What 78 are you spinning right now ?

[kt66brooklyn]

I had an interesting haul this week. I usually stay away from 1950's 78's, because I like to focus on earlier stuff, but these followed me home:

Lucky Joe Almond, Tanglewood Waltz/Every Day of the Week, Trumpet 233-- Not an exceptional Trumpet, but one of the last.

Herby Shozel, I Can't Believe it's True/Your Gonna Pay, Sarg 116-- A fun one in great sound.

The Preston Brown Trio, Lullaby of the Leaves/Night Flight, Baton 203-- Good, not great, organ trio.

"Boogie" McCain, Stay Out of Automobiles/Love to Make Up, Trumpet 231-- Excellent guitar!

Sticks Evans Orch. w/Alvin Clark , Go-Go-Go Blow/Don't Stop!, Riviera 950-- A great R&B record!

Art Pepper Quartet, Surf Ride/Holiday Flight, Discovery 158-- I'm happy to have this one!

Ahmad Jamal, But Not For Me/Seleritus, Parrot 810-- Nice record previously unfamiliar to me.

Sarg is the label that introduced us to Willie Nelson. The label has been anthologized on a Bear Family CD set. The Boogie McCain record is apparently rare because Trumpet folded shortly after this record was released, though the Almond record with a higher number is fairly common . The Preston Brown record features good sax and drums, but is let down by intrusive comping by the organ.

The Sticks Evans record, his only one as a leader, is a bit of a novelty for having Go more than twice in the title. I have not found any info about the vocalist, who does a fine job here. There weren't many of these Riviera's pressed, apparently. Art is great, needless to say and it's nice to have a clean copy of this complete with the original Discovery sleeve. I dove in to this pile of records because of the Jamal record, which was just sitting on top of the pile without anything to protect it. I have seen other 78's by him, but never a Parrot, so I sprung for it.

I wouldn't bother with any of these unless they were clean. They all look and play mostly in near mint condition with only a couple of scratches on Pepper's Holiday Flight (creating four light ticks) to remind me that these records are around 60 years old. All for a buck a record.

[Clunky]

I had an interesting haul this week. I usually stay away from 1950's 78's, because I like to focus on earlier stuff, but these followed me home:

Lucky Joe Almond, Tanglewood Waltz/Every Day of the Week, Trumpet 233-- Not an exceptional Trumpet, but one of the last.

Herby Shozel, I Can't Believe it's True/Your Gonna Pay, Sarg 116-- A fun one in great sound.

The Preston Brown Trio, Lullaby of the Leaves/Night Flight, Baton 203-- Good, not great, organ trio.

"Boogie" McCain, Stay Out of Automobiles/Love to Make Up, Trumpet 231-- Excellent guitar!

Sticks Evans Orch. w/Alvin Clark , Go-Go-Go Blow/Don't Stop!, Riviera 950-- A great R&B record!

Art Pepper Quartet, Surf Ride/Holiday Flight, Discovery 158-- I'm happy to have this one!

Ahmad Jamal, But Not For Me/Seleritus, Parrot 810-- Nice record previously unfamiliar to me.

Sarg is the label that introduced us to Willie Nelson. The label has been anthologized on a Bear Family CD set. The Boogie McCain record is apparently rare because Trumpet folded shortly after this record was released, though the Almond record with a higher number is fairly common . The Preston Brown record features good sax and drums, but is let down by intrusive comping by the organ.

The Sticks Evans record, his only one as a leader, is a bit of a novelty for having Go more than twice in the title. I have not found any info about the vocalist, who does a fine job here. There weren't many of these Riviera's pressed, apparently. Art is great, needless to say and it's nice to have a clean copy of this complete with the original Discovery sleeve. I dove in to this pile of records because of the Jamal record, which was just sitting on top of the pile without anything to protect it. I have seen other 78's by him, but never a Parrot, so I sprung for it.

I wouldn't bother with any of these unless they were clean. They all look and play mostly in near mint condition with only a couple of scratches on Pepper's Holiday Flight (creating four light ticks) to remind me that these records are around 60 years old. All for a buck a record.

