Jo Stafford, CSL, and a whole lot more!

I'm finally getting this posting out...it certainly took long enough, didn't it?

Last month, one of the last surviving singers from the pre-rock 'n' roll era, Jo Stafford, quietly passed away at the age of 90. There have been so many tributes in the blogosphere and newspapers
(http://www.nysun.com/obituaries/jo-stafford-90-singer-of-swing-standards/82157/ is probably the best one) that there's little that I can add.

(5 November 2008 flash: I just found a nice Stafford discography here: http://web.cfa.arizona.edu/westonstafford/JoDiscography.pdf )

However, there are a couple of interesting 45 rpm singles that you probably haven't seen:

I've always been fond of the records that Jo and her husband Paul Weston recorded under the name of Jonathan and Darlene Edwards...their impression of a truly awful lounge act. "Jonathan" would play the piano in the worst possible manner... hitting wrong notes everywhere and losing (or adding) a beat here and there. "Darlene" would sing a quarter-tone sharp.

I knew that a 45 rpm single was issued from their first Columbia LP, 1957's The Piano Artistry of Jonathan Edwards...but I didn't know that there was also a special promotional picture sleeve that went along with it. A very special promotional picture sleeve. I got my copy fairly recently on eBay for a couple of bucks plus postage.

JRZSP 40180 It's Magic Jonathan & Darlene Edwards (Paul Weston & Jo Stafford) Columbia 4-41001
http://www.box.net/shared/iiii5m1u1i
Hollywood, 8 April 1957

Marvelous, isn't it? Jonathan's piano artistry is particularly good here...the fingers on his two right hands (check the pic sleeve!) are certainly nimble.

While I'm at it, here's the flip side (Jo sits this one out):

JRZSP 40269 Nola Jonathan Edwards Columbia 4-41001
http://www.box.net/shared/jp40l3eklc
Hollywood, late 1957

That tiny picture at the top of the B-side of the sleeve is just too good not to blow up...

I've never seen this pic anywhere else...it's not on the LP.

The LP cover is here, by the way: http://lpcoverlover.com/2008/08/07/right-handed/

In the mid 1950s, there were many (far too many, actually) cover versions of rhythm 'n' blues hits, taking the rough edges off of great R & B songs, perhaps sanitizing the lyrics a bit, and having someone like of Pat Boone or Gale Storm record them for the white pop market. Sadly, many sold better than the original records.

Here's one of the strangest ones...


RZSP 33324 I Got A Sweetie Jo Stafford Columbia 4-40451
http://www.box.net/shared/0psx8d6bzb
Hollywood, 4 February 1955: Jo Stafford, vocal; Paul Weston Orch.

Yep...that's a completely retooled and retitled version of Ray Charles's I Got A Woman. Don't blame Jo...she was probably forced to do it by the head of Columbia's pop division at the time, Mitch Miller (I'm thankful Mitch didn't use Stan Freeman's harpsichord this time around.) Actually, Jo sings it fairly well, but nobody can make lyrics like "he's my dreamboat" sound anything but ludicrous. Notice that the only composer credit is Ray Charles...perhaps the dreamboater decided to remain anonymous. Paging Alan Smithee!

Oh, did you happen to notice the CSL notation at the 4:00 position on the label? I've seen it on many Columbia promos of the period. I remember asking around at the various record shows a few years back...and nobody knew what "CSL" stood for.

I finally came across a little notice here:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/5876/cd6/comments.htm (and look about halfway down the page).

So the "CSL" notation was to tell the deejay that this record conformed to the Columbia Standard Level!! It's amazing what one can find on the 'Web, isn't it? At least in this instance, anyway.

Here's another oddball record I spotted on eBay (cost me a buck or two) a while back...


It's the original CSL calibrating record! Here's a little bit of it.
http://www.box.net/shared/0s5u3jdki3

It's a real toe-tapper, isn't it? Needless to say, it doesn't get a lot of play at Chateau Zorch. At least the label is interesting.

A while back, someone in 78-L remarked that he seemed to recall that the "Hi Fi Plus" logo at the 9:00 position on many promos of the period was the indicator for the deejay that the record conformed to some standard level.

If that was the case, why are stickers like this

often found on covers on LPs that were issued to the public? My guess is that "Hi Fi Plus" was Columbia's answer to RCA Victor's "New Orthophonic High Fidelity"

Of course, it was the CSL that the 78-Ler was thinking of. Since both the CSL and Hi-Fi Plus were first used at around the same time, it's understandable that there was a little confusion...and it's been over half a century since most people have given these matters any serious thought.

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In February, I mentioned all of the recording activity that followed the first From Spirituals to Swing concert in December 1938. ARC/Vocalion recorded Mitchell's Christian Singers, Sonny Terry, and the three boogie-woogie pianists, Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis.

Shortly thereafter, the three pianists recorded for Blue Note....the first sessions for this new label.

From what I've heard, Alfred Lion had fifty copies each pressed of the first two records. He wasn't sure how well they'd sell. They sold quickly enough for him to continue pressing the rest of the sides and do more recording as well.

