rgodridge

I genuinely love red nichols and was listening to him just the other day, after at last finding an lp of the earl baker/goodman/nichols cylinders, with the nichols radio transcriptions on the other side. I've been curious to hear this stuff for years and it is really worth having.

I have my stylus back from the expert company now, it took them less than a week to do what was neeed a very quick turn-around! so today i have played art tatum, emaline/afte you've gone. Mint condition but you'd never know, why do all his 78s sound dreadful no matter who he recorded for? another pianist bob howard swing it bob 1/2, a hilarious record from a guy who started out at first as a louis armstrong copy-cat, then a fats waller copy-cat, then sort of got a bit of his own style. This is really a party record! there are some cds of his on chronological classics and while they arn't the best music ever they are a lot of fun and isn't that what jaz is about? louis armstrong orch: some sweet day/snowball, danish hmv from the 40s but sounds absolutely fantastic. These records by the way all came fromm ebay fairly recently and averaged at about £3 each. mezz mezzrow et sun orchestra: the panic is on/mutiny in the parlour. This is just a joy, a rench laminated disque gramophone 78, plays beautifully and excelent music! now for some more mezz mezzrow bechet quintet, gone away blues/jelly roll, king jazz. Not exceptional but nice playing by al concerned. bowing the blues/old school, another king jazz record. I love bowing the blues, it has a special sound to it. bechet's new orleans feet warmers the mooch/blues in the air. Paye quite a bit for this one as it is an original rca victor that i would say has never seen a needle, and though I didn't know that before i got it, the seler's descriptions being ague I've never seen this one before. The mooch is very, very slow, very well played. Bechet doesn't actually solo but this is the stuff I think he is best for. I will add that some of the later bechet 78s sold by the same seller on rare non-uk or us labels went in some cases for eye-boggling money, not 3 figures but £15 or so each, I've never seen records of this period go for so much. Anybody know why this is, or just a feeding frenzy?

However novelty Fess Williams could be, I still really like those recordings. The jazz orical cds have tracks i return to time and time again and i have a couple of his 78s (reissues) that I wouldn't be without. My expert stylus, after 2 and a half years of very heavy use has finally started to push into the artrage and sound terrible, so I will order a new one from them on monday, back to the wind up for now though when I want to play 78s

yes, Adrian, I think it oes have to do with the quality of the materials. also laminated discs should be washed carefully if at all because they have paper in them. I have a french (i think) disc gramophone record of mezz mezzrow, from the late 30s and it plays just as good as those early parlophones. Shame the u.k didn't keep it up like other countries did.

here are a few that I bought from the internet, all a little bbit beaten up! frankie trumbauer orch - bye bye blues/louis armstrong i'm a ding dong daddy laminated parlophone issue, unbelievably clear sound and both sides are fantastic. original memphis five - steppin out/a smile will go a long long way, not sure if the latter is by the memphis five but it is on a uk imperial record. om five she wouldn't do what i asked her to/more on columbia, she wouldn't do what i asked her is one of those songs that culd only hae been written in the twenties.. piron's new orleans orch - west indies blues/do doodle oom, original u.s issue, still not sure how I got this, or the next one.. friers society orch - excentric/husc o'hare's super orch of chicago - san, original us gennett and plays very nicely for a pretty beat copy! delited when I found it. and finally one I've been looking for for a long, long time. Ray miller's orchestra - angry/that's a plenty. The accordion solo on angry is one of my favorite solos on any record, I'm not sure why but it just is!

I must find those gates cds, somebody lent me them and i'm not sure quite where they are rite now. at the moment i am listening to bill dogget honky tonk pts 1/2, r an b classic! it doesn't matter how many times i hear this i still think it's great, this is a uk parlophone copy, those guys pressed some good records and a few real surprises, like this one. georgia white moonshine blues/was i drunk, never been a huge fan of hers but it felt rite at the moment. johnny smith quintet and stan getz, moonlight in vermont, nice cool stuff johnny smith quartet: where or when/a ghost of a chance gerry mulligan: swing house/i may be wrong, i really like this early mulligan stuff, wish the rest of his records i had were in mint condition like this one is. lee konitz: indian summer/odjenar, not sure i spelled that correctly.. louis armstrong memories of you/the three boswell sisters gee, but i like to make you happy. Found this one a year or so ago with a load of otherwise awful 78s at a car boot sale, i'll never forget that. joe venuti's blue four little girl/red mckenzie i can't believe you're in love with me, the venuti side is really fantastic. then a few operatic records, mostly later tita ruffo records, don't remember the details but i do enjoy those.

the program may be difficult to get around, as it could use an extremely graphical interface. but yeah i'm sure i could dig the mp3s out o that if i actually bought it.

