The time has come around for yet another birthday celebration, this time for cornetist Dominic James LaRocca, born on April 11, 1889.
Nick LaRocca was born in New Orleans to a poor Sicilian family. He was exposed to the brass bands there while growing up, and was inspired to take up the cornet. Working at first as an electrician, Nick became a full time musician in the early 1910s, playing with Papa Jack Laine. In 1916, he became a member of the Original Dixieland ‘Jass’ (later “Jazz”) Band, of which he assumed leadership, and played on their 1917 recording of “Livery Stable Blues”, often credited as the first jazz record. The famous “Tiger Rag” was credited to LaRocca (who held the copyright for it), though it was a traditional New Orleans tune that existed for many years before the Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded it. LaRocca toured around the world with the ODJB, until he had a nervous breakdown in the early 1920s, and returned to New Orleans.
After recovering from his ordeal, the band got back together in the mid-1930s for a successful reunion, at which point they made several more records for Victor, their first electrical recordings. Late in life, he wrote a series of letters claiming to be the sole inventor of jazz (a claim also famously made by Jelly Roll Morton, who actually had for more credibility behind it than LaRocca). LaRocca died in 1961.
Victor 18717 was recorded December 1 and 4, 1920 in New York City. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band consists of Nick LaRocca on cornet, Eddie Edwards on trombone, Larry Shields on clarinet, Benny Krueger on alto saxophone, J. Russel Robinson on piano, and Tony Sbarbaro on drums.
First up, a medley of “Margie”, interpolating “Singin’ the Blues”.
Margie, recorded December 1, 1920 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
On the flip, another solid tune, maybe better than the first, maybe not: (Lena is the Queen of ) “Palesteena”.
Palesteena, recorded December 4, 1920 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
Extenuating circumstances over the past several days unfortunately prevented me from publishing a tribute to Vernon Dalhart on his birthday yesterday, April 6, but here is a belated celebration today.
Vernon Dalhart was born Marion Try Slaughter, April 6, 1883 in Jefferson, Texas. After his father was murdered behind the Kahn Saloon there, his family relocated to Dallas, where he attended a music conservatory and became an operatic tenor. Assuming the name “Vernon Dalhart” after two Texas towns, he began recording in the 1910s. Having previously learned cowboy songs while working on the range as a teen, in 1924, Dalhart became a pioneering figure in country music, when he recorded “Wreck of the Old 97” and “The Prisoner’s Song” for the Victor Talking Machine Company. That record was met with huge success, and Dalhart, working frequently with guitarist and sometimes singer Carson J. Robison, became one of the most popular artists in the 1920s. Dalhart’s success waned by the end of the decade, and he only recorded sporadically in the 1930s, making his final records in 1939. Vernon Dalhart died of a heart attack in 1948.
Victor 19919 was recorded was recorded December 21, 1925 in New York City. Vernon Dalhart is accompanied by Carson Robison on guitar and Murray Kellner on violin. Dalhart himself plays the harmonica.
Vernon Dalhart is best known for his ballads and tearjerkers (e.g. “The Prisoner’s Song”, “In the Baggage Coach Ahead”), but he recorded quite a number of songs outside that genre, including “Putting on the Style”. This tune was later revived in 1957 by Lonnie Donegan.
Putting on the Style, recorded December 21, 1925 by Vernon Dalhart.
“The Little Black Moustache” is one of those songs written for a singer of the opposite sex, making it into quite a humorous affair. Vernon sings it in good spirits, and does a good job with it if you ask me.
The Little Black Moustache, recorded December 21, 1925 by Vernon Dalhart.
If there’s one thing I enjoy, it’s singing cowboys. Not those Hollywood type like Roy Rogers (not that I have anything against Roy, I like him too), but the handful of real life cowboys that made recordings of songs from right there on the range in the 1920s and ’30s. This record falls squarely into that category. This was one of my lucky finds from a little store out in Mineral Wells, Texas, along with some other fine rural selections. It’s likely been in Texas ever since it left the pressing plant in Camden.
