A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to uncover several of these single sided early Victor records at one of my regular haunts. Though they’re a little out of the scope of what I usually collect, they certainly are interesting, as they are all well over one hundred years old! Since they only have one side each, I thought it best to post two of them here at a time. These two are a pair of rags composed by Arthur Pryor and played by his military band.
Arthur Pryor, the trombone virtuoso, was one of Victor’s most popular artists around the turn of the century. He rose to prominence during the 1890s as a soloist with John Philip Sousa’s band, and took his first solo at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Pryor left Sousa’s Band in 1902 and soon began his association with the Victor Talking Machine Company. During the 1900s and 1910s, Pryor’s Band was one of the most popular in the United States.
Dating these early records is not my strong suit, but going by the matrix number of B-793, and the apparent take number of 2, this copy Victor 4069 was recorded April 26, 1904, mostly likely in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This record features Arthur Pryor’s famous composition (though its title would not be so acceptable today), “Coon Band Contest”. This one is, unfortunately, quite noisy, but not too shabby for a nearly 113 year old shellac disc!
Coon Band Contest, recorded April 26, 1904 by Arthur Pryor’s Band.
With the matrix B2818, it appears that Victor 4525 was recorded October 18, 1905, also in Philadelphia. This one features the rag tune “Razzazza Mazzazza”, and plays considerably better than the first disc. It’s pretty fun music, too!
Razzazza Mazzazza, recorded October 18, 1905 by Arthur Pryor’s Band.
Recorded on this day in 1929, herein is one of my favorite discs, though the condition is rather lacking, owing to a heavily scratched surface from many years of unsleeved storage. “Smoke Jackson and his Red Onions” is a pseudonym for Zack Whyte’s Chocolate Beau Brummels, a fine Midwestern territory band. The 78 Quarterly estimated “at least 15” copies of this record in their “Rarest 78s” article. While it may likely not be quite that scarce (although there surely are at least fifteen copies), it’s still far from a common disc.
Zack Whyte was born in 1898 in Richmond, Kentucky, and attended Wilberforce College, where he played banjo with Horace Henderson’s Collegians. He started leading his own Cincinnati-based bands in 1923, and eventually formed the Chocolate Beau Brummels, a territory band that recorded six sides with Gennett in 1929, and helped to bring several greats including Sy Oliver and Herman Chittison to prominence. Whyte retired from music in 1939 and died in 1967.
These two superb sides of Champion 15714 were recorded in Richmond, Indiana on February 26, 1929. This Champion issue sold 9,060 copies. It was also issued on Gennett 6797 and Supertone 9368 under the pseudonym “Eddie Walker and his Band.” The Chocolate Beau Brummels consist of the star-studded lineup of Zack Whyte directing and playing banjo, Bubber Whyte (his brother?), Henry Savage, and the great Sy Oliver on trumpets, Floyd Brady on trombone, Clarence Paige, Ben “Snake” Richardson, and Earl Tribble on alto saxes, Al Sears on tenor and baritone sax, the always excellent Herman Chittison on piano, Montgomery Morrison on tuba, and William Benton on drums.
Beginning with side “A”, the Chocolate Beau Brummels play a stomping rendition of Hudson Whittaker and Thomas A. Dorsey’s (a.k.a. Tampa Red and Georgia Tom) hit “It’s Tight Like That”. I believe this is the second take, and it really gets in the groove.
It’s Tight Like That, recorded February 26, 1929 by Smoke Jackson and his Red Onions.
A bit worse for wear than the previous, on the flip-side they play a masterful rendition of Joe “King” Oliver’s “West End Blues”, with a beautiful piano intro by Herman Chittison and some fine banjo by the leader. The label splits the composer’s credit between Oliver and publisher Clarence Williams. I believe this one is the third take, but with Gennett’s lack of any identifying marks in the “dead wax”, it’s hard to be sure.
West End Blues, recorded February 26, 1929 by Smoke Jackson and his Red Onions.
Updated with improved audio on April 22, 2018, and again on August 24, 2023.
Please note: this article dates to Old Time Blues’ first year and does not meet the standard of quality to which more recent postings are held. Thank you for your understanding.
Today, I offer you something a little different than the usual fare; delving into the 1940s with this World War II era swing record from France. Interestingly, this disc turned up in a little junk shop in Austin, Texas. Likely, it was brought home from Europe by a returning serviceman. One way or the other, these Swing label records don’t turn up all too often around these parts.
