeh, 1941). This one is interesting to me because Dean Hudson led a big band in Atlanta for many years, into the 1980's, at least. He's not listed in Rust, but this record's not bad. "Blitzkrieg" is a feature for drummer Parker Lund, who's mentioned on the label.

Buddy Jones - She's Got the Best in Town/In the Doghouse Now No. 2 (Decca, 1939). I like this country/western swing record; great guitar and steel guitar work.

Shelton Brothers - You Can't Put That Monkey on My Back No. 2/Just Because You're in Deep Elem (Decca, 1939). Similar in style to the record above, but smoother.

Ed Wiley - Cotton Pickers Blues/My Heart is Going Down Slow (Sittin' In With promo, 1951). Nice blues by the tenor saxist. There's some great blues guitar, but the discographers don't seem to know who it is.

Wilbert Harrison - Don't Drop It/The Ways of a Woman (Savoy, 1954). Good R & B with some excellent Mickey Baker guitar.

Chuck Berry - No Money Down/The Downbound Train (Chess, 1955). I have this on CD, of course, but it's a lot of fun to hear it on 78.

[jeffcrom]

I'll pick up any 78 that looks interesting, but I've begun (through chance or design) to specialize in a few areas, like The Original Memphis Five. One of those areas has turned out to be the records Don Byas made in 1945 and '46 for a handful of little labels. I don't seek out the Savoys, since I have those on CD, but I have Byas 78s on Jamboree, Hub, Arista, Super Disc, and American. I just found the record that completes the Byas Jamboree recordings, so I listened to all of those tonight - Jamboree 900 through 905. They're really wonderful musically, and all are in excellent condition, although the wartime shellac resulted in some noisy surfaces, especially on the first session, from January, 1945. Trumpeters Joe Thomas and Buck Clayton show up for one session each, and Eddie Safranski, Cozy Cole, and Denzil Best are on some of the records. Great stuff.

[jeffcrom]

I have a box of 85 country 78s, from the 1920's to the 50's, but mostly from the 20's and 30's. I spun ten of the older ones tonight. It was a wide variety of music: commercial, downhome, touching, funny, lively, lonely.

The Carter Family - Worried Man Blues/The Cannon-Ball (Victor, 1930). I love this group - great American music.

Vernon Dalhart (as Al Craver) - The Freight Wreck at Altoona/Kinnie Wagner (Columbia, 1926)

West Virginia Night Owls - I'm Goin' to Walk on the Streets of Glory/Blind Alfred Reed - Fate of Chris Lively and Wife (Victor, 1927). Reed was one of the Night Owls.

Clayton McMichen and His Georgia Wildcats - Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane/Red Wing (Joe Davis, 1932). This is a 1940's reissue of these sides.

Jimmie Rodgers - I'm Lonely and Blue/Treasures Untold (Montgomery Ward, 1928). The famous department store leased this from Victor to release on their own label.

Fiddlin' Powers and Familey - Ida Red/Old Joe Clark (Victor, 1924). One of the earliest country groups to record. I guess Victor was worried about Cowan Powers' Appalachian accent, because they got the more urbane Carson Robison (see below) to do the vocals.

Carson Robison - Poor Man's Heaven/So I Joined the Navy (Champion, 1930)

Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers with Riley Puckett and Clayton McMichen - Pretty Little Widow/Liberty (Columbia, 1928)

A Fiddler's Convention in Georgia, parts 1 & 2 (with Clayton McMichen, Gid Tanner, Riley Puckett, Bob Nichols, Fate Norris and Bert Layne) (Columbia, 1927)

Kessinger Brothers - Chicken in the Barnyard/Devil's Dream (Brunswick, 1928)

[Clunky]

Eddy Howard - Old Fashioned Love/Stardust (Columbia, 1940). Is some ways, this was the real revelation of the bunch. Eddy Howard was a decent singer, but Teddy Wilson organized the backup band, which includes Bill Coleman, Ed Hall, Bud Freeman, and Charlie Christian. There is a short, but stunning, Christian solo on "Stardust." This track is not included the Columbia's "complete" Charlie Christian set.

I've the coupling of Exactly like you/Stardust ( Columbia)- I'd missed Christians solo on Stardust but hear him clearly now that I re-listen. Any idea what else came from this session ?

[Clunky]

. I just found the record that completes the Byas Jamboree recordings, so I listened to all of those tonight - Jamboree 900 through 905. They're really wonderful musically, and all are in excellent condition, although the wartime shellac resulted in some noisy surfaces, especially on the first session, from January, 1945. Trumpeters Joe Thomas and Buck Clayton show up for one session each, and Eddie Safranski, Cozy Cole, and Denzil Best are on some of the records. Great stuff.

Agreed 100%, i've a number of those Jamboree recordings and they're very fine. Byas seems to show up on all manner of labels in that period, as you say.

I really need to organise my collection of 78s as I can never find things. As they mostly come in pretty generic covers, they end up getting shuffled all over the place. With only around 250 sides it doesn't take too long to find what I'm looking for. The problem and the delight at the same time is getting distracted by other 78s you come across in your search which then get added to the "play" pile.

