Victor 19212 – Ted Weems and his Orchestra – 1923

Posted on September 26, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

115 years ago today, the prolific bandleader Ted Weems was born. He had hits with “Piccolo Pete” and “Heartaches”, and co-wrote such songs as “Oh, Mo’nah” and “Jig Time”. In commemoration of the occasion, here is his first record.

Weems was born Wilfred Theodore Wemyes on September 26, 1901 in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania. He began his musical path when he entered a contest to win a pony, but wound up with a violin instead. He later took up the trombone as well. Weems organized his first band while in school, and did so again in college with a more professional group that took professional engagements at hotels and restaurants. In 1921, Weems’ band played at the inauguration of President Warren G. Harding. The Weems band made their first record in 1923 for the Victor Talking Machine Company, with whom they continued to record for the next ten years. After leaving Victor, the Weems band recorded for Columbia, and then Decca. Like many bands and musicians of that day and age, much of their success was found on the airwaves. During the war, Weems joined the Merchant Marines and led their band. After a period of relative dormancy, Weems’ popularity was revived in 1947 when a North Carolina disc jockey played his uptempo rumba recording of “Heartaches” from 1933, which was met with unexpected enthusiasm from the public. After that unexpected success, Victor reissued the record, and Decca followed suit with a reissue of their recording of the same tune that Weems had cut in 1938, both of which became hits. Weems organized a new band, which stayed together until 1953. Ten years later, in 1963, Ted Weems died of emphysema.

Victor 19212 was recorded on November 20, 1923 in Camden, New Jersey, the first sides ever cut by Ted Weems’ Orchestra. Both sides were originally made as tests, but must’ve impressed the higher-ups, as they wound up being assigned masters and issued. The band consists of Art Weems and Paul Creedon on trumpets, Ted Weems on trombone, Norman Nugent and Walter Livingston clarinet, soprano sax, alto sax, and bass sax, Francis Buggy on clarinet, soprano sax, and tenor sax, Charles Gaylord on violin, Reuel Kenyon on piano, Weston Vaughan on banjo, George Barth on tuba and string bass, and Cecil Richardson on drums.

First up, Weems’ band plays the western-themed “Covered Wagon Days”.

Covered Wagon Days, recorded November 20, 1923 by Ted Weems and his Orchestra.

On the reverse, they play a superb instrumental rendition of the old standard “Somebody Stole My Gal”.

Somebody Stole My Gal, recorded November 20, 1923 by Ted Weems and his Orchestra.

Spotlight: Jimmie Rodgers

Posted on September 8, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

Jimmie Rodgers in his most published studio portrait, circa 1927.

He was known in his life as America’s Blue Yodeler and the Singing Brakeman; years later, many have called him the Father of Country Music. He was Jimmie Rodgers. From a humble upbringing, he went on to have a profound impact on the music and culture of the Western world. Those counted among his devotees spread far and wide across the globe, his influence stretching from contemporaries like the Mississippi Sheiks and Big Bill Broonzy, to blues artists like Howlin’ Wolf, to latter day superstars like Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan, and too many country musicians to count. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that the now legendary Robert Johnson’s guitar playing was attempt to imitate Rodgers. His work, as a whole, is a reflection of the human condition: life and death, compassion and hatred, joy and sorrow. Without a doubt, Jimmie Rodgers was among the most influential musical figures and cultural icons of the twentieth century.

James Charles Rodgers was born on September 8, 1897, the sixth of seven children of railroad man Aaron Woodberry Rodgers (1855 to 1933) and his wife, the former Eliza Bozeman (1868 to 1903), a humble family hailing from Meridian, Mississippi. Although his birthplace is usually given as Meridian, Jimmie was likely born about forty miles northeast of there in his grandparents’ hometown of Geiger, Alabama—which Rodgers himself listed as his birthplace—and only began giving Meridian as his hometown to please the folks back home, who considered him a native. Some sources alternatively list Pine Springs, Mississippi as his birthplace. Jimmie’s mother died of the same disease that would eventually be his own downfall when he was but five years old, and the young boy was sent to live with a series of relatives nearby before returning home to live with his father, who had by then remarried.