Nice haul, you clearly know what you're getting , which is more than I do on many occasions. The Art Pepper looks like a nice find.

[Big Beat Steve]

I had an interesting haul this week. I usually stay away from 1950's 78's, because I like to focus on earlier stuff, but these followed me home:

Lucky Joe Almond, Tanglewood Waltz/Every Day of the Week, Trumpet 233-- Not an exceptional Trumpet, but one of the last.

Herby Shozel, I Can't Believe it's True/Your Gonna Pay, Sarg 116-- A fun one in great sound.

The Preston Brown Trio, Lullaby of the Leaves/Night Flight, Baton 203-- Good, not great, organ trio.

"Boogie" McCain, Stay Out of Automobiles/Love to Make Up, Trumpet 231-- Excellent guitar!

Sticks Evans Orch. w/Alvin Clark , Go-Go-Go Blow/Don't Stop!, Riviera 950-- A great R&B record!

Art Pepper Quartet, Surf Ride/Holiday Flight, Discovery 158-- I'm happy to have this one!

Ahmad Jamal, But Not For Me/Seleritus, Parrot 810-- Nice record previously unfamiliar to me.

Sarg is the label that introduced us to Willie Nelson. The label has been anthologized on a Bear Family CD set. The Boogie McCain record is apparently rare because Trumpet folded shortly after this record was released, though the Almond record with a higher number is fairly common . The Preston Brown record features good sax and drums, but is let down by intrusive comping by the organ.

The Sticks Evans record, his only one as a leader, is a bit of a novelty for having Go more than twice in the title. I have not found any info about the vocalist, who does a fine job here. There weren't many of these Riviera's pressed, apparently. Art is great, needless to say and it's nice to have a clean copy of this complete with the original Discovery sleeve. I dove in to this pile of records because of the Jamal record, which was just sitting on top of the pile without anything to protect it. I have seen other 78's by him, but never a Parrot, so I sprung for it.

Very nice finds!

Boogie McCain is harp master Jerry McCain. Thankfully "Stay Out of Automobiles" has been reissued on LP.

According to the Leadbitter-Slaven discography, Sticks Evans had two more releases a bit later on. One on Zebra 118, one on Soul (no number). The one you found is indicated as having been recorded in 1957, i.e. relatively late for a 78.

[jeffcrom]

Lucky Joe Almond, Tanglewood Waltz/Every Day of the Week, Trumpet 233-- Not an exceptional Trumpet, but one of the last.

"Tanglewood Waltz" is one of the songs that earned Almond the scathing remark by Lillian McMurry I quoted in post 689.

I dove in to this pile of records because of the Jamal record, which was just sitting on top of the pile without anything to protect it. I have seen other 78's by him, but never a Parrot, so I sprung for it.

Jamal had two 78s on Parrot (I've got them both); they also came out on 45. I don't think they've ever been reissued, but someone will correct me if I'm wrong. They represent Richard Davis' recording debut.

Boogie McCain is harp master Jerry McCain. Thankfully "Stay Out of Automobiles" has been reissued on LP.

It's also on an Alligator CD,Strange Kind of Feeling, with Trumpet tracks by McCain, Tiny Kennedy, and Clayton Love.

[Clunky]

What's Jamal's style like on these earliest discs ?

[jeffcrom]

What's Jamal's style like on these earliest discs ?

Not his earliest - his Parrot sessions came after his first two Epic sessions, so he had already made iconic records like "Surrey With the Fringe on Top" and "Billy Boy." Then he made the (apparently unreissued) four-tune Parrot 78/45 session in 1954, followed by the Ahmad Jamal Plays LP for Parrot in 1955 - it was later issued as Chamber Music of the New Jazz on Argo. (Thanks to JSngry for pointing out the origins of the Argo LP to me a while back.)

So the Parrot 78s are very much in his mid-50s style. They're good.

Edited August 12, 2013 by jeffcrom

[Clunky]

Lots of 78s in rotation tonight.

I'm not listing because I can't recall but around a dozen Spike Hughes UK Decca sides. I know I've mentioned this before but I love Spike Hughes.