Anyhooooo....those first fifty copies used a pink and black label. Here's one of those records:


441-5 Boogie Woogie Stomp Albert Ammons Blue Note 2
http://www.box.net/shared/qyeww94848
442-8 Boogie Woogie Blues Albert Ammons Blue Note 2
http://www.box.net/shared/dkf70l94wc
NYC, 6 January 1939: Albert Ammons, piano solos.

Great sides, aren't they? One can see why they sold fairly quickly. But all subsequent pressings used the more familiar blue-and-white label (and for a while, Blue Note used a blue-on-yellow color scheme too).

(shameless plug coming...)

Psssssst....want this rarity? I'm thinking of selling it. Money's a little tighter than usual, and I'm feeling the pinch. A copy of this record sold a few months ago on eBay for close to $1,000.00. I'd be a happy Zorch indeed if my copy earned almost as much.

But do I sell it on eBay, send it to a certain well-known 78 dealer, or conduct a private sale?

Decisions, decisions....

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Here's another record I think I'll put on the block...what is probably the only time you'll hear a jug band doing...waltzes! Strange as that may seem, it proves how versatile Will Shade's group could be...they could (and did) play posh social functions, even if they had to come in through the back door to do so.

It's a pleasant record, but one that leaves some collectors flat...I got this from a big Boston-area record dealer who really didn't like it much at all. I traded a Miles Davis Prestige LP for it (shoot...the Miles would go for a pretty penny nowadays too!).

And, yes...this is also up for grabs. I have it on CD. As I said, it's pleasant and historically interesting, but it's never been a huge favorite here (if it was something else by the MJB I'd probably keep it). In the past three years or so, I have seen two or three copies of this record go for between $500-975, depending on which way the wind blew that week.

Oh, did I mention that my copy has its original dealer's sleeve?
Or, rather, a sleeve with the original dealer's sticker on it? These stickers would be put on any heavy paper sleeve...one that would temporarily house a certain record. Most of the time, the sleeve would be used several times over (notice that this sticker is on top of another one).

37038-2 Jug Band Waltz Memphis Jug Band Victor V-38537
http://www.box.net/shared/ovih4hjocw
37039-2 Mississippi River Waltz Memphis Jug Band Victor V-38537
http://www.box.net/shared/eqdpxcrk08
Memphis 15 September 1929: Will Shade, harmonica; Ben Ramey, kazoo; Charlie Burse, Vol Stevens, guitars; Jab Jones, jug.

You might ask why I left the pre-music noise in...there's a tiny, almost imperceptable pressure crack that goes in about 7 or 8 grooves...and I wanted to prove to the record-buying public that the crack is inaudible. The thumping noise that is audible at the beginning is only the bit of nail polish I put on the crack [in the lead-in only, of course] to 1) make sure the crack wouldn't get worse, and 2) to locate the crack in the first place...it's so small it's almost invisible. In the 25 or so years I've had the record, it's never gotten any worse, and it's unlikely to do so in the future.

A pair of pairs:

Something unusual...the same title, the same label...but completely different compositions! The first version of White Heat is a lesser song from The Band Wagon, sung here (and on stage) by some cat named Austerlitz. I heard he could dance a little too.

70259-1 White Heat Leo Reisman Orch. Victor 22836
http://www.box.net/shared/bkanmw5c0c
NYC 28 September 1931: Leo Reisman, conductor; large society orchestra; Fred Astaire, vocal.

Just over two years later, Will Hudson's frenetic piece with the same title was waxed by the Jimmie Lunceford orchestra:

81324-1 White Heat Jimmie Lunceford Orch Victor 24586
http://www.box.net/shared/a0komldwko
NYC 26 January 1934: Lunceford, conductor; Eddie Tompkins, Tommy Stevenson, Sy Oliver, trumpets; Henry Wells, Russell Bowles, trombones; Willie Smith, Joe Thomas, Earl Carruthers, reeds; Edwin Wilcox; piano; Al Norris, guitar; Moses Allen, tuba; Jimmy Crawford, drums.

Here's another pair of sides that share the same title...this time you can't get much more different...one's a 1920s (oh, all right...it's 1930!) classic jazz piece, the other a mid-1950s country number.

404047-A Louisiana Swing Luis Russell Orch OKeh 8811
http://www.box.net/shared/ze7y82xf55
NYC 29 May 1930: Henry "Red" Allen, Otis Johnson, trumpets; J. C. Higginbotham, trombone; Albert Nicholas, Charlie Holmes, Teddy Hill, reeds; Louis Russell, piano & conductor; Will Johnson, guitar; Pops Foster, bass; Paul Barbarin, drums.

RZSP 33350 Louisiana Swing Johnny Bond Columbia 4-21383
http://www.box.net/shared/h93kyjc5ph
mid 1954(?): Johnny Bond, vocal, unknown band.

This is the only time I've seen a CSL promo with black print. Then again, I've never seen the "Sleeper" notation or a photo on a Columbia 45 either.

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That should nail the seeds to the roof...Hope y'all have some fun with my music this time around...

A Dinner in Providence...and a couple of plugs!

In late February, "famous author dude" Will Friedwald came up to Brown University to speak and show a few film clips of Frank Sinatra. I met up with him there, we swapped a couple of CDs, and he introduced me to the professors in the Brown Music Department who asked him to come up. After the program, I was asked if I'd like to dine with them...but nobody had any ideas for a suitable restaurant. I recommended a favorite of mine...

http://www.phohorns.com/ .

