What 78 are you spinning right now ?

[jazztrain]

Yes, it was Eddie Condon. One of my favorite musical quotes.

First of all, Ted Lewis's clarinet, alto sax, and singing are just awful. That's a given.

There is that quip that goes something like this:

Speaker 1: Ted Lewis really can make the clarinet talk.

Speaker 2: Yes, and it usually says: "Please put me back in my case!" :crazy:

Who was it again who said that? Eddie Condon??

[jeffcrom]

I've been listening a lot lately to an interesting record which I found a couple of weeks ago: "I Know Why," the only issued side by George Morrison's Jazz Orchestra. Gunther Schuller discusses Morrison for several pages in Early Jazz, and includes an interview with him. It's a Columbia disc from 1920, and it's not really jazz, in spite of the presence of young saxophonists Jimmie Lunceford and Andy Kirk, but raggy dance music - and for that, it's pretty good. Ted Lewis is on the other side, so that one doesn't get played too often. I'm going to reread the Schuller stuff tonight, I think.

After a couple of spins of Morrison's Jazz Orchestra, I played the 1938 Jelly Roll Morton Jazz Man 78s:

Finger Buster/Creepy Feeling (Jazz Man 12)

Honky Tonk Music/Winin' Boy Blues (Jazz Man 11).

I just got these. The Jazz Man session isn't as well-known as the slightly later General sides, and had represented the last major gap in my Jelly Roll Morton collection. I had been researching the various issues when I found these on Ebay. I'm not sure that I made the best choice - these are really noisy records, although they look to be in pretty good shape. In any case, the music is excellent.

[tjluke68]

I've found some interesting JAZZ/HOT JAZZ 78s at yard/estate sales recently - stuff I've never heard of before:

listening to it now - LEE MORSE - Where'd you get those eyes c/w Daddy's Girl

scored within the same week or so:

DON VOORHEES

PAUL BIESE

GENE RODEMICH

[jeffcrom]

Spun this Danny Polo album again tonight - I like it a lot. Then played a new find - Swinging on Central/I'll Never Be the Same on the Monarch label, from 1945. There's no leader/band name listed, but the personnel is given as:

The "King" - piano

Charlie Shavers - trumpet

Buddy Rich - drums

Herbie Haymer - tenor

John Simmons - bass

I believe this session was released under Herbie Haymer's name on the Sunset label, but I have no idea if this issue came before or after the Sunset releases, or if Nat King Cole was named on those issues. The label gives Linden, NJ as the location for Monarch, so maybe is was part of the Regal/DeLuxe company. In any case, this is a good little record.

[jeffcrom]

Blues time with the 78 rig yesterday and today:

Washboard Sam - Diggin' My Potatoes/Back Door (RCA Victor). Thanks to Paul for the discographical details on this one, and for this info that these are the only two of Washboard Sam's Bluebird sides to be reissued on RCA Victor.

Big Bill Broonzy - I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town/Hard Hearted Woman (Okeh)

Big Bill Broonzy - I'm Woke Up Now/Bad Acting Woman (Okeh)

Big Bill Broonzy - I Feel So Good/Tell Me Baby (Columbia). Four of these six sides comprise the great March, 1942 session by Big Bill's Chicago Five, with Punch Miller on trumpet.

Ida Cox and her All-Star Band - Four Day Creep/Hard Times Blues (Vocalion). And it is an all-star band, with Hot Lips Page, J.C. Higginbotham and Charlie Christian, among others.

Lil Green - Romance in the Dark/What Have I Done? (Bluebird)

Lil Green - Give Your Mama One Smile/My Mellow Man (Bluebird)

Tommy McClennan - She's Just Good Huggin' Size/My Little Girl (Bluebird)

Cow Cow Davenport - Chimes Blues/Slow Drag (Broadway). Broadway was a subsidiary of Paramount. This would be a great collectors' item if it was in better condition. Even in rough shape, it's pretty cool.

