What 78 are you spinning right now ?

[jeffcrom]

In preparation for the upcoming Hawk box, I went looking into my Hawk 78s

First up

Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra Passin it around/Rocky Comfort- Parlophone UK ( ex Okeh) 1940

Coleman Hawkins Quintet Cocktails for Two/ Bean and the boys Esquire 10-132 - unclear original issue but this fine set of sides includes Roach, Milt Jackson Hank Jones and Curly Russell

One of those Okeh/Parlophone sides (I don't remember which one) has a killer trumpet solo by the underrated Joe Guy. And Fats Navarro is on "Bean and the Boys!"

[jeffcrom]

Acoustic classical 78 day today - records by flutist Georges Barrère, pianist Leopold Godowsky, soprano Amelita Galli-Curci, and the great Enrico Caruso, all recorded 1920 or earlier. Beautiful stuff.

Then I shifted gears and spun two new find:

Count Basie Kansas City Seven - Lester Leaps In/Dickie's Dream (Vocalion). I have these recordings on LP and CD, of course, but they sure sound good on 78 - very "alive."

Budd Johnson - Off Shore/Don't Take Your Love From Me (Atlantic, 1953). A rarity by one of my favorite musicians. (My first jazz record was a Budd Johnson album.) This single seems designed for R & B market, and Budd doesn't stray too far from the melody, but he plays with style. As far as I can tell, these sides have ever been reissued.

[Clunky]

Henry Allen and His Orchestra -Body and Soul /Get Rhythm in Your Feet UK Parlophone R2935

Allen (tpt) with Cecil Scott (d); "Chu " Berry (ten) ; Dickie Wells (tmb); Horace Henderson (p); Bernard Addison (g) ; John Kirby (5); Walter Johnson (ds). April 29, 1935.

Some fine Chu heard on this. B&S is all round the more satisfying performance.

EDIT to note that Body and Soul isn't on the Mosaic Chu box-no solo space !

Edited October 30, 2011 by Clunky

[jeffcrom]

I've spun dozens of 78s over the past few days - more than anyone wants to hear about or I want to write about. Some of the highlights:

Six Bluebird and Victor records (1938-1949) by Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra. The best of these sides are really good; the band had quite a few good soloists, although no great ones. And you never hear Hawkins mentioned when folks are discussing those big bands that survived into the post-war ear. The later sides sound much like the earlier ones, with a bit more R & B and bebop touches thrown in.

James Moody - two on Prestige and one on Mercury, from the late 40's and early 50's.

Eddie South - three from the late 1920's and early 1930's, on Victor and Bluebird. Slightly poppy hot jazz, with great playing by South, guitarists Mike McKendrick and Everett Barksdale, and young Milt Hinton.

And a bunch of very early records, from the first decade of the 20th century, including lots of banjo and band ragtime and three 1904 sides by the early saxophone virtuoso Jean Moeremans. (I've tripled the size of my Jean Moeremans collection in the past week, since I only had one before that.)

Edited November 1, 2011 by jeffcrom

[Clunky]

Six Bluebird and Victor records (1938-1949) by Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra. The best of these sides are really good; the band had quite a few good soloists, although no great ones. And you never hear Hawkins mentioned when folks are discussing those big bands that survived into the post-war ear. The later sides sound much like the earlier ones, with a bit more R & B and bebop touches thrown in.

I've got Tuxedo Junction on a Bluebird 78 and I love it. The Victor sides were gathered together across two rather nice LPs in the B&W series from France. No real soloists of note as I remember but a pleasant overall sound.

[jeffcrom]

Ending my day with acoustic classical music (all 1920 or earlier) on 12" Victor and Columbia 78s:

Cortot playing Chopin and Liszt,

Rachmaninoff playing Rachmaninoff,

Kreisler playing Handel,

Casals playing Couperin, Schumann and Elgar, and:

Sousa's Band and Vessella's Italian Band playing Gottschalk on opposite sides of a Victor 78.

All beautiful stuff.

[Clunky]

Couple of 78s before watching rugby this morning

Arnett Cobb- Dutch Kitchen Bounce/ Go Red go- Apollo 778

Eddie Davis Lover/Licks a plenty- Apollo 767

It would be nice to see a label retrospective of Apollo sessions. These two discs are great.