None of the others had tried Vietnamese cuisine before.

We started out with a terrific appetizer, Bánh xèo, a large crepe filled with shrimp, pork and beansprouts, with a yummy sauce on the side. I have a picture of the dish here (taken at the same restaurant, but on a different day. Those are the hands of Orlac Count Petoffi Metal-Muncher, an old friend, who finally has a blog of his own: http://metal-muncher.blogspot.com/ )...
Will said that he thought it looked like a gigantic taco.

The rest of the meal was delicious too...as always!

Even better, however, was the conversation! We talked about all things musical...from Franz Liszt to Jelly Roll Morton to Sinatra (of course!) to doo-wop groups. Here are some of the records we talked about:
We were gabbing about the rarity of certain records when I mentioned that a copy of Sun To Sun Blues by Blind Blake had recently been discovered...it had been a "lost record" until then. One of the Brown professors, a hot jazz fanatic, mentioned that he wasn't too familiar with Blake. I said I had a good session for him to check out...and here it is.

20517-3 Doggin' Me Mama Blues Blind Blake Paramount 12673 http://www.box.net/shared/bo83hijwo4

20520-2 C. C. Pill Blues Blind Blake Paramount 12634http://www.box.net/shared/qertv1c00w

20521-3 Hot Potatoes Blind Blake Paramount 12673http://www.box.net/shared/hefqx5uccw

20522-2 Southbound Rag Blind Blake Paramount 12681http://www.box.net/shared/re8b7118g8
Chicago, ca. April 1928: Johnny Dodds, clarinet; Jimmy Bertrand, xylophone, slide whistle, woodblocks and speech; Blind Blake, vocal & guitar.

An unusual, free-wheeling session. Dodds's presence is always welcome (although he's not on the first side), and Bertrand's contributions are a lot of fun too. Blake (born Arthur Blake, although there is evidence that implies that his real last name may have been Phelps) was one of the best guitarists ever...very nice, ragtime-influenced playing. Good singer too!

By the way, a C. C. Pill was a Compound Cathartic, a fairly powerful laxative.

Somehow one of us (probably Will) mentioned Jo Stafford...and her hit version of Shrimp Boats came up. I said that I thought the best version of the song was by Jerry Jackson. None of the others had heard it. This record didn't do all that well when it was issued in the middle of 1964, but apparently it's still a dance favorite in the UK now. I can see why.
Shrimp Boats Jerry Jacksonhttp://www.box.net/shared/406crxq2oc

For many years I've treasured an old mono Columbia 45 of this song...when I poked around on the 'Web, I found this stereo version! I think it's a bit better than the single!

Another record I mentioned was what is probably my favorite doo-wop side. To be sure, there are better ones out there...but I love this one most (probably because I've had it since I was five or six years old). So many things are going on musically...that jangling piano in the background...the group, with a doo-doo-doo bass singer and that falsetto, all backing Joe Weaver's lead vocal, which was truly great, as the label said.

I only wish that the pressing and recording were better. The behind-the-scenes knob twiddling adds to the charm of the record. The echo comes and goes...
Baby, I Love You So Joe Weaver and the Don Juans Fortune 825http://www.box.net/shared/3bnuohpusk
Detroit, Late 1955 (issued in January 1956)

Apparently the vocal group was originally known as the Five Dollars. Here's more info: http://home.att.net/~marvart/5Dollars/5dollars.html

While I'm at it, I think I'll include this little gem for the other doo-wop collectors I know in the southern New England area...they all know and love the 1954 Cadillacs' version of Gloria (The 1960 version by The Passions is also a favorite...).

I wonder if they've ever heard the 1948 record of the same song by the Mills Brothers. It's just as pretty, in my opinion.
Gloria Mills Brothers Decca 24509http://www.box.net/shared/an5tbz4g80
22 September 1948: Harry, Donald, Herbert and John (Sr.) Mills, vocal quartet.
Yeah, I know this is a mid-1950s repressing...but it sounds better than shellac ever did! It's nice that Decca retained the original serial number, though.

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PAIRS (part one)

Here I'll post some sides, two at a time, to compare and contrast...I hope to keep Pairs as a continuing feature at the Sanctum...

I sometimes wonder what records might have influenced certain musicians in their formative years...

I'll inaugurate the Pairs section with a couple of songs about the hour of 4:00.

Here's a fairly big seller from 1922 (I've had four or five copies over the years...it must have sold fairly well):

80529-5 Four O'Clock Blues Johnny Dunn's Original Jazz Hounds Columbia A3729http://www.box.net/shared/zpndj72804
NYC 21 September 1922: Johnny Dunn, cornet; Earl Granstaff, trombone; Herschel Brassfield, Rollen Smith, reeds; George Rickson, piano; John Mitchell, banjo.

It's a pleasant little number. But does it sound familiar, especially to you country blues nuts out there?

