April 2007
April 19
This week's Hit of the Week is brought
to you by
Click on image for larger view
Lincoln Motor Company
(from 1927 ad)
Note: I am very pleased to welcome
back guest contributor Eddie The Collector. Eddie will be providing
both the main update as well as the "Extra." The records and
commentary are Eddie's - my only contribution was to transfer and digitalize
the recordings. You may read more about Eddie as well as view
his photo and contact information by clicking here.
Bogalousa
Strut
Sam Morgans Jazz Band
1927
(Columbia 14351 D mx 145001)
Short
Dress Gal
Sam Morgans Jazz Band
Sam Morgan, vocal
1927
(Columbia 14351 D mx 145000)
Sam Morgan's Jazz Band was one of
the bands which worked on the riverboats out of New Orleans and was one
of only about six New Orleans territory bands. The excursion trade
became important for many of the city's black bands because they had to
file their contracts with the Mobile, Alabama chapter (the closest black
local), which was well over 100 miles away. Having been denied membership
into the Musicians Protected Union No. 174, Morgan and others petitioned
to establish a local chapter (496) of the American Federation of Musicians
in 1926, which was ultimately chartered in Gulfport, Mississippi, because
you couldn't have two unions in the same state.
All eight of Sam Morgan's Columbia
recordings were made on two days in 1927 - either April 14 or, as was the
case with this week's selections, October 22. With the
exception of three traditional melodies, the remaining five, including
the two featured here, were Morgan compositions.
Sam played the trumpet along with
another brother, Isaiah, while a third brother, Andrew, played clarinet
and tenor saxophone. Sadly, Sam Morgan lived a relatively short
life - 1895-1936 - but during the 1920's, he contributed 8 sides
regarded as some of the best New Orleans classic jazz of the decade.
One has to simply listen to these
recordings to appreciate their full magnificance - the energy they produce
could light a small city, or even a medium sized one. Morgan himself
sings the vocal on "Short Dress Gal." Its primitiveness - and I don't
mean that in a derogatory sense - only adds to its appeal. Of course,
short dresses were the thing in the '20s and this song capitalizes on that
trend.
- Eddie The Collector
EXTRA
This section will present
78 rpm recordings that do not fall within the range of the vintage pop
and jazz fare that I usually present. Here I will feature
recordings from a wide variety of eras, musical genres and nationalities
as well as occasional spoken word recordings.
Image courtesy Eddie The Collector
Lazy
Blossom Seeley, vocal
The Georgians, Frank Guarente director
1924
(Columbia 114 D mx 81653)
Don't
Mind The Rain
Blossom Seeley, vocal
The Georgians, Frank Guarente director
1924
(Columbia 114 D mx 81652)
Blossom Seeley (1891-1974) was one
of the greatest Vaudeville singers, an equal in talent to Nora Bayes or
Sophie Tucker.
Blossom began as a child performer
and worked San Francisco's Barbary Coast as a ragtime singer.
Her strutting, finger-snapping, syncopated rhythms gave distinction to
her act and she was enticed eastward to New York, the center of big-time
Vaudeville and musical revues. She worked solo in Vaudeville and
with her husbands - Joe Kane was one, and Rube Marquard, the top-flight
pitcher for the New York Giants, was another. Benny Fields came next
and they became partners in life and career and were the ultimate professionals.
They always delivered an incredibly polished performance as finely tuned
and timed as a clockwork mechanism, but never seeming anything but fresh,
immediate and vital.
While Seeley made a couple of films
and appeared on radio and TV, she seemed to be content to fade away in
tune and time with Vaudeville. After Benny Fields's early death in
1959, Blossom tried a comeback, appearing on the Ed Sullivan show.
Although she could still sing well in her seventies and eighties, and was
still a captivating performer, her era and her audience were gone (they're
back now - at least the audience!).
On these recordings, Seeley is accompanied
by The Georgians which was a subset of the Paul Specht Orchestra.
Specht had a gig at the Hotel Alamac in New York City in 1920 - the orchestra
played music for dancing in the ballroom and afterwards a smaller group
that went by the name Georgians played in the cocktail lounge. The
star and leader of the group was trumpet player Frank Guarente. In
1922, the Georgians went to Europe and stayed until 1924, then rejoined
Specht's orchestra. The Georgian's stay in Europe was quite influential
and gave Europeans their first taste of a real American jazz band.
Guarente formed his own band called The New Georgians which recorded in
Switzerland under the name Frank Guarente's World Known Georgians.
Guarente played in Europe until 1927, when he joined the Savoy Orpheans
in London. He returned to America in 1928 and rejoined Specht's orchestra
for two years. In the 1930's, he did studio work and played in a
variety of bands including the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra.