He strikes me as the first British ( Irish actually) genius of jazz. Ok, genius might be a little strong but sides like "Six bells stampede", "Harlem Symphony", "Buddy's Wednesday Outing" and " Sirroco" are very strong compositions and using Ellington as a model his arrangements swing. He had some decent players in Buddy Featherstonhaugh , Norman Payne & Phil Buchel. His sides from 1931-33 are well worth hearing if you can. Quite a number of his sides seem to be available to DL from amazon etc.

Enough of that next up a couple of Manor 78s. Nice and mint but not that quiet.

Dizzy Gillespie---------"Good Bait/ I can't get started"--------Manor 5000

Dizzy Gillespie ---------"Be bop/ Salted Peanuts"--------------Manor

His first sides as a leader. Trummy Young seems out of place but does no harm. Four very nice swing-to-bop sides.

[kt66brooklyn]

T

I had an interesting haul this week. I usually stay away from 1950's 78's, because I like to focus on earlier stuff, but these followed me home:

Lucky Joe Almond, Tanglewood Waltz/Every Day of the Week, Trumpet 233-- Not an exceptional Trumpet, but one of the last.

Herby Shozel, I Can't Believe it's True/Your Gonna Pay, Sarg 116-- A fun one in great sound.

The Preston Brown Trio, Lullaby of the Leaves/Night Flight, Baton 203-- Good, not great, organ trio.

"Boogie" McCain, Stay Out of Automobiles/Love to Make Up, Trumpet 231-- Excellent guitar!

Sticks Evans Orch. w/Alvin Clark , Go-Go-Go Blow/Don't Stop!, Riviera 950-- A great R&B record!

Art Pepper Quartet, Surf Ride/Holiday Flight, Discovery 158-- I'm happy to have this one!

Ahmad Jamal, But Not For Me/Seleritus, Parrot 810-- Nice record previously unfamiliar to me.

Sarg is the label that introduced us to Willie Nelson. The label has been anthologized on a Bear Family CD set. The Boogie McCain record is apparently rare because Trumpet folded shortly after this record was released, though the Almond record with a higher number is fairly common . The Preston Brown record features good sax and drums, but is let down by intrusive comping by the organ.

The Sticks Evans record, his only one as a leader, is a bit of a novelty for having Go more than twice in the title. I have not found any info about the vocalist, who does a fine job here. There weren't many of these Riviera's pressed, apparently. Art is great, needless to say and it's nice to have a clean copy of this complete with the original Discovery sleeve. I dove in to this pile of records because of the Jamal record, which was just sitting on top of the pile without anything to protect it. I have seen other 78's by him, but never a Parrot, so I sprung for it.

Very nice finds!

Boogie McCain is harp master Jerry McCain. Thankfully "Stay Out of Automobiles" has been reissued on LP.

According to the Leadbitter-Slaven discography, Sticks Evans had two more releases a bit later on. One on Zebra 118, one on Soul (no number). The one you found is indicated as having been recorded in 1957, i.e. relatively late for a 78.

Yes, I found a sales record for the Zebra 45 after I posted. The Riviera label, a subsidiary of Rainbow Records, was started in 1955, so all the titles would be fairly late. The Five Crowns title on Riviera is a holy grail Doo Wop disc.

""Tanglewood Waltz" is one of the songs that earned Almond the scathing remark by Lillian McMurry I quoted in post 689."

--No doubt partly because the label went out of business shortly thereafter. The failure of this record may have contributed to the failure.

The Art Pepper record is the gem for me. It sounds substantially better than any other version I have heard. The Jamal record holds up well to repeated listening. Initially, it sounds somewhat lightweight, but both tunes are intricate constructions with many interesting details.

[Clunky]

Played lots of 78s over the past few days, as ever a wide mix of sides , occasionally swapping stylii around to see if it makes a difference . For some labels it does and others not much. One that has benefitted is one of my favourite 78s

Billy Eckstein (sic) with Deluxe All star band -------I've got a date with rhythm/ The Four Blues---------I couldn't hear nobody pray------(Delux 1003)

The Billy Eckstine side is wonderful big band with Wardell , Dizzy, Freddie Webster, Oscar Pettiford a.o.

