What 78 are you spinning right now ?

[jeffcrom]

Three 12" Comet records I just picked up:

Red Norvo and his Selected Sextet - Congo Blues/Get Happy

Art Tatum Trio - Body and Soul/I Know That You Know

Art Tatum Trio - On the Sunny Side of the Street/Flying Home

and some related records:

Red Norvo Sextet - Congo Blues/Get Happy (Dial 10"). Different takes from the record above.

Art Tatum Trio - Boogie/If I Had You (Asch 12")

Edited February 7, 2012 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

Lester Young, on Aladdin and Mercury/Clef. "Almost Like Being in Love," from 1952, really got to me this morning.

[Clunky]

Paul Whiteman- Ya da da/That's my weakness now- (Columbia) -late 30s UK reissue- with Bing and Bix,

Fats Waller My very good friend the milkman/Shortnin bread (HMV)- 40s UK issue- all fun but some nice solos especially on Bread

Edited February 7, 2012 by Clunky

[jeffcrom]

Tommy McClennan - She's Just Good Huggin' Size/My Little Girl (Bluebird). A beautiful copy of an original pressing by the Mississippi bluesman. My heart skipped a beat when I spotted this one.

Last year I paid two dollars for this record. For the past week I've been watching a copy of this on Ebay - it sold for $88.00.

[jeffcrom]

An intriguing new find:

Howard McGhee - Deep Meditation b/w Hadda Brooks - Blues in B Flat (Modern Music)

A 1945 record from Los Angeles, with Teddy Edwards and Charles Mingus on the McGhee side. "Deep Meditation" has no composer credit on label, and Lindenmaier and Salewski's Mingus discography lists it as a Howard McGhee composition. But Stefano Zenni includes it in his list of Mingus compositions. It's certainly got a Mingus-like title, and it sounds like Mingus' writing; it's a beautiful ballad with unusual changes, featuring Teddy Edwards for most of the side. Until I see evidence otherwise, I'm thinking that it's probably from the pen of Mr. Mingus.

The Hadda Brooks side is good without being quite as exciting. There's some nice alto by Jimmy Black, who apparently only recorded with Brooks on a session or two.

[jeffcrom]

Late last week it was R & B/jump blues, with some tasty tenor sax on most sides:

Varetta Dillard - You Are Gone/Them There Eyes (Savoy, 1952)). George Kelly adds the tenor to "You Are Gone."

Calvin Boze - Safronia B/Angel City Blues (Aladdin, 1950). An R & B hit in 1950, with Don Wilkerson on tenor.

Amos Milburn and His Aladdin Chickenshackers - I'm Gonna Tell My Mama/Bad Bad Whiskey (Aladdin 1950). More great Wilkerson tenor on side one.

Amos Milburn and His Aladdin Chickenshackers - Let's Have a Party/Good Good Whiskey (Aladdin, 1953). A few years later, and Noble "Thin Man" Watts is on tenor.

Ed Wiley - Cotton Picker's Blues/My Heart Is Going Down Slow (Sittin' In With white label promo, c. 1951). Pretty raw R & B from Texas tenorist Wiley.

Sonny Thompson Quartet featuring Eddie Chamblee - Late Freight/Sonny's Return (Miracle, 1948)

Buddy Banks Sextette - Banks' Boogie/I Need it Bad (Sterling, c. 1945). Banks is the tenorist; the most well-known name is probably pianist Eddie Beal.

Today is was white gospel time:

Smith's Sacred Singers - Jesus Prayed/Life's Railway to Heaven (Columbia, 1926/7). J. Frank Smith's group was from Braselton, Georgia, between Atlanta and Athens.

Smith's Sacred Singers - Shouting on the Hills/The Eastern Gate (Columbia, 1927)

Smith's Sacred Singers - We Are Going Down the Valley One By One/If I'm Faithful to My Lord (Columbia, 1927)

Gordon County Quartet - Walking in the King's Highway/Beyond the Clouds is Light (Columbia, 1930). Another Georgia group, better known as the Georgia Yellow Hammers when playing secular hillbilly music.

