What 78 are you spinning right now ?

[JSngry]

Uber-disembodied black and white photos of lipsticked manheads, a wave of random staff notes, a combination of script and print, and a designer Tonette, geez, I don't have to hear it to love it, it's music for the eyes, a symphony of sight, a memory of before it ever happens.

[jeffcrom]

Fletcher Henderson recorded two sides for Edison in 1923, "Linger Awhile" and "Shake Your Feet." They were conveniently issued on two different records, each backed with a side by (Ernest) Stevens' Trio. "Linger Awhile" was the first Edison I bought, even before my Edison-capable turntable arrived, but I just tracked down a nice copy of "Shake Your Feet." Played them both today, along with a 1919 Edison Lousiana Five - "Be Hap-E" & "Foot Warmer."

I'm still learning to EQ Edisons - they respond very differently than "normal" 78s. Edison claimed that his records sounded better than any others of the time, and with proper EQ, he just may have been right. Boosting the mids and cutting the highs more than usual for 78s results in a beautiful, rich acoustic sound.

Then, an album on the Hit label which I bought about a month ago - Echoes of Harlem by Cootie Williams. I was very disappointed when it arrived - all four records were extremely warped. They were playable, but the warp on each created an annoying "bump." So I tried the 78 collectors' trick - I put them at the bottom of a large pile of records. Three weeks later, I refiled the records in the stack, and when I got the bottom, the Cootie records were vastly better. A couple are still slightly warped, but it doesn't affect the sound at all. The records sound very good, as does young Bud Powell.

[jeffcrom]

A bunch of Mitchell's Christian Singers, my favorite gospel group. This was inspired by the mailman bringing me "Standing By the Bedside"/"What Kind of Shoes Do the Angels Wear" on Conqueror. It looks about V, but plays V++. I have the same pairing on Perfect (G-) and Oriole (F), so this is a big improvement.

[jeffcrom]

 

The second of my 78 album finds from yesterday, Decca's Kansas City Jazz. It's a big album - six records: one each by Pete Johnson/Joe Turner, Mary Lou Williams, Andy Kirk, Hot Lips Page, Count Basie, and Eddie Durham. It's a beautiful thing - great music, and it sounds way better than my battered LP version of the album. I didn't realize until I was researching it today that all the recordings except the two Basie sides were made specifically for this album, so that this was the first appearance of 10 out of 12 of these sides.

Again. This is truly beautiful music.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

youre set up to play edison discs?  i just threw mine out.  the lp store would of course offer no credit for em and i *had* to get rid of a *lot* of vinyl (shellac, et al).  it wasnt a rare title i dont think.  i was planning on googling it but i dont think i did.   anyways, i saved other early record, which i did not throw out- on i belive it was called ARC american recording company. it had a very similar logo to that of RCA VICTOR- you know: the dog at the phonograph?  well instead of a dog on this one, its an giant indian chief, complete with headress-- they were only around 1904-1906.  so its like the blue note records of pre 1910 labels dawg!  no i really dont know that.  but i saved it. on, + its 11 and a half inches so it doesnt fit in a 10in sleeve and a 12'' sleeves too big-- and it plays at something like 83rpm or some not standard speed like that.  

 

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

 

man, tommy potters on it---- dont wanna knock the great tal f or the supreme piano master who i saw many times hank jones, but man tommy potter must of been all--..., oh god nevermind.  all am saying dawg, is this  is what record he was cuttin 6 yrs prior....

 

[jeffcrom]

Bachelor time, and blues time:

Jim Jackson, Kansas City Blues, parts 1 & 2 (Vocalion, 1927)
Tommy McClennon - She's Just Good Huggin' Size/My Little Girl (Bluebird, 1940)
Tony Hollins - Fishin' Blues/I'll Get a Break (Decca, 1953)
John Lee Hooker - Hug and Squeeze/The Syndicator (Modern, 1955)
John Lee Hooker - Looking for a Woman/I'm Ready (Modern, 1955)
Elmore James - I Believe My Time Ain't Long (aka Dust My Broom) /Bobo Thomas - I Wish I Was a Catfish (aka Catfish Blues) (Ace, 1951 - licensed from Trumpet)
Willie Love - Shady Lane Blues/21 Minutes to Nine (Trumpet, 1951)
Sonny Boy Williamson - Your Imagination/Let Me Explain (Checker, 1956)
Billy Boy (Arnold) - I Ain't Got You/Don't Stay Out All Night (Vee-Jay, 1955)
Billy Boy - I Wish You Would/I Was Fooled (Vee-Jay, 1955)
Lowell Fulson - Trouble Blues/I Want to See My Baby (Big Town, 1947)
Lowell Fulson - I've Been Mistreated/Juke Box Shuffle (Swing Time, 1953)
JImmy Rogers - Walking By Myself/If It Ain't Me (Chess, 1956). Big Walter Horton on harp - some of his best work.
Memphis Slim - My Country Girl/Treat Me Like I Treat You (Money, 1954)
Little Walter - You're So Fine/Lights Out (Checker, 1953)
Little Walter - Tell Me Mama/Off the Wall (Checker, 1953)
Little Walter - I Got to Go/Roller Coaster (Checker, 1955) Bo Diddley is on guitar.
Jimmy Reed - You Got Me Dizzy/Honey, Don't Let Me Go (Vee-Jay, 1956)
Jimmy Reed - I Don't Go For That/She Don't Want Me No More (Vee-Jay, 1955)
Clarence Garlow - Blues As You Like It/She's So Fine (Macy's, 1949)
Billy Stewart - Billy's Blues, parts 1& 2 (Argo, 1956). Bo Diddley is again on guitar - maybe. Unless he's not - sources disagree.
Roscoe Gordon - Booted/Cold, Cold Winter (RPM, 1952)
Eddie Bo - I Cry Oh/My Heart Was Meant For You (Apollo, 1956)
Earl King - Those Lonely Lonely Nights/Baby You Can Get Your Gun (Ace, 1955)

Edited September 19, 2015 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

Tab Smith, 1945-1953, on Hub, Queen Chess, and United. Amidst just enjoying these records, question arose. At what point does not-great music cross over into being pretty great? Is there a tipping point, after which a certain quantity of limited, perfect-in-its-own-right music becomes more than the sum of its parts?

Anyway, as you can probably tell, I really enjoyed these records tonight, even if I'm not sure how "good" they are.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

today i rocked jazz on sunset pts 1 & 2 wardell/sonny criss on prestige, ready teddy/rip it up (insane), some private press country from medford, OR, amos milburn- a&m blues

[jeffcrom]

Lots of 78s lately, but of special interest might be what are among my "best" two 78s - in terms of musical quality, condition, and value:

Louis Armstrong - Basin Street Blues / No & Two Deuces / Squeeze Me (Okeh). This is the version of the Hot Five with Earl Hines. Three of the sides are a solid E (78 collectors don't use "mint"), and "Squeeze Me" is V+ or E-. I've said before that these are the records that finally revealed to me what Zutty Singleton was really doing on these sessions - he wasn't well recorded, and reissues generally filter out most of what managed to make to wax, as far as his drumming goes.

And I just acquired the second of two records from a 1942 Decca session by a "jump blues" singer who called himself Sonny Boy Williams. He has no connection to either of the blues singers who called themselves Sonny Boy Williamson. These records are little-known, but important, due to the presence of the great Freddie Webster on trumpet. Webster wrote one of the tunes and plays short, but beautiful solos on three of the four sides. The trumpet solo on his own "Reverse the Charges" is very "modern" and quite impressive. The pairings are: Reverse the Charges / Rubber Bounce & Savoy is Jumping / Honey It Must Be Love. Webster doesn't solo on "Savoy."

[Clunky]

Lots of 78s lately, but of special interest might be what are among my "best" two 78s - in terms of musical quality, condition, and value:

Louis Armstrong - Basin Street Blues / No & Two Deuces / Squeeze Me (Okeh). This is the version of the Hot Five with Earl Hines. Three of the sides are a solid E (78 collectors don't use "mint"), and "Squeeze Me" is V+ or E-. I've said before that these are the records that finally revealed to me what Zutty Singleton was really doing on these sessions - he wasn't well recorded, and reissues generally filter out most of what managed to make to wax, as far as his drumming goes.

