Broadway 1140 – Devine’s Wisconsin Roof Orchestra – 1927

Posted on April 30, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

So I’m told that the thirtieth of April is International Jazz Day. I was unaware that such an occasion even existed, but I certainly can’t let it fall by the wayside, so here’s a real humdinger of a jazz record, and from a most unexpected place…

An autographed photo of bandleader Bill Carlsen, dating to the late 1920s or early ’30s.

One of the best ways to experience the “real” jazz of the 1920s and 1930s is to seek out the oftentimes scarce records by the so-called “territory bands”, that being bands that traveled around various regions, usually by bus, gigging at dance halls, hotel ballrooms, and the occasional radio station. I think it’s safe to assume that those bands played what the regular folks were interested in hearing.

This disc comes from a fine Midwestern territory band that had the distinction of playing at Milwaukee’s Wisconsin Roof Garden, an open-air ballroom perched atop the Carpenter Building at 700 North 6th Street, owned and operated by George J. Devine, who lent his name to the band for many of their records. The band, led by saxophone player and Kansas-native Bill Carlsen, was a hot one, playing in a style that we today might call “dixieland jazz” (at that time, of course, it was just “jazz”), with that hot and raucous sound common to Midwestern jazz bands.

Broadway 1140 was recorded in December of 1927 at Paramount’s Chicago studio by Devine’s Wisconsin Roof Orchestra, directed by Bill Carlsen (spelled Carlson on the label). The band includes Dip Happe and Alec Alexander on trumpets, Ole Turner on trombone, Paul Peregrine, Harry Bortner and Bill Carlsen on reeds, Lee Simmons on piano, Ralph West on banjo, Chet Harding on tuba and Harry Pierce at the drums. This record was also issued as Paramount 12599.

First, the band plays a hot and stomping novelty rendition of the “New St. Louis Blues”, which, as it turns out, is actually the same old St. Louis Blues as always. My speculation is that bands like this one titled it “new” to entice buyers that likely already owned a copy of the “old” St. Louis Blues.

New St. Louis Blues, recorded December 1927 by Devine’s Wisconsin Roof Orchestra.

Next up, they play what is surely one of the all-time best versions of that classic (or as Satchmo might have put it, “one of the good old good ones”), “Tiger Rag”.—one of my own favorites, at least This pressing is the first of two extant takes of this side.

Tiger Rag, recorded December 1927 by Devine’s Wisconsin Roof Orchestra.

Updated with improved audio on June 5, 2018.

Brunswick 3526 – The Washingtonians – 1927

Posted on April 3, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

We’ve got yet another birthday to celebrate today, that of the great trumpeter Bubber Miley. Miley was a excellent player noted for his use of the plunger mute.

Duke Ellington’s Washintonians with Bubber Miley (second from right). From Jazzmen, 1939.

James Wesley Miley was born April 3, 1903 in Aiken, South Carolina, and moved to New York City at the age of six. After serving in the Navy, Miley formed a jazz band called the Carolina Five (much in the vein of the Memphis Five or the Indiana Five, except that Miley actually was from Carolina), and played around New York and Chicago. In Chicago, Miley was inspired by the muted trumpet of King Oliver, and developed his own muted style of playing. In 1923, he joined Elmer Snowden’s Washingtonians, of which leadership was soon assumed by the band’s pianist, Duke Ellington, after a monetary dispute. Miley, along with trombone player “Tricky Sam” Nanton, are credited for developing the band’s “jungle sound”. Bubber remained with Ellington’s band until 1929, when his alcohol issues and general unreliability led to his replacement by Cootie Williams. After leaving Ellington, Miley toured Paris in Noble Sissle’s band, and once back home played with Leo Reisman’s dance band, and a number of jazz groups (possibly including King Oliver’s Victor orchestra). In 1930, he fronted a band billed as “Bubber Miley and his Mileage Makers” for three sessions with Victor. Much like his contemporary, Bix Beiderbecke, Miley saw a decline in his health in the early 1930s, and died of tuberculosis at New York’s Welfare Island on May 20, 1932. He was remembered by former band-mates as a joyful and carefree character.

Brunswick 3526 was recorded in two sessions in 1927, the first on April 7 and the second on April 30 in New York. The band’s personnel features Bubber Miley on the first side, June Clark on the second, and Louis Metcalf on trumpet, Joe” Tricky Sam” Nanton on trombone, Edgar Sampson on alto sax, Otto Hardwicke on clarinet, soprano sax, alto sax, baritone sax, and bass sax, and another unknown reed man, Duke Ellington on piano, Fred Guy on banjo, Mack Shaw on tuba, and Sonny Greer on drums.