B. B. King - Praying to the Lord/Please Help Me (RPM)

B. B. King - Love You Baby/The Woman I Love (RPM)

B. B. King - You Upset Me Baby/Whole Lotta Love (RPM)

B. B. King - Sweet Little Angel/Bad Luck (RPM). It's easy to take B. B. for granted - it seems like he's been around forever. But these records are fabulous - intense vocals and blistering guitar.

[jeffcrom]

I just got back from visiting the wife's relatives in Bellingham, Washington. Much to my surprise, I found a record dealer with thousands and thousands of 78s. I spent about three hours over two days looking - it was mostly junk, but I found a few nice ones. Not much jazz, but I did pick up a some of what they had, which I'll report on later. I spun a few of the older records today; they will be of interest mostly to concert band geeks and wind players:

Frank S. Mazziotta/Stephen Porpora - Voice of Love (Schumann) (one-sided Zon-o-phone, 1907). As a saxophonist, I'm fascinated by early saxophone recordings. This is a flute/saxophone duet; Porpora is the saxophonist. I can't find any information on him other than the fact that he made several recordings for Zon-o-phone early in the 20th century. I'm intrigued with how "plain" most of the playing is on my early sax 78s - vibrato didn't seem to come in until the 1920's.

Herbert L. Clarke - Carnival of Venice/Stars on a Velvety Sky (Brunswick, 1922). This is a pretty amazing recording by the famous cornet virtuoso. Again, not jazz or anything like it, but jaw-dropping brass playing.

Victor Orchestra - Black and White (Ragtime Two-Step)/Clarke and Lyons - The Land of the Swallows (Victor, 1909). I love early ragtime recordings, and this is an excellent one. The flip is more Herbert Clarke, in duet with a flutist.

United States Marine Band - President Harding March/National Capitol Centennial (Victor, 1921). Then, as now, the Marine Band was the best concert band in the world. "Centennial" was written by William H. Santelmann, who was the band's director at the time.

[jeffcrom]

Somebody in northwestern Washington, where I bought some 78s last week, was a Charlie Ventura fan - I found four Ventura records on the National label to go with the one I already had. I spun them all today - genial bop, for the most part, recorded between 1946 and 1948. There's some nice Bennie Green trombone on several of them.

A.M. - P.M. Song/F.Y.I.

I'll Never Be the Same/East of Suez

Baby, Baby All the Time/I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles

Stop and Go/Pina Colada

Euphoria/If I Had You

[jeffcrom]

The most interesting 78s I spun today, both musically and as collectors' objects, were two Columbia "blue wax" records from the mid-30's. For a short period in the 1930's, Columbia pressed their records in blue shellac instead of black. They look pretty cool.

Claude Hopkins and His Orchestra - Minor Mania/Marie (1934). Edmond Hall does some nice playing here.

Benny Goodman and His Orchestra - That Dixieland Band/Down Home Rag (1935). The Goodman band is still very much Casa Loma-influenced here. They started swinging a lot more a few months later when they began playing Fletcher Henderson arrangements.

[jeffcrom]

I found, to my surprise, that I'm up to 14 78s by Sam Lanin, the early dance band leader. So I played them all over the last couple of days, from his 1920 recording debut on Columbia to a 1930 record on Perfect. Most are attributed to Sam Lanin and His Orchestra, Lanin's Roseland Orchestra, or some variant which includes his name, but there are also records using pseudonyms: The Broadway Broadcasters, The Broadway Bellhops, The Dixie Daisies. Eight labels are represented: Columbia, Regal, Gennett, Banner, Cameo, Perfect, Harmony, Okeh. This is pop/dance band music, not jazz per se, but it's very well done, and there are some hot improvised solos scattered throughout.

One of the highlights was "Waitin' Around" by the Broadway Broadcasters (Cameo, 1924). Rather than the usual large dance band, this one is by a seven-piece jazz group, with Red Nichols (I think), Miff Mole (I'm sure), and several unidentified musicians. It's not as good as King Oliver, or even the Original Memphis Five, but it's pretty hip for 1924.

There are quite a few Red Nichols solos and these sides. Nichols is looked down on in some quarters, but several of these solos are really good - hot, fresh, and imaginative. He's often thought of as a second-rate Bix imitator, but it sounds to me like he was just working on some of the same things. Anyway, I really enjoyed this hour or so of forgotten music.