Jules Verne Allen was born on April 1, 1883 in the charming little town of Waxahachie, Texas, he began working as a cowboy in the next decade, punching cattle from Montana to the Rio Grande. He served his country in the Great War, enlisting in the Army in 1917. For many years, Allen worked as an officer of the law, as a police officer and deputy sheriff in El Paso, and as a member of the legendary Texas Rangers. As a cowboy, he learned the traditional songs of the West, played on the guitar, and when the Western phenomenon swept the nation in the late 1920s, Allen began performing those songs on the radio for WOAI in San Antonio and WFAA in Dallas. Billed as “The Singing Cowboy”, he cut three sides for the Victor Talking Machine Co. on one of their field trips in El Paso in 1928, later making twenty more sides, of which all but one were issued. One of the most popular of the early singing cowboys, in 1933, Allen wrote Cowboy Lore, a book detailing the life of a cowpuncher. Continuing to perform on the radio into the 1940s, Allen died on July 10, 1945.
Victor 21470 was recorded April 21, 1928 by Jules Allen during one of Victor’s field trips in El Paso, Texas. These two are Allen’s debut recordings.
First up, Allen sings N. Howard Thorp’s classic cowboy song, “Little Joe, the Wrangler”.
Little Joe, the Wrangler, recorded April 21, 1928 by Jules Allen.
Next, Allen sings the Texas gambling song “Jack o’ Diamonds” in the old cowboy style rather than the blues style associated with the likes of Blind Lemon Jefferson. The last time we heard this tune, it was sung by TCU physics professor Newton Gaines, and to be honest, I believe ol’ Jules delivers a better performance.
Jack o’ Diamonds, recorded April 21, 1928 by Jules Allen.
On this day, March the twenty-eighth, we remember the the “King of Jazz” himself, the eminent Paul Whiteman, on the 126th anniversary of his birth. To commemorate the occasion, I present one of his finest records, from the height of his fame, a time when his band contained the likes of Bix Beiderbecke, Bing Crosby, and so many other great figures of roaring twenties jazz.
Paul Whiteman was born in Denver, Colorado to a musical family. His father, Wilberforce Whiteman, was a music instructor at the Denver County public schools, and at one point had as a pupil a young Andy Kirk, who later became the leader of the Twelve Clouds of Joy in Kansas City. As a youngster, Paul took up the viola, and played in several symphony orchestras, and led a band in the U.S. Navy during the Great War. After the war’s end, Whiteman started his own dance band, and began recording with Victor as “Paul Whiteman and his Ambassador Orchestra.” His first record, featuring “Whispering” paired with “The Japanese Sandman”, was a great success, and started him on the path to fame.
Over the next years, Paul Whiteman was a mainstay in the Victor catalog, and his records sold well, but he did not achieve his greatest fame until the last years of the decade. In 1924, Whiteman commissioned George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”, which he premiered with his concert orchestra at An Experiment in Modern Music at Aeolian Hall in New York. In 1927, Whiteman was able to hire away some of the top musicians from Jean Goldkette’s band, including Frankie Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke, and he also picked up the Rhythm Boys: Al Rinker, Harry Barris, and Bing Crosby. By that time, he was making his name as the “King of Jazz” (the legitimacy of which is hotly debated), and was among the most famous names in music of the 1920s. In 1930, the Whiteman band starred in a grand technicolor motion picture vaudeville revue entitled King of Jazz. Into the Great Depression, Whiteman maintained his status for several years, introducing talent such as the charming Ramona (and her Grand Piano). Eventually, as swing became king, Whiteman’s time in the limelight began to fade. Though he made several generally immemorable swing records, and appeared on the first issue of Johnny Mercer’s Capitol Records in 1942, he never returned to the fame he knew in the 1920s. Whiteman continued to lead bands sporadically into his twilight years, and died of a heart attack in 1967.