Bela Lam and His Green County Singers - Row Us Over the Tide/See That My Grave is Kept Clean (Okeh, 1927). Wonderful raw gospel from Virginia, accompanied by a banjo tuned low.

The Original Sacred Harp Choir - Greenfield/Hallelujah (Brunswick, 1922). The first recordings of "Sacred Harp" shape-note singing.

McDonald Quartette - We'll Reap What We Sow/Rocking on the Waves (Conqueror, 1932). I've been unable to find out much about this group, except that it was led by R. F. McDonald and that they recorded a lot, for a bunch of labels.

[Clunky]

Lars Gullin Deep Purple/ All Yours-Esquire rec. 1951, my first Lars on 78 and very nice it is too.

[jeffcrom]

Lars Gullin Deep Purple/ All Yours-Esquire rec. 1951, my first Lars on 78 and very nice it is too.

Cool - I've got those tracks on a Swedish LP.

Today I played some vintage jazz, all recently acquired:

Louisiana Five - Heart Sickness Blues/Orange Blossom Rag (Emerson 9", 1918-19). I love this trumpet-less band, with New Orleans clarinetist Alcide Nunez taking the lead.

Original Memphis Five - Blue Grass Blues/Sioux City Sue (Perfect, 1924). Another favorite early recording band of mine.

Ladd's Black Aces - Long Lost Mama/Two-Time Dan (Gennett, 1923). This was the name the Original Memphis Five used when recording for Gennett.

Tennessee Ten - You've Got to See Mamma Ev'ry Night/Paul Whiteman - Nothin' But (Victor, 1923). The Tennessee Ten was the Original Memphis Five expanded to regular dance band size - three brass and three reeds. The Whiteman side is pretty good for 1923.

Gus Mulcay - St. Louis Blues/Farewell Blues (Diva, 1926). Mulcay was a vaudeville harmonica player. These are his only solo recordings (with piano accompaniment), and they're pretty interesting.

Clara Smith - Down South Blues/Kind Lovin' Blues (Columbia, 1923). Her second record, with Fletcher Henderson on piano. Columbia's records from this era remind me of Blue Note's 1950's mono pressings - they can look pretty beat and still sound pretty good.

[Clunky]

played my mini haul from yesterday.

Stan Getz 'S Cool Boy/Standanavian- Esquire 10-198 rec 1951 with Swedes Bengt Hallberg, Gunnar Johnson and Jack Noren

Stan Getz Night and Day/Prelude to a kiss Esquire 10-168 rec 1951

Kenny Graham's afro Cubists- Chloe/Over the rainbow Esquire - rec 1951

Kenny Graham's afro Cubists Jump for Joe/I'll remember April - rec 1953

Kenny Graham's afro Cubists Pig Squeak/ Mike Fright rec 1952

Ronnie Scott Boptet- Coquette/ Wee Dot Esquire- live 1949 recording

Lee Konitz Quintet-You go to my head/ Palo Alto- Esquire - ex Prestige rec 1950

Lee Konitz Quintet Fishin around/ Marshmallow- Melodisc - with Salvatore Mosca ex New Jazz

The real revelation here is the quality of the Kenny Graham's afro Cubists sides. Cool school but with some Cuban feeling, very effective and not entirely like any American recordings I can think of. I had this material on LP but the transfers did the music little justice. The Getz material is predictable excellent also. Pleased with these

[Clunky]

An intriguing new find:

Howard McGhee - Deep Meditation b/w Hadda Brooks - Blues in B Flat (Modern Music)

A 1945 record from Los Angeles, with Teddy Edwards and Charles Mingus on the McGhee side. "Deep Meditation" has no composer credit on label, and Lindenmaier and Salewski's Mingus discography lists it as a Howard McGhee composition. But Stefano Zenni includes it in his list of Mingus compositions. It's certainly got a Mingus-like title, and it sounds like Mingus' writing; it's a beautiful ballad with unusual changes, featuring Teddy Edwards for most of the side. Until I see evidence otherwise, I'm thinking that it's probably from the pen of Mr. Mingus.

