Vocalion 02621 – W. Lee O’Daniel and his Light Crust Doughboys – 1933

Posted on March 2, 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.

1933 Sheet music for Beautiful Texas, words and music by W. Lee O’Daniel.

On March 2, 2016, Texas celebrates the 180th anniversary of its independence from Mexico, and the creation of the Republic of Texas. After ten years as an independent nation, and a hot button issue in United States politics, Texas was admitted to the Union as the 28th state. To celebrate and remember the occasion, here’s two fiercely Texas-themed tunes by the Fort Worth-based Light Crust Doughboys, under the leadership of W. Lee O’Daniel, the radio advertising director for Burrus Mills, makers of Light Crust Flour and future Governor of Texas.

Vocalion 02621 was recorded on October 10, 1933 at Vocalion’s studio in the Furniture Mart Building at 666 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, the first recorded (but not first issued) sides at the Doughboys’ first Vocalion session, and only second overall session, after their 1932 Victor session, which yielded one disc. The band members on these sides include Herman Arnspiger and Leon Huff on guitars, Clifford Gross on fiddle, Sleepy Johnson on banjo and fiddle, Leon McAuliffe on steel guitar, and Ramon DeArman on string bass.

Guitar player Leon Huff sings lead vocal on W. Lee O’Daniel’s song, “Beautiful Texas”, proudly boasting of “about six million people who’re glad that they’re here to stay.” A truer song has never been written.

Beautiful Texas, recorded October 10, 1933 by W. Lee O’Daniel and his Light Crust Doughboys.

On the reverse, the Doughboys play an instrumental number, “Blue Bonnet Waltz”, taking its name from the official flower of the State of Texas.

Blue Bonnet Waltz, recorded October 10, 1933 by W. Lee O’Daniel and his Light Crust Doughboys.

Updated with improved audio on July 11, 2017.

Perfect 0252 – Walter Roland – 1933

Posted on February 2, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

Recorded in the deepest depths of the Great Depression, I offer to you these two boogie woogie piano tunes from the brief recording career of the skilled Alabama blues man Walter Roland.

Walter Roland was born in December of either 1902 or 1903 in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama—the twentieth of December is most often given as his birth date. He was working as a musician by the 1920s, playing both piano and guitar and singing. Though Roland remained an active musician until the end of his life, he recorded only a few times in the 1930s. In 1933, Roland traveled to New York with guitar player Sonny Scott to record for the American Record Corporation, and would return twice between then and 1935. During those trips, he recorded solo, and also played as an accompanist with Lucille Bogan and Joshua White, as well as part of the “Jolly Jivers” with Scott and Bogan. Some of his records were released under the pseudonym Alabama Sam. After returning home, Roland did not make another recording, but continued to play music. By the 1950s, he was a farmer, but sometimes worked as a street musician. Sometime in the 1960s, he was blinded by buckshot after trying to break up an altercation between neighbors, and he retired in the later part of that decade. Roland died of lung cancer October 12, 1972 in Fairfield, Alabama.

Perfect 0252 was recorded over two consecutive days on July 19 and 20, 1933 in New York City, Roland’s second released disc from his ARC sessions. It got an honorable mention in 78 Quarterly’s famous “Rarest 78s” column. These ARC race records seldom turn up in very good condition, and this one is no exception, but thankfully, despite a few brief blasts of noise, the music is still prominent.

Roland’s first number is the classic “Early This Morning (‘Bout Break of Day)”, his own version of Charlie Spand’s “Soon This Morning”. Unfortunately, the text on the label has faded away completely, leaving only the faintest trace of what was originally printed. This side was recorded on the July 20 date. Roland also recorded the same tune the previous day, accompanying his guitar-playing associate Sonny Scott.

Early This Morning (‘Bout Break of Day), recorded July 20, 1933 by Walter Roland.

On the flip side, Roland plays and sings “House Lady Blues”, a piano blues masterpiece. This one was recorded on the earlier date of July 19.

House Lady Blues, recorded July 19, 1933 by Walter Roland.

Updated with improved audio on April 26, 2018.

Another Bluebird Dance Band Double Feature – B-5049 & B-5053 – 1933/1931

Posted on December 2, 2015 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.

As I’m in the process of uploading this duo of early Bluebirds to my YouTube channel (which you should most definitely take a look at if you like this kind of music), it seems like a fine time to do another Bluebird Dance Band Double Feature. Last time, I featured some of the sweet style of music that dominated pop music in the early 1930s, but this time I’ve got a couple of hotter bands for you, led by Paul Tremaine and Gene Kardos.

Bluebird B-5049 was recorded April 14, 1933 in New York City by Paul Tremaine and his Orchestra. On the first side, they play sweeter on Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler’s “Stormy Weather”, which had recently been debuted in the Cotton Club Parade of 1933.

Stormy Weather, recorded April 14, 1933 by Paul Tremaine and his Orchestra.

On the reverse, they play “Hand Me Down My Walkin’ Cane”, a remake of the rendition they had recorded for Columbia in February of 1930 (I’ll post the original sometime, too).

Hand Me Down My Walkin’ Cane, recorded April 14, 1933 by Paul Tremaine and his Orchestra.

