Okeh 45313 – Frank Hutchison – 1928

Posted on March 20, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

Born on this day (March 20) was Frank Hutchison, one of the outstanding players in early recorded music, and one of the earliest white musicians to record blues.

Hutchison was born in 1897 (per his birth certificate, though some sources suggest an 1891 date, see Mr. Scott’s comment below) in Logan County, West Virginia. He made his living working in the coal mines, but was also a versatile musician, skilled in guitar, which he frequently played using a slide, harmonica, and vocals. In September of 1926, Hutchison made his first recordings for the Okeh Phonograph Company, starting with one of his most famous numbers, “Worried Blues”. From 1926 to 1929, Hutchison cut forty-one sides, all for Okeh, and appeared on Okeh’s “Medicine Show” a set of records highlighting Okeh’s top hillbilly artists, much like Columbia’s “A Corn Licker Still in Georgia” series, and so forth. After making his records and ending his work in the coal mines, he opened a store and served as postmaster of Lake, West Virginia. Tragically, Hutchison lost everything and became an alcoholic when the store burned down. He later relocated to Ohio and worked as a musician on riverboats. Hutchison died of liver disease in 1945.

Okeh 45313 was recorded September 10 and 11, 1928 in New York City by Frank Hutchison. These were Hutchison’s only sessions in 1928, and the latter was his second to last session overall.

As were a great many of Hutchison’s recordings, the humorous “The Burglar Man”—an old time song also recorded by the likes of Uncle Dave Macon—is nothing short of a guitar masterpiece. This side was recorded on the latter date.

The Burglar Man, recorded September 11, 1928 by Frank Hutchison.

On his rendition of the old minstrel song “Alabama Girl, Ain’t You Comin’ Out Tonight?”, Hutchison is joined by Sherman Lawson on fiddle. This one is one of three issued Hutchison sides to feature Lawson. This side was recorded on the September 10 date.

Alabama Girl, Ain’t You Comin’ Out Tonight, recorded September 10, 1928 by Frank Hutchison.

Updated with improved audio on September 11, 2017, and on October 29, 2017.

Okeh 8571 – Troy Floyd and his Plaza Hotel Orchestra – 1928

Posted on March 18, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

The Lone Star State in the 1920s was home to a host of fantastic territory jazz bands, such as those of Alphonso Trent, Eddie Fennell and Sugar Lou Morgan, Fred Gardner, Jimmie Joy, and Le Roy Williams. One of the most outstanding of these territory bands, both in musical virtuosity and history, was that of Troy Floyd. Floyd’s eleven piece orchestra played at the Plaza Hotel in San Antonio, and gigged on-the-side at the Shadowland, a notorious speakeasy and one of the most successful jazz clubs in Texas.

Troy Floyd was born around San Antonio, Texas on January 5, 1901, and learned to play the saxophone and clarinet. He organized his first group, a sextet, in 1924. The group expanded over time, and by 1928, Floyd’s orchestra was playing at the Plaza Hotel and broadcasting on KTSA. Floyd’s band made two released records, both featuring one song broken up into two parts, plus an unissued recording of “Wabash Blues” on two of Okeh Records’ field trips to San Antonio. Floyd’s band holds special significance in Texas’ musical legacy, for, in addition to its own merit, it helped to launch the careers of at least two musicians of note; in the 1930s, New Orleans born trumpeter Don Albert started his own Texas-based swing band, and banjoist J.H. Bragg founded a jazz group of his own, both of which made several records with Vocalion in the 1930s. Troy Floyd disbanded his orchestra in 1932, and later worked as a pool hall operator in San Diego, California, where he died on July 16, 1953.

Okeh 8571, part of their legendary race series, was recorded March 14, 1928 in San Antonio, Texas. The personnel features future band leader and trumpet virtuoso Don Albert and Willie Long on trumpets, Benny Long providing unique solos on trombone, Troy Floyd and N.J. “Siki” Collins on clarinet and alto sax, Scott Bagby on clarinet and tenor sax, John Henry Bragg on banjo, Allen Vann on piano, Charlie Dixon (a different one from Fletcher Henderson’s banjoist) on trombone and tuba, John Humphries on drums, and the bellowing Kellough Jefferson singing the vocal refrain.

The title of “Shadowland Blues” refers to the San Antonio speakeasy of the same name, though the lyrics, sung by Kellough Jefferson, make no reference to the club. This amazing territory band recording is characterized by what has been called the “gut bucket” trombone playing of Benny Long, which some have said mars the performance, but I disagree, I think it gives it a unique and rural character, as opposed to homogenized classically-trained, Whiteman-esque jazz.

A two-parter, they play “Shadowland Blues (Part 1)” on the first side…

Shadowland Blues (Part 1), recorded March 14, 1928 by Troy Floyd and his Plaza Hotel Orchestra.

…and “Shadowland Blues (Part 2)” on the back.

