What 78 are you spinning right now ?

[jeffcrom]

Lots and lots of 78s of all types lately - rediscovering some of the amazing records in my collection. Last night was world music night - a 1910 Columbia of "liberty horn" (taragato) solos by one A. Selzer, a 1916 Victor of Turkish songs sung by Karekin Proodian and Kemany Minas Eff, Greek clarinet by the great Kostas "Gus" Gadinis on Victor and Mere, klezmer clarinet on Columbia by Philip Greenberg and Sam Finkel (the last is a rare one).

But perhaps the most interesting was from the 1950s, I think - a record I've had for a couple of years, but never fully researched, because that seemed kind of daunting. It's a record of Korean pansori music on a tiny Los Angeles label (Unasia) with labels printed in Chinese. That's quite a few obstacles in the way of finding information about this one. But I figured out the genre back when I got it. (I found it with another Korean record, so that was a clue, in spite of the Chinese characters on the label.) The performances are in a strange and haunting style - stylized vocals accompanied only by a single percussionist. I soon figured out that it was pansori - a kind of storytelling genre akin to opera. A lot of Googling last night led me a document in Korean which contained what was apparently a list of Unasia releases, including the Chinese label copy. I copied and pasted the label information into Google Translate, and learned at least something. I'm still not sure about the titles, but the vocalist is one of the greatest of all pansori singers, Kim So-Hee. Anyway, it's fascinating music, and I'm glad to know who the performer is.

[jeffcrom]

t

Hot jazz and dance music from the mid-1920s tonight. First, an Atlanta band:

Warner's 7 Aces - Hangin' Around/Who'd Be Blue (Columbia)

The Seven Aces - There's Everything Nice About You/I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me (Columbia)

The first disc, from 1926, is excellent instrumental jazz. The second, from a year later, is much more pop-ish, with vocals on both songs.

Then Johnny Hamp's Kentucky Serenaders on Victor. A couple of these had uninteresting bands on the flip sides, which I didn't play:

Angry/Oh Say! Can I See You Tonight

Black Bottom

What'll You Do.

All were good. "Angry" and "Black Bottom" are instrumental (except for a little scatting on the latter). There's a great trombone solo by one William Benedict on "What'll You Do" - I keep trying to find more solos by him, with no luck so far.

Edited April 28, 2015 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

The cream of this morning's spins of new acquisitions:

Sonny Boy Williams - Rubber Bounce/Reverse the Charges (Decca, 1942). This is a fabulous, under-the-radar record, due to the trumpet solos by Freddie Webster on both sides. "Reverse the Charges" is a Webster composition (with lyrics by Enoch "Sonny Boy" Williams), and Webster's sixteen-bar solo is as modern as anything in jazz at the time.

King Oliver - What You Want Me to Do?/Too Late (Bluebird) A 1937-38 reissue of some of my favorite Oliver Victor sides, from 1929. This one is in amazingly good condition, and sounds wonderful.

[Clunky]

Picked up a bunch of 78s in really excellent condition , four by Hawk including a pair of very nice sides from Paris with Grappelli/ Reinhardt and a pair by his 52nd St band with Mary Osbourne and Allen Eager.

Great to have the opportunity to buy some good jazz 78s again.

[jeffcrom]

That's the complete session by the Hawkins' 52nd Street All-Stars. I love that session.

[Clunky]

That's the complete session by the Hawkins' 52nd Street All-Stars. I love that session.

I've just noticed that the Hawk Mosaic only contains half of the session. Low Flame/ Allen's Alley are missing. The former is all Hawkins and a very fine performance. I'm aware is not a "complete" set but it's omission is somewhat odd given the small number of tunes from that session.

[Clunky]

I've been trying to arrange my 78 into some kind of order. I keep getting distracted because I fail to resist the urge to play them. Slow progress.

This afternoon 2 great Fletcher Henderson sides

Spanish Shawl/ Clap hands here comes... ((harmony) November 1925

I'm coming Virginia ----------(Parlophone / Columbia ) April 1927

Only 18 months between these dates but very different . The Harmony is acoustic where as the Columbia is an electric recording. Despite being acoustic the Harmony is very well recorded but pales in comparison to the later session. Both have Hawk , great arrangements , what more could ask for. The reverse of R2540 has Delirium - Charleston Chasers : Nichols N Mole also nice and like the reverse a master pressing.!

[jeffcrom]

Walter "Foots" Thomas - Hot Jazz (Davis). Foots is mostly forgotten today, but he attracted some great musicians on his sessions - Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Budd Johnson, Oscar Pettiford, Cozy Cole, Doc Cheatham, etc. A very cool four--record 78 album.

[JSngry]

At first i thought Foots was holding his horn kinda oddly. Then I saw - no neckstrap. No wonder!