Bandleader Charles Hary was a French jazz saxophonist, and had the distinction of playing with both Django Reinhardt and his brother Joseph Reinhardt. I’d love to be able say more about Hary and the record in general, but unfortunately, I don’t know anything about it, and I can’t seem to dig up much, so I’ll just let you all enjoy the music.
Swing SW.164 was recorded July 3, 1942, presumably in Paris, France. The personnel includes Aimé Barelli, Alex Caturegli, and Alphonse Marlier on trumpet, Maurice Gladieu and Pierre Rémy on trombone, Charles Hary, Charles T. “Coco” Kiehn, Hubert Rostaing, Marcel Coestier, and Max Blanc on saxophones (one of them doubling on clarinet), René Cloerec on piano, Lucien Gallopain on guitar, Lucien Simoens on string bass, and Armand Molinetti on drums.
The first number is a swingy little thingy titled “Allégresse”, which I believe translates to “Glee”.
Allégresse, recorded July 3, 1942 by Charles Hary et son Orchestre.
The flip, “Liliane”, is played a little hotter than the first, with some fine saxophone (that reminds me a little of Charlie Barnet’s playing.)
Liliane, recorded July 3, 1942 by Charles Hary et son Orchestre.
In my never ending hunt for Texas jazz records, this one by Fred Gardner’s Texas University Troubadours is a necessity. Unfortunately, the only copy I was able to get my hands on is in rather rough condition. I think it’s still enjoyable, but it’s no prizewinner by any stretch of the imagination. Years ago, an English magazine misidentified the cornet on these records as that of the legendary Bix Beiderbecke, in what they credited as a band organized by British saxophonist Freddy Gardner, who was alleged to have been vacationing in Texas at the time. In actuality, the cornet player on this and the other record from this session was Tom Howell, and the leader was an entirely different Fred Gardner.
Cornetist Thomas Alva Howell, Jr., born in 1906, and his brother Lee learned to play by ear, and attended the University of Texas together beginning in 1921, where they played in the Howell Brothers Moonshiner Orchestra. They later joined Steve Gardner’s Hokum Kings, which recorded in 1930 under the direction of saxophonist Fred Gardner in San Antonio for Okeh Records. Howell and his brother also played in Sunny Clapp’s Band o’ Sunshine and can be heard playing on two of their San Antonio recorded sides from 1929, as well as singing on one of their Victor records.
Okeh 41440 was recorded on June 9, 1930 in San Antonio, Texas. Judging by the personnel, the band was something of a family affair, and features leader Fred Gardner on clarinet and tenor sax, Tom Howell on cornet, Lee Howell on trombone, Steve Gardner on clarinet, Chester Seekatz on clarinet and alto sax, Tommy Howell on piano, Bill Lewis on banjo and guitar, John Gardner on tuba, and Jay “Bird” Thomas on drums and vocals.
Gardner’s Troubadours play W.C. Handy’s classic song “Loveless Love” (a re-working of the traditional “Careless Love”) slow and with a steady beat, and it doesn’t disappoint, serving as an outstanding example of Texas-area territory jazz, with a fine vocal to top it off.
Loveless Love, recorded June 9, 1930 by Fred Gardner’s Texas University Troubadours.
A bit worse for wear, Glen Caraway, Louis Andre, and Bob Miller’s blues song “Papa’s Gone” is played hotter and more uptempo than the previous side, with a great bounce, and is one of my favorites. Originally a blues song performed by the likes of Rosa Henderson, this number seems to have been something of a standard in Texas jazz in those days, as it was recorded by at least four Texas-based bands in the 1920s and 1930s: first by Jimmy Joy’s St. Anthony Hotel Orchestra as “Mama Will Be Gone” in 1924, then by Eddie and Sugar Lou’s Hotel Tyler Orchestra as “Sweet Papa Will Be Gone” in 1929, then this one in ’30, and finally (or not?) by the Nite Owls in 1937.
Papa’s Gone, recorded June 9, 1930 by Fred Gardner’s Texas University Troubadours.
Updated with improved audio on July 11, 2017 and on May 23, 2024..
Today, I eagerly present to you valued readers a record that stands out particularly in the annals of history (as well as in my collection), one of the unquestionably best of the one-hundred-and-some-odd songs recorded by America’s Blue Yodeler, Mr. Jimmie Rodgers: the very first recording of the classic country song “Mule Skinner Blues”.