Maybe it's because you're thinking of this:

DAL-379-1 From Four Until Late Robert Johnson Vocalion 03623http://www.box.net/shared/ba270ybcw4
Dallas, 19 June 1937: Robert Johnson, vocal & guitar.
Notice that this song is also about 4:00! My guess is that Johnson was familiar enough with the Dunn record to write his own lyrics to it...probably a few years before.

Hmmmmm...let's make this pair a threefer! Here's the Original Memphis Five doing their cover of the Dunn title. This Grey Gull is from a master leased from Paramount.
1265 Four O'Clock Blues Original Memphis Five Grey Gull 1153http://www.box.net/shared/n1awl4nww4
NYC, December 1922: Phil Napoleon, trumpet; Charlie Panelli, trombone; Jimmy Lytell, clarinet; Frank Signorelli, piano; Jack Roth, drums.

I found yet another version as this was going to press...a vocal version (with the original lyrics! Lucky that Johnson probably never heard this one, or his record could have been very different!)...I suppose it's fitting that there should be four Fours.

71323-C Four O'Clock Blues Esther Bigeou OKeh 8054http://www.box.net/shared/fcwu86ycc8
NYC, c. early March 1923: Esther Bigeou, vocal; accompanied by Rickett's Stars: Bob Ricketts, piano; others unknown.

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Here's another pair...two completely different songs with the same title!

Surely you don't need an introduction to Duke Ellington...

Do you know this side?
400032 Harlem Twist Lonnie Johnson's Harlem Footwarmers OKeh 8638 http://www.box.net/shared/lcb30zgkk8
NYC, January 19, 1928: Louis Metcalf, Bubber Miley, trumpets; Joe Nanton, trombone; Barney Bigard, Otto Hardwick, Harry Carney, reeds; Duke Ellington, piano; Fred Guy, banjo; Wellman Braud, bass; Sonny Greer, drums.

I can see you now...saying to yourself "Hey...that's East St. Louis Toodle-Oo!"

You're right, of course. Why the retitling?

In the late 1920s, Duke Ellington made dozens of sides for several labels...usually under a pseudonym (He was under contract to Victor, but that didn't stop his aggressive manager, Irving Mills, from getting his best client some extra recording work). Most of Duke's OKehs were labeled as by The Harlem Footwarmers. On one of those sessions, guitarist Lonnie Johnson sat in, and those sides were issued as by "Lonnie Johnson's Harlem Footwarmers."

So far, so good.

Here's where the retitling comes in...My guess is someone, probably a bigwig at OKeh (or Mills or Ellington himself) thought that the title East St. Louis Toodle-Oo might set off alarms at Victor. So they retitled it Harlem Twist. The flip side, Move Over, was one of those sides from the aforementioned Ellington/Johnson session, so Harlem Twist also came out under Lonnie's name. But Lonnie isn't on this side at all... (PS. I do have this 78, but only in V- condition...and there are a couple of badly stressed grooves. So I used my CD version here.)

Oddly enough, the previous year Victor recorded a completely different piece with the same title, Harlem Twist. This one was a Fud Livingston & Chauncey Morehouse composition played by a small group led by Loring "Red" Nichols:
45814-2 Harlem Twist Red Nichols Orchestra Victor 21560http://www.box.net/shared/4u31lzf480
NYC, 21 June 1928: Red Nichols, Leo McConville, trumpets; Miff Mole, trombone; Dudley Fosdick, mellophone; Fud Livingston, clarinet & tenor sax; Arthur Schutt, piano; Carl Kress, guitar; Chauncey Morehouse, drums and vocal.

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...and, since you've been very, very good, you may have a dessert! A wafer-thin mint!
Oh, what the hey...I have this piece on my hard drive...I suppose I should share this. It's very seldom heard:
A couple of weeks ago I found several twelve-inch records by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra (the picture below was snapped moments before I found those records) Included therein were some of the fairly common ones (The 1927 recording of Rhapsody In Blue [with Gershwin at the piano], for example), but there were several that I've never seen except in collections (all three Columbia records to Gershwin's Concerto in F were in this stash).

Anyway...I transferred all of them within the past couple of weeks. While recording each side, I was checking the discography for the recording dates. I was surprised to find that the first two sides of the following were recorded on 13 March 1928, the day my mom was born! That's an odd coincidence, considering I had already posted several early 1928 sides the last time around...but I could never find anything from the actual 13 March date.
Here's the complete recording of the rarely-heard Metropolis, composed (originally for solo piano) and orchestrated by Ferde Grofe (Two of its themes, however, were provided by fellow Whitemanites Matty Malneck and Harry Barris.). It was originally issued on two records (Victor 35933 and 35934), and the first two parts were indeed recorded on 13 March 1928 (I heard that composer Maurice Ravel attended this session, but wasn't exactly thrilled by what he heard.). Part 3 was recorded the next day (14 March) and the finale on 17 March.

Metropolis is a classic genre-straddling piece...it's an epic "concert jazz" item, much in the Gershwin Rhapsody tradition, and paving the way for Grofe's later Grand Canyon Suite.
I'm aware that this kind of "concert jazz" isn't for everybody. Even I have to be in the mood for it. In any case, the virtuosity of the Whiteman band, and especially pianist Roy Bargy, is to be commended. They blast through the tricky score with nary a clinker. Oh, listen for a few quick bars played by cornetist Bix Beiderbecke (he's the fourth voice in the fugue section...at 10:55).