Shadowland Blues (Part 2), recorded March 14, 1928 by Troy Floyd and his Plaza Hotel Orchestra.

Updated with improved audio on July 9, 2017, and again on June 11, 2024.

Bluebird B-6415 – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra – 1927/1928

Posted on February 8, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

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.

In celebration of fifty “likes” on our Facebook page, we’ll have a jubilee here at Old Time Blues, and what better way to than with the hot jazz of Duke Ellington’s Cotton Club Orchestra on two of their hottest for Victor records.

Bluebird B-6415 was recorded on two separate occasions, the first side on March 26, 1928 and the second on December 19, 1927, both in New York City. The “A” side was originally issued on Victor 21580 and “B” on Victor 21490 and again on 22985.

Given the two record dates, the two sides feature different personnel in the band. The first includes Arthur Whetsel, Bubber Miley, and Louis Metcalf in the trumpet section, “Tricky Sam” Nanton on trombone, Barney Bigard on clarinet and tenor sax, Otto Hardwicke on clarinet, soprano sax, alto sax, baritone sax, and bass sax, Harry Carney on clarinet, soprano sax, alto sax, and baritone sax, Duke Ellington on piano, Fred Guy on banjo, Wellman Braud on string bass, and Sonny Greer on drums. The second features Miley and Metcalf on trumpets, Tricky Sam on trombone, Rudy Jackson on clarinet and alto sax, Otto Hardwicke and Harry Carney on all the same reeds as the first side, and Ellington, Guy, Braud, and Greer in the same positions as the previous.

One of Ellington’s best, “Jubilee Stomp” was played in 2011’s The Artist, albeit on a disgustingly inaccurate phonograph.

Jubilee Stomp, recorded March 26, 1928 by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra.

On “Blue Bubbles”, Ellington shares composer credit with Bubber Miley, and the piece bares some stylistic resemblance to another of Miley’s works, “Black and Tan Fantasy”.

Blue Bubbles, recorded December 19, 1927 by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra.

Okeh 8557 – Lonnie Johnson – 1928

Posted on February 8, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

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.

On this fine day we celebrate a man whom I consider to be one of the finest jazz and blues guitarists of all time, Mr. Lonnie Johnson, who was born on this day in 1899. Here are two great guitar blues songs from earlier in his career.

Alonzo “Lonnie” Johnson was born February 8, 1899 in cradle of jazz, New Orleans, Louisiana into a family of musicians. After touring Europe in 1917, Lonnie returned home to find his family dead from a flu epidemic, except for his brother, James “Steady Roll” Johnson. Leaving New Orleans, Lonnie and his brother settled in St. Louis some years after, and performed as a duo. In 1925, Lonnie Johnson signed a contract to record with Okeh Records, with whom he stayed until the 1930s. Working both as an solo artist, accompanist, and sometimes band member, he went on to have a long career in music, continuing to perform until near his death in 1970.

Okeh 8557 was recorded November 9, 1927 in New York by Lonnie Johnson, accompanied by his own guitar. Both songs are Johnson’s own compositions.

First we hear Johnson sing a tale of the high seas on “Life Saver Blues”.

Life Saver Blues, recorded November 9, 1927 by Lonnie Johnson.

Next, Lonnie sings of being intimidated by firearm wielding ghosts in “Blue Ghost Blues”. Lonnie Johnson later re-recorded this song for Decca in March of 1938.

Blue Ghost Blues, recorded November 9, 1927 by Lonnie Johnson.

Updated with improved audio on April 27, 2018.

Victor 21831 – Eddie Cantor – 1928

Posted on January 31, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

The actual birth date of that great vaudevillian Eddie Cantor is not definitively known. Although he is more or less known to have been born in 1892, some sources place his birth on January 31, and others sometime in September. Since I don’t know his real birthday any more than any other living person, I’ll just have to post my tributes to ol’ Banjo Eyes on both occasions, starting now with one of his most famous songs.

Whenever he may have been born, Eddie Cantor grew up as Edward Israel “Izzy” Itzkowitz in New York City at the turn of the century. After his parents died when he was a small child, the young Edward was raised by his dearly beloved grandmother, Esther Kantrowitz, from whom he got the name Cantor. He started his career in show business in the late 1910s, and in 1917, Eddie Cantor signed a contract to appear in Flo Ziegfeld’s Follies, which thrust into fame, and made him into one of the only vaudevillians that could rival Al Jolson. Throughout his career of more than fifty years, Cantor accomplished more than could fit on this page, including his well-remembered association with the March of Dimes, a name which he coined (pun intended) for the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. Cantor died October 10, 1964, two years after passing of his wife Ida.

Victor 21831 was recorded December 18, 1928 at New York City’s Liederkranz Hall by Eddie Cantor, accompanied by Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra. He sings two songs that he originally introduced in Ziegfeld’s musical Whoopee.

The first song on this disc is probably Cantor’s most famous song, Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson’s “Makin’ Whoopee”.