Victor 20944 – Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra – 1927

Posted on July 2, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

Accompanying this record is a tale of tragedy. After long searching far and wide for an original Victor issue of Fletcher Henderson’s “Variety Stomp”, I was thrilled when a promising copy turned up on eBay, and I was able to win for an excellent price. When the record was finally delivered, I opened the package to discover in horror that it was woefully insufficient to protect the contents from careless postal workers, and what would have been a nice V+ record was snapped in two pieces, just about through the middle. The seller very kindly refunded the cost, and the record sat dejectedly for months on my broken record pile.

It wasn’t doing any good just sitting there, so eventually I decided to try my hand at repairing it, and with the remains of Victor 20944 and a tube of superglue, I carefully lined up the two halves of the record, and put a dollop of glue on the outside edges, and in the runout area on both sides. After the glue dried came the moment of truth, I brought the repaired record to my turntable and to my surprise and relief, it tracked perfectly, and played through with only two surprisingly minor background clicks.

I have since acquired Henderson’s Bluebird issue of take 2 of “Variety”, and his acoustical recording on Harmony, but my heart still yearns for a better copy of this record. Maybe someday.

Below, you can hear the results of my efforts, straight from the turntable, with no cleaning up or modification of any sort to the audio.

Victor 20944 was recorded April 27, 1927 at the Victor studios in New York City, and released in November of ’27. Besides Henderson on piano and directing, the all-star lineup includes Joe and Russell Smith, and possibly Tommy Ladnier on trumpet, Benny Morton and Jimmy Harrison on trombones, Buster Bailey and Don Redman on clarinet and alto sax, Coleman Hawkins playing his famous tenor sax, Charlie Dixon on banjo, and June Cole and Kaiser Marshall on tuba and drums, respectively.

On “A”, Henderson’s Orchestra plays hot on “St. Louis Shuffle” (take 2), composed by Jack Pettis and Thomas “Fats” Waller.

St. Louis Shuffle, recorded April 27, 1927 in New York by Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra.

St. Louis Shuffle, recorded April 27, 1927 by Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra.

On “B”, they play one of my favorites, take 3 of “Variety Stomp”, which was only issued here, composed by Jo Trent, Ray Henderson, and Bud Green.

Variety Stomp, recorded April 27, 1927 in New York by Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra.

Variety Stomp, recorded April 27, 1927 by Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra.

I don’t think it sounds too bad for a record that was broken in half, myself!

Madison 5098 – Lew Gold and his Orchestra/Tuxedo Syncopators – 1930

Posted on June 13, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

This record, a split release on Grey Gull’s Madison label, one of the later issues on the label, is interesting for a number of reasons. The first thing that sticks out about it is the color. Rather than the typical black, or slightly less typical red, it is pressed in dark brown shellac, one of several atypical shades used by Madison (though you can’t see that here thanks to the limitations of my format, so I suppose you’ll just have to take my word for that part). Most interesting, though, is the unusual pairing of songs; popular fox-trot on one side, and hot jazz on the other. This record is one of a handful of super hot jazz records made by Grey Gull in their later years, many of which could be considered among the hottest jazz put to record.

Madison 5098 was recorded in two separate sessions in New York City, the first side in December of 1929 (the precise date being unknown), and the second on January 30, 1930. As was often the case with records produced by the Grey Gull company, the “B” side was also released on a number of other labels, appearing on Grey Gull and Globe 1839, Radiex 923, and Van Dyke 81839, while this one appears to be the only release of the “A” side.

On side “A”, you find an elegant sweet dance band rendition of the classic “Confessin’ (That I Love You)” by Lew (or more commonly “Lou”) Gold and his Orchestra, with a vocal refrain by popular studio vocalist Paul Small. Turn the record over however, and you’ll find something quite different…

Confessin’ (That I Love You), recorded December 1929 by Lew Gold and his Orchestra.

Cliff Jackson, circa 1939. From Eddie Condon’s Scrapbook of Jazz.

On the reverse, you’re greeted by a red hot roaring Harlem jazz number by a band under a rather typical Grey Gull pseudonym, “Tuxedo Syncopators”. In actuality, it is stride pianist Cliff Jackson and his Crazy Kats (as their name appeared on non-pseudonymous record labels, i.e. not “Krazy Kats”), a band once considered one of the hottest in Harlem, who played at the Lenox Club on 652 Lenox Ave, a popular night spot for members of Duke Ellington’s orchestra.

“Horse Feathers” was the first recorded side at the first session by the Krazy Kats, who include, besides Cliff Jackson at the piano, Henry Goodwin playing exceptionally hot trumpet and singing the amazing scat vocal, Melvin Herbert on second trumpet, Waymon “Noisy” Richardson on trombone, Rudy Powell on clarinet and alto sax, Earl Evans on alto sax, Horace Langhorn providing tenor saxophone, Andy Jackson on banjo, Percy Johnson on the drums, and Chester Campbell providing the romping tuba bass. This is take “A” of two existing takes.

Horse Feathers, recorded January 30, 1930 by Tuxedo Syncopators.

Updated on June 24, 2016 and June 13, 2018, and with improved audio on July 16, 2017.

Okeh 4296 – Mamie Smith’s Jazz Hounds – 1921

Posted on May 27, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

It seems fitting that the first record posted on this site (the introductory one notwithstanding) is the one that inspired the name: Old Time Blues, played by Mamie Smith’s Jazz Hounds; an early black jazz record, and a pretty fine one at that.

This disc, recorded February 21, 1921 in New York City for Okeh records, interestingly does not feature Mamie Smith herself, instead her backing group, the Jazz Hounds, play a pair of instrumental tunes. Rust lists the personnel as being Johnny Dunn on cornet, Buster Bailey on clarinet, Leroy Parker on violin, Phil Worde on piano, and Chink Johnson on tuba. Brian Rust explicitly notes “not Mort Perry” on xylophone, yet Perry Bradford himself states in his autobiography, “on this date, we used Mort Perry on the xylophone.” Alternatively, perhaps it could be the famous Green Brothers, Joe and George Hamilton, as suggested in the comments by Uncle Dave Lewis.

The first side is a composition by trumpeter Johnny Dunn, who also plays in the recording along with Buster Bailey on clarinet. Perhaps one could consider this the theme song of this site.

Old Time Blues, recorded February 21, 1921 by Mamie Smith’s Jazz Hounds.

The flip-side of that record is an instrumental version of Mamie Smith’s first recording, “That Thing Called Love”, composed by Perry Bradford, which heavily features the unidentified xylophonist.

That Thing Called Love, recorded February 1, 1921 by Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds.

That Thing Called Love, recorded February 21, 1921 by Mamie Smith’s Jazz Hounds.

Updated on June 24 and November 24, 2016, with with improved audio on June 26, 2018.