The two sides of Bluebird B-5053 were recorded on two different occasions. The first side is another by Paul Tremaine, a wild “She’ll Be Comin’ Around the Mountain”, recorded at the same April 14, 1933 session. That one is also a (considerably more frenetic) redo of one of their 1930 Columbia recordings. Be sure to listen for the little bit of “hinkle dinkle rooty too” between two of the choruses.

She’ll Be Comin’ Around the Mountain, recorded April 14, 1933 by Paul Tremaine and his Orchestra.

On the flip-side, Gene Kardos and his Orchestra play a hot rendition of Carson Robison’s “Left My Gal in the Mountains”, recorded June 10, 1931 and originally issued on Victor’s short-lived Timely Tunes budget label. This was Kardos’ first session. The band consists of Sammy Castin and Willie Mayer on trumpets, Milt Shaw on trombone, Gene Kardos on alto sax, Joe Sagora on clarinet and alto sax, Morris Cohen or Nat Brown on clarinet, alto sax, and tenor sax, Joel Shaw on piano, Albert Julian on guitar, Danny Bono or Ben Goldberg on tuba, and Saul Howard on drums. The vocalist is Albert Julian.

Left My Gal In The Mountains, recorded June 10, 1931 by Gene Kardos and his Orchestra.

Updated on June 24, 2016 and April 29, 2018.

Columbia 2745-D – Art Kassel and his Kassels in the Air – 1933

Posted on November 12, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

A view of the Century of Progress Exposition, pictured on a contemporary travel brochure.

November 12 marks the eighty-second anniversary of the date that the 1933 Chicago “Century of Progress” World’s Fair was intended to close, though it proved so popular that it was continued through October 31, 1934. It ran for more than seventeen months from its opening on May 27, 1933. This beautiful Royal Blue Columbia record (pressed in blue shellac) was presumably sold as one of the enormous multitude of souvenirs available at the fair (which I also collect, in addition to all these phonograph records).

Columbia 2745-D was recorded on January 10, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois, about four months before the World’s Fair opened to the public. Art Kassel was a popular Chicago-based bandleader recording somewhat extensively, beginning in the 1920s and continuing until at least the 1940s.

The official song of the Century of Progress Exposition is fully titled “(Where Will You Be) In 1933”, though the label only lists the latter part of that. This side is somewhat typical of the “cheer up” songs so prevalent in the first few years of the Great Depression, complete with Ted Lewis imitator.

In 1933, recorded January 10, 1933 by Art Kassel and his Kassels in the Air.

John Philip Sousa’s “A Century of Progress March” bears the additional historical distinction of being the great march composer’s last composition before his death in 1932.

A Century of Progress March, recorded January 10, 1933 by Art Kassel and his Kassels in the Air.

Updated on May 27, 2017, and with improved audio on June 6, 2018.

Vocalion 2796 – Joseph Robechaux and his New Orleans Rhythm Boys – 1933

Posted on October 7, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

Joseph Robichaux (spelled on the labels of his records with an “e”), born March 8, 1900, was a New Orleans jazz pianist noted for playing with fellow luminaries such as Oscar “Papa” Celestin, and Lee Collins. First recording as a pianist for blues singer Christina Gray in 1929 in New Orleans, Robichaux organized the New Orleans Rhythm Boys in 1931. After being “discovered” by a talent scout, the band traveled to New York to record with the American Record Corporation in their studios at 35 West 43rd Street. In five sessions over five consecutive days, Robichaux and his New Orleans Rhythm Boys recorded twenty-four hot jazz sides, of which twenty-two were issued, ten Vocalions and one budget release with vocalist Chick Bullock fronting the band.

Robichaux’ Rhythm Boys were an excellent band and featured virtuosic musicianship, exemplified by the percussion work of Ward Crosby, who began each recording with a signature rhythmic “tap tap tap” that lent to the group’s unique sound. After these sessions, Robichaux and his band would record again with Decca in 1936, but no records were issued. Although the band continued to perform until 1939, and he performed on numerous recordings as a sideman, the 1933 sessions yielded Robichaux’ only commercially released records as bandleader. After the group disbanded, Robichaux continued to play as an sideman until his death on January 17, 1965.

Vocalion 2796 was recorded on August 22, 1933 in New York City, at the New Orleans Rhythm Boys’ first of their five consecutive recording sessions for the American Record Corporation. The band features Robichaux on piano, Eugene Ware on trumpet, Alfred Guishard on clarinet and alto sax, Gene Porter on clarinet and tenor sax, Walter Williams on guitar, and Ward Crosby on drums.

On the first side, Robichaux’ boys play “Saturday Night Fish Fry Drag”, of no relation to the almost identically named Louis Jordan hit of 1949, with two unknown band members doing the vocals at the beginning.

Saturday Night Fish Fry Drag, recorded August 22, 1933 by Joseph Robechaux and his New Orleans Rhythm Boys.

The hot jazz instrumental “Foot Scuffle” seems to be one of the less commonly reissued sides from Robichaux’ 1933 sessions, although I can’t imagine why, it’s a great number, and appears to have been the preferred side of this record’s original owner.

Foot Scuffle, recorded August 22, 1933 by Joseph Robechaux and his New Orleans Rhythm Boys.