[romualdo]

That's the complete session by the Hawkins' 52nd Street All-Stars. I love that session.

I've just noticed that the Hawk Mosaic only contains half of the session. Low Flame/ Allen's Alley are missing. The former is all Hawkins and a very fine performance. I'm aware is not a "complete" set but it's omission is somewhat odd given the small number of tunes from that session.

This session always appears to be fragmented on LP & CD releases, one of the reasons being the absence of Coleman on Allen's Alley (Wee), often regarded as the Allen Eager Sextet for this title

Low Flame & Allen's Alley were both rereleased on the "Esquire All-American Hot Jazz Sessions" RCA CD

Nevertheless, I'm surprised all 4 titles were not included in the Mosaic box (it's an important session)

[Big Beat Steve]

Walter "Foots" Thomas - Hot Jazz (Davis). Foots is mostly forgotten today, but he attracted some great musicians on his sessions - Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Budd Johnson, Oscar Pettiford, Cozy Cole, Doc Cheatham, etc. A very cool four--record 78 album.

Some nice album! Wouldn't have minded stumbling across that one for my collection. Particularly since the Prestige reissue LP of that muisc is one those relatively few that I almost wore out in countless spins through the years ever since I bought the LP at age 16 while still in high school and was immediately fascinated by the entire album.

[Clunky]

Today's acquisitions

Jimmy Jones----------Departure from Dixie/ A woman's got a right to change her mind---------(HRS)

Fabulous, features Harry Carney. Ellington like arrangements

Varsity seven--------Pom Pom / How long blues--------(Varsity)

Carelton Harkins (sic) on tenor sax and Billy Carton ( trumpet) are "new" names to me. 1940 recording in excellent condition but still sounds like............not good. I'll need to find my other Varsity Sevens to see how Hawk is billed on the label.

Barney Bigard Trio-------Steps Step Up/ Steps Steps Down------(Signature)

Relaxed date with Shelly Manne from 1944 bluesy and modern. Brilliant

Edited May 16, 2015 by Clunky

[jeffcrom]

Buncha Fletcher Henderson tonight - 1923-1931, on Vocalion, Silvertone, Banner, National Music Lovers, Domino, and Montgomery Ward.

[jeffcrom]

Original Zenith Brass Band - Marching Jazz (Circle 3-record album). The second recording of a New Orleans brass band, from 1946.

[jeffcrom]

The Georgia Yellow Hammers, an early country group from Calhoun, Georgia, in the foothills of the Appalachians.

Pass Around the Bottle/Johnson's Old Grey Mule (Victor)

My Carolina Girl/The Picture on the Wall (Victor)

And the same group, doing gospel music for a different label:

Gordon County Quartet - Walking in the King's Highway/Beyond the Clouds is Light (Columbia)

[jeffcrom]

 

Two complete sessions on 78 - complete as far as master takes are concerned, anyway:

Artie Shaw and His Gramercy Five on 7" Bell microgroove 78s from 1953:

Bell 1023 - Besame Mucho/That Old Feeling. This record, according to the original sleeve, cost 39 cents.

Bell 1027 - Stop and Go Mambo/Tenderly. This slightly later catalog number sold for 35 cents. The whole Bell concept, with its 7" 78s, was kind of odd and mysterious. This is probably their best-ever session, though; Tal Farlow and Hank Jones are in the band.

 

Baby Dodds' Jazz Four on Blue Note, from 1945:

BN 518 - Winin' Boy Blues/ Careless Love

BN 519 - Feelin' at Ease/High Society

 

[jeffcrom]

I concentrated on the Gennett label tonight - the good, the bad, and the ugly:

Ladd's Black Aces - Long Lost Mama/Two-Time Dan (1923). The Original Memphis Five under another name.

Bailey's Lucky Seven - Sweet Indiana Home/Joseph Samuels and His Master Players - The Sneak (1922)

Bailey's Lucky Seven - Easy Melody/Covered Wagon Days (1923). Bailey's Lucky Seven was a pop/dance band with an ever-changing cast (although trumpeter Phil Napoleon was usually involved). The music is not great, but I love this second record, which I found on July 4th in Moorhead, Minnesota. It is in an original sleeve (both sides are marked with the catalog number in pencil), with Gennnett releases by Jelly Roll Morton and The New Orleans Rhythm Kings listed. The front has a stamp from West Piano Company in Moorhead.

Coney Island Jazz Band - The Music of the Wedding Chimes/Johnson's Big Five - Gates of Gladness (1919). Jazz in name only. I suspect that these two anonymous ensembles are one and the same, since the matrix numbers are adjacent.

Chubb-Steinberg Orchestra - Because They All Love You/Willie Creager's Orchestra - Show Me the Way (1925). A young Wild Bill Davison plays a hot duet with a clarinetist on side one.

