jeffcrom

Ken McIntyre - Stone Blues (Prestige OJC)

A free jazz classic.

Boogie With Canned Heat (Pickwick). Not even the Liberty original, but the ten-years-later Pickwick reissue. I was taking a walk in the neighborhood with my wife, and this was in a stack of records someone had put on the curb. It's not something I would ever buy, but for free it was a hoot. Fun blues-rock, and Sunnyland Slim even plays on one track. Ken McIntyre - Home (Inner City). One of the few records with Jaki Byard on which he doesn't dominate, or at least strongly influence the direction. Paul Bley - Ballads (ECM). A nearly noiseless German pressing which I've had for 40 years. Deep music.

Once reason I got that turntable was the vertical groove/lateral groove switch. In theory, it should be able to play any vertical-groove 78. In practice, it plays Edisons well, but other verticals (Pathe, early Okeh, etc.) are very difficult to play - the tonearm tends to skate across the record.

Steve's right - early gramophones had a speed control. But Edisons were designed to be played only on Edison machines - they were cut with vertical grooves rather than lateral, and had to be played with a diamond needle - the regular steel needles of the time would tear them up. They were sold between 1913 and 1929. For the last few of those years, they really were great-sounding records, but they were expensive, took up more room than standard records (they're a fourth of an inch / 7 mm thick) and required a dedicated machine, so consumers decided they weren't worth it.

How are the performances? I've been thinking about getting this.

I love that record.

I switched my turntable over to play Edison Diamond Discs for a couple of days - set the speed to 80 RPM, flipped the "vertical" switch, put on my largest stylus, and adjusted the equalizer from a more-or-less normal setting for 78s to the weird settings that make Edisons sound good for reasons I don't understand. Edisons are such strange beasts - at their best, they are amazing-sounding acoustic records. But they're really touchy - slight surface wear or damage makes them skip or sound awful, and they are really inconsistent, since Edison kept experimenting with different formulas for the core and surface. The labels are glued on, rather than pressed into the record, so they tend to get damaged or come completely off. Anyway, I started with old-time country and moved on to jazz and near-jazz: Ernest Stoneman - Watermelon Hanging on the Vine / The Old Hickory Cane (1926) John Baltzell - The Old Red Barn / Durang Hornpipe (1923) "Champion Old Time Fiddler" - born 1860 Jasper Bisbee - McDonald's Reel / Opera Reel with Calls (1923). Bisbee's recordings are really important as a glimpse into 19th-century American music. He was born in 1843, and was playing professionally by the 1860s. He recorded 18 sides at his first recording session - at age 80! Chas. A Matson"s Creole Serenaders - I Want a Daddy (I Can Call My Own) / Broadway Dance Orchestra - Rose of Brazil (1923). Matson's was one of the few black bands recorded by Edison. It's interesting near-jazz. The Broadway Dance Orchestra was the anonymous Edison studio band. Ellen Coleman (pseudonym for Helen Baxter) - You Got Everything a Good Man Needs (But Me) / Cruel Back Bitin' Blues (1923). An African-American vaudeville blues singer accompanied by Lemuel Fowler's lively little jazz band. Original Memphis Five - A Bunch of Blues / Jelly Roll Blues (1923). Excellent music, and the second side is really interesting as an early Jelly Roll Morton "cover." Golden Gate Dance Orchestra (California Ramblers) - Sing a Little Song / Atlantic Dance Orchestra - Virginia's Calling Me (1924) Golden Gate Orchestra (California Ramblers) - Manhattan / Oh Say! Can I See You Tonight (1925). For those who don't know, the California Ramblers were a pretty hip "big band" for their time. The red star on the label of the Jasper Bisbee record (also present on the Original Memphis Five, Charles Matson, Ellen Coleman, and John Baltzell records) was something Edison did for about a year. Thomas Edison personally listened and approved every selection his label released. If he thought a record was not likely to sell well, he marked it with a red star, and sold it to dealers at their own risk - they were not allowed to return unsold copies. It soon became apparent that his judgement was not in line with popular taste - "Opera Reels" was something of a hit, as were other red-starred Edisons - so the practice was abandoned.

Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section (Contemporary OJC)

Peter Kowald - Duos: Europa - America - Japan (FMP)

King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic (DGM)