[jeffcrom]

Picked up a few "new" 78s at a local shop. Two feature Bix Beiderbecke:

Paul Whiteman - Because My Baby Don't Mean "Maybe" Now/Just Like a Melody Out of the Sky (Columbia, 1928). Bix has 24 transcendent measures on the first side. This reminds me of why I like 78s so much. I've had "Because My Baby" on LP or CD since 1974. But it has always been just one track of an album, surrounded by lots of other tracks. Hearing it by itself, it came into focus in a way it never has before, and I heard how great Bix's solo really is.

And the label is cool - it's a Whiteman "potato head" label, as 78 collectors call it. When Columbia lured Whiteman from Victor, they gave him his own picture label - one of the most colorful labels they ever produced. Here's an example from the Keep Swinging blog:

Then on to:

Jean Goldkette - Idolizing/Hush-a-Bye (Victor, 1926). I already had a copy of this, but I couldn't resist picking up a nice, very clean replacement for my rather battered copy. Bix solos on "Idolizing," and Eddie Lang plays a nice obligato behind the vocal.

I ended with a surprise, to me anyway:

Oliver Naylor's Orchestra: Sweet Georgia Brown/Benson Orchestra of Chicago - Riverboat Shuffle (Victor, 1925). I picked this one up for the Benson Orchestra of Chicago, a 1920's dance band I've always liked. (Frank Trumbauer was a member for a while.) And they're good here, but Oliver Naylor's band is better - this is a very hot side, with good solos. I looked this up in Rust, and I recognize several New Orleans names - was Naylor a New Orleanian? I can't find out. But there is a CD of his stuff on Challenge/Retrieval - I may or may not get that, but I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of his 78s.

[Chuck Nessa]

Lee Konitz Yesterdays - alt(master #143?) never reissued. I have this on Prestige 78 #755.

[jeffcrom]

Lee Konitz Yesterdays - alt(master #143?) never reissued. I have this on Prestige 78 #755.

I think I remember loaning that one to you. I'd like it back now....

[Chuck Nessa]

[jeffcrom]

Played a bunch of early jazz on 78 today, starting with two vaudeville blues by Lucille Hegamin:

Lucille Hegamin - I've Got the Wonder Where He Went and When He's Coming Back Blues/He May Be Your Man (Banner, 1922)

Lucille Hegamin - Dinah/No Man's Mama (Cameo, 1926)

Then on to a band I love, The Original Memphis Five. Each of these is backed by another band; to get the real 1920's experience I played the dance band sides on the flip as well. A couple of them are pretty good:

OM5 - Struttin' Jim/Don Parker's Western Melody Boys - Wild Papa (Pathe Actuelle, 1923). Parker's band is not as hip as the OM5, but they're pretty good.

OM5 - Memphis Glide/Golden Gate Orchestra (California Ramblers) - Yes! We Have No Bananas (Perfect, 1923). Not the California Ramblers' best recording, but I'm glad I have one record of this ridiculously popular song of the time.

OM5 - I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate/Roy Collins' Orchestra (Ben Selvin) - Chicago (Banner, 1922). I didn't realize until thumbing through Sudhalter's Lost Chords recently that this was the first recording of "Sister Kate." It's damned good - slow and bluesy. Selvin's band is not bad, but they got better later.

OM5 - I'm Going Away to Wear You Off My Mind/Majestic Dance Orchestra (Nathan Glantz) - Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (Broadway, 1922). A ridiculous pairing; I can't imagine anyone who enjoyed the OM5 finding any redeeming qualities to the Glantz side.

Then a record I've had for years, but which I hadn't played for a long time:

Chas. Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs - Pleasure Mad/Market Street Blues (Okeh, 1924). Nice early St. Louis jazz. "Pleasure Mad" is a Sidney Bechet composition.

I ended with the only 78 I have that has an early Louis Armstrong solo:

Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra - My Rose Marie/Sam Lanin's Arcadians - Some Other Day, Some Other Girl (Silvertone, 1924). Silvertone was Sears' label. Louis sounds good!

