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What 78 are you spinning right now ?


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On 12/10/2018 at 9:47 PM, jeffcrom said:

Louis Armstrong - Weather Bird / Dear Old Southland (Hot Record Society). The first reissue of Okeh 41454, pressed in 1939 from the original stampers. It sounds magnificent. This was waiting for me when I got home from a short road trip. Can't find a usable picture online.

1939-hot-record-society-18-louis-armstrong-weather-bird-dear-old-southland-78_3649900

What a great record. <3

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On 10/17/2018 at 9:24 AM, jeffcrom said:

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Merle Travis - Folk Songs of the Hills (Capitol). This four-record album arrived yesterday. I've already listened to the whole thing twice, and "Dark as a Dungeon" four times. What a great song.

I didn't know this existed. Looked around a little bit and it's paired on CD with Songs of the Coal Mines. I've been wanting to find that Coal Mine Songs album since first hearing Doc Watson talk with Merle Haggard about it on Will the Circle Be Unbroken (with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) when it came out. On order! It's not the 78s but at least I will finally be able to hear it!

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Microgroove 78s from the 1950s tonight. I'm glad I've got a flexible turntable setup so that I can play these properly. The Audiophile 12" records, put out by recording genius Ewing Nunn, sound fabulous. The Bells, cheap as they were (list price 39 cents), sound pretty good, too.

Artie Shaw and His Gramercy Five - Besame Mucho / That Old Feeling (Bell 7")
Artie Shaw and His Gramercy Five - Tenderly / Stop and Go Mambo (Bell 7")

Shaw is frighteningly virtuosic on these 1953 sides - and it's a great band, with Tal Farlow, Hank Jones, Joe Roland on vibes, Tommy Potter, and Irv Kluger on drums.

Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra featuring Jimmy Dorsey - Granada / You're My Everything (Bell 7")
Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra featuring Jimmy Dorsey - The Man That Got Away / The High and Mighty (Bell 7")

Okay big band pop, as of 1954.

Harry Blons' Dixieland Band (Audiophile 12")
Doc Evans - Traditional Jazz Vol. 1 (Audiophile 12")
Doc Evans - Traditional Jazz Vol. 2 (Audiophile 12")
Loring Nichols and His Band (Audiophile 12")

Audiophile specialized in Midwestern dixieland in its early days. Clarinetist Blons' band of little-known players is pretty good. Trumpeter Doc Evans was the leading light of that scene, and his 1953 session, spread over two records, is really nice. The latter-day Red Nichols record is intelligent chamber jazz, like his best early work. There's a great version of Bix Beiderbecke's "Candlelight."

 

 

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Duke Ellington - Sepia Panorama / Harlem Air-Shaft (as the original label has it). Rather than list all the 78s I've played today, I'll just mention one of the highlights. Victor 26731 isn't rare, but it's one of my favorite 78s. The folks who shelled out 75 cents back in the day got a real bargain: two masterpieces in superb, vibrant sound. I slightly prefer "Harlem Airshaft" - through-composed, with the soloists used for color and emphasis. (And that the weird little ten-bar intro: it's an overture, which only makes sense in hindsight - everything in it appears later in the piece.) But "Sepia Panorama" is also amazing - put together from (by my count) only 34 measures of written music. But those few written sections and the improvisations are paced and arrayed perfectly to create a three-minute mini-masterpiece that nobody but Ellington and his band could have come up with.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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We've had a house guest for the better part of a week, and for various reasons, her presence interfered with 78 playing. I took her to the airport today, and when I got home the reaction set in. Lots of 78s tonight, in four acts:

I: Kansas City Jazz (Decca). A six-record album - and what a great one.