I took the liberty of combining all four parts into one file. It's fairly obvious where the original side breaks were. I'm also borrowing the image from the poster to Fritz Lang's classic motion picture of the previous year.

Enjoy!

43141,-2,-3,-8 (four matrices) Metropolis (Grofe) Paul Whiteman's Concert Orch Victor 35933-4http://www.box.net/shared/h8d4zhcsgw
13-17 March 1928: Paul Whiteman, conductor; 24-piece orchestra.

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That's enough for now...keep watching the skies.

It Was Eighty Years Ago Today...

A couple of weeks ago, my mom turned 80! She's doing pretty well, too....

Just for fun, I threw together a CD for her of material that was recorded during the first three months of 1928. It was a pleasant mix of pop/jazz records with a dash of blues and country too. I thought I'd share a few of the highlights with you too!

On the CD, there were two very different versions of the Gus Kahn/Neil Moret number, Persian Rug: The first was by the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, from its first recording session:

400083-C Persian Rug Dorsey Brothers and their Orchestra OK 40995
http://www.box.net/shared/25a8i5vk0k
NYC, 14 February 1928: Leo McConville, Fuzzy Farrar, trumpets; Tommy Dorsey, trumpet & trombone; Jimmy Dorsey, clarinet & alto sax; Arnold Brilhart, alto sax & oboe ; Herbert Spencer, tenor sax; Carl Kress, guitar; Hank Stern, tuba; Chauncey Morehouse, drums & chimes.

Yes, that's an oboe in there! There's a bassoon in this version of the same song:
42569 Persian Rug Louisiana Sugar Babes Victor 21346
http://www.box.net/shared/05oyzwq8sg
Camden NJ, 27 March 1928: Jabbo Smith, cornet; Garvin Bushell, clarinet, alto sax & bassoon; James P. Johnson, piano; Fats Waller, organ.

This whole session (http://www.redhotjazz.com/sugarbabes.html) is pretty darned amazing...I love the interplay between piano and organ (played by James P. Johnson and his protege, Fats Waller)...Jabbo Smith's trumpet is nicely understated (he was usually a lot more flamboyant), and Garvin Bushell makes full use of all three of his instruments too. I wish that they recorded more than that one session.

It's time for a Whiteman cut...he led the most popular band in the 1920s...certainly the most prolific too. Regularly from 1927 to 1930 (and fairly often thereafter), he made some decent jazz or jazz-influenced dance records, with solos by Bix Beiderbecke, the Dorsey Brothers, Frankie Trumbauer, Jack Teagarden, and an occasional vocal by Mildred Bailey or Red McKenzie.

Oh, a cat named Crosby sang on a lot of those sides too...

Here's Bing, singing the verse on a record that could never be considered jazz. It's actually pretty awful...so overarranged, so overdone. But it's fun to hear him in an otherwise ridiculous setting.

43148-1 March of the Musketeers Paul Whiteman Orchestra Victor 21315
http://www.box.net/shared/zsihpycso4
NYC, 16 March 1928: Large orchestra with chorus, Bing Crosby, vocal.

Coincidentally, both OKeh and Victor recorded in Memphis early in 1928...

I think of this band almost every time I hear someone mention that city...
41891-2 She Stays Out All Night Long Memphis Jug Band Victor 21524
http://www.box.net/shared/klzcof44ko
Memphis 13 February 1928: Will Shade, guitar & vocal; Vol Stevens, banjo-mandolin; Ben Ramey, kazoo; Charlie Polk, jug; the band shouts occasionally.

From Lee County, Mississippi, comes this string band...and a dynamite number, recorded the same day as the MJB.

41896-2 Indian War Whoop Floyd Ming Pep Steppers Victor 21294
http://www.box.net/shared/99kt022ioc
Memphis, 13 February 1928: Hoyt Ming, fiddle; Troy Ming, mandolin; Rozelle Ming, guitar.
Catchy number...and there's a story about it here: http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/IN_IO.htm and look under Indian War Whoop.

If the previous record sounds familiar, it's because it was remade (by John Hartford) for the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Speaking of O Brother, Chris Thomas King plays a character in the movie named Tommy Johnson, who boasted of selling his soul to the Devil in exchange for his guitar artistry (the song he performed in the movie, however, is associated with Skip James, not Johnson). There really was a Tommy Johnson who told the same story...more to be found here http://www.tommyjohnsonblues.com/ .

41839-2 Maggie Campbell Blues Tommy Johnson Victor 21409
http://www.box.net/shared/26ee21sock
Memphis 4 February 1928: Tommy Johnson, vocal & guitar.

Here's another exuberant string band title, recorded by OKeh:

400332 Give The Fiddler A Dram

Carter Brothers and Son OKeh 45289

http://www.box.net/shared/ijpqfrowsw
Memphis, 24 February 1928: George Carter, vocal & fiddle; Andrew Carter, fiddle; Jimmie Carter, guitar.

OKeh also recorded in San Antonio...