The Original Memphis Five was a studio band that recorded for just about every label that existed between 1922 and 1926. They were a second-tier band, in that they weren't at the level of the best jazz bands of the time - King Oliver, New Orleans Rhythm Kings, etc. But they were solid, and solidly a jazz band, rather than a semi-hot pop band. I probably have more 78s by them than by any other band, because they're consistently good, and can be had for cheap, since the records are not as collectible as Oliver or Jelly Roll Morton discs.. Trumpeter Phil Napoleon was the leader, and he's good, but clarinetist Jimmy Lytell was an unsung hero of the 1920s - he had a fiery, searing style. At the risk of overkill, here's a complete listing of the stack I played tonight, prompted by the arrival of a "new" one in the mail (the last one listed). Shake Your Feet / That Bran' New Gal O' Mine (Regal, 1923) Blue Grass Blues / Sioux City Sue (Perfect, 1924) Memphis Glide / Yes, We Have No Bananas (California Ramblers) (Perfect, 1923) Aggravatin ' Papa / Four O' Clock Blues (Vocalion, 1923) My Papa Doesn't Two-Time No Time / Hula Lu (High Society Seven - a small group from the Sam Lanin band) (Grey Gull, 1924). The flip isn't bad. Oh, Baby / I Never Care About Tomorrow as Long as I'm Happy Today (Perfect, 1924) Ji-Ji-Boo / You Can Have Him, I Don't Want Him, Didn't Love Him Anyhow Blues (Pathe Actuelle, 1922) Red Hot Mama / Chula Blues (Metropolitan Dance Orchestra) (Radiex, 1924) I'm Going Away to Wear You Off My Mind / Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (Majestic Dance Orchestra) (Broadway, 1922). I didn't bother to play the flip. Back O' Town Blues / St. Louis Gal (Puritan, 1923) Your Mama's Gonna Slow You Down / Steppin' Out (Bell, 1923). This was issued on Bell's blue-label "race" series, even though the OM5 was a white band. Go, Joe, Go / That's No Bargain (The Red Heads) (Perfect, 1926). This is the only record with another band on the other side on which the flip side is better than the Memphis Five - The Red Heads was a Red Nichols group. Runnin' Wild / Loose Feet (Banner, 1922) The Perfect and Pathe (related labels) records from before 1926 sound really weird due to the company's recording process. They recorded onto a paper towel-sized wax cyliner that revolved at a fast rate. Then they dubbed (acoustically) the masters from that cylinder. So all Perfects and Pathes from that period are second-generation copies. Not only do they sound thin, they tend to have clunky mechanical noise from the dubbing process. I bought quite a few these in New Orleans; they were from the collection of trumpeter and Southland label owner Joe Mares. He made notes on the sleeves of keys, presumably as he learned the tunes from the records. Wow - long post. Sorry.

Other Dimensions in Music - Live at the Sunset (Marge) One thing I like about Other Dimensions in Music is that they play free improvisation that is melodic, with conventional instrumental techniques. That's not to say that I don't enjoy free music with extended techniques and sound exploration, but there's something refreshing about this band's melodic free music.

Dexter Gordon - Doin' Allright, from the 60s Blue Note box set.

Shostakovich - Cello Sonata, Op. 40 (Gregor Piatigorsky/ Valentin Pavlovsky), on convenient Columbia 78 RPM records from 1940.

This is, in my opinion, the best recording job any New Orleans brass band ever got - taped by the brilliant Ewing Nunn. I assume that the GHB CD sounds as good as the Audiophile LP I have.

Beethoven Symphony #5 - David Zinman/Tonhalle Orchestra (Arte Nova)

Ending the evening with some worn blues piano 78s. A couple are about 50% music and 50% surface noise. But I still love them, and am glad that the original owners loved them. Luckily, the best of them, the Hersal Thomas, is in the best condition - a solid V on the 78 scale, and better-sounding than any CD reissue I've heard. Cow Cow Davenport - Chimes Blues/Slow Drag (Broadway) Walter Roland - School Boy Blues/Screw Worm (Perfect) Memphis Mose (Georgia Tom Dorsey) - Pig Meat Mama/Hear Me Beefin' at You (Brunswick) Snitcher Roberts (James "Stump" Johnson) - The Duck's Yas-Yas-Yas/Heart is Right Blues (mislabeled "Low Moanin' Blues) (Okeh) Hersal Thomas - Suitcase Blues/Hersal Blues (Okeh)

Beautiful! I"ll always be grateful to The Magnificent Goldberg's survey of kora music several years back, which led me to that album. Thelonious Monk - Les Liasons Dangereuses (Sam) The Herdsmen Play Paris (Fantasy/OJC). All the Dick Collins talk in another thread led me to pull this one out.

So far today: Hank Mobley/Lee Morgan - Peckin' Time (from the Mosaic box) Tiny Parham - 1928-1930 (Timeless Historical). Disc 2. This music is more than the sum of its parts due to Parham's compositional sense. Richard Thompson - RT: The Life and Music of Richard Thompson (Free Reed). Disc 3. This disc is subtitled "Epics," and there are indeed some epic live versions of some of Thompson's best songs here. Parker/Guy/Lytton - Breaths and Heartbeats (Rastascan)

The CD that came with the Jazzology Press book The Hottest Trumpet: The Kid Howard Story by Brian Harvey. The music, recorded between 1950 and 1953, is excellent, but the sound is pretty rough on most tracks.

They're also on a French LP on the Black and Blue label: Don Byas 1945.

John Patton - Let 'Em Roll (BN)

I like a variety of hot sauces, and don't really have a single favorite. I do love going to David's Produce, on the outskirts of Atlanta. They have a wall of hot sauces. They won't sell you the most extreme varieties without having you sign a waiver, although I suspect that is mostly for dramatic effect.

Byas recorded three sessions for Jamboree, resulting in 12 sides. I've got all six 78s. They are included in the Chronological Classics CD series. I've got a few other Jamboree records, including Dave Tough's only session as leader.