II: Bebop:

Allen Eager – Jane's Bounce / Stan Getz – Don't Worry 'Bout Me (Savoy)
Fats Navarro – Fat Girl / Serge Chaloff – A Bar a Second (Savoy)
Kai Winding – Bop City / Wallington's Godchild (Roost). Some fabulous Brew Moore here.
J.J. Johnson – Jay Jay / Coppin' the Bop (Savoy)
Sonny Berman – Nocturne / Howard McGhee – Thermodynamics (Dial)
Dodo Marmarosa – Mellow Mood / How High the Moon (Atomic)

III: Johnny Dodds:

New Orleans Wanderers – Perdido Street Blues / Gate Mouth (Columbia)
Johnny Dodds Hot Six – My Little Isabel / Heah Me Talking To You (Bluebird)
Johnny Dodds – San / Clarinet Wobble (Brunswick)

IV: 1950s country:

Jimmy Swan – Triflin' on Me / I Love You Too Much (Trumpet)
Jimmy Swan – Lonesome Daddy Blues / One More Time (Trumpet)
Johnny Cash – There You Go / Train of Love (Sun)
Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues / So Doggone Lonesome (Sun)
Johnny Cash – I Walk the Line / Get Rhythm (Sun)

The Johnny Dodds Bluebird is a reissue; all the other records were original issues. I think that if I could only keep a dozen 78s, "I Walk the Line"/"Get Rhythm" by Johnny Cash would be one of them.

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You were all over the map on this listening session Jeff! "Kansas City Jazz" is occasionally a candidate for the first "concept" album, though Will Friedwald, in the intro to his new book, argues for earlier albums. Still, KC Jazz is a cool album. I have the old Decca LP, but not the 78 album!

 

 

gregmo

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Late-night Ellington from the late 20s and early 30s. I managed to find pictures of the exact pressings I spun, except for the European Brunswick "Creole Rhapsody."

The Mystery Song / Mills Blue Rhythm Band - Moanin' (Victor)
The Mooche / Everything But You (French HMV)
East St. Louis Toodle-Oo/Black Beauty (Bluebird)
Three Little Words/Ring Dem Bells (Victor)
It's Glory/Brown Berries (Victor)
Creole Rhapsody, parts 1 & 2 (European Brunswick)

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On the road yesterday, I took a short detour between Nashville and Charlottesville to visit Bristol, which straddles the Tennessee/Virginia border. The 1927 Victor "Bristol Sessions," produced by Ralph Peer, took place on the the Tennessee side of State Street, which marks the border. (It amused me that Bristol, Virginia, rather than Tennessee, first thought of building a very nice Birth of Country Music Museum.) The Bristol Sessions have been called "the big bang of country music" for their impact - the first recordings of Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family were made at Bristol.

To commemorate my visit, I played all three (well, two and a half, really) 78s I have from the Bristol Sessions, plus additional records (which I won't list) by Ernest Stoneman, Jimmie Rodgers, and the Carter Family:

Ernest Stoneman/Miss Irma Frost/Eck Dunford - Mountaineer's Courtship / Uncle Eck Dunford - The Whip-Poor-Will's Song (Victor)
Jimmie Rodgers - Sleep, Baby, Sleep / The Soldier's Sweetheart (Victor)
The Carter Family - Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow / When I'm Gone (Bluebird). "When I'm Gone" was recorded a few years later in Charlotte, NC.

EDIT: Oh, and at the museum gift shop I bought a discography. Of course. Like any rational person would.

Edited by jeffcrom
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King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band - Zulu's Ball / Workingman's Blues (Biltmore). So here's the story - only one copy of Gennett 5275 by King Oliver has ever been found. All subsequent issues derive from that one copy. Biltmore 1028 was the first reissue, dubbed directly from the one Gennett copy. I found a mint copy of the Biltmore at a bargain price, and thought it would be cool to have the closest to original issue of "Zulu's Ball" as I could get. Well....

OMG, this is a terrible-sounding record. It's a really amateurish transfer, even for the time - distorted, distant sound, uneven speed, and too fast. (I have Creole Jazz Band 78 reissues on Hot Jazz Club of America and British Rhythm Society that sound very good.) I'll keep this for the historical value, but Off the Record it ain't.