The Hadda Brooks side is good without being quite as exciting. There's some nice alto by Jimmy Black, who apparently only recorded with Brooks on a session or two.

missed this posting, it's this sort of find that I love about picking up 78s. Nice one

[jeffcrom]

played my mini haul from yesterday.

Stan Getz 'S Cool Boy/Standanavian- Esquire 10-198 rec 1951 with Swedes Bengt Hallberg, Gunnar Johnson and Jack Noren

Stan Getz Night and Day/Prelude to a kiss Esquire 10-168 rec 1951

Kenny Graham's afro Cubists- Chloe/Over the rainbow Esquire - rec 1951

Kenny Graham's afro Cubists Jump for Joe/I'll remember April - rec 1953

Kenny Graham's afro Cubists Pig Squeak/ Mike Fright rec 1952

Ronnie Scott Boptet- Coquette/ Wee Dot Esquire- live 1949 recording

Lee Konitz Quintet-You go to my head/ Palo Alto- Esquire - ex Prestige rec 1950

Lee Konitz Quintet Fishin around/ Marshmallow- Melodisc - with Salvatore Mosca ex New Jazz

The real revelation here is the quality of the Kenny Graham's afro Cubists sides. Cool school but with some Cuban feeling, very effective and not entirely like any American recordings I can think of. I had this material on LP but the transfers did the music little justice. The Getz material is predictable excellent also. Pleased with these

Very nice haul! This post reminded me that I had been trying to find some Kenny Graham Afro-Cubist material ever since reading Max Harrison's commentary about those recordings in The Essential Jazz Records, Volume 2. (If Max Harrison praises something, it's probably worth checking out.) I had completely struck out in the past, but since the last time I checked, there are some albums available as downloads. MP3's aren't my preferred format, but they do come in handy when there's no other way to get the music. I'm downloading the two albums Harrison talked about right now - they include all the tracks you got. Thanks for reminding me about this material.

[jeffcrom]

Various early jazz and classical 78s today. The most interesting (to me, anyway) were:

George Barrere - Minuet from L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2 (Bizet)/Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orpheus (Gluck) (Columbia, 1913). This one fascinates me, not only because it's an early recording of the great flutist, but because the Bizet Minuet contains a very early recorded example of orchestral saxophone playing. The orchestra is anonymous, and the saxophone is far from the recording horn, but it's there. Pretty cool.

Hegamin's Blue Flame Syncopators - Strut Miss Lizzie/Sweet Mama (Bell, 1921). Two examples of early New York jazz by Lucille Hegamin's backup band, without her.

[jeffcrom]

For Mardi Gras:

Lee Allen and His Band - Walkin' With Mr. Lee/Promenade (Ember)

Fats Domino - When My Dreamboat Comes Home/So Long (Imperial)

Sugar Boy [Crawford] and His Cane Cutters - Overboard/I Don't Know What I'll Do (Checker)

Frankie Ford - Last One to Cry/Cheatin' Woman (Ace)

Paul Gayten - Fishtails/Confused (Regal)

Paul Gayten - Ooh La La/Goodnight Irene (Regal)

Chris Kenner - Sick and Tired/Nothing Will Keep Me From You (Imperial)

[jeffcrom]

Nothing I haven't mentioned before:

Papa Celestin's Original Tuxedo Orchestra - Hey La Ba/My Josephine (Regal 1200)

Papa Celestin's Original Tuxedo Orchestra - Marie Laveu/Maryland My Maryland (Regal 1201)

These are great - excellent New Orleans jazz on well-pressed, quiet surfaces. These might be the best recorded performances by the legendary Alphonse Picou. (I might change my mind tomorrow, but that's how they strike me tonight.)

Jelly Roll Morton - Winin' Boy Blues/Honky Tonk Music (Jazz Man 11)

Jelly Roll Morton - Fingerbuster/Creepy Feeling (Jazz Man 12)

Excellent 1938 performances which were poorly recorded and poorly pressed. Great music; lousy-sounding records.