The Four Blues side is a gospel vocal quartet and as I've noted before the previous owner has near worthis wonderful side to death. My new 0035 stylus has managed to dig out just a bit more of the music. It's still a hard listen due to surface noise but I still love it.

[jeffcrom]

Yesterday and today I played a bunch of records featuring the early New Orleans clarinetist Alcide Nunez. Nunez is best known as the lead voice in the trumpet-less Louisiana Five, but he also made a dozen records or so as a member of the Harry Yerkes dance band empire. I played a bunch of 1919-20 records by Yerkes' Dance Orchestra, Yerkes' Novelty Five, Yerkes' Southern Five, and The Happy Six. On many of them, Nunez is buried in the ensemble, and he may not even be present on some. But these two were the winners:

Yerkes Southern Five - Railroad Blues/Happy Six - Shake Your Little Shoulder (Columbia, 1920)

Novelty Five - Barkin' Dog Blues/Laughing Hyena (Aeolian-Vocalion, 1920).

"Railroad Blues" is really excellent for 1920; it's a Lucky Roberts tune, and there's no trumpet, so Nunez shares the front line with fellow New Orleanian Tom Brown on trombone. The Aeolian-Vocalion titles look pretty grim, and "Laughing Hyena" is as bad as you would think. But there is some excellent jazz between the animal imitations in "Barkin' Dog." This stuff would not be to everyone's taste, but I like it.

[Clunky]

Picked up some nice British jazz 78s

Victor Feldman----Zanzibar / Coolin Off-----(Parlophone F 2070) 1944 London

1944 recordings with ten year old Victor showing up his lame brothers' playing. Someone plays some very nice piano , might be Feldman but it's followed directly by a thunderous drum solo ( a la Gene Crupa). Very curious novelty set of sides , you wonder how it got released let alone recorded. Young Vic's playing is very assured showing what amazing talent he had at a young age.

Valaida ( Queen of the trumpet). --------- Until the real thing comes along/ High hat ,trumpet and rhythm---------(Parlophone F559) London September 1936

Valaida was apparently a black American trumpeter/ vocalist who came to UK and recorded some quite hot sides with some English jazzmen. Her phrasing is reminiscent of Billie whilst not being in the same emotional league. So , decent singing which swings well. I gather that she moved on to Europe at some point and had a close scrape with the Nazis ( I don't know any details) before returning shaken to the US. Well worth hearing these sides.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Clunky

[Clunky]

Ray Miller & his orchestra ----------My honey's loving arms/ Sorry--------( Brunswick USA) recorded Cincinnati February 1928

Two nice sides with hot solos on both sides. I'd not previously heard of Miller and there's not too much on the interweb about him. I presume this was a white band but the playing has an edge suggesting otherwise . Whatever a fine set of sides. My copy is decent enough but the recorded sound is a little distant but well balanced . Not sure I have any other Cincinnati jazz in my collection.

[jeffcrom]

Ray Miller & his orchestra ----------My honey's loving arms/ Sorry--------( Brunswick USA) recorded Cincinnati February 1928

Two nice sides with hot solos on both sides. I'd not previously heard of Miller and there's not too much on the interweb about him. I presume this was a white band but the playing has an edge suggesting otherwise . Whatever a fine set of sides. My copy is decent enough but the recorded sound is a little distant but well balanced . Not sure I have any other Cincinnati jazz in my collection.

By coincidence, I played all my Ray Miller 78s yesterday. I have four, ranging from boring to darn good, which probably sums up the band in general. My earlier ones (1921-22, on Regal and Columbia), have New Orleans trombonist Tom Brown, but the best is "Red Hot Henry "Brown" on Brunswick, from 1925. It has solos by Frank Trumbauer and Miff Mole. Soon after your record was made, Muggsy Spanier joined the band for awhile.

[Clunky]

The Denza Dance Band----------Tomorrow Morning/ let's talk about my sweetie--------(Columbia UK) 4048

Odd English labelling of sides from two entirely different groups. Tomorrow... is by the Little Ramblers from NY Dec 1925 and the other side is by someone called the Paul Ash Orchestra ( rec. Feb 1926 in Chicago ). Adrian Rollini is heard on Tomorrow. The Paul Ash side is more like a dance band side with a brief hot solo just for good measure. Very much a product of it's time, interesting but hardly essential ( pretty much like most of my 78s!!!!)