Victor 21274 was recorded in two separate sessions in 1928, the first on February 18, and the second ten days later on February 28. The band, featuring some of the top white jazz talent of the day, included Bix Beiderbecke on cornet, Eddie Pinder on trumpet, Bill Rank on trombone, Frankie Trumbauer on C-melody sax, Chester Hazlett on alto sax. Izzy Friedman on clarinet, Charles Strickfaden on tenor sax, Roy Bargy on piano, Min Leibrook on tuba, Mike Pingatore on banjo, Mike Trafficante on string bass, and Hal McDonald on drums.
One of the great classics introduced by Whiteman’s orchestra, and a mainstay of his repertoire was Harry Barris’ “Mississippi Mud”. The outstanding vocals on this side are provided by Miss Irene Taylor, assisted by the Rhythm Boys: Bing Crosby, Harry Barris, and Al Rinker, and a second vocal trio consisting of Jack Fulton, Charles Gaylord, and Austin Young. This is take “3” of this side, take “2” was later issued on Victor 25366.
Mississippi Mud, recorded February 18, 1928 by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra.
On “From Monday On”, another Harry Barris composition, Bing takes the lead vocal, backed up by the same group featured on the first side. This side is take “6”, take “4” was later issued on Victor 25368 and take “3” appeared on Victor 27688.
From Monday On, recorded February 28, 1928 by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra.
Perhaps the most commercially successful territory band of the 1920s was that of Blue Steele, who toured the southern United States in the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to his success in music, Steele was also one of the more interesting characters of the 1920s territory band scene.
The man known as Blue Steele was born Eugene Staples on March 11, 1893 or 1897 in Arkansas. According to legend, his nickname came from a metal plate he had in his head after being wounded in the Great War. Perhaps caused by that injury, he was also known for his short temper and erratic behavior. He started out playing trombone and mellophone in Watson’s Bell Hops, before starting his own band in 1925. Although Steele filled his band with great musicians, because of his unstable personality and often poor treatment of his employees—he was known to have a habit of throwing punches right into the bells of his band members’ brass instruments—they tended not to stay with him for long, and we can thank Steele for bringing us a number of great talents by scaring them out of his band. Quite a number of his musicians, including reed man and vocalist Kenny Sargent and guitarist, banjoist, and arranger Gene Gifford moved on to the Casa Loma Orchestra, a band known for their strict code of conduct, which may have been a welcome change from their prior engagement. Nevertheless, Steele continued to lead successful bands well into the 1950s, despite becoming increasingly unstable as years passed; as legend has it, he murdered a tax agent in Atlanta “for no apparent reason.” Blue Steele died July 7, 1971.
Victor 20971 was recorded August 26, 1927 in Savannah, Georgia, the first, and probably most successful record by Blue Steele and his Orchestra. The personnel includes Frank Krisher and Frank Martinez on trumpets, Blue Steele on trombone and mellophone, Sunny Clapp on trombone, Kenny Sargent on clarinet, alto and baritone sax, Roger Sanford on alto sax, Pete Schmidt on tenor sax, Ted Delmarter on banjo and/or guitar, Sol Lewis on piano, Marvin Longfellow on tuba, and Tom Summers on drums. The session was supervised by Ralph Peer.
The first side of this disk features a waltz, but all you pep-purists never fear, for it’s a good waltz, in fact it’s the first recording of Sunny Clapp’s “Girl of My Dreams, I Love You”. Kenny Sargent sings the vocal on this side.
Girl of My Dreams, I Love You, recorded August 26, 1927 by Blue Steele and his Orchestra.
On the reverse, they play a peppy tune, “Sugar Babe, I’m Leavin’!”. In my opinion, this is just about the zenith of music, pretty much perfection. A vocal trio consisting of Sargent, Pete Schmidt and Steele himself sings on this side. It’s bandleader Steele that completes this side with his interjection of, “and that’s Sugar Babe.”
Sugar Babe, I’m Leavin’!, recorded August 26, 1927 by Blue Steele and his Orchestra.