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2 hours ago, jeffcrom said:

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Among other 78s, I spun Memphis Minnie's "Please Set a Date" tonight. When I Googled it to see what year it was issued, Google suggested that I schedule a meeting with Memphis Minnie. I'd love for that to be possible!

 

Perhaps she liked girls - same as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey :D

MG

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A few hours of deferred listening and cataloging of 78s:

Jimmy Carroll and His Orchestra.  My Melancholy Baby/The Sheik of Araby.  Schirmer Records.  [Alec Wilder arrangements]

Hackberry Ramblers.  Bonnie Blue Eyes/Just Because.  Bluebird.

Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans Footwarmers.  Save It Pretty Mama/Stompy Jones.

Raymond Burke and His New Orleans Jazz Band.  Over The Waves/Blues for Joe.  Southland.

Sandy Brown's Jazz Band.  Special Delivery/African Queen.  Tempo.

Alex Welsh and His Dixielanders.  Shoeshiner's Drag/Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me.  Decca (English).

Benny Goodman Quartet.  Whispering/Tiger Rag.  RCA Victor.

Benny Goodman Trio.  Nobody's Sweetheart/More Than You Know.

Texas Wanderers.  Deep Elm Swing/You Gotta Know How To Truck and Swing.

Tiny Grimes' Swingtet.  Flying Home - Part 1/Flying Home - Part 2.  Blue Note.

Jack Teagarden.  Love Me/Blue River.  Brunswick (English)

Chick Bullock.  Take My Heart/These Foolish Things.  Melotone.

Mezz Mezzrow and his Swing Band.  Mutiny in the Parlor/The Panic is On.  Bluebird.

Eddie Lang's Orchestra.  Walkin' the Dog // Luis Russell and His Orchestra.  Jersey Lightning [torrid! sounds amazing].  Parlophone.

Thomas "Fats" Waller.  I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby/Dragging My Heart Around.  Parlophone.

Sid Catlett's All Stars.  Humoresque Boogie/Organ Blues.  Manor.

Jimmy Yancey.  The Fives // Art Hodges/South Side Shuffle. Circle.

"Fats" Waller and His Rhythm.  Sweet and Slow/Lulu's Back in Town.  HMV.

Mel Powell and His Orchestra.  When Did You Leave Heaven/Blue Skies.  Commodore.

Jess Stacy and His All Stars.  Clarinet Blues/I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me.  Commodore.

Eddie Barefield's Quintette.  Clarinet Blues/F' Taint One Thing It's Another.  Sonora.

Muggsy Spanier and his Ragtime Band.  Lonesome Road/Mandy, Make Up Your Mind.

Turk Murphy's Bay City Stompers.  Kansas City Man Blues/Shake That Thing.

Turk Murphy's Bay City Stompers.  Brother Lowdown/Yellow Dog Blues.

Sherry Magee and his Dixielanders.  Shake It and Break It/Tin Roof Blues.  Vocalion.

Sherry Magee and his Dixielanders.  Satanic Blues/Bluin' the Blues.  Vocalion.

Omer Simeon Trio with James P. Johnson (album set).  Lorenzo's Blues/Harlem Hotcha // Bandanna Days/Creole Lullaby.  Disc.

 

 

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18 hours ago, jazztrain said:

A few hours of deferred listening and cataloging of 78s:

Jimmy Carroll and His Orchestra.  My Melancholy Baby/The Sheik of Araby.  Schirmer Records.  [Alec Wilder arrangements]

Hackberry Ramblers.  Bonnie Blue Eyes/Just Because.  Bluebird.

Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans Footwarmers.  Save It Pretty Mama/Stompy Jones.

Raymond Burke and His New Orleans Jazz Band.  Over The Waves/Blues for Joe.  Southland.