[Clunky]

Played loads of 78s over the past three days. I've at last sorted out EQ issues with addition of a cheap Radio Shack graphic equaliser, to EQ the sound from my RIAA phono amp that I use for 78 play back. Now I can't believe what detail I've previously been missing while listening to 78s.

Currently spinning

Dizzy Gillespie Be-Bop/Salted Peanuts- Manor - 2 fabulous sides even if Trummy Young is a poor fit

[jeffcrom]

The Complete Jamboree Recordings of Don Byas - six 78s (Jamboree 900-905). Fabulous swing-to-bop jazz.

[Clunky]

The Complete Jamboree Recordings of Don Byas - six 78s (Jamboree 900-905). Fabulous swing-to-bop jazz.

jealous , I've I think, 3 or 4 of these and they're just as good as you say. Is this an album of 78s or individual releases ?

[jeffcrom]

The Complete Jamboree Recordings of Don Byas - six 78s (Jamboree 900-905). Fabulous swing-to-bop jazz.

jealous , I've I think, 3 or 4 of these and they're just as good as you say. Is this an album of 78s or individual releases ?

They're all single releases - it just amused me to refer to them that way. It took me about a year and a half to track down the entire series, but I didn't pay much for any of them.

[Clunky]

Spinning what I got today

Ida Cox- Death letter blues/Four Days Creep- Parlophone - UK- 1939

Mildred Bailey - Willow Tree/Honeysuckle Rose- Parlophone UK - 1935

Jess Stacy- Variations in Jazz - Asch

Eubie Blake Bandana Days/Baltimore Buzz- Victor - 1921 bat wing original Victor pressing- really quite a jazzy couple of sides- acoustic of course

Johnny Bothwell The trouble with me is you/ John's Other wife- Signature

Billy Banks Bugle Call/Spider Crawl- Brunswick UK

Sonny Terry - Hootin blues/Bop goes the weasel- Parlophone UK

Eddie Miller/George Van Eps/Stan Wrightman- Peg 'O my heart/ Aint misbehaving- Jump- this ones quite worn but plays well enough

[Clunky]

Some more Don Byas

Don Byas- Super Session/Melody in Swing- Supersession 1010 - with Big Sid Catlett- very nice

Don Byas - Slam-in' around/ Billy Butterfield Anything-Supersession 1008 - Errol Garner on the Byas side and Shorty Baker trumpet on the Butterfield blues side- odd mix

Playing around with EQ settings has been interesting. Using my equaliser to correct the RIAA roll off. I've found that settings can be varied widely to produce different results many of which can sound very different and yet all sounding good. It's no wonder remastering engineers have a nightmare and then get lots of stick from us lot regarding transfers.

Edited November 10, 2011 by Clunky

[Clunky]

Spinning what I got today

Ida Cox- Death letter blues/Four Days Creep- Parlophone - UK- 1939

Mildred Bailey - Willow Tree/Honeysuckle Rose- Parlophone UK - 1935

Jess Stacy- Variations in Jazz - Asch

Eubie Blake Bandana Days/Baltimore Buzz- Victor - 1921 bat wing original Victor pressing- really quite a jazzy couple of sides- acoustic of course

Johnny Bothwell The trouble with me is you/ John's Other wife- Signature

Billy Banks Bugle Call/Spider Crawl- Brunswick UK

Sonny Terry - Hootin blues/Bop goes the weasel- Parlophone UK

Eddie Miller/George Van Eps/Stan Wrightman- Peg 'O my heart/ Aint misbehaving- Jump- this ones quite worn but plays well enough

The Sonny Terry has the oddest of B sides with a lightly swinging version of Pop goes the weasel by Terry Reilly both are really novelty numbers with the Terry clearly superior but certainly not a great blues side. An odd pairing

[Clunky]

Picked half dozen 78s today, three early British Bebop sides

Jive Bombers -Jive Bombers Re-bop/Groovin'High. (Regal Zonophone MR3799)-October 25th, 1947

Kenneth Sommerville (tp), Kenneth Franklin (as,cl), Stanley Walker (p), Stanley Musgrave (g) Ronald Arrowsmith (b), Sidney White (d).

and the rather less successful

Melody Maker's Jazz Rally -Blue Moon part 1 & 2 June 29th, 1947 (UK Columbia)