[jeffcrom]

Late last night, some early country - all my Jimmie Rodgers:

Sleep Baby Sleep/The Soldier's Sweetheart (Victor, 1927)

My Carolina Sunshine Girl/Desert Blues (Victor, 1928/29) New Orleanian Tony Fougerat is allegedly the trumpet player on "Desert Blues." The clarinetist also sounds like he's from New Orleans.

I'm Lonely and Blue/Treasures Untold (Montgomery Ward, 1928)

Moonlight and Skies/Rock All Our Babies to Sleep (Bluebird, 1930/32) This is Bluebird 5000, the very first buff-label Bluebird record, issued in 1933.

[jeffcrom]

A bunch of one-sided acoustic opera/classical vocal records, mostly by Caruso and Amelita Galli-Curci. The incredible Miss Galli-Curci is, after Caruso, my favorite voice from opera's Golden Era. I have six 12" and two 10" records by her, and they all show off her beautiful, clear voice and amazing control.

It was fun to play two versions of the Sextet from Lucia - I have an original "A" stamper Victor Red Seal pressing of the 1908 recording featuring Caruso and five other stars of the Metropolitan Opera. This was the most expensive record on the market at the time - $7.00 for a one-sided 12" record. That's $168.00 in today's money - for not quite five minutes of music. A couple of years later Victor issued a record of the Sextet by the anonymous Victor Opera Sextet; it was on their less-prestigious purple label and cost a mere $1.25. It's not as spectacular as the record by Caruso and company, but it's arguably a better ensemble performance.

It must have been a real bummer to break a $7.00 record in 1908.

[Spontooneous]

Originally it was only $3.50. They jacked up the price after one of the singers was found dead in the bathtub.

[jeffcrom]

All my Bix 78s, plus all the flip sides, just to get the period flavor.

Jean Goldkette - Idolizing/Hush-a-Bye (Victor, 1926). "Idolizing" has some nice Eddie Lang as well as Bix.

Jean Goldkette - I'm Gonna Meet My Sweetie Now/Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra - Me and My Shadow (Victor, 1927). Not much Bix on "Sweetie," but some good Joe Venuti and Danny Polo.

Jean Goldkette - I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover/Roger Wolfe Kahn and his Orchestra - Yankee Rose (Victor, 1927). Steve Brown's bass playing is fabulous on all the Goldkette sides.

Paul Whiteman - Lonely Melody/Ramona (Victor, 1928). Great Bill Challis arrangements, even if "Ramona" doesn't pretend to be jazz.

Paul Whiteman - Ol' Man River/Selections from "Show Boat" (Victor 12", 1928). The vocalist on "Ol' Man River" is no less than Paul Robeson; Bix has a searing 12 bars in the Show Boat medley.

Paul Whiteman - Because My Baby Don't Mean "Maybe" Now/Just Like a Melody Out of the Sky (Columbia, 1928). Bix 'n' Bing....

[jeffcrom]

Played a few of my Jazz Record Mart 78s today, starting with three great pianists:

Mary Lou Williams - Swingin' for Joy/Clean Pickin' (Decca, 1936)

Willie Smith (The Lion) and His Cubs - More Than That/I'm All Out of Breath (Decca, 1937)

Jess Stacy and His Orchestra - Daybreak Serenade/It's Only a Paper Moon (Victor, 1945). Lee Wiley vocal on side two.

Ended with

Paul Quinichette - No Parking/People Will Say We're In Love (Mercury, 1953). This is in the original sleeve and is so pristine that I think it must be unsold store stock.

[jeffcrom]

Just spun two Hot Jazz Club of America reissues from the late 1940s. HJCA records were pressed on vinyl, and sounded pretty good, for dubs. These two are by a band that recorded a bunch of sides over four days in 1932 - the results were originally released on Vocalion, Banner, Perfect, and other labels. The band was called the Memphis Night Hawks, the Alabama Rascals, Darnell Howard and his Memphis Night Hawks, and Roy Palmer's Alabama Rascals. My copies use the last name. Personnel is not entirely known, but Darnell Howard, Roy Palmer, and percussionist Buddy Burton are on board. It's fun "hokum" jazz.