400509-B Wabash Blues Troy Floyd's Shadowland Orch OKeh unissued
http://www.box.net/shared/6ieq79rco4
San Antonio 14 March 1928: Don Albert, Willie Long, trumpets; Benny Long, trombone; Troy Floyd, N. J. "Siki" Collins, Scott Bagby, reeds; Allen Vann, piano; John H. Braggs, banjo; Charlie Dixon, bass; John Humphries, drums; Kellough Jefferson, vocal.

I wonder why this side stayed in the can...it's pretty good.

Answer to Mystery Quiz:

Sadly, nobody guessed Joe Mooney (1911-1975)...actually, nobody guessed anything at all. It must be a busy time for the regulars.

Mooney is one of my favorite vocalists...there is nobody who sounded quite like him. I've heard that Sinatra and Bennett considered Mooney one of the very best as well.

E1-KB-1903 Crazy She Calls Me Joe Mooney Trio Carousel 2003
http://www.box.net/shared/qg5gm080gw
Hackensack NJ 26 May 1951: Joe Mooney, vocal & Hammond organ; Bucky Pizzarelli, guitar; Bob Carter, bass.

The reason this record is special is revealed by the Hackensack location...it's from the first issued session recorded by the legendary Rudy Van Gelder.

Mooney started in the late 1920s playing piano and singing backup for his brother Dan in a duet called The Sunshine Boys (not to be confused with the country group, of course!)...they made quite a few records together, often backed by the Dorseys.

Both Mooney boys had congenital blindness, but that didn't stop Joe. He went on to arrange for Paul Whiteman (although I'd love to know which charts were his...Rust's Dance Band Discography mentions his accordion appearing on some of Pops's Decca sides), he's apparently on a session or two by Buddy Rodgers in the late 1930s too.

From 1946 until the 1948 recording ban, he was at Decca leading a very innovative quartet, featuring himself on vocals and accordion, and Andy Fitzgerald's clarinet. These Decca sides sold moderately well, but Mooney couldn't get gigs outside of NYC so the group eventually folded. Those Deccas were vocals that really didn't show all that the group could do...the Hep Label has two terrific CDs that fill the void. All of the group's issued sides are therein, along with a nice selection of airchecks...some of which are instrumentals.

Mooney passed through the Sauter-Finegan orchestra in the early 1950s, scoring a rather big hit (#13 on the Billboard Charts) with Nina Never Knew. In 1955, he recorded the Lush Life album for Atlantic...Mooney sings and plays organ here. Koch has reissued it.

The last two albums that Mooney recorded were for Columbia in the early 1960s, accompanied by a swinging studio orchestra...and there are occasional solos by Mooney on piano, accordion and organ. His singing was great here too. Koch reissued these LPs on one CD too.

Someday, I've got to put together and post a sampler of Mooney's work. Most of his material is available, but he's still not too well known, at least to the general public. Too bad. He deserves more acclaim.

That should nail things down for this installment...until the next time.

Change Those Push-Buttons Next Week!

Here's a curious record...it's a twelve-incher, pressed on early vinyl by Victor.

The contents are thirteen radio commercials, dealing with the push-buttons on home radios and the problems that the re-allocation of frequencies would cause. The first six commercials were meant to be broadcast before March 29, and the remaining seven would be played after the change. Each spot has a little dramatized skit illustrating the predicted confusion of the average American, then an announcer comes in to explain what is going on. He also makes sure to tell the listener that the push-buttons could be reset by a qualified technician for a small fee. Of course, the tech would test the radio tubes too, and replace any that were in danger of burning out. And the announcer on the record finally tells the audience to listen to the local announcer, who'd drop a plug for some local RCA Victor radio dealer.

When I got this record about twenty years ago, it made me wonder...what was this all about, and when did it occur? Bear in mind, there was hardly any Internet in the late 1980s. I certainly hadn't known anything about it. I knew even less about this frequency shift.

Eventually I was able to determine that this record dated to 1941...and the NARBA (the old North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement, consisting of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti) was responsible.

You can find more info on this more-or-less forgotten footnote to American radio history here: http://broadcasting.wikia.com/wiki/1941_frequency_reassignments and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Radio_Broadcasting_Agreement .

We're fast approaching the 67th anniversary of this industry-wide re-allocation of radio frequencies.

What's the big deal?

In both 1941 and 2008. March 29 falls on a Saturday!

These commercials are kind of fun, taken one at a time. Listening to all 13 in one sitting, however, could cause the heebie-jeebies. I'd recommend downloading them and having them play with four or five other albums...in random mode, of course

Enjoy them! Confuse your friends!
http://www.zshare.net/download/92812626469c9e/
Sorry about the annoying ads here...but free file-hosting isn't easily found. I may redo the file in the RapidShare site, but they've got their own troublesome quirks too.

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MYSTERY RECORD DEPARTMENT
I'm working on another posting which should be up in a few days. Here's a little quiz to keep you busy until then:

http://www.box.net/shared/amnxaqqs48

Who's the artist on this record? The singer is not terribly well-known, but those out there in Blogland who know this cat will recognize him easily. His style was unique...and still is.

And, for a little gold star, what is the record session's significance? It is fairly important, in its own way.

Until the next time...take it easy on those jellybeans, chocolates and marshmallow Peeps.

Another Listening Session!