New Orleans Rhythm Kings - Angry/Sobbin' Blues (1923)

New Orleans Rhythm Kings - Mr. Jelly Lord/Clarinet Marmalade (1923). The cream of the crop of tonight's listening, with Jelly on piano.

Josie Miles - Baby's Got the Blues/Kansas City Man Blues (1923). Fair-to-middling blues.

 

[jeffcrom]

Harmonica-themed listening today:

Gus Mulcay - St. Louis Blues/Farewell Blues (Diva, 1926). Mulcay was mostly a novelty-style harp player; this is the one record of his which Rust thought worthy of inclusion in his discography.

William McCoy - Mama Blues/Train Imitations and Fox Chase (Columbia, 1927). Great record by a Texas blues harpist, in very rough condition.

DeFord Bailey - Alcoholic Blues/Evening Prayer Blues (Vocalion, 1927). Nice record by the first star of the Grand Ole Opry.

Blue Ridge Mountain Entertainers - Washington and Lee Swing/Goodnight Waltz (Conqueror, 1931). Gwen Foster was the harpist in this all-star early country band.

Henry Whitter - Rabbit Race/Farewell to Thee (Okeh, 1924) & Lonesome Road Bues/Wreck of the Old Southern 97 (Okeh, 1923). A pioneer country recording artist. The first record is in really nice condition.

[jeffcrom]

Found a small stack of modern jazz in excellent condition on my recent West Coast trip, including the entire first "Birth of the Cool" session:

Miles Davis - Budo / Move & Godchild / Jeru (Capitol)

Lennie Tristano - Sax of a Kind / Marionette (Capitol)

Tadd Dameron - Sid's Delight / Casbah (Capitol)

Stan Hasselgard - Sweet and Hot Mop / I'll Never Be the Same (Capitol)

Red Norvo Trio - Swedish Pastry / Night and Day & Cheek to Cheek / Time and Tide (Discovery)

Walter Gil Fuller Orch. - Tropicana / Blues for a Debutante (Discovery)

I like 78s for many reasons; one is that sometimes a 78 in good condition sounds better than the same music as transferred to CD. I have all this music except for the Gil Fuller on CD, so I did some comparisons. The Miles 78s do not come close to the sound of the RVG CD; they seem thin and compressed compared to the CD. The Tristano record sounds distinctly better than my CD version, which seems to have the high end rolled off. The Dameron 78 sounds very much like the Malcom Addey CD transfer, but has a bit more presence. The Hasselgard and Norvo records sounded different from the CD versions I have, but not "better" or "worse" - just different. For instance, the Norvos sound almost larger than life on the my CD, and are perhaps more natural-sounding on the 78s, despite a bit of surface noise. I like both versions.

[JSngry]

Do you know if the WalterGil has made it to CD, and/or if he did more leader date stuff during that time period?

[jeffcrom]

Do you know if the WalterGil has made it to CD, and/or if he did more leader date stuff during that time period?

Gil Fuller's two Discovery 78s showed up on a Savoy Bebop Boys LP twofer, but don't seem to be out on CD.

And this seems to be the only session under his name in the 1940s.

Edited August 6, 2015 by jeffcrom

[Clunky]

Do you know if the WalterGil has made it to CD, and/or if he did more leader date stuff during that time period?

Gil Fuller's two Discovery 78s showed up on a Savoy Bebop Boys LP twofer, but don't seem to be out on CD.

And this seems to be the only session under his name in the 1940s.

I have a British Vogue 78 of the Fuller sides FWIW.

[JSngry]

Walter Gil-Fuller intrigues me...there for a while, there was an ad in the back of Down Beat(?) advertising his big band charts for sale, with a list that ranged from the familiar recorded Gillespie items to some things I never knew existed, most WTF?-illy some charts on Monk tunes, most notable "Introspection".

http://www.theloniousrecords.com/compositionshtml.htm

Introspection (aka Playhouse)-Originally titled “Playhouse” as a tribute to Minton’s, this song was first recorded for Blue Note on October 24, 1947, but was not released until 1956! Monk wrote it during his association with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band and Walter Gil Fuller wrote an arrangement of “Playhouse,” but there is no record of the band recording it, let alone playing it. It’s unusual thirty-six bar structure and wandering chord progressions set it apart from the music identified as “bebop.”

Between these charts and the unrecorded Bird w/Strings charts that are out there, there's still some mining to be done.

[jeffcrom]

Art Tatum - Piano Impressions (ARA). A four-record album of excellent piano solos on an obscure label, from 1945.

[jeffcrom]

Today I posted to my 78 blog for the first time in several months, after listening to two rarities: the promotional discs for the Sweetwind plastic flute endorsed by Woody Herman in 1946. A Google search reveals that these records have been mentioned in these forums once before (not by me), in the "rarest items in your collection" thread. Anyway, here's the link.