And I just acquired the second of two records from a 1942 Decca session by a "jump blues" singer who called himself Sonny Boy Williams. He has no connection to either of the blues singers who called themselves Sonny Boy Williamson. These records are little-known, but important, due to the presence of the great Freddie Webster on trumpet. Webster wrote one of the tunes and plays short, but beautiful solos on three of the four sides. The trumpet solo on his own "Reverse the Charges" is very "modern" and quite impressive. The pairings are: Reverse the Charges / Rubber Bounce & Savoy is Jumping / Honey It Must Be Love. Webster doesn't solo on "Savoy."

tasty or what....

[jeffcrom]

Okay, I fulfilled a record collecting bucket list item today, when this record arrived in the mail.

King Oliver's Jazz Band - Sobbin' Blues / Sweet Lovin' Man (Okeh)

It has been a long-held ambition to have an orignal 1923 Oliver Creole Jazz Band 78. This one is in VG+ condition, and sounds pretty good with the right stylus. It wasn't cheap, but on the other hand, I paid less than it's really worth. And what I paid was less than I made teaching saxophone lessons today.

I think it's the first time I have actually been nervous before playing a record.

[jeffcrom]

King Oliver on Okeh

Butterbeans & Susie on Okeh

Clara Smit on Columbia

[jeffcrom]

As usual, I've been playing way more 78s than I've been posting about. But here's today's (pretty good) complete list, including some new ones :

Charlie Parker - Passport/Visa (Mercury)

Hans Holler Quartet - Beat/Up From Munich (Discovery International Jazz Series). From 1952, with Jutta Hipp on piano.

Nat Pierce and his Orchestra - It Might as Well Be Spring/Searsucker Blues (Motif). Side one label reads "Alto Sax by Charlie Mariano."

The three records above were all in E or E- condition - the 78 equivalent of Mint. Then on to three early discs by a New Orleans clarinetist I love, Tony Parenti:

French Market Blues/Dizzy Lizzy (Victor)

Cabaret Echoes/Midnight Papa (Columbia)

In the Dungeon/When You and I Were Pals (Columbia). The great cornetist Johnny Wiggs is on the last one. I love his playing, which seems influenced equally by King Oliver and Bix Beiderbecke.

I ended with another new one, a 1940-ish reissue of a couple of 1928-29 Victor sides. This one is also in E- condition:

Jelly Roll Morton - Shreveport / Duke Ellington - Doin' the Voom Voom (Bluebird).

 

[jeffcrom]

Listened to some very early 78s tonight - 1901-02. I won't go into detail, except to point out that one of the records was Columbia #37(!).

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

8 hours ago, jeffcrom said:

Listened to some very early 78s tonight - 1901-02. I won't go into detail, except to point out that one of the records was Columbia #37(!).

Zowie! So, was that a new numbering series for flat records?

MG

[jeffcrom]

1 hour ago, The Magnificent Goldberg said:

Zowie! So, was that a new numbering series for flat records?

MG

Yes - according to my reference books, Columbia started issuing one-sided discs in 1901, numbered consecutively. That series reached around #4000 by 1908, when Columbia intruced their double-sided records and started the "A" series, starting with A1.

For what it's worth, Columbia 37 is "Waltz from 'Maid Marian'" - credited to "Orchestra." I was curious, so I looked up Maid Marian - it was a comic opera that was current at the time this record was made.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

22 hours ago, jeffcrom said:

Yes - according to my reference books, Columbia started issuing one-sided discs in 1901, numbered consecutively. That series reached around #4000 by 1908, when Columbia intruced their double-sided records and started the "A" series, starting with A1.

For what it's worth, Columbia 37 is "Waltz from 'Maid Marian'" - credited to "Orchestra." I was curious, so I looked up Maid Marian - it was a comic opera that was current at the time this record was made.