Duke and his band recorded his famous “Black and Tan Fantasy” quite a number of times, this is the first one, and one of only two, I believe, that feature the distinctive muted trumpet of the song’s co-writer, Bubber Miley. I would also recommend a look at Ellington’s 1929 motion picture of the same name.

Black and Tan Fantasy, recorded April 7, 1927 by the Washingtonians.

Bubber doesn’t play on the other side of the record, which contains an excellent rendition of Rube Bloom’s “Soliloquy”.

Soliloquy, recorded April 30, 1927 by the Washingtonians.

Victor 20971 – Blue Steele and his Orchestra – 1927

Posted on March 19, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

Blue Steele. From 1930 Victor catalog.

Perhaps the most commercially successful territory band of the 1920s was that of Blue Steele, who toured the southern United States in the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to his success in music, Steele was also one of the more interesting characters of the 1920s territory band scene.

The man known as Blue Steele was born Eugene Staples on March 11, 1893 or 1897 in Arkansas. According to legend, his nickname came from a metal plate he had in his head after being wounded in the Great War. Perhaps caused by that injury, he was also known for his short temper and erratic behavior. He started out playing trombone and mellophone in Watson’s Bell Hops, before starting his own band in 1925. Although Steele filled his band with great musicians, because of his unstable personality and often poor treatment of his employees—he was known to have a habit of throwing punches right into the bells of his band members’ brass instruments—they tended not to stay with him for long, and we can thank Steele for bringing us a number of great talents by scaring them out of his band. Quite a number of his musicians, including reed man and vocalist Kenny Sargent and guitarist, banjoist, and arranger Gene Gifford moved on to the Casa Loma Orchestra, a band known for their strict code of conduct, which may have been a welcome change from their prior engagement. Nevertheless, Steele continued to lead successful bands well into the 1950s, despite becoming increasingly unstable as years passed; as legend has it, he murdered a tax agent in Atlanta “for no apparent reason.” Blue Steele died July 7, 1971.

Victor 20971 was recorded August 26, 1927 in Savannah, Georgia, the first, and probably most successful record by Blue Steele and his Orchestra. The personnel includes Frank Krisher and Frank Martinez on trumpets, Blue Steele on trombone and mellophone, Sunny Clapp on trombone, Kenny Sargent on clarinet, alto and baritone sax, Roger Sanford on alto sax, Pete Schmidt on tenor sax, Ted Delmarter on banjo and/or guitar, Sol Lewis on piano, Marvin Longfellow on tuba, and Tom Summers on drums. The session was supervised by Ralph Peer.

The first side of this disk features a waltz, but all you pep-purists never fear, for it’s a good waltz, in fact it’s the first recording of Sunny Clapp’s “Girl of My Dreams, I Love You”. Kenny Sargent sings the vocal on this side.

Girl of My Dreams, I Love You, recorded August 26, 1927 by Blue Steele and his Orchestra.

On the reverse, they play a peppy tune, “Sugar Babe, I’m Leavin’!”. In my opinion, this is just about the zenith of music, pretty much perfection. A vocal trio consisting of Sargent, Pete Schmidt and Steele himself sings on this side. It’s bandleader Steele that completes this side with his interjection of, “and that’s Sugar Babe.”

Sugar Babe, I’m Leavin’!, recorded August 26, 1927 by Blue Steele and his Orchestra.

Flexo – Jack Riley’s Orchestra – 1927

Posted on March 15, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

This Flexo disc in its original paper sleeve.

The unusual disc we have here is one of those extraordinarily uncommon and equally intriguing Flexo records, a slightly smaller than usual disc pressed in flexible translucent plastic of some sort.

The first line of Flexo Records rolled off the press in Kansas City in 1925, an invention of one Jesse J. Warner. They were originally produced by the Warner Record Company until 1927, when Warner presumably joined forces with someone with a name ending in “bine” to form the Wabine Company, which continued to produce the records until 1929. Some of the earliest recordings feature hot jazz by Johnnie Campbell’s orchestra, and many of the Kansas City Flexos contain religious music, many of them labeled “Unity”. The sleeve of this one mentions the Unity School of Christianity, though the music is secular. In ’29, Warner moved the production of Flexo records to San Francisco, where they were produced by Pacific Coast Records. The California Flexos feature recordings by dance bands such as that of Jack Coakley, and interviews with popular Hollywood personalities of the day, including one with Norma Shearer.

Flexo matrices 845 and 848 make up this disc, the record itself is not given a catalog number. Given the titles, these two sides were most likely recorded in mid-1927, and were produced by the second entity to make Flexos, the Wabine Comapny. The sound quality would suggest they were recorded by either an excellent acoustical recording process or a rudimentary electrical one. Both feature instrumental fox-trots of two popular hits of ’27, played with plenty of pep and excitement. It is plausible that this was distributed at gigs by Riley’s orchestra.

