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.
October 25 marks the birthday of jazz guitar great Eddie Lang, who was born on that day in 1902. Eddie Lang was born as Salvatore Massaro in Philedelphia, Pennsylvania. He initially took up violin, playing with his close school friend Joe Venuti, and later switched to guitar. In the 1920s, Lang played in various bands and with such luminaries as Frankie Trumbauer, Bix Beiderbecke, Adrian Rollini, and Lonnie Johnson, the latter of whom he recorded with under the name “Blind Willie Dunn”. Tragically, Eddie Lang died in 1933 at the age of 30 as the result of a botched tonsillectomy.
Okeh 8696 was recorded on May 22, 1929 in New York City, and issued in their race series for some reason. The band includes the talent of Tommy Dorsey on trumpet, Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet and alto sax, Arthur Schutt on piano, Eddie Lang on guitar, Joe Tarto on string bass, and Stan King on drums. This record isn’t in the greatest condition, but I think it’s a great choice to celebrate Eddie’s birthday.
First, the band plays “Freeze an’ Melt”, a Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh composition.
Freeze an’ Melt, recorded May 22, 1929 by Ed. Lang and his Orchestra.
Eddie Lang takes a nice long solo on “Hot Heels”, composed by Jack Pettis and Al Goering.
Hot Heels, recorded May 22, 1929 by Ed. Lang and his Orchestra.
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.
Normally, I wouldn’t make two consecutive posts of records by the same artist, but today, August 4, marks the great Louis Armstrong’s 114th birthday, so I’m making an exception. To celebrate the momentous occasion, I present to you Armstrong’s theme song, and one of his most popular early records.
Okeh 41504, recorded April 20 and 28, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois, features Louis Armstrong on trumpet and vocals, backed by Zilner Randolph on second trumpet, Preston Jackson on trombone, Lester Boone (on clarinet and alto sax), Albert Washington (on clarinet and tenor sax), and George James in the reed section, Charlie Alexander on piano, Mike McKendrick on banjo and guitar, John Lindsay on bass, and Tubby Hall on drums.
First up is “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South”, recorded April 20, a composition by brothers Otis and Leon René and Clarence Muse which would become his theme song. Louis starts by striking up a conversation with pianist Charlie Alexander (who actually hailed from Ohio) about their home back in New Orleans before segueing into the song.
When It’s Sleepy Time Down South, recorded April 20, 1931 by Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra.
On the flip, recorded April 28, Louis and the band play “I’ll Be Glad When Your Dead, You Rascal You”, written by “Lovin’ Sam” Theard (though Cow Cow Davenport claimed to have written it), one of his most popular songs of the day, which he would replay twice over the following year for Paramount Pictures and Fleischer Studios.
I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal You, recorded April 28, 1931 by Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra
“I am still Crazy over those Boswell Sisters. Bless their hearts. They are from my home town, you know? Fine Girls. They think I am the Last word.”
— Louis Armstrong letter to friend, 1933
From sheet music for “Roll On, Mississippi, Roll On”, 1931.
It would seem criminal to start the Spotlight feature with anyone but trio that perhaps created the jazziest interpretations of the popular music of the 1930s, the Boswell Sisters. Stars of record, screen, and radio, those “syncopating harmonists from New Orleans” simply could not sing a bad song (and could even make a bad song good). With over one-hundred recorded tunes and an established career in radio from 1930 until their untimely break-up in 1936, and an inimitable style that has never been matched, they were among the greatest musical stars of the Great Depression.
Martha Meldania (born July 9, 1905), Constance Foore (born December 3, 1907), and Helvetia George “Vet” (born May 20, 1911) Boswell, born to Meldania Fooré and Alfred Clyde “A.C.” Boswell made up the Boswell Sisters. Martha and Connie were born in Kansas City, and Vet was born in Birmingham, but the family moved to New Orleans when the children were young. The sisters had an older brother, Clydie (born 1900), who died tragically in 1918 during an influenza outbreak. Around the time Vet was born, young Connie was either involved in a coaster wagon accident or stricken with polio, leaving her completely immobile for a short time, and unable to walk properly for the rest of her life.
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 21, 1921 by Mamie Smith’s Jazz Hounds.
Updated on June 24 and November 24, 2016, with with improved audio on June 26, 2018.
WordPress automatically creates this “Hello World” post, I suppose I could delete it, but I’d rather use the opportunity to introduce the material I intend to post on this new website, and introduce a marvelous piece of recorded history from my collection…
This Okeh custom pressing, titled Hello World 001, was made in 1930 for the owner of KWKH radio in Shreveport, Louisiana, one W.K. Henderson. The first side, by Henderson himself, was recorded on February 18, 1930 in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the second, by country artist Blind Andy, was recorded March 5, 1930 in New York. Henderson recorded three other talks that day, but none were released.
William Kennon Henderson, Jr., was born in Bastrop, Louisiana in 1880 and made his fortune as owner and president of the Henderson Iron Works and Supply Company. Henderson became interested in radio in 1923, when he was requested by Shreveport radio station WGAQ to help fund a replacement of their low-powered transmitter. In 1925, he bought the station and renamed it KWKH, the callsign representing his initials. Broadcasting across many states with his 50,000 watt station, Henderson made a name for himself with his rural brand of humor and his heated, profanity-laced political rants against chain stores, large corporations, the Federal Radio Commision, and the establishment in general. Henderson was a long time friend and associate of governor Huey Long, who appeared as a guest on the station occasionally, along with some of his allies. Long also aided Henderson in keeping government regulation away from his controversial broadcasts. Henderson also founded an alliance of small business owners dubbed the Modern Minute Men (MMM), which at one point claimed around 32,000 members nationally and raised almost $375,000 for Henderson.
Despite his attempts to exploit loopholes, Henderson was an enemy of the fledgling Federal Radio Commission for his repeated and numerous violations of their policies, including his obscenity laced monologues and his reliance on “canned music”. In 1931, Governor Long had a falling out with Henderson, and the Federal Radio Commission ordered an inquiry into the affairs of KWKH. That combined with hard times brought on by the Great Depression saw him to declare bankruptcy and sell the station in 1932. On his death bed in 1945, Henderson said, “I was right, you know… I guess I was fighting for free speech and free enterprise.” KWKH would later gain new fame for their “Louisiana Hayride” program beginning in 1948, which eventually featured a young singer by the name of Elvis Presley in the 1950s.
Recorded by Okeh in Shreveport, Louisiana, W.K. Henderson tones down his act considerably for the record’s first side, “Hello World”, a diatribe from Henderson about other stations interfering KWKH’s frequency of 850 kilocycles by WABC in New York, a “chain outfit,” WLS in Chicago, that “Sears-Rareback outfit,” and WENR, and the entity responsible for the interference, the Federal Radio Commission.
Hello World, recorded February 18, 1930 by W.K. (Old Man) Henderson.
On the flip-side, recorded March 5, 1930 in New York City, noted country and gospel artist Andrew Jenkins performs “Hello World Song (Don’t You Go ‘Way)”, a well-done country song set to the tune of his older composition, “The Death of Floyd Collins”. Blind Andy warns listeners not to invest their money in the stock market and offers other bits of timely advice from the agenda of W.K. Henderson.
Hello World Song (Don’t You Go ‘Way), recorded March 5, 1930 by Blind Andy.
Having shared that piece of history, I leave you with a final word…