An advertisement for Victor 23503 from a 1930 Victor promotional flyer.
Before delving into its history, I must digress to say that this record is something of a “holy grail” to me, it’s one I sought for a long, long time, and no tongue can tell the joy of finally having it in my grasp. I searched for what at least seemed like ages, until a nice copy finally appeared on eBay. I managed to win the auction, and after what seemed like an eternity, this one was delivered, albeit packed woefully inadequately. Thankfully, by what I can only describe as the grace of God, it made it into my possession safely in that thin LP mailer without the slightest damage—and boy is it a thing to behold.
Victor 23503 was recorded on the tenth and eleventh of July, 1930 in Hollywood, California, and released on January 16, 1931, in Victor’s 23500 series for “Old Familiar Tunes”. As designated by the small “o” above Nipper’s nose near the top of the labels, this copy was pressed at the Victor plant in Oakland, California. Several days later, while still in Hollywood, Jimmie recorded with Louis Armstrong, who was appearing at the time at Frank Sebastian’s New Cotton Club in Los Angeles. Jimmie was in exceptionally fine form at these Hollywood sessions, and they turned out to be quite productive, resulting in a total of fourteen sides cut between thirtieth of June and the sixteenth of July—plus the unusual and unreleased test recording of an Amos ‘n’ Andy style comedy sketch with one I.N. Bronson, titled “The Pullman Porters”.
In the latter of the two sessions, after warming up with the railroad ballad “The Mystery of Number Five” (Victor 23518), Jimmie cut the eighth installment in his series of thirteen “Blue Yodel” songs, “Blue Yodel No. 8 (Mule Skinner Blues)”, in only one take (though second and third takes were recorded, the first was released), with those being the only two sides he recorded that day. It was originally slated to be released as the ninth Blue Yodel song, with another being the eighth, but that recording was deemed inferior and held back until after Rodgers’ passing, at which time it was released as “Blue Yodel Number Eleven”.
Rodgers’ opening line, “Good mornin’, captain. Good mornin’, shine,” appeared two years earlier in Tom Dickson’s “Labor Blues” (Okeh 8570), though the rest of the song bears no resemblance to Rodgers’ Blue Yodel, lyrically or melodically. Whether Rodgers picked up the verse from Dickson’s song or elsewhere, I couldn’t say. This recording stands out as one of a relative few that Rodgers made during the later phase of his career to feature self-accompaniment on his own guitar (fewer than half of his recordings feature his own accompaniment, and the bulk of those were made prior to 1930), and his playing is at his finest, with a rare guitar solo midway through. The song was resurrected at the beginning of the next decade by Grand Ole Opry players Bill Monroe and Roy Acuff (separately), which in turn inspired many times subsequent covers. In 1955, Rodgers’ recording—along with a number of his other sides—was overdubbed with Hank Snow’s band and reissued in an effort to keep the music “up-to-date.” While remarkably tastefully executed, the re-do cut down Rodgers’ guitar solo significantly, supposedly because Chet Atkins—who led the band—could not figure it out. In later years, the song has been covered by numerous others in many different genres, such as the Fendermen’s rockabilly version.
In addition to being one of Jimmie’s most enduring songs, this number holds a special place in my heart as the song that introduced me to Jimmie Rodgers, and it has always been one of my favorites—if not my very favorite. I was first familiar with Dolly Parton’s 1970 recording, which was one of my favorites as a boy—when I first heard Jimmie yodeling it, boy, it was a whole other world! Not only did it spark my love for Rodgers’ music, but it was a major factor in starting me down the road of collecting 78 records. I could listen to it a million times and never tire.
Blue Yodel No. 8 (Mule Skinner Blues), recorded July 11, 1930 by Jimmie Rodgers.
On the “B” side, “Jimmie’s Mean Mama Blues”, recorded the previous day, Jimmie is accompanied by an outstandingly hot Hollywood-based five piece jazz band led by pianist Bob Sawyer, who co-wrote the tune with one Walter O’Neal. Another Rodgers classic, this tune was later covered by Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys in 1936, sung by Tommy Duncan. I love how the band stops playing during Jimmie’s first yodel, leaving just him and his guitar. We previously sampled Sawyer’s work with Carlyle Stevenson’s band five years prior to this.
Jimmie’s Mean Mama Blues, recorded July 10, 1930 by Jimmie Rodgers.
Updated with improved audio on June 20, 2017, and on July 10, 2017, May 31, 2019, and April 22. 2025.