[jeffcrom]

A cool one arrived in the mail today; I had been looking for an affordable copy of this one, and finally spotted one. It's a 1949 vinyl (not shellac) 78 - the first issue of Caruso's 1916 recording of "Vecchia Zimarra" (The Coat Song) from La Boheme - a bass aria, not a tenor piece. On the flip side, Frances Alda tells the story of how Caruso bailed out a bass singer who lost his voice on stage during the last act of the opera; he was subsequently persuaded to record the song. The record uses the "batwing" label design Victor used between 1914 and 1926.

Edited September 8, 2013 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

Some primo blues/country harmonica:

DeFord Bailey - Alcohoic Blues/Evening Prayer Blues (Vocalion, 1927)

Then I had a 1950s teen dance party, apparently:

Chuck Berry - No Money Down/Downbound Train (Chess)

Carl Perkins - Blue Suede Shoes/Honey, Don't! (Sun)

Fats Domino - So-Long/When My Dreamboat Comes Home (Imperial)

[jeffcrom]

Today I stopped in at a junk store which has always just looked like it should have a couple of stacks of 78s lying around, but which never has on past visits. Well, today it did. Most of the records weren't in good shape, and most were the usual forgettable music, but there was some interesting stuff mixed in. I walked out with seven records; so far I've cleaned and played:

Annette Hanshaw - Here We Are/True Blue Lou (Publix, 1929). Ms. Hanshaw is accompanied by a hot little band, including Phil Napoleon and the Dorsey brothers. And I'm enough of a 78 collector (as opposed to just a music lover) that I was tickled to find a record on a label I didn't have; Publix was manufactured by Columbia for Paramount Pictures to sell as movie tie-ins.

Emassy Dance Orchestra - Yours and Mine/Something to Remember You By (Crown, 1930). Okay, this one was a dud. The Dorseys and Eddie Lang are present, but there's not a trace of jazz or hot playing to be found. Nice label, though.

Bessie Smith - Honey Man Blues/One and Two Blues (Columbia, 1926). Not in great shape, but I rarely run across Bessie "in the wild." Well worth two dollars.

Vess Ossman - Keep Off the Grass/Silver Heels (Victor, 1909 pressing of 1903 and 1906 recordings). Surprised to find this vintage ragtime banjo record in the stack.

Chu Berry - Blowing Up a Breeze/Midnight at Minton's (Commodore, 1941).

The remaining two are from the turn of the 1950s: Larry Darnell and Lynn Hope. I'll spin those tomorrow.

[jeffcrom]

Some more-or-less downhome blues on a rainy afternoon. These records range from quite worn (but still enjoyable), like the Davenport, to near mint, like the Hollins.

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - Katie Mae/Boy Friend Blues (RCA VIctor, 1946/47)

Arthur Crudup - Where Did You Stay Last Night?/Love Me Mama (RCA Victor, 1951)

Big Boy Crudup - Goin' Back to Georgia/Mr. So and So (RCA Victor, 1952). Victor couldn't decide what to call him.

Cow Cow Davenport - Chimes Blues/Slow Drag (Broadway, 1929). It's complicated, but different takes of these first appeared on Paramount and Gennett. These appear to be the Gennett takes.

Tommy McClennan - She's Just Huggin' Size/My Little Girl (Bluebird,1940). Good, rough Delta blues, and the record's in nice shape, too.

Tony Hollins - Fishin' Blues/I'll Get a Break (Decca, 1952). More good stuff, with Sunnyland Slim and an unknown, but excellent second guitarist.

[Clunky]

Today I stopped in at a junk store which has always just looked like it should have a couple of stacks of 78s lying around, but which never has on past visits. Well, today it did. Most of the records weren't in good shape, and most were the usual forgettable music, but there was some interesting stuff mixed in. I walked out with seven records; so far I've cleaned and played:

Annette Hanshaw - Here We Are/True Blue Lou (Publix, 1929). Ms. Hanshaw is accompanied by a hot little band, including Phil Napoleon and the Dorsey brothers. And I'm enough of a 78 collector (as opposed to just a music lover) that I was tickled to find a record on a label I didn't have; Publix was manufactured by Columbia for Paramount Pictures to sell as movie tie-ins.