Thanks Jeff - I had to look it up, in case the opera was based on Thomas Love Peacock's comic novel 'Maid Marian' which was very popular in the late 19th c and dramatized for the stage, as well as there being some kind of musical version. But it's not the same one. Your Maid Marian record comes from a story in which Robin Hood is sent off to fight in the crusades and Marion follows him and is kidnapped by Saracens. All ands happily, you'll be glad to know

MG

[jeffcrom]

Among other things, two four-disc solo piano albums:

Oscar Levant in a Recital of Modern Music (Columbia). 1941-42 recordings of Gershwin, Debussy, Jeboninsky, Shostakovich, Ravel, and Levant.

Art Tatum - Piano Impressions (ARA). From 1945.

I enjoyed both albums, but the Tatum more.

[JSngry]

22 minutes ago, jeffcrom said:

Among other things, two four-disc solo piano albums:

Oscar Levant in a Recital of Modern Music (Columbia). 1941-42 recordings of Gershwin, Debussy, Jeboninsky, Shostakovich, Ravel, and Levant.

Art Tatum - Piano Impressions (ARA). From 1945.

I enjoyed both albums, but the Tatum more.

That over art is a trip. It's like Tatum is on a magic carpet that is about to go off out into space, like a genie coming out of a bottle. Is it at all credited?

[jeffcrom]

48 minutes ago, JSngry said:

That over art is a trip. It's like Tatum is on a magic carpet that is about to go off out into space, like a genie coming out of a bottle. Is it at all credited?

It's signed - you can see the signature just below the piano, near the back leg. Even with a magnifying glass, though, I'm not sure about the name. The last four letters are definitely "hoff." The name might be Brielhoff.

[JSngry]

Name doesn't ring a bell...wonderful cover no matter who.

[jeffcrom]

Listening to a bunch of 78s tonight, but really enjoying a 1930s Southern "territory" band. Hod Williams' North Carolina big band recorded five 78s for Bluebird in Charlotte in 1937 and 1938. I've got three of them. Three of Williams' recordings had vocals, but these six sides are all instrumental. The band is competent, not very original, and a lot of fun. I'm glad to be able to hear these local heroes nearly 80 years later.

Old King Cole / Monopoly Swing

Southland / Williams' Sophisticates

The Big Apple / Shades of Hades

[jeffcrom]

Nick's Presents his Dixieland Jazz Band Featuring "Muggsy" Spanier (Manhattan). Nick Rongetti's joint was one of New York's pillars of Condon-school dixieland in the 1940s.  He put out three 3-pocket albums by his regulars, under the nominal leadership of Muggsy Spanier, Pee Wee Russell, and Miff Mole. Muggy's is pretty nice.

[jeffcrom]

Back in 2009 I posted about a Mercury calypso record by Sir Lancelot accompanied by Gerald Clark's band, with a fabulous clarinetist. Jazztrain pointed out that it was a reissue of a record from a Keystone album, and that the clarinetist was the great. Gregory Felix. I recently found a very nice copy of the Keystone album, and Gregory Felix sounds great throughout - he has become one of my favorite clarinetists in any genre.

[jazztrain]

On ‎12‎/‎5‎/‎2015‎ ‎10‎:‎32‎:‎53‎, jeffcrom said:

Nick's Presents his Dixieland Jazz Band Featuring "Muggsy" Spanier (Manhattan). Nick Rongetti's joint was one of New York's pillars of Condon-school dixieland in the 1940s.  He put out three 3-pocket albums by his regulars, under the nominal leadership of Muggsy Spanier, Pee Wee Russell, and Miff Mole. Muggy's is pretty nice.

The Pee Wee set is nice also.  Did your Muggsy album have the photo with it?

14 hours ago, jeffcrom said:

Back in 2009 I posted about a Mercury calypso record by Sir Lancelot accompanied by Gerald Clark's band, with a fabulous clarinetist. Jazztrain pointed out that it was a reissue of a record from a Keystone album, and that the clarinetist was the great. Gregory Felix. I recently found a very nice copy of the Keystone album, and Gregory Felix sounds great throughout - he has become one of my favorite clarinetists in any genre.

Jeff,  You've piqued my interest in him again.  What else do you have Felix on?  He's on some Fess Williams recordings, but Fess generally takes the reed solos.