As a young man, Jimmie’s father found him work on the railroad, first as a water boy. Later, he became a brakeman for the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad. In his railroad work, Rodgers learned musical styles from hobos and fellow rail workers, and picked up blues traditions from the gandy dancers. For a time, Rodgers relocated to Arizona to work for Southern Pacific, where he likely picked up some cowboy songs as well. In 1920, Jimmie married Carrie Williamson and had two children, the second of whom died in infancy. From his early youth, Rodgers was musically inclined, but he did not pursue a career in entertainment until later down the line. When he was twenty-seven years old, Jimmie contracted tuberculosis, which put his railroad career to an end. After some recuperation, Rodgers worked a variety of different jobs before deciding to focus on his passion for music and embark on a new career in entertainment. He found work in minstrel and vaudeville tent shows for a while, traveling around the South as an itinerant performer before more stable work came his way.

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Victor 21491 – Charles Johnson’s Paradise Ten/Lloyd Scott’s Orchestra – 1928

Posted on August 8, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

In honor of “King” Benny Carter’s birthday, here’s an outstanding Harlem jazz record featuring one of his earliest recorded appearances, as well as a taste of his arranging talent.

Bennett Lester Carter was born in Harlem on August 8, 1907. As a child, he was taught piano by his mother, and was later inspired to by Bubber Miley to buy a trumpet. When he couldn’t play like Miley, he decided to take up the saxophone instead. Growing up playing jazz with the Harlem greats, Carter first recorded in 1928 with Charlie Johnson’s Paradise Ten, and played with Fletcher Henderson in the early 1930s. In 1931, he took over leadership of McKinney’s Cotton Pickers from Don Redman, who left to form his own orchestra, and followed in his footsteps the next year with a band of his own. In the 1930s, he began recording with a band under the moniker of the Chocolate Dandies, which had been previously used by a number of others. In 1935, as Louis Armstrong and a number of other jazz musicians had done previously, Carter traveled to Europe, where he played with the Ramblers, Django Reinhardt, and others before returning to the States in 1938. After returning home, he led another band and arranged prolifically. In 1942, Freddie Slack’s Orchestra made a hit with “Cow Cow Boogie”, which Carter wrote with Gene de Paul and Don Raye, and he moved to the West Coast in 1943. In 1973, Carter was a visiting professor at Princeton University for a semester. He continued to play until his retirement in 1997, bringing an end to an eight decade career, and he died in 2003 at the age of 95.

Victor 21491 was recorded January 24 and 10, 1928, respectively, in New York City. The Paradise Ten are made up of Jabbo Smith and Leonard Davis on trumpets Charlie Irvis on trombone, Benny Carter and Edgar Sampson on clarinet and alto sax, Elmer Harrell on clarinet and tenor sax, Charlie Johnson on piano, Bobby Johnson on banjo, Cyrus St. Clair on tuba, George Stafford on drums. Lloyd Scott’s orchestra on the flip-side consists of Gus McClung and Kenneth A. Roane on trumpet, Dicky Wells on trombone John Williams and Fletcher Allen on clarinet and alto sax, Cecil Scott on clarinet, tenor sax, and baritone sax, Don Frye on piano, Hubert Mann on piano, Chester Campbell on tuba, and Lloyd Scott on drums.

Charlie Johnson’s Paradise Ten took their name from Small’s Paradise in Harlem, where they played. Among their alumni were such luminaries as Jabbo Smith and Benny Carter, who made his first recordings with the band. Their superb “Charleston is the Best Dance After All” was arranged by Benny Carter.

Charleston is the Best Dance After All, recorded January 24, 1928 by Charles Johnson’s Paradise Ten.

Lloyd Scott’s Orchestra was another excellent Harlem band, that featured John Williams (husband of Mary Lou Williams) and Dicky Wells. Here they play trumpeter Kenneth A. Roane’s “Harlem Shuffle”.

Harlem Shuffle, recorded January 10, 1928 by Lloyd Scott’s Orchestra.

Victor 20864 – Jimmie Rodgers – 1927

Posted on August 4, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

Rodgers around 1927-’28, pictured in the Victor catalog.