that black diamond express to hell is one of the most awsome records ever, will play my 50s reissue rite now. have you ever heard a record of rev gates (I think it's him) called women spend too much money Somebody showed me it years ago and it is one of the most hilarious things i've ever heard!

hmm, so i misse the pdf of the books? rite, well at least i know that if i order it i should be entitled to have those books, in pdf form so i can read them for free and not have to have someone read to me. What makes me a little nervous is that the flash drive will aparrently hae a program/ap on it that lets you listen to the songs. If I or anyone else had to hack into that to grab the mp3s that would be stupid. I doubt i'll be ordering it anyway... pretty high price. by the way i am 23 years old, so there are young people digging this music out there. jjef, my screan reader does pronounce bix's name correctly, but my friend had jaws for windows which does what you said to his name, id make me laugh!

so i know this is a bit off topic, but i have just attempted to record the above mentioned cylinder, just by shoving a mic in front of the massive horn, and here are the results. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17525699/british%20concert%20orchestra%20-%20waltz%20dream%20%28cylinder%29.mp3 jeff, you're luky to have even seen one. I bought mine of ebay and it cost a reasonable amount of cash, i soon descovered why though as when i went to pick it up it was in stunning condition, it is however missing it's lid but i am very pleased with it. I've only had it for a while and was actiely looking for one for a number of years, I am ascinated by the content of cylinders, and the cylinder digitisation project is probably my most visited web page.

and here are some more i've listened to today. the capitol jazz men: some day sweetheart/that old feeling, 1944 sides, sweetheart is a real swinger and that old feeling has a peggy lee vocal with some really nice what sounds like celleste playing. i always get confused as to who is on these capitol jazz men sessions, anyone know where i can find out who is on which sessions? coleman hawkins and leonard feather's esquire all stars mop mop/my ideal, vey noisey american 78 but the music comes though loud and clear. Cootie Williams (tp); Coleman Hawkins (ts); Edmond Hall (cl); Art Tatum (p); Al Casey (g); Oscar Pettiford (b); "Big Sid" Catlett (d) New York, December 4, 1943 then something a bit older Bix Beiderbecke: old man river/miff mole, wild oat joe. This is a 40s uk parlophone but makes up for that by being in extremely nice condition. I love the sound of bix playing the melody straight, you just know it's bix no matter how straight he plays. sidney bechet with claud luter: frances blues/bill bailey, this is on a later commodore 78 that feels like one of those supposedly non-breakable amerian 50s discs, plays vvey nicely though and great music, what else did bechet ever make? bechet's new orleans feetwarmers: lay your racket/i want you tonight. Lay your racket is one fantastic loud, joyful recording. and then.. annette hanshaw: love me tonight/we just couldn't say good bye. I have two copies of this on uk panachord, one has a crack in it and the other is just warn out, this was the cracked one. Such a lovely record, how can you help but love her voice? gertrude lawrence: my sweet/some day I'll find you. These are original cast recordings from noel coward's private lives, on a uk decca 78 from 1932, i think. I wrote about this one on my listen to the gramophone blog and you can hear this exact record there, it floors me every time. Nothing to do with jazz, but ah well.

played a lot of 78s today, starting off with some i got off ebay. For me these were expencive records, averaging at about £7 or so each but what wonderful records. All in beautiful condition too! these were some of the highlights. johnny dunn's original jazz hounds, 4 o'clock blues/hawiian blues, i'm sure i've spelled that wrong I absolutely love 4 o'clock blues, i think it's those chimes that do it. One of those records i can play over and over. johnny dunn's original jazz band, dixie blues/sugar blues. Can't get enough of that 20s sound and will go hunting for my johnny dunn lp later i think, havn't got round to buying the frog cd yet though. the georgians, mama goes where papa goes/somebody's wrong. Great hot stuff from an off shoot of the paul specht orchestra. the georgians again, this time with vocals, you'd better keep babying baby/i've got a coss eyed papa. I got more from the same auction but didn't play them today, instead i went over to the phonograph to listen to my favorite of the 50 or so cylinders i hae so far, which is the waltz dream, played by the british concert orchestra. Very period music but there's something very nice about it, and those announcements always make me smile.

yeah, i can see that flipping the record every 10 minutes is a bit annoying, but as a 78 collector i think i'd just get used to it. Ideally I wouldn't get the 45 pm reissues and will probably look into those jpn king reissues. thanks all for your help so far!

thanks all for the advice. I'll try one of those heavenly sweetness ones when i find them or the ua/libberties, £50 per album is a bit out of my price range though i might do that with particular faorite records. Steve, thanks a lot for that link, that is going to be quite helpful!

are those jap king records still out there to be bought? just curious i really want those cliff jordan ones on vinyl, i have the cds and think they're just great musically and the recordings are good too, so finding either a good remaster or reissue of those would be awsome.