Edited August 2, 2011 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

Inspired by the Charlie Poole, etc. thread:

Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers - Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues/Can I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight Mister (Columbia, 1925)

Roy Harvey and the North Carolina Ramblers - the Brave Engineer/The Wreck of Virginian No. 3 (Columbia, 1926/27). Same band, vocals by Poole's guitar player.

Carolina Tar Heels - When the Good Lord Sets You Free/I Love My Mountain Home (Victor, 1927). The Tar Heels were Dock Walsh on banjo and Gwen Foster on guitar and harmonica - two of the greats.

Blue Ridge Mountain Entertainers - Washington and Lee Swing/Goodnight Waltz (Conqueror, 1931). A little more commercial than the other records I played today, but I wanted to hear more of Gwen Foster's harp.

The Halliday Brothers - A picture from Life's Other Side/There's No Disappointment in Heaven (Oriole, 1927). This was a pseudonym for the Gentry Brothers, neither one of whom was named Gentry. Confused yet?

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). These two sides were recorded at the same session - Reed was a member of the Night Owls.

Scottdale String Band - Carolina Glide/My Own Iona (Okeh, 1927). I was in Scottdale today - it's an old mill town outside of Atlanta.

Roy Hall and His Blue Ridge Entertainers - Natural Bridge Blues/Polecat Blues (Bluebird, 1941). This band has a little bit of Western swing influence, but otherwise sounds very similar to the earliest records I spun today.

Many of the early country 78s I have are pretty worn, but they often sound better than they look.

[jeffcrom]

Bebop time:

Dizzy Gillespie - I Can't Get Started/Good Bait (Columbia). A 1948 reissue of the first two sides he recorded as leader, for Manor in 1945. I've heard these sides many times on LP, but they sure sound good on this 78. Interestingly, the catalog number reveals that these were issued in Columbia's "race" series.

Charlie Ventura - Moon Nocture, parts 1 & 2 (National, 1946). A big band; some nice Neal Hefti on side two.

Charlie Ventura - Synthesis/Blue Champagne (National, 1947). A sextet with Charlie Shavers and Bill Harris.

Billy Eckstine Orchestra - Cool Breeze/You're My Everything (National, 1946)

Billy Eckstine Orchestra - It Ain't Like That No More/I've Got to Pass Your House to Get to My House (National, 1945/46).

All the Eckstine sides are on the Savoy Legendary Big Band 2-CD set, except for "I've Got to Pass Your House." No great loss - no solos there. National sure pressed some crappy records, though.

[jeffcrom]

I haven't been spinning 78s that often lately, and when I have, I haven't posted about it. But today I spun some gospel, starting out with three sermon records:

Rev. J. M. Gates - Dead Cat on the Line/You Midnight Ramblers (Okeh, 1929). This one's fabulous - very entertaining.

Rev. J.C. Burnett - The Downfall of Nebuchadnezzar/I've Even Heard of Thee (Columbia, 1926). Equally great - more serious.

Rev. S. J. Worrell "Steamboat Bill" - Go Thou and Preach the Gospel/Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone? (Vocalion, 1926)

Elder Charles Beck - I've Got Heaven on My Mind/Changes (Montgomery Ward, 1939)

The Southern Sons - I'm Free At Last/One Day When the Lord Will Call Me (RCA Victor, 1946)

Morris Brown Quartet - I Can Tell The World About This/Swing Low Sweet Chariot (Bluebird, 1939)

Then on to something different - all of my Fiddlin' John Carson records:

You'll Never Miss Your Mother Until She is Gone/Papa's Billy Goat (Okeh, 1923)

Billy in the Low Ground/When You and I Were Young, Maggie (Okeh, 1923)

Fire in the Mountain/Peter Went Fishing (Okeh, 1926)

It's a Shame to Whip Your Wife on Sunday/Cotton Eyed Joe (Okeh, 1927)

I really have to separate the man from the music when I listen to Fiddlin' John, but that's true of a lot of the musicians I like.