Three or four times a year, our friend Ed Reynolds hosts a Listening Session...a couple of other friends and I attended one the other night.

Ed's been collecting records since FDR's first term. He has some lovely pieces...all traditional jazz and swing. No bop or so-called "modern" jazz...but that's fine with us.

That's Ed on the right...the Mad Doughnut Man of Pennsylvania (Rich Lagerman, another regular guest, who hosts the Original Bandbox show on WRDV-FM) on the left...they're examining one of Ed's Champion 78s.

Anyway, the last couple of sessions had a new wrinkle added...Ed asks for a person's requests in advance...and plays them the next time around. The time before, our pal Ron's requests were played...a good deal of great traditional jazz with a good nod towards Satch.

This time was my turn. I deliberately asked for stuff that's not on the beaten path...for example, there is a Louis Armstrong cut in the list, but it's not the standard West End Blues or Potato Head Blues...I chose Muggles, one of my favorites (gee...I wonder why).

Here are a few highlights of the evening:

402220-A Muggles Louis Armstrong Orch OKeh 8703 http://www.box.net/shared/7lm8jhu4oc
Chicago, 7 December 1928: Louis Armstrong, trumpet; Frank Robinson, trombone; Jimmy Strong, clarinet; Earl Hines, piano; Mancy Cara, banjo; Zutty Singleton, drums. Satch's "pot" piece...some great slow, bluesy stuff...and then Pops storms in, doubling the tempo and tripling the heat before going back to the original tempo for a simple, eloquent chorus that swings its @$$ off.

Oh, there's apparently evidence that the banjoist's real last name was "Carr," but I'm going with the standard discographical entry this time around.

403522-B Copyin' Louis Jack Purvis OKeh 41404
http://www.box.net/shared/vr8tb06qsk
NYC, 17 December 1929: Jack Purvis, trumpet; John Scott Trotter, piano; Gene Kintzle, guitar; Paul Weston, bass; Joe Dale, drums.

Here's a great side by the eccentric genius of the trumpet, Jack Purvis.

Eccentric?

Kleptomaniac. Con man. Spent time in jail for robbery (and supposedly broke parole so he could go back to the prison band). Yeah, he was somewhat eccentric...

He could also be brilliant...check out his playing here! He's all over the place...a strange turn here, another odd lurch there...and it doesn't get much hotter. And he's not exactly "copyin' Louis" here either...he's inspired by Satch (who wasn't?), but he's very definitely in a class by himself.

There's a three-CD set of Purvis on Jazz Oracle...it's quite amazing. The cuts there feature pleasant dance bands or vocalists of the 1928-35 period...and somewhere in the record, WHAM! There's a Purvis solo...sticking out like a sore thumb. A hot sore thumb. And there's a huge booklet in the set, relating many of the legendary stories musicians told about this incredible guy.

Someone ought to write a screenplay about Purvis...maybe someone in the Jack Nicholson/Bruce Dern school could play him.

C5538 El Rado Scuffle Jimmie Noone Orchestra Vocalion 1490
http://www.box.net/shared/6mzsxndc8s
Chicago, 3 February 1930: Jimmie Noone, clarinet; Joe Poston, alto sax; Zinky Cohn, piano; Wilbur Gorham, banjo; Bill Newton, bass; Johnny Wells, drums.

For years my favorite Noone side was Apex Blues...it's still high on the list, but this track, along with its original flip side, Deep Trouble, really caught my ear a while back. Neither are played all that often either.

55847-2 Haunted Nights Duke Ellington Orch Victor V-38092
http://www.box.net/shared/l88hloasg0
NYC 16 September 1929: Arthur Whetsel, Cootie Williams, trumpets; Joe Nanton, trombone; Juan Tizol, valve trombone; Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, reeds; Duke Ellington, piano; Teddy Bunn, guitar; Fred Guy, banjo; Wellman Braud, bass; Sonny Greer, drums.

There are so many great sides by Ellington from this period (shoot...any period Ellington is great!), it was hard to choose just one. I couldn't resist asking for this one...it's unlike most of his pieces, and there's a good guitar solo by Teddy Bunn, who was sitting in for this session. It's also my guess that Bunn's presence is why the credit doesn't say "Duke Ellington and his Cotton Club Orchestra." Bunn wasn't a regular band member, so he wouldn't have been at the club.
Note: I do have the 78 of this cut (2 copies, actually), but since I already have the CD version loaded on my hard drive, I posted the latter.

I also requested a couple of favorite vocals...

148849-3 True Blue Lou Annette Hanshaw Harmony 981-H
http://www.box.net/shared/qg5nnh4owc
NYC 24 July 1929: Annette Hanshaw, vocal, with the New Englanders: Phil Napoleoon, trumpet; Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Jimmy Dorsey, clarinet; Frank Signorelli, guitar; probably Tony Colucci, guitar; Joe Tarto, bass; Stan King, drums.
It's a fairly common record, especially on Harmony's sister label, Diva (distributed through the W. T. Grant chain stores), but it's a goodie. Hanshaw injects just the right amount of pathos when she talks about the "poor kid." Lovely side.

Ed told us that he saw Annette sing with the Casa Loma band sometime around 1934. I wish there was a way for me to download some of his memories....there's precious little film of her in action. Here's the only clip I've ever seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrZwb-5jTpE .