[jeffcrom]

Eddy Howard - Old Fashioned Love/Stardust (Columbia, 1940). Is some ways, this was the real revelation of the bunch. Eddy Howard was a decent singer, but Teddy Wilson organized the backup band, which includes Bill Coleman, Ed Hall, Bud Freeman, and Charlie Christian. There is a short, but stunning, Christian solo on "Stardust." This track is not included the Columbia's "complete" Charlie Christian set.

I've the coupling of Exactly like you/Stardust ( Columbia)- I'd missed Christians solo on Stardust but hear him clearly now that I re-listen. Any idea what else came from this session ?

The Rust discography lists one more release from this session - Exactly Like You/Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams. I'm going to be on the lookout for that one.

I listened to this one again just last night.

[jeffcrom]

The best trad jazz piano player in Atlanta, Scott Hooker, came over tonight for a 78 listening party. We spun a pretty wide variety of discs - trad jazz, ragtime, swing, gospel, New Orleans R & B. I won't list it all, but it was a fabulous session.

[Clunky]

Went to my local stockist and searched through the Black Swing section of the 78s looking for more Eddy Howard (with Teddy Wilson)). Found plenty of other TW titles but not the ones I was looking for. Instead I got a couple of Asch sides

John Kirby JK Special/ KC Caboose Asch (purple label) - main attraction being Budd Johnson on tenor- two swinging sides,

John Kirby Mop Mop/Passipied Asch - same group as above from 1945 ( I think) , Mop Mop lightly boppish ( written by Feonard Leather) and Passipied - slight classical influence. Budd sounds like Jacquet

4 decent sides in good condition but of course as noted above even pristine Asch sides sound like.....noisy

Edited February 16, 2011 by Clunky

[jeffcrom]

I've got my eye out for that other Eddy Howard/Teddy Wilson disc, too, Clunky.

I spent an afternoon recently spinning a bunch of my early saxophone 78s. These ranged from 1916 to 1935, and were not jazz, so this will probably only interest my fellow saxophonists. I won't list them all in detail, but the earliest was a 1916 Columbia disc of Fred Brown playing a couple of sentimental tunes with piano accompaniment. I also played all of my discs by the Columbia Saxophone Sextet or Quartet - I'm up to six records by them now.

A little research revealed that my earliest "Columbia Saxophone Sextet" record is actually by Rudy Wiedoeft's Master Saxophone Sextet. I've got to give props to Wiedoeft - he was an incredible saxophonist. Nothing to do with jazz, of course, but I had forgotten how good his 1920 Victor record of "Saxophobia" and "Valse Erica" is until I played it again the other day. Same thing with "Pan-Americana" and "Country Dance" (Vocalion, 1922) by Wiedoeft's Saxophone Sextette. These sides are transcriptions of light classical piano pieces, by Victor Herbert and Ethelbert Nevin, respectively. They're beautifully recorded and played - really nice.

I ended with two mid-thirties Columbia records by the Quartet of Saxophones of La Garde Republicaine - Marcel Mule's quartet, in other words. Three of these sides have been reissed on the Mule CD Encore!, but "La Veille de l'Ange Gardien" by the French composer Gabriel Pierne has never appeared on LP or CD, as far as I can tell. Gorgeous!

And more non-jazz 78 stuff: Since I've gotten more into world music, I've learned to buy any 78 in Columbia's "E" series or its replacement, the "F" series. These were Columbia's records marketed to immigrants, and I've discovered some incredible music by picking up any of these I find, even if I can't read the labels. The latest finds are a couple of Spanish dances by "Spanish String Orchestra" - with guitars, violins, and woodwinds, and a really exciting late-20's Ukrainian record. The latter is raw eastern European dance music played by a clarinet, two or three violins, and arco bass. I love that one.

[jeffcrom]

Played a bunch of music at 78 RPM today. I've mentioned most of it before, so I'll just give one of the highlights - a new find: my first Trumpet 78. It's Willie Love and The Three Aces, performing "Shady Lane Blues" and "21 Minutes Before Nine" on that great Mississippi blues/gospel/country label. It's excellent electrified Delta blues, with 17-year-old Little Milton Campbell on guitar, and it's in excellent shape. A nice find.

[jeffcrom]

This is the time of year I really start to wish I was in New Orleans. So I spun these NOLA jazz 78s:

Piron's New Orleans Orchestra - Mama's Gone, Goodbye/New Orleans Wiggle (Victor, 1923). Beautiful, relaxed New Orleans music, with Peter Bocage and Lorenzo Tio.

Tony Parenti's New Orleanians - In the Dungeon/When You and I Were Pals (Columbia, 1928). With the wonderful Johnny Wiggs on cornet (see below). Wiggs was equally influenced by King Oliver and Bix Beiderbecke.