[jeffcrom]

Some New Orleans jazz in preparation for my visit to my favorite city:

Jelly Roll Morton - Fingerbuster/Creepy Feeling (Jazz Man, 1938)

Jelly Roll Morton - Whinin' Boy/Honky Tonk Music (Jazz Man, 1938)

Excellent piano solos, which I don't have in any other format. Crappy pressings, though.

Papa Celestin - Marie Laveau/Maryland, My Maryland (Regal, 1947)

Papa Celestin - Eh La Ba/My Josephine (Regal, 1947)

For some reason, I enjoyed this session more than I ever have in the past. It's really cool hearing one of the earliest jazz clarinetists, Alphonse Picou, sounding as good as ever at age 70. And Paul Barnes plays alto sax on his composition "My Josephine," just as he did on Celestin's recording of the song from 20 years earlier.

Bunk Johnson - Swanee River/Runnin' Wild (American Music, 1945)

I think I've mentioned here before that this take of "Swanee River" was never reissued in any other form.

[Chuck Nessa]

Used to have the 4 Morton titles on a Swaggie lp. Sad to say it is gone.

[Clunky]

Added six 78s to my collection yesterday,

Buck Ram - Twilight in Tehran/Swing Street- Savoy 572- 1944 and with a slightly modern sound whilst not exactly boppish.

Sound quality is so much better than the transfers on " The Changing Face of Harlem" Savoy 2LP, I always thought these Savoy 2fers offered pretty good sound but here the LP sounds like mud by comparison to the 78.

[Clunky]

Inspired by Jeffcrom's delve into Charlie Barnet I realised that barring one Hep Cd - 1941 Transcriptions and a single Victor 78 I had all too little Barnet and no Deccas. So I went to today to my local 78 stockist to look through the Bs .I found multiple copies of Barnets's Victors on HMV plus at least three copies of The Moose on Brunswick on which Michael Marmarosa is featured.

I came away with ...

Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra The Moose (Ralph Burns) /Sky Liner 1944 Brunswick 03601 (ex Decca)

Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra Flat Top Flips His Lid (Tommy Pederson) West End Blues Recorded October 17, 1944 Brunswick ex Decca

Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra Southern Fried/Little John Ordinary November 30, 1947 Apollo 1107

Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra Pow wow/Strollin ( Howard McGhee) Brunswick ex Decca

I like of these but Dodo gets the nod on the first. I haven't found the personnel for Pow Wow/Strollin but its good too

[jeffcrom]

Inspired by Jeffcrom's delve into Charlie Barnet I realised that barring one Hep Cd - 1941 Transcriptions and a single Victor 78 I had all too little Barnet and no Deccas. So I went to today to my local 78 stockist to look through the Bs .I found multiple copies of Barnets's Victors on HMV plus at least three copies of The Moose on Brunswick on which Michael Marmarosa is featured.

I came away with ...

Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra The Moose (Ralph Burns) /Sky Liner 1944 Brunswick 03601 (ex Decca)

Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra Flat Top Flips His Lid (Tommy Pederson) West End Blues Recorded October 17, 1944 Brunswick ex Decca

Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra Southern Fried/Little John Ordinary November 30, 1947 Apollo 1107

Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra Pow wow/Strollin ( Howard McGhee) Brunswick ex Decca

I like of these but Dodo gets the nod on the first. I haven't found the personnel for Pow Wow/Strollin but its good too

Pow Wow & Strollin' were recorded at the same October 21, 1943 session as "The Moose."

Jimmy Pupa, Al Killian, Lyman Vunk, Peanuts Holland (tp) Spud Murphy, Bob Swift, Eddie Bert, Ed Fromm (tb) Charlie Barnet (sax,ldr) Rae De Geer, Buddy De Franco (as) Mike Goldberg, Kurt Bloom (ts) Dodo Marmarosa (p) Turk van Lake (g,arr) Russ Wagner (b) Harold Hahn (d)

And according to the discography in the Drop Me Off in Harlem CD, the English Brunswick 78 you have was the first issue of "Moose."

I come across Barnet's Apollo 78s occasionally, but have never picked one up. How is the one you got?