Sandy Brown's Jazz Band.  Special Delivery/African Queen.  Tempo.

Alex Welsh and His Dixielanders.  Shoeshiner's Drag/Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me.  Decca (English).

Benny Goodman Quartet.  Whispering/Tiger Rag.  RCA Victor.

Benny Goodman Trio.  Nobody's Sweetheart/More Than You Know.

Texas Wanderers.  Deep Elm Swing/You Gotta Know How To Truck and Swing.

Tiny Grimes' Swingtet.  Flying Home - Part 1/Flying Home - Part 2.  Blue Note.

Jack Teagarden.  Love Me/Blue River.  Brunswick (English)

Chick Bullock.  Take My Heart/These Foolish Things.  Melotone.

Mezz Mezzrow and his Swing Band.  Mutiny in the Parlor/The Panic is On.  Bluebird.

Eddie Lang's Orchestra.  Walkin' the Dog // Luis Russell and His Orchestra.  Jersey Lightning [torrid! sounds amazing].  Parlophone.

Thomas "Fats" Waller.  I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby/Dragging My Heart Around.  Parlophone.

Sid Catlett's All Stars.  Humoresque Boogie/Organ Blues.  Manor.

Jimmy Yancey.  The Fives // Art Hodges/South Side Shuffle. Circle.

"Fats" Waller and His Rhythm.  Sweet and Slow/Lulu's Back in Town.  HMV.

Mel Powell and His Orchestra.  When Did You Leave Heaven/Blue Skies.  Commodore.

Jess Stacy and His All Stars.  Clarinet Blues/I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me.  Commodore.

Eddie Barefield's Quintette.  Clarinet Blues/F' Taint One Thing It's Another.  Sonora.

Muggsy Spanier and his Ragtime Band.  Lonesome Road/Mandy, Make Up Your Mind.

Turk Murphy's Bay City Stompers.  Kansas City Man Blues/Shake That Thing.

Turk Murphy's Bay City Stompers.  Brother Lowdown/Yellow Dog Blues.

Sherry Magee and his Dixielanders.  Shake It and Break It/Tin Roof Blues.  Vocalion.

Sherry Magee and his Dixielanders.  Satanic Blues/Bluin' the Blues.  Vocalion.

Omer Simeon Trio with James P. Johnson (album set).  Lorenzo's Blues/Harlem Hotcha // Bandanna Days/Creole Lullaby.  Disc.

 

 

Cataloguing prompts me to ask if that's all stuff you've got recently?

MG

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  • 2 weeks later...

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I'll list some interesting stuff I've spun at 78 RPM lately soon - but tonight it's this album the mail lady brought today:

Chopin: The Twenty-Four Preludes by Alfred Cortot on Victor. Cortot's 1933 recording of Chopin's Preludes seems to be regarded as one of the greatest readings of Chopin's Opus 28. My "new" copy of the original US pressing is not mint, but it's pretty good.

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12 hours ago, jeffcrom said:

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I'll list some interesting stuff I've spun at 78 RPM lately soon - but tonight it's this album the mail lady brought today:

Chopin: The Twenty-Four Preludes by Alfred Cortot on Victor. Cortot's 1933 recording of Chopin's Preludes seems to be regarded as one of the greatest readings of Chopin's Opus 28. My "new" copy of the original US pressing is not mint, but it's pretty good.

That must be a pretty thick album!! How many 78s?

 

 

 

gregmo

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3 hours ago, gmonahan said:

That must be a pretty thick album!! How many 78s?

 

 

 

gregmo

Only four 12" records - most of the Preludes are pretty short, so most of the sides have three or four of them. And in the interests of accuracy, further research indicates that I have Cortot's 1926 version, not the 1933 recording. That one was not issued in the US at the time.

My biggest 78 album is a 1930 more-or-less complete La Traviata - 13 12" records. It weighs a ton.

