Today, I offer for your listening pleasure the sounds of mid-1920s, as played by this regional dance band from Los Angeles, California. The somewhat seldom seen Sunset label was made in California in the mid-1920s, as early as 1923 to about 1926, and features an attractive illustration of the Western landscape. Among other interesting content, such as the record featured here, Sunset recorded a young Morey Amsterdam in pair of songs with ukulele.
Sunset 1136 was recorded in July of 1925 by Carlyle Stevenson’s El Patio Orchestra in Los Angeles, California. The Red Hot Jazz Archive lists the personnel as Ralph Marky and Leslie Moe on trumpets, Doc Garrison and Harley Luse on trombones, Leslie Lyman and Harry Vaile on clarinet, alto sax, and tenor sax, leader Carlyle Stevenson on alto sax, Bob Sawyer on piano (who later went on to lead an outstanding jazz band), Carol McManus on banjo, Oscar Martin on brass bass, and Buddy Johnson on drums. According to that listing, the vocalist would be either Carl Edwards or Walter Dupre. However, I can’t guarantee that any or all of those musicians played on these recordings. Leader Carlyle Stevenson recorded previously with Jan Garber’s orchestra.
First up, the band plays a fine version of the big hit of 1925, “Sleepy Time Gal”.
Sleepy Time Gal, recorded July 1925 by Carlyle Stevenson’s El Patio Orchestra.
Next, keeping in a similar theme, they play “Lonesomest Gal in Town”.
Lonesomest Gal in Town, recorded July 1925 by Carlyle Stevenson’s El Patio Orchestra.
November 13, 2015 marks the 121st anniversary of the birthday of jazz great Bennie Moten, who led one of the most excellent bands in the United States in the 1920s and early 1930s, his Kansas City Orchestra. Given that I haven’t yet featured one of Moten’s records here, I think a good place to start would be with his earliest record currently in my collection, and one of his earliest overall.
Bennie Moten was born and raised in 1894 in Kansas City, Missouri. He formed his famous Kansas City Orchestra in the early 1920s and made his first recordings for Okeh in 1923, with whom he continued to record through 1925, before moving to Victor in 1926. In 1929, Moten hired a number of musicians away from Walter Page’s Blue Devils, including William “Count” Basie and Oran “Hot Lips” Page. Basie would take over Moten’s orchestra after his untimely death following a botched tonsillectomy (the same fate that befell Eddie Lang) in 1935.
Okeh 8242 was recorded May 15, 1925 in Kansas City, Missouri. The band features the talented musicianship of Harry Cooper, and Lammar Wright on cornets, Thamon Hayes on trombone, Harlan Leonard on clarinet and alto sax, Woody Walder on clarinet and tenor sax, leader Bennie Moten on piano, LaForest Dent on banjo, Vernon Page on tuba, and Willie Hall on drums.
“18th Street Strut” starts out a bit rough and weak, but the jazz still comes through just fine for most of the record, and it certainly is a hot one!
18th Street Strut, recorded May 15, 1925 by Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra.
On the reverse, they play “Things Seem So Blue to Me”, which sounds a little cleaner than the previous.
Things Seem So Blue to Me, recorded May 15, 1925 by Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra.
Featuring the Houston-based band of Lloyd Finlay, this record has the distinction of being one of Victor’s first field recordings in the state of Texas. According to the files available on the Discography of American Historical Recordings, the first Victor recording session in Texas took place the day before the one that created this record, on March 17, 1925, when Finlay’s orchestra made their first recording. Victor would not make it back to the Lone Star State until April of 1928. That makes this record one of special interest to me, as one of my primary focuses in collecting is the musical history of Texas. These Lloyd Finlay records also hold the distinction of being the debut recordings of the Houston-born pianist and future singer Seger Ellis, who would go on to become Okeh Records’ answer to popular crooner Gene Austin.
Lloyd Calvin Finlay was born on November 9, 1883, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, one of five children to George William and Ella (née Laughlin) Finlay. His father was a traveling nursery salesman from Wisconsin whose work brought him all around the northern Midwest. Lloyd Finlay studied violin and began venturing southward from the land of his birth shortly after the turn of the century to make a living as a musician, settling for a time in Oklahoma, where he married Nebraska-native Grace Coldiron—a pianist herself—before continuing onward until he hit water, settling permanently in Houston, Texas. There, he found employment conducting theater orchestras. By the onset of the First World War, Finlay was musical director at the Majestic Theatre at Texas Avenue and Milam Street. During the days of the “Roaring Twenties”, Finlay was well-regarded as a society bandleader and musician in the Houston territory, and was in-demand for local events. His repute reportedly extended as far as New York City, where vaudevillians were purported to remark that “Houston, Texas, [was] the town to play, they got Lloyd Finlay’s orchestra there.” When the Victor Talking Machine Company brought their recording equipment to Houston on their first field trip into Texas—second only to Okeh, who has recorded in Dallas less than half a year earlier—Finlay’s orchestra was the first to be recorded. On the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth of March, 1925, Lloyd Finlay’s twelve-piece ensemble—featuring local musician Seger Ellis on piano—waxed seven sides, of which all but one were released. Unfortunately, none of his three records proved to be a hit, and likely only saw regional distribution. By 1930, Finlay had separated from his wife, and was living in a boarding house. Around 1933, Finlay departed the Majestic and began directing the orchestra at the Metropolitan Theatre at 1018 Main Street. Thereafter, he went to work managing the Tower Theater at Westheimer and Waugh, a position which he held for the remainder of his life. At the age of fifty-three, Lloyd Finlay died from complications during a surgery to remove his gall bladder on May 10, 1937, at St. Joseph’s Infirmary in Houston.
Victor 19644 was recorded on March 18 and 19, 1925, in Houston, Texas; it was released later in the same year, and remained “in-print” for less than a full year.. Besides Finlay on violin and Seger Ellis on piano, the personnel for this record is unknown. This record was transferred at 76 RPM, as is often accepted for acoustic Victor records.
The first side, recorded March 19, is “Jews-Harp Blues”, and features a solo by the titular instrument beginning around two minutes in. Finlay’s orchestra displayed a tight and polished, if rather old-fashioned sound compared to other early Texas-based jazz groups on records, like hot playing of Jimmie Joy’s or the wild and reckless abandon of Jack Gardner’s.
Jews-Harp Blues, recorded March 19, 1925 by Lloyd Finlay and his Orchestra
The flip-side features “Fiddlin’ Blues” (apparently also known as “Fido Blues”), recorded the previous day, March 18, and likewise prominently features the virtuosity of Finlay’s eponymous instrument.
Fiddlin’ Blues, recorded March 18, 1925 by Lloyd Finlay’s Orchestra