B-15714-A A New Moon Is Over My Shoulder Connee Boswell Brunswick 6962
http://www.box.net/shared/yke7wjtkck
NYC, 21 August 1934: Connee Boswell, vocal; Bunny Berigan, trumpet; Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Jimmy Dorsey, clarinet; Harry Hoffman, violin; Martha Boswell, piano; Dick McDonough, guitar; Chauncey Morehouse, drums.

Isn't this a pretty side? Again, it's something that doesn't get played all that often. And, yes, Ms. Boswell changed the spelling of her first name from "Connie" to "Connee." Supposedly it was easier to sign her name without the dot above the "i," but the change might have been related to numerology (I heard George Brunies dropped an "e" or two from his name for that reason as well).

Eventually we got around to listening to other stuff that Ed selected...I'm holding one of those items...a rather scarce Melotone. Sometimes records make me goofy (and that's fellow collector Rich Trahan in the background. He's not goofy....).

Yes, that's the blue eagle of the National Recovery Act (1933-35) on my t-shirt...one of my favorite symbols of any era...thanks to one of my old pals for the neat shirt!

As good as the music is (and believe me...it is great), the high point of these shindigs is around 9:00 when Dick brings out the most fantastic doughnuts and pastries, fresh from a Pennsylvania bakery.

The Entry of the Doughnuts is almost a hol(e)y ritual........and he brought an exceptionally tasty bunch of them this time around too...

NOT-SO-GREAT GUNS DEPT.

From the sublime to the (unintentionally) ridiculous: A couple of weeks ago, the 78-L folks were discussing Geoffrey O'Hara, known for recording Native American songs and stories in 1913 (wax cylinders, of course). He made records of himself performing some of these songs. He also composed the standard K-K-K-Katy. http://amicus.collectionscanada.ca/gramophone-bin/Main/RouteRqst?r=0&i=NW_S&l=0&v=1&coll=24&lvl=1&rp=1&t=O has a batch of his records.

According to the Wikipedia blurb on O'Hara, he seemed to have stopped recording around 1928 to concentrate on teaching and composing.

Well, it seems O'Hara showed up on the syndicated Forget-Me-Not radio show in late 1930, performing his song Guns. It may have been moving in its time (only 12 years after WWI ended)...but it's badly dated now.

XE-35077 Forget-Me-Not, Show O, Part 5
http://www.box.net/shared/7lmaq3604o
NYC, ca. 6 November 1930: Geoffrey O'Hara, composer and vocal; studio orch.

Well, they certainly don't write songs like that anymore. I think the Geneva Convention prohibits it.

Well....that should do it for now......

Answers to those quiz questions...

I've been fairly busy the last few weeks with various side projects and have neglected my blog. I'm working on a new entry, but it will probably be another week before I'm completely satisfied with it.

In the meantime, there were those two quiz questions from the previous posting...

Question #1 concerned the Mitchell's Christian Singers record released in Columbia's pricier Masterworks series (usually reserved for classical music). I said that there was a good reason for its placement there and added a (very) big clue: The next record in the series, Columbia 417-M was issued by "Sanders Terry."

Of course, that artist was Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry. And he and the MCS had just played Carnegie Hall a few days earlier. There was actually quite a flurry of recording activity, spawned by the first From Spirituals to Swing concert that John Hammond produced on Friday, 23 December 1938.

A glance at the Abrams database shows that the following Tuesday, the 27th (Christmas fell on Sunday that year, and would have been officially celebrated Monday the 26th), Brunswick/Vocalion recorded seven songs by Mitchell's Christian Singers (including two they performed at the concert), followed by two by Terry.

A few days later (the 30th), more stars of the concert, a trio of boogie-woogie pianists, Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, and Meade Lux Lewis came in for their session...recording a total of five titles (the two sides of Boogie Woogie Prayer were issued as takes 1 and 2 of the same matrix number). Two of these sides featured Johnson with blues shouter Joe Turner...this was the beginning of his long recording career.

A few days after that (6 January 1939), all three pianists recorded several twelve-inch sides for Alfred Lion, who was about to launch a new label called Blue Note. Perhaps you've heard of it.....if not, please crawl back under your log.

Question #2 dealt with a mystery cut...I asked what the featured instrument was, and what nationality the performer was.

Shalom correctly identified the mystery instrument...it was indeed an ocarina...apparently recorded in Portugal (note the P matrix series)in the late 1920s. Here's the record again, but with a label scan and info intact:

P200 Fado Foguete de Lagrimas Antonio Martins Columbia 1058-X
http://www.box.net/shared/7awua90ysg

It was hard for me to believe that the lowly "sweet potato" could be capable of such lovely music...I usually hear it in a quasi-country novelty setting.

To be fair, there's an interesting Ocarina Blog (http://www.ocarina.tv/blog/) out there...and several other sites devoted to the instrument. I have a lot more respect for it now.....

Someday I'll get around to posting the Bernie Ladd sides...he and his ocarina recorded a couple of jazz-flavored pieces in the mid-1930s for Decca.

Whew...got the questions out of my (rapidly graying) hair. Hope to post again in a few days...