Halfway House Dance Orchestra - Maple Leaf Rag/Let Me Call You Sweetheart (Columbia, 1925). I'm glad I have this on CD, because someone really enjoyed this record back in the day - it's so worn that the surface noise is as loud as the music.

Johnny Wiggs - If I Ever Cease to Love/King Zulu Parade (Southland, 1954). Mardi Gras favorites with Raymond Burke on clarinet.

George Lewis and His New Orleans Music - Willie the Weeper/Mama Don't Allow It (Good Time Jazz, 1950)

Santo Pecora - March of the Mardi Gras/My Loui'siana (Mercury, 1950). With young Pete Fountain and the brilliant, ill-fated George Girard on trumpet.

[jeffcrom]

Just got two "new" 78s by artists who are perhaps on the periphery of jazz, so I played them along with all my others by the same guys. First up, Wilbur Sweatman:

Ringtail Blues/Bluin' the Blues (Columbia, 1918)

A Good Man is Hard to Find/That's Got 'em (Columbia, 1918/19)

Kansas City Blues (Columbia, 1919)

Sweatman and his band somehow have more guts to their sound than the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, after whom they are somewhat patterned.

Then on to Harry "The Hipster" Gibson:

Barrelhouse Boogie/4F Ferdinand, the Frantic Freak (Musicraft, 1944)

Riot in Boogie/Stop That Dancin' Up There (Musicraft, 1944)

Get Your Juices at the Deuces/Hipster's Blues Opus 7 1/2 (Musicraft, 1944)

I Hope My Mother-In-Law Doesn't Come Home for Christmas/Gambler's Blues (MacGregor, 1947, I think)

Harry the Hipster is a lot of fun. The three Musicrafts are from the same session, his first; Big Sid Catlett is on drums. There's one more record from that session that I'm trying to track down. The MacGregor session isn't listed in the Lord discography at all.

Fun stuff!

[jeffcrom]

Regal 1200 & 1201 by Papa Celestin and His Original Tuxedo Orchestra.

1200 - Hey La Ba/My Josephine

1201 - Marie Laveau/Maryland, My Maryland

I bought Regal 1201 in New Orleans a couple of years ago, and just tracked down the other disc from this 1947 session. It's a good one; Celestin's trumpet playing is rough, yet accessible, and I've always loved Paul Barnes, both on clarinet and saxophone - he plays alto here. Clarinetist Alphonse Picou is on board, and everytime I hear him I'm touched - he's a link to the very earliest days of jazz.

[jeffcrom]

I have a bunch of Stan Kenton 78s - by chance, not by design. I inherited a stack of Kentons from my uncle, and have picked up others when buying boxes of records, or when I find interesting-looking dollar 78s. Many of the selections are tracks I don't have on CD or in any other form. Today I played half a dozen Kenton Capitols:

Everytime We Say Goodbye/Are You Livin' Old Man? (1944). The mediocre Gene Howard sings a great song, and the great Anita O'Day sings a mediocre song.

Blues in Riff/Mardi Gras (1950). Art Pepper, Shorty Rogers, and Bob Cooper solo on the first side.

Love for Sale/Be Easy, Be Tender (1950)

Bags and Baggage/Delicado (1952). Features for bassist Don Bagley and guitarist Laurindo Almeida, respectively.

23 Degrees North, 82 Degrees West/Invention for guitar and Trumpet (1952). I guess I'm still young enough that it seems strange when I hear one of my still-living modern heroes coming out of the grooves of a 78, like Lee Konitz on the first side.

Baia/All About Ronnie (1953). "All About Ronnie" is an interesting song with a great Bill Russo arrangement - and Chris Connor!

[jeffcrom]

Since becoming addicted to 78s, I have been hitting every antique store I can find within driving distance of my house in Atlanta. About half of such stores have at least a few 78s on hand, but they're usually junk - Sammy Kaye, Perry Como, Frankie Carle, etc. Sometimes there are some decent records, but every once in awhile I find a great stash. Today was one of those days. I came home with around 30 records I got for a dollar apiece - jazz, blues, old-time country, pop, classical, and those 1920's dance bands I like. The highlights so far:

King Oliver and His Orchestra - Stingaree Blues/Shake It and Break It (Bluebird). This is a reissue, not the original pressing, but it's in stone E condition, and sounds wonderful.

Tommy McClennan - She's Just Good Huggin' Size/My Little Girl (Bluebird). A beautiful copy of an original pressing by the Mississippi blueman. My heart skipped a beat when I spotted this one.

Scottdale String Band - Carolina Glide/My Own Iona (Okeh). Old time county by a band who worked in the Scottdale Cotton Mill, just a few miles from my house.

Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers - Big Ball in Town/Old McDonald (Columbia). More old-time country from Georgia.

Billy Murray - Big Bad Bill (Victor). A near-mint record of a vaudeville song I've played many times; I had never heard a recording of it from its heyday. The flip, a pseuso-Hawaiian song by Frank Richardson, ain't much.

I'll clean and play some more tomorrow.

Edited March 16, 2011 by jeffcrom