Georgia Grind/Stomp That Thing (HJCA 71)

Nancy Jane/The Dirty Dozen's Cousin (HJCA 72)

[Clunky]

No new 78s for a while as I'm still pretty much housebound following recent surgery. Strong enough now to play 78s and get up and down every 2-3 minutes !!

some purchase from end of 2011

Ida Cox and Lovie Austin's Blue Serenaders- Graveyard Dream Blues (AFCDJ) 1924- French dub from 40s I think- suitable for light weight pick only the sleeve says !!

Jasper Taylor's State Street Blues- Stomp time blues/It must be the blues- (Jazz Collector) Nov 1926 Chicago- good quality dub- Freddie Kepppard !!?

Barrel House Five- Some do and some don't/ Endurance Stomp- (Jazz Collector) July 1929 - ex QRS- again a good dub

Dixieland Thumpers- There'll come a day/Weary way blues ( Jazz collector) Chicago June 1927 ex Paramount? again a good dub but this has Johnny Dodds

Edited March 14, 2012 by Clunky

[jeffcrom]

Glad you're healing up and can once again negotiate the wonderful world of 78s, Clunky.

Late last night, vintage jazz:

Original Dixieland Jazz Band - Margie/Palesteena (Victor, 1920)

Tony Parenti's New Orleanians - In the Dungeon/When You and I Were Pals (Columbia, 1928)

Wingy Mannone - Tar Paper Stomp/Tin Roof Blues (Champion, 1930) - a later pressing, made after Decca had bought Champion.

Original Memphis Five - My Papa Doesn't Two Time No Time/High Society Seven (Sam Lanin Orch.) - Hula Lou (Grey Gull, 1924). Clarinetist Jimmy Lytell is one of my favorites from the 1920's - he sounds so good on the OM5 side.

Fletcher Henderson - My Rose Marie/Lanin's Arcadians - Some Other Day (Silvertone, 1924). The Henderson side has 24 bars of Louis and some nice Buster Bailey.

[Clunky]

Glad you're healing up and can once again negotiate the wonderful world of 78s, Clunky.

.

Thanks Jeff, I'm also using the time to add my 78s to a database , primarily to stop me buying titles I already have !!. Now playing some nice Blue Note 12 inchers

Edmond Hall Celestial Express/ Profoundly blue Bluenote

Edmond Hall Blues /Jammin in Four Bluenote

Edmond Hall Rompin In/Smooth sailing Bluenote

Edmond Hall Big city blues/ Steamin and Beamin Bluenote

Edmond Hall Blue Interval/Seein’ Red Bluenote

Edited March 14, 2012 by Clunky

[Clunky]

Next up . requiring a change of stylus to LP type to play

Red Nichols- Syncopated Chamber Music - Audiophile AP-7 , red vinyl microgroove 12 inch. From 1953 as far as I can tell, mint condition and stunning sound quality. Plays at 78 rpm but needs LP needle !!

Todays other purchases are less prosaic.

Harry Carney with strings Moonlight on the Ganges/We're in love again - (Clef Records)

Thomas Waller- Ain't misbehavin/I've got a feeling I'm falling- HMV UK - lovely piano solos by the master of fun loving jazz

Edited March 14, 2012 by Clunky

[jeffcrom]

Red Nichols- Syncopated Chamber Music - Audiophile AP-7 , red vinyl microgroove 12 inch. From 1953 as far as I can tell, mint condition and stunning sound quality. Plays at 78 rpm but needs LP needle !!

I've got one of those Audiophile 78 RPM "LP's" - by Harry Blons' Dixieland Band. Ewing Nunn, who ran Audiophile, was a recording genius. The Audiophile LPs I have from the 1950's and '60's are among the best-sounding records in my collection.