We have previously taken a look at the life and work of the illustrious Czexan bandleader Joe Patek. In the aforementioned article was passing mention of Patek’s ill-fated first recording session. Herein, you may find a more in-depth examination of their seldom-seen and seldom-heard debut recording.
Early in the year of 1937, the Decca record company made a field trip down to Texas to conduct their first recording sessions in the Lone Star State. With their mobile recording laboratory in tow, they arrived first in San Antonio at the beginning of February, where they recorded primarily Tejano and Mexican groups (including the first recordings of Santiago Jiménez, Sr.) between the third and eleventh of the month. Next, they moved on to Dallas, recording a host of country, western swing, and blues talent between the fourteenth and the eighteenth. In the little town of Shiner, Joe Patek got wind of the record company’s presence, and brought his Czech band some eighty miles west to San Antonio to record for Decca on their last days there (though many discographies ascribe the location to Dallas). Between the ninth and the eleventh of February, 1937, Joe Patek and his Bohemian Orchestra waxed a total of seven sides: “Grandmother’s Joy”, “Clover Leaf”, “Au Revoir”, “Farewell”, “Red Handkerchief”, “Divorced”, and “Innocent Polka”. Of those, only the first two ever saw release. Issued in Decca’s “Hill Billy” series alongside a handful of other polka bands, the record seems to have sold rather poorly, and, as such, is quite uncommon today. Patek attributed the suboptimal outcome of the session to his band being rushed by the session supervisor, resulting in inferior performances. It would be roughly a decade before Patek’s orchestra recorded again, at which point they recorded exclusively—and extensively—for the small regional labels that were springing up around the state of Texas in the years following World War II. Included among those later recordings were new versions of some of their unissued (and issued) Decca material.
Decca 5338 was recorded on February 10, 1937. While most discographies give the location as Dallas, Texas, it seems more probably to have been recorded in San Antonio, based both upon date and matrices and Patek’s own recollection. It is the only issued disc from Patek’s first session.
On the “A” side, Patek’s Bohemian orchestra plays the ländler “Grandmother’s Joy” (“Babiččina radost Sousedska“), penned by prolific Bohemian composer Anton Grill.
Grandmother’s Joy, recorded February 10, 1937 by Joe Patek’s Bohemian Orchestra.
A little more upbeat than the former, on “B”, they play an instrumental polka titled “Clover Leaf” (“Proč ten Jeteliček“), also composed by Grill, who shares the credit with A. Kubicek. Patek and his orchestra later re-recorded the number in the 1940s or ’50s for the Waco-based Humming Bird label.
Clover Leaf, recorded February 10, 1937 by Joe Patek’s Bohemian Orchestra.