Reg Arnold (tp), Woolf Phillips (tb), Frank Weir (cl), Ronnie Scott (ts), George Shearing (p), Pete Chilver (g), Jack Fallon (b), Norman Burns (d).

and

Vic Ash Quartet - Doxy/Blue Lou (Tempo) February 18th, 1956 - Vic Ash (cl), Terry Shannon (p), Pete Elderfield (b), Benny Goodman (d).

the 1947 sides are of interest but ultimately a poor copy of the real thing

[jeffcrom]

Well, I'm so excited that I'm beside myself. I went to an antique store in an Atlanta suburb that's on my 78-hunting circuit - I hit it about once a year. I've gotten some good stuff there in the past - it's both good and bad that the owner is knowledgeable about records, because he knows what to buy when he finds it, but also knows what it's worth.

Well, today he told me that he had two new boxes of 78s. The best of them were the kind that take my breath away - the kind of records that I watch go out of my price range on Ebay. I picked out about 15, negotiated for awhile (amicably), and walked out with a dozen. I paid more than the dollar or two per record I usually like to pay for 78s, but he gave me prices which were quite reasonable, considering the rarity of these records. And he threw in a Blind Boy Fuller on Conqueror for free.

So far I've cleaned and listened to:

Ida Cox - I've Got the Blues for Rampart Street/Chattanooga Blues (Paramount). Yes, Paramount! This and the next are my first two "real" Paramounts. (I have a couple of lame pop vocal discs.) Tommy Ladnier and Love Austin are on this.

The Hokum Boys - Selling That Stuff/Beedle Um Bum (Paramount). This is Georgia Tom Dorsey, Tampa Red, and Alex Hill, I believe.

Sara Martin accomp. by Sylvester Weaver - Roamin' Blues/I've Got to Go and Leave My Daddy Behind (Okeh red label)

Sara Martin accomp. by Sylvester Weaver - Longing for Daddy Blues/Goodbye Blues (Okeh red label)

Bessie Smith and Her Down Home Trio - Beale Street Mama/Aggravatin' Papa (Columbia). This one looks rough, but sounds pretty damn good.

And two black-label Okeh Louis Armstrong with Earl Hines records:

Two Deuces/Squeeze Me & Basin Street Blues/No. I run across Louis Armstrong Okehs occasionally, but they're always trashed. These - well, I wouldn't call them mint, but there are hardly any 78s that you can truly call mint. These are in beautiful condition, though, and sound fantastic.

Like I said, I'm kind of beside myself.

[Chuck Nessa]

Great haul.

[Clunky]

Very well done

[jeffcrom]

Part two of yesterday's haul:

Sara Martin, Piano Accomp. by Clarence Williams - Michigan Water Blues/Keeps on A-Rainin' (Red label Okeh)

Sara Martin - Blue Gum Blues/Slow Down Sweet Papa Mama's Catching Up With You (Red label Okeh). The pianist is not credited on the label, and Rust isn't sure who it is, but suggests Porter Grainger. It's certainly someone better than Clarence Williams.

Clara Smith and Her Jazz Trio - My Doggone Lazy Man/I Don't Love Nobody (So I Don't Have No Blues) (Columbia "flags" label). The trio consists of guitar, harmonica, and kazoo on one side; mandolin replaces harmonica on the other.

Clara Smith, Fletcher Henderson at the Piano - Don't Never Tell Nobody/Waitin' For the Evenin' Mail (Columbia "flags" label). Fletcher has been criticized for his blues playing, but the piano part on "Waitin' for the Evenin' Mail" is haunting.

Butterbeans and Susie (described as "Contralto-Baritone Duet With Piano Accomp. by Clarence Williams) - I Can't Use You/A Married Man's a Fool (Red label Okeh). This one's a hoot. I would have loved to seen Butterbeans and Susie perform.

Charlie Shavers Quintet - If I Had You/Musicmania (Vogue Picture Record) Vogue Picture Records were made in Detroit in 1946-1947, and are highly collectible, because they're so cool. A Charlie Shavers session represents the only jazz the company issued. The music's pretty good too - Buddy DeFranco is on clarinet.

and my lagniappe disc:

Blind Boy Fuller - Truckin' My Blues Away/Babe You Got to Do Better (Conqueror). Conqueror was Sears Department Store's label; these were sold cheaply through the Sears' catalog.