[jeffcrom]

Some of my recent 78 spins include:

Dave Brubeck Quartet - A Foggy Day/Lyons Busy (Fantasy, 1951)

Dave Brubeck Quartet - The Trolley Song/My Heart Stood Still (piano solo) (Fantasy, 1953)

Milt Buckner and His Orchestra - Yesterdays/Buck-a-Boo (MGM, 1949) "Yesterdays" is a horn feature for Julius Watkins; "Buck-a-Boo" has a tenor chase with Billy Mitchell & Alva McCain.

Tab Smith - Love/Slow and Easy (Chess, 1950)

Blind Boy Fuller - Step It Up and Go/Little Woman You're So Sweet (Okeh, 1940) I really like "Little Woman." "Step It Up" tracks surprisingly well, considering the fact that a previous owner etched his name into the grooves!

Willie Mabon - The Seventh Son/Lucinda (Chess, 1955). Mabon is a little too urbane to pull of "Seventh Son" convincingly, but "Lucinda" is just perfect.

[Clunky]

Inspired by Jeffcrom's delve into Charlie Barnet I realised that barring one Hep Cd - 1941 Transcriptions and a single Victor 78 I had all too little Barnet and no Deccas. So I went to today to my local 78 stockist to look through the Bs .I found multiple copies of Barnets's Victors on HMV plus at least three copies of The Moose on Brunswick on which Michael Marmarosa is featured.

I came away with ...

Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra The Moose (Ralph Burns) /Sky Liner 1944 Brunswick 03601 (ex Decca)

Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra Flat Top Flips His Lid (Tommy Pederson) West End Blues Recorded October 17, 1944 Brunswick ex Decca

Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra Southern Fried/Little John Ordinary November 30, 1947 Apollo 1107

Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra Pow wow/Strollin ( Howard McGhee) Brunswick ex Decca

I like of these but Dodo gets the nod on the first. I haven't found the personnel for Pow Wow/Strollin but its good too

Pow Wow & Strollin' were recorded at the same October 21, 1943 session as "The Moose."

Jimmy Pupa, Al Killian, Lyman Vunk, Peanuts Holland (tp) Spud Murphy, Bob Swift, Eddie Bert, Ed Fromm (tb) Charlie Barnet (sax,ldr) Rae De Geer, Buddy De Franco (as) Mike Goldberg, Kurt Bloom (ts) Dodo Marmarosa (p) Turk van Lake (g,arr) Russ Wagner (b) Harold Hahn (d)

And according to the discography in the Drop Me Off in Harlem CD, the English Brunswick 78 you have was the first issue of "Moose."

I come across Barnet's Apollo 78s occasionally, but have never picked one up. How is the one you got?

Thanks for the info. The Apollo 78 is listed as

Charlie Barnet And His Orchestra

James Campbell, Joe Graves, Jimmy Nottingham, Doc Severinsen, Clark Terry (tp) Walt Benson, Porky Cohen, Fred Zito (tb) Walter Weidler, Wolfgang Weidler (as) Kurt Bloom, Bud Shank (ts) Charlie Barnet (ts, ss, as) Bob Dawes (bars) Claude Williamson (p) unknown (g) Don Totsi (b) Dick Shanahan (d) Bunny Briggs (vo) Billy May (arr)

NYC, November 30, 1947

As with most Apollos the sound Q leaves a bit to be desired. Little John Ordinary is a flag waver with little solo space apart form Barnet ( I think), Southern Fried features some wah-wah trumpet and a brief piano solo by Williamson. No vocals on these two sides. Not bad but really not too distinguished as Barnets own solos can sound a little feeble.

Edited October 2, 2011 by Clunky

[Clunky]

In preparation for the upcoming Hawk box, I went looking into my Hawk 78s

First up

Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra Passin it around/Rocky Comfort- Parlophone UK ( ex Okeh) 1940

Coleman Hawkins Quintet Cocktails for Two/ Bean and the boys Esquire 10-132 - unclear original issue but this fine set of sides includes Roach, Milt Jackson Hank Jones and Curly Russell