I became aware of this version of
this Irving Berlin tune "Lazy" by listening to the three LP
reissue set called The Original Sound of the Twenties, released
by Columbia in the late '60s or early '70s in response to Victor's successful
Vintage series. I had always tended to ignore vocal recordings, preferring
the fuller-sounding Fox Trot orchestra versions. However, everytime
I listened to this record, I liked it better. The accompanying liner
notes described it something like this: "...Blossom belts out the words
with verve and enthusiasm, making you feel like you were right there with
her with that 'valise full of books to read when it's peaceful, killin'
time!, killin' time!, bein' Lazy!'" Those notes are exactly right.
Her singing, interspersed with the the Georgian's jazzy accompaniment just
enhances an already fun song and makes it bubble with joy and good cheer.
Only in the 20s! I was finally able to get a 78 rpm version of this
record about five years ago. I always especially liked the relatively
short-lived "flag label" used on Columbias between the early 20's blue
label and mid-20's and on black label--the gold background and the pretty
flags are so evocative of the wonderful music you get to hear on these
records.
"Don't Mind The Raid" is another
popular song of the day, full of optimism and uplift.
- Eddie The Collector
April 12
This week's Hit of the Week is brought
to you by
Burpee's Guaranteed Seeds
(from 1933 ad)
Note - I am very please
to welcome back guest contributor Matt From College Station as he
shares some more recordings from his excellent collection of 1920s and
1930s jazz and dance band 78 rpm records.
All recordings and commentary
in this update, both the regular and the "Extra" sections, are from Matt.
My only contribution was to transfer and digitalize the recordings.
You can learn more about Matt
and find his contact information by clicking here.
The
Gold Diggers’ Song
Jack Berger And His Hotel Astor Orchestra
Ted Holt, vocal
1933
(Bluebird B 5054 A)
My
First Love To Last
Jack Berger And His Hotel Astor Orchestra
Ted Holt, vocal
1933
(Bluebird B 5054 B)
The
Very Thought Of You
Red Nichols And His World Famous Pennies
King Harvey, vocal
1934
(Bluebird B 5548 A)
This week's selections by Jack Berger's
Hotel Astor Orchestra, are a bit of a mystery to me due to the fact that
no information is available about the band. They recorded six sides for
Bluebird in 1933, six sides for ARC in 1931 and two sides for Crown in
1932.
The vocalist with the band was variable,
but several sides featured Ted Holt - as do the ones featured here.
The first selection is "The Golddiggers Song" by Harry Warren and Al Dubin
from the movie, Golddiggers of 1933. It is a peppy, semi-sweet dance
number although it has some jazzy moments. This is my favorite version
of the song besides Leo Reisman's.
Next we hear the George Marion and
Richard Whiting song "My First Love To Last" which was featured in the
1933 Fox Film Adorable, starring Janet Gaynor. This sweet song is
very well arranged and played melodically.
Finally we get to hear Red Nichols
and his World Famous Pennies play a Ray Noble composition, "The Very Thought
Of You." Red Nichols led a hot and jazzy band throughout the 1920's,
but adapted changing times in the 1930s. While a good number
of their recordings were sweet in the 1930's, some of their recordings
were still pretty jazzy. They seem to be a band that could play in any
style. Red Nichols' band had a huge recorded output and even starred in
several Vitaphone shorts. They were without a doubt one of the more popular
bands of the 1920s. They were also the pit orchestra for two George Gershwin
Broadway musicals in 1929-1931 - Strike Up The Band and
Girl
Crazy. A biographical film was made about the Nichols band in
1959.
- Matt From College
Station
EXTRA
This section will present
78 rpm recordings that do not fall within the range of the vintage pop
and jazz fare that I usually present. Here I will feature
recordings from a wide variety of eras, musical genres and nationalities
as well as occasional spoken word recordings.
Popular
Selections:
I’m
Sorry Dear, Old Playmate, Good Night Sweeheart
Paul Whiteman And His Orchestra
Mildred Bailey, Jack Fulton, The Romancers, vocal
1933
(Victor Program Transcription L
16002)
Here I will present a very rare
RCA-Victor Program Transcription. These long playing records were introduced
by RCA as a way to entice the Depression era record buying public. They
played at 33 1/3 rpm. Sadly, RCA stopped production of them in 1933,
but kept back issues in the catalog for quite some time. More information
can be found about these unique discs in the October 26, 2006 update.
This one-sided Paul Whiteman disc
plays for over eight minutes and features Mildred Bailey, Jack Fulton,
and the Romancers performing three songs which were popular in 1933
- Matt From College Station
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