Edited November 17, 2011 by jeffcrom

[Clunky]

I can see why you were so excited by these. How's the sound on Shavers' picture disc ?

[jeffcrom]

I can see why you were so excited by these. How's the sound on Shavers' picture disc ?

Theses were well-made discs, so the basic sound is pretty good. The "If I Had You" side has had some rough treatment, though, so it doesn't sound as good.

And yes, it was a good day. I'm about to go spin some of these again.

[Chuck Nessa]

I have a Clyde McCoy picture disc. Guess it isn't "jazz".

[jeffcrom]

Two Deuces/Squeeze Me & Basin Street Blues/No. I run across Louis Armstrong Okehs occasionally, but they're always trashed. These - well, I wouldn't call them mint, but there are hardly any 78s that you can truly call mint. These are in beautiful condition, though, and sound fantastic.

Here's one reason I like 78s so much, especially if they are in excellent condition: while I was spinning "No" (usually issued as "No, Papa, No"), I had a moment during the piano solo where I thought, "Oh, that's what Zutty Singleton was doing." In all the reissues I've had of that track over the years, I can better hear what's really happening on this 78.

[jeffcrom]

I played a bunch of my new finds for the second time today. But after reading about Buddy Bolden for several days, I felt the need to connect with the earliest days of New Orleans jazz. So I spun several records I've mentioned before:

Lillian Glinn - Doggin' Me Blues/Brown Skin Blues (Columbia, 1927). Lillian Glinn was a Texas blues singer, but "Doggin' Me" has Octave Gaspard on tuba. Octave (love that Creole French name) was a New Orleanian of the pre-jazz generation (born 1870) who made a few recordings in the 1920's after he moved to Dallas.

Piron's New Orleans Orchestra - Mama's Gone, Goodbye/New Orleans Wiggle (Victor, 1923). One of my favorite 78s, in beautiful condition. Peter Bocage, Lorenzo Tio, and the great pianist Steve Lewis are on hand.

King Oliver - Stingaree Blues/Shake It and Break It (Bluebird, 1930). Not the original pressing - a reissue from eight to twelve years later, based on the label. But another near-mint record, with trumpet solos by both Oliver and Red Allen. My recent 78 score gives me hope that someday I'll find an original issue by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band from 1923.

Fletcher Henderson - My Rose Marie (Silvertone, 1924). This has a hot solo by young Louis Armstrong. The flip is by Sam Lanin.

Celestin's Original Tuxedo Orchestra - Marie Laveau/Maryland My Maryland and Hey La Ba/My Josephine (both Regal, 1947). The clarinetist on these, Alphonse Picou, played with Buddy Bolden 45 years or so earlier.

Wooden Joe Nicholas - Holler Blues/Ai Ai Ai (American Music). As I've said before, this take of "Holler Blues" has not been reissued by American Music, although it has appeared on some bootleg albums. I think the reason it was replaced by another take on the reissues is that Wooden Joe turns one of the choruses into an 11-bar blues. But I love that - it makes it even more real.

[jeffcrom]

The 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra is recording tomorrow, including a tune of mine that starts with a clarinet doina (a slow improvised cadenza, more or less), so I'm trying to get in the mood:

Naftule Brandwein - A Hore Mit Tzibeles/Bulgar ala Naftule (Columbia). An early 40's pressing of 1925 recordings. One side sounds great, the other not so much. I wonder if Columbia had lost the master for side 2 and had to dub from a record.

Dave Tarras - Rumenishe Doina/A Rumenisher Nigun (English Columbia, 1927). This record has been around - recorded in New York, pressed in England, sold in Tel Aviv (the dealer's sticker is on the label), and frequently played in Atlanta.

Dave Tarras - Kosatchok/Komarinska (Savoy, 1946). A scarce one - Dave's klezmer swing band.

Abe Schwartz Orchestra (as Jewish Orchestra or Yiddish Orchestra) - eight sides from 1917/18 (Columbia). I didn't realize I had this many records by the great Abe Schwartz band. I won't list all the titles.

And for good measure, I played a couple of theater songs by Gus Goldstein and Kalman Juvelier that were on the back of two of the Abe Schwartz sides, and ended with a Columbia record by Cantor Gershon Sirota, recorded in 1908 and pressed around 1920.