On the twenty-fifth of July, 1927, Ralph S. Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company hauled off to Bristol, Tennessee, to commence a series of recording sessions of local Appalachian musicians in hopes of exploring a relatively untapped market for phonograph records. As the sessions were in progress, he received a telephone call from a radio performer in Asheville, North Carolina, who had read of the opportunity in the newspaper, and was interested bringing his string band, the Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers, to Bristol to cut a record. Peer obliged and arranged for the man to meet for an audition. Somewhere along the line, he had a disagreement with his band, and they parted ways before the audition. Accounts of the reason for the dispute varied depending upon which party was asked. Nevertheless, both entities carried on separately and auditioned before Peer, who saw potential for success in the lone guitarist and yodeler. Thus, on August 4, 1927, Jimmie Rodgers made his first recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company, cutting only two sides at the vacant Taylor-Christian Hat and Glove Company building. The first recording was his own composition, “The Soldier’s Sweetheart”; the second was the old yodel song, “Sleep, Baby, Sleep”. The record proved successful, and Rodgers soon elbowed his way to a follow-up session with Victor at their headquarters in Camden, New Jersey, only a few months later, resulting in the first of his famous Blue Yodel songs. With that, a star was born, and over the following six years he established himself as one of Victor’s top-selling stars, one of the best-selling record artists of the Great Depression, and, posthumously, as the Father of Country Music.

Victor 20864 was recorded between 2:00 and 4:20 P.M. on August 4, 1927, at 408-10 State Street in Bristol, Tennessee, the only two sides cut in Jimmie Rodgers Bristol session, and his first ever recordings. It was released in October of 1927.

Jimmie’s second song at the session, but issued as the “A” side of his debut disc was his haunting rendition of John J. Handley’s old time yodel song, “Sleep Baby Sleep”.

Sleep Baby Sleep, recorded August 4, 1927 by Jimmie Rodgers.

Issued as the “B” side, Rodgers own composition “The Soldier’s Sweetheart” marked the first time that the voice of America’s Blue Yodeler was ever preserved in shellac.

The Soldier’s Sweetheart, recorded August 4, 1927 by Jimmie Rodgers.

Victor 20877 – The Carter Family – 1927

Posted on August 1, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

In an effort to capitalize on the success of the popular “mountaineer songs” by the likes of Vernon Dalhart and Kelly Harrell, talent scout and record producer Ralph S. Peer arranged for the Victor Talking Machine Company to make a series of field trips in an effort to discover and record marketable new artists for the burgeoning “hillbilly” market. Arriving in Bristol, Tennessee, in late July of 1927, Peer got the word out about the sessions through local radio stations and newspapers, and soon musicians began coming to Bristol in droves to record for Victor. Among the many noted artists who recorded in those sessions were Ernest Stoneman and Blind Alfred Reed. It was in early August, however, when came the artists who were to make the biggest fame for themselves and for the Bristol sessions: the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.

The Carter Family in the late 1920s. Left to right: Sara, A.P., Maybelle.

The Carter Family around the time of the Bristol Sessions. Left to right: Maybelle, A.P., Sara. Pictured in the Victor Catalog

When A.P. Carter of Maces Spring, Virginia—not far from Bristol—learned of the sessions, he persuaded his wife Sara and sister-in-law Maybelle to make the short journey from their home to audition for Ralph Peer. Though the trio had made music together since their meeting, only A.P. had inclinations to try and make a career out of it. There in Bristol, on the night of August 1, 1927, A.P., Sara, and Maybelle—as the “Carter Family”—recorded four songs: Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow”, “Little Log Cabin By the Sea”, “The Poor Orphan Child”, and “The Storms are On the Ocean”. Their audition went well. Peer was impressed by the Carters, and invited them to return the following morning to record again. They obliged, this time cutting “”Single Girl, Married Girl” and “The Wandering Boy”. In return for these recordings, they were paid fifty dollars per song, and half-a-cent royalties on each record sold. Their second issued record, “Single Girl, Married Girl” and “The Storms are On the Ocean” on Victor 20937, made quite a hit, and the Carters’ path to success as recording stars thus opened. The following May, they traveled to Camden, New Jersey to record again, anticipating the many sessions to come for Victor, Decca, and the American Record Corporation between then and the early 1940s. Thus, the Carter Family’s decades long, multi-generation legacy as one of country music’s most legendary acts of all time began.

Victor 20877 was recorded on August 1 and 2, 1927, in Bristol, Tennessee by the Carter Family, Sara, Maybelle, and A.P. Released on November 4, 1927, it was the first issued record, but not the first recorded sides, by the Carter Family.

Firstly the Carters sing “The Poor Orphan Child”, the third side recorded at the Carter Family’s first session.