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On 12/14/2018 at 1:26 PM, jeffcrom said:

Only four 12" records - most of the Preludes are pretty short, so most of the sides have three or four of them. And in the interests of accuracy, further research indicates that I have Cortot's 1926 version, not the 1933 recording. That one was not issued in the US at the time.

My biggest 78 album is a 1930 more-or-less complete La Traviata - 13 12" records. It weighs a ton.

I bet! Especially if it's in one massive 78 album!

 

 

gregmo

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8 hours ago, gmonahan said:

I bet! Especially if it's in one massive 78 album!

 

 

gregmo

It is just one album.

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Lots of 78 RPM action on my turntable recently. Here are some highlights I don't think I've previously mentioned. Most are new-ish finds.

Maggie Jones - Screamin' the Blues/Good Time Flat Blues (Columbia "flags" label). An excellent, fiery record, with young Louis Armstrong on cornet.

Louis Jordan - Cole Slaw/Every Man to His Own Profession (Decca). "Every Man" has a great tenor solo by Eddie Johnson.

John Kimmel - My Partner's Fancy / Patrick Touhey - The Maid on the Green (Victor). I love old 78s of "world music" - the rawer, the better. John Kimmel was a widely-recorded Irish accordion player, and he's good here. But Patrick Touhey plays the Irish uilleann pipes, and his side is weird and wonderful.

Enrico Caruso - La Boheme: Racconto di Rodolfo (aka "Che Gelida Manina") (one-sided Victor Red Seal). A stunning 1906 recording, in near-mint condition, like many classical and opera 78s I find "in the wild."

 

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Young Louis Armstrong as sideman (1924-25) tonight;

Fletcher Henderson - How Come You Do Me Like You Do / New Orleans Jazz Band - Copenhagen (Regal)
Fletcher Henderson - My Rose Marie / (Sam) Lanin's Arcadians - Some Other Day (Silvertone)
Maggie Jones - Good Time Flat Blues / Screamin' the Blues (Columbia)
Bessie Smith - Nashville Woman's Blues / I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle (Columbia)
Clarence Williams' Blue Five - Of All the Wrongs You've Done to Me / Everybody Loves My Baby (Okeh)

Note on the flip sides of the Hendersons: the New Orleans Jazz Band has at least one New Orleanian - clarinetist Sidney Arodin. He's excellent here, and the record is interesting as an early example of "jazz repertory" - it copies the Bix/Wolverines recording of "Copenhagen" as closely as it can. The Sam Lanin side ain't such a much, despite some good musicians in the band.

As for young Louis Armstrong, he's stunning on all these sides. Sometimes I look at all my 78s and think, "This is madness." At other times, as I spin them, I feel incredibly fortunate. Tonight is one of those times.

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6 hours ago, jeffcrom said:

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Young Louis Armstrong as sideman (1924-25) tonight;

Fletcher Henderson - How Come You Do Me Like You Do / New Orleans Jazz Band - Copenhagen (Regal)
Fletcher Henderson - My Rose Marie / (Sam) Lanin's Arcadians - Some Other Day (Silvertone)
Maggie Jones - Good Time Flat Blues / Screamin' the Blues (Columbia)
Bessie Smith - Nashville Woman's Blues / I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle (Columbia)
Clarence Williams' Blue Five - Of All the Wrongs You've Done to Me / Everybody Loves My Baby (Okeh)

Note on the flip sides of the Hendersons: the New Orleans Jazz Band has at least one New Orleanian - clarinetist Sidney Arodin. He's excellent here, and the record is interesting as an early example of "jazz repertory" - it copies the Bix/Wolverines recording of "Copenhagen" as closely as it can. The Sam Lanin side ain't such a much, despite some good musicians in the band.

As for young Louis Armstrong, he's stunning on all these sides. Sometimes I look at all my 78s and think, "This is madness." At other times, as I spin them, I feel incredibly fortunate. Tonight is one of those times.

A fine madness.

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