Emassy Dance Orchestra - Yours and Mine/Something to Remember You By (Crown, 1930). Okay, this one was a dud. The Dorseys and Eddie Lang are present, but there's not a trace of jazz or hot playing to be found. Nice label, though.

Bessie Smith - Honey Man Blues/One and Two Blues (Columbia, 1926). Not in great shape, but I rarely run across Bessie "in the wild." Well worth two dollars.

Vess Ossman - Keep Off the Grass/Silver Heels (Victor, 1909 pressing of 1903 and 1906 recordings). Surprised to find this vintage ragtime banjo record in the stack.

Chu Berry - Blowing Up a Breeze/Midnight at Minton's (Commodore, 1941).

The remaining two are from the turn of the 1950s: Larry Darnell and Lynn Hope. I'll spin those tomorrow.

Some nice finds there. Two dollars for a Bessie Smith ? I think so. The Berry will be known to many but original Commodores lay waste to LP/CD reissues ( that I've heard)

Played some 78s today for the first time in weeks. I bought four for £2 a piece. Two nice Rex Stewart Blue Stars from 1947 in Paris, a Brunswick UK pairing of Mary Lou Williams with Mound City grouping on the other. Finally an Ida Cox Parlophone UK (Last mile blues) from 1941. I'm still not quite sure if I have it already as my database of shellac is incomplete. All four were very grubby but cleaned up well with only Stewart's "Don't get around much any more" showing signs of wear.

Also bought a Grateful Dead LP ( only my second) but that's another thread altogether.

Edited September 21, 2013 by Clunky

[paul secor]

So you think that only jazz collectors have deep pockets?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300969625287?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

I won't be spinning THAT 78.

[jeffcrom]

So you think that only jazz collectors have deep pockets?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300969625287?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

I won't be spinning THAT 78.

Yeah, I saw that the day it was posted. No copy of that record had been found by collectors until a few years ago; I don't know if that's the only known copy for sale, or if another copy has been found.

[jeffcrom]

So you think that only jazz collectors have deep pockets?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300969625287?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

I won't be spinning THAT 78.

Yeah, I saw that the day it was posted. No copy of that record had been found by collectors until a few years ago; I don't know if that's the only known copy for sale, or if another copy has been found.

After reading the entire page, it's apparent that this is the second known copy, and it's obvious that the seller really didn't know what he had. I hope it's really VG++ condition - that's better than the previously known copy (based on the CD transfer that's been issued). If it's not VG++, the winner of this auction is going to be pretty unhappy.

[jeffcrom]

Just a few today, featuring Tampa Red and his partner Georgia Tom Dorsey:

Memphis Mose (Georgia Tom Dorsey) - Pig Meat Papa/Hear Me Beefin' at You (Brunswick 1929)

The Hokum Boys Selling That Stuff/Beedle Um Bum (Paramount, 1928). Tampa Red, Georgia Tom, and Alex Hill on vocals.

Tampa Red and the Chicago Five - It's Hard to Believe It's True/I Give My Love to You (Bluebird, 1937). With an unknown clarinet who I think is Arnett Nelson.

[Chuck Nessa]

And we have a winner:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-TOMMY-JOHNSON-ALCOHOL-AND-JAKE-BLUES-RIDIN-HORSE-PARAMOUNT-1250-VG-/300969625287?autorefresh=true&pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item46133006c7&nma=true&si=C8p5bob%252B030Ge30iJ26j0r6b0N8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

[paul secor]

And we have a winner:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-TOMMY-JOHNSON-ALCOHOL-AND-JAKE-BLUES-RIDIN-HORSE-PARAMOUNT-1250-VG-/300969625287?autorefresh=true&pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item46133006c7&nma=true&si=C8p5bob%252B030Ge30iJ26j0r6b0N8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

I think that Bill Gates has become a blues collector.