Jack Riley’s orchestra was a distinguished but scarcely recorded band from Kansas City, Missouri. In the 1910s, Riley’s orchestra had the distinction of having a young drummer in their ranks by the name of Carleton Coon, a man that would go on to become one half of the leadership of America’s favorite radio band, Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra. Riley’s orchestra was still active as late as 1937.

First, Jack Riley’s Kansas City territory band plays a delightful rendition of the classic tune “Side By Side”.

Side By Side, recorded 1927 by Jack Riley’s Orch.

Interestingly, this side is labeled differently than the first, written in Spanish, and credited to the “Mexo-Flexo Co.” This side features “Me and My Shadow”.

Me and My Shadow, recorded 1927 by Jack Riley’s Orch.

Updated with improved audio on May 13, 2018.

Vocalion 3150 – Bix Beiderbecke – 1927

Posted on March 10, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

Bix Beiderbecke, circa mid-1920s. From Jazzmen, 1939.

March 10th marks the 113th birthday of the Patron Saint of Jazz, one of the greatest musical geniuses of the twentieth century, the one and only Bix Beiderbecke.

Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke (some sources claim his full middle name was Bismark, others say it was properly Bix) was born March 10, 1903 in Davenport, Iowa. Hearing the jazz music on the riverboats that ran from New Orleans to Chicago, Bix had an affinity for music from an early age, and played with a number of bands as early as high school. Bix was inspired to take up the cornet after his brother Burnie returned from his service in the Great War, bringing home a phonograph and some records by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, at which point Bix was hooked. He started recording with Dick Voynow’s territory band, the Wolverine Orchestra for Gennett, and later with the Bucktown Five and his own band, the Rhythm Jugglers. In 1926, Bix was hired by Jean Goldkette’s Orchestra in Chicago, but was fired shortly thereafter due to his inability to read music. He was rehired soon after, having brushed up on music reading, and played with many other jazz greats in Goldkette’s band, including Frankie Trumbauer (his frequent collaborator), Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, and the Dorsey Brothers. As Goldkette’s orchestra fell on hard times, Paul Whiteman hired away many of his top men, including Bix, to play in his orchestra, the most popular dance band of the day. All the while, Bix recorded hot (and sometimes cool) jazz tunes with Frankie Trumbauer’s and his own band for Okeh. Bix had only two loves in his life, music and booze, and unfortunately, the latter was taking his life away.

In 1928, Bix suffered a nervous breakdown, brought on by an attempt to lessen his alcohol intake, and was forced to take leave of Whiteman’s band to recover at his home in Davenport. He returned to Whiteman’s orchestra in 1929, and traveled to Hollywood to appear with the band in King of Jazz, though he instead took the opportunity to drink with Bing Crosby, and did not appear in the picture. He once again returned to his home, and spent some time in a sanatarium, hoping to recover from his sickness. Paul Whiteman kept his chair in the band open, hoping for Bix’s return. After that, Bix made only a handful more recordings with an assortment of different groups. In his final recording session, on September 15, 1930, Bix played in Hoagy Carmichael’s band for the first recording of “Georgia On My Mind”. On a hot summer night in his apartment in Queens, Death came a-rapping for Bix Beiderbecke. On August 6, 1931, Bix practiced his piano into the night, around 9:30, he had a fit of delirium, believing that a gang of Mexicans under his bead was trying to kill him. His screams alerted a neighbor, who hurried across the hall to see what was wrong. Bix told him of what he saw, and dropped dead in his arms.

Vocalion 3150 was recorded September 9 and 17, 1927 in New York City by Bix Beiderbecke. It was originally issued on Okeh 40916, with the Vocalion 3150 reissue released around 1935, though this pressing dates to around 1938 or ’39. If anything, this late pressing, in exquisite condition, might well offer better playback than the original 1927 issue, as those pressings tend to develop lamination cracks around the edges, often causing a background rumble in playback.

On this disc, Bix plays “In a Mist”, also sometimes known (on the British issue, for instance) as “Bixology”, the only recorded piece of his Modern Piano Suite, which also included “In the Dark”, “Candlelights”, and “Flashes” (all of which can be found on Rivermont Records’ special edition 78 RPM release played by Bryan Wright.)

In a Mist, recorded September 9, 1927 by Bix Beiderbecke.

On the reverse, Beiderbecke is joined by Frankie Trumbauer and Eddie Lang to play “Wringin’ an’ Twistin'” in their three piece band, with Bix doubling on cornet and piano.

Wringin’ an’ Twistin’, recorded September 17, 1927 by Tram – Bix and Lang.