Oriole 8122 – Bessie Jackson – 1930

Posted on April 1, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama was the blues singer Lucille Anderson, better known by her married name Lucille Bogan, or her commonly used pseudonym, Bessie Jackson. Born on April Fools’ Day of 1897 in Amory, Mississippi, Bogan is sometimes considered among the “big three” of blues singing, along with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith (though I would argue that Lizzie Miles deserves a position among them). She was known for her unadulterated singing with lyrics ranging from raunchy to downright filthy, often much more so than those of her contemporaries. This record contains some of her tamer material, but there’s one record floating around out there with lyrics that would put some of the present day’s songs to shame for their “explicit content”. However, this is a family website, so I’m not going to go into detail on that one. Bogan died of coronary sclerosis in 1948.

Oriole 8122, issued in their “race records” series, was recorded in Chicago sometime in March of 1930. It features Lucille Bogan under her typical pseudonym Bessie Jackson, accompanied by boogie woogie piano player Charles Avery. This record was originally issued as Brunswick 7210, this issue likely dates to 1931.

First up, Bogan sings on the boogie woogie piece “Alley Boogie”, probably one of the earliest instances of a song title using the term “boogie”, following “Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie”.

Alley Boogie, recorded March 1930 by Bessie Jackson.

Labeled here as the “B” side, but generally and more properly serving as the “A” side on most issues of this pair is the quintessential “Sloppy Drunk Blues”, one of Bogan’s signature numbers.

Sloppy Drunk Blues, recorded March 1930 by Bessie Jackson.

Melotone M 12828 – Joe Venuti and his Orchestra – 1933

Posted on March 27, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

A Happy Easter (1942) from Old Time Blues to you!

I spent some time carefully deliberating over an appropriate record for this Easter. I considered a variety of rural sacred material, but nothing seemed to fit properly, before it hit me: what song could be more fitting for the occasion than Irving Berlin’s “Easter Parade”! I don’t know how I could have initially made such an oversight.

While these sides bear the name of Joe Venuti (though it was largely just an ARC studio band that included Venuti), they’re not particularly hot music. In fact, they’re rather run-of-the-mill Depression-era pop tunes, not bad by any means, quite good actually, but not hot jazz. However, these sides are remarkable for at least one reason: they both feature a vocal refrain by one Dolores DeFina, using the name Dolores Reade at the behest of her agent. Less than a year after this record was made, Dolores Reade married an emergent vaudevillian by the name of Bob Hope. Though she had to put up with Bob’s womanizing habit, the two remained married until Hope’s death in 2003. Dolores passed in 2011 at the age of 102.

Melotone M 12828 was recorded October 26, 1933 in New York City by Joe Venuti and his Orchestra, featuring a vocal chorus on both sides by Dolores Reade. Both songs originate from Irving Berlin’s 1933 revue, As Thousands Cheer. While the full personnel is not known, the band includes, besides Venuti on violin, Max Farley on clarinet and alto sax and Pat Davis or Bud Freeman on tenor sax.

In celebration of the holiday today, here’s a charming rendition of “Easter Parade”.

Easter Parade, recorded October 26, 1933 by Joe Venuti and his Orchestra.

On the other side is another song from As Thousands Cheer, though it’s not as well remembered as “Easter Parade”, “Heat Wave”.

Heat Wave, recorded October 26, 1933 by Joe Venuti and his Orchestra.

Updated on June 24, 2016.

Homestead 16002 – Roy Smeck’s Trio – 1929

Posted on February 6, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

An illustration of Roy Smeck from 1930s Perfect record sleeve.

Roy Smeck, “The Wizard of the Strings” was born on this day 116 years ago, on February 6, 1900.

Roy Smeck rose to prominence in the 1920s with vaudeville performances playing his plethora of stringed instruments, including an eight string Hawaiian guitar known as an octo-chorda. Riding the Hawaiian music wave of the 1920s and 1930s, he made his great fame in the budding field of radio, becoming known as the “Wizard of the Strings”, and records by his ensembles sold huge numbers. In 1926, Smeck had the distinction of appearing in one of Warner Brothers first Vitaphone short sound films, called Roy Smeck: His Pastimes. He would continue to make numerous other filmed appearances over the course of the next decade. In the 1930s, Smeck’s fame was such that he played at Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933 inaugural ball and King George VI’s coronation review in 1937. By the 1950s, however, Smeck had slowed down, though he still made occasional performances. In 1985, Smeck appeared in Wizard of the Strings, an Academy award nominated documentary about his career and life (which is a great film, by the way, and I recommend seeing it.) Roy Smeck died April 9, 1994 at the age of ninety-four.

Homestead 16002 was recorded April 3, 1929 in New York for the Plaza Music Company by Roy Smeck’s Trio. It was also issued on Banner 6368. The vocal on both sides is by Scrappy Lambert, under name Larry Holton, one of his many pseudonyms. The Homestead label was sold by the Chicago Mail Order Company, and was made from Plaza/ARC masters, much like Sears, Roebuck’s Conqueror label.

First, Smeck’s trio plays a dandy little version of the 1929 hit song, “A Precious Little Thing Called Love”, the theme song of The Shopworn Angel.

A Precious Little Thing Called Love, recorded April 3, 1929 by Roy Smeck’s Trio.

The next tune is a Hawaiian one through and through, titled “My Hawaiian Queen”.

My Hawaiian Queen, recorded April 3, 1929 by Roy Smeck’s Trio.

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.

Spotlight: Ruth Etting

Posted on November 23, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

Ruth Etting, circa 1930 (signed in 1932).

“America’s Sweetheart of Song” was the appellation given to Ruth Etting, one which she truly deserved. Etting rose to prominence in the middle of the Roaring Twenties, appearing in Ziegfeld Follies. Marrying a gangster, falling in love with another, and becoming one of the most popular singing stars of stage, screen, record, and radio until she left the limelight in the late 1930s, going on to enjoy a long retirement thereafter. Her sweetly feminine vocal styling charmed a generation of listeners, and continue to impress those who have the fortune of hearing her recordings to this day.

Ruth Etting was born November 23, 1897 in David City, Nebraska, daughter of Alfred and Winifred Etting. After her mother died, when the young Ruth was five, she was sent to live with her grandparents, George and Hannah. Growing up, Ruth dreamed of becoming an artist, and spent her hours drawing and sketching whenever and wherever she could. Hoping to become an illustrator, Etting left home to attend an art school in Chicago. Taking a variety of jobs while in Chicago, Etting was eventually asked to fill in for an ailing vocalist at a nightclub, and she obliged. Having never been schooled in voice, Etting lowered her naturally high soprano as she began singing professionally. She claimed her style to have been influenced by Marion Harris.

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