Louisiana Five - Odd Sizes and Rarities

I have expressed my fondness for The Louisiana Five, that early recording jazz band, elsewhere in this blog, when I posted their Edison Diamond Disc sides. My warm feelings for this band are, as I stated earlier, are possibly out of balance with the actual musical value of the ensemble. But, again, my admiration for New Orleans clarinetist Alcide "Yellow" Nunez makes me rate this band very highly. 

The Louisiana Five recorded for several labels - most extensively for Emerson, but also for Columbia, Edison, Okeh, and probably for Little Wonder. The two sides made for Okeh are probably the band's rarest recordings. At the time they recorded for Okeh, in May, 1919, the label was still issuing records in the vertical "hill and dale" format to avoid violating the Victor / Columbia lateral record patents. Luckily, my turntable will handle vertical records as well as the more common lateral format. Of course, Okeh issued their two Louisiana Five sides on two different records backed by different bands. I have only been able to track down one of these issues - but here is "After All," an extremely rare track by the band. It is available elsewhere on the internet, but I think my transfer is better. The song is 1919 pop offering written by Lee Roberts and Will Callahan. The section the band plays from 1:15 to 1:59 sounds like a different song. Record companies often had their artists interpolate unrelated songs into their recordings as medleys; I'm guessing that's what happened here, but I don't know what the interpolated song is.

Most of the Louisiana Five's records were made for Emerson. Victor Emerson's label issued records in avariety of sizes, apparently adopting a "let's throw a bunch of stuff against the wall and see what sticks" attitude. So we have Louisiana Five Emerson records in 7", 9", 10", and 12" formats. The most well-known LP reissue of Louisiana Five's Emerson recordings (on the Fountain label) features eight of the 9" records, including take two of "Heart Sickness Blues." I have included take one of that tune from the 78 RPM record. It's quite similar to take two, but I thought it might be of interest for folks to hear the alternate take.

It also might be interesting to compare the 9" version of "Heart Sickness Blues" to the 7" version. Nine of the Louisana Five's sides were issued on unusual 7" size records by Emerson, with a playing time of about two minutes per side. I've included three of them here. For whatever reason, the seven-inchers were issued under the name Frisco Five. 

Emerson also issued one 12-inch record by the Louisiana Five. One side features "Yelping Hound Blues," which they also recorded around the same time for Edison. The other side is another then-current ragtime/pop song which the band did not record elsewhere. Each side interpolates a second tune, as shown below. Again, these sides can be found elsewhere on the web, but they are still rare enough to make it worthwhile to post them here.

Finally, we have a recording for the odd Little Wonder label, the first "budget" record label. As I have explained elsewhere in this blog, Little Wonder made five-inch, one-sided records which sold in dime stores for ten cents. Little Wonder's recordings were invariably made at Columbia sessions, and it is thought that "Hello Hello" was recorded at the session which produced "Slow and Easy" for Columbia - the only Louisiana Five session on which they added a cornet.

The personnel on all cuts is:

Alcide "Yellow" Nunez - clarinet

Charlie Panelli - trombone

Joe Cawley - piano

Karl Berger - banjo

Anton Lada - drums

On "Hello Hello," Doc Behrendson is added on cornet.

After All (Okeh 1200 [vertical]) - recorded c. May, 1919

Heart Sickness Blues (Emerson 9150 [9" record]), take one - recorded c. December, 1918

Heart Sickness Blues (Emerson 7481 [7" record]) - recorded c. December, 1918

A Good Man is Hard to Find (Emerson 7481 [7" record]) - recorded c. December, 1918

Church Street Sobbin' Blues (Emerson 7517 [7" record]) - recorded c. March, 1919

Yelping Hound Blues introducing "Foot Warmer" (Emerson 501 [12" record]) - recorded c. September, 1919

High Brown Babies Ball introducing "Ming Toy" (Emerson 501 [12" record]) - recorded c. September, 1919

Hello Hello (Little Wonder 1234 [5" record]) - probably recorded December 16, 1919

Jerry Jerome Trio with Teddy Wilson

Well, it's been a while. Since my last post, I moved to the other side of the United States - from Atlanta to Bellingham, Washington. In the process, I sold or gave away two-thirds of my 78 RPM record collection.  

But I've still got plenty of good records left, and plan to keep posting, now that I'm settled in. Today's music is from a three-record jazz album from 1945. It's not that "important," and not mind-blowingly spectacular, I suppose, but it's excellent music, offering a glimpse of a little-known recording session by a major jazz musician.

That musician is pianist Teddy Wilson, who is identified on the album cover and labels as "Fingers MacDigits." (Mr. Wilson was apparently under contract to another label at the time.) The bandleader is Jerry Jerome, a talented journeyman tenor saxophonist who put in stints with the Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Glenn Miller big bands before settling into a long career in the New York studios. Jerome (1912 - 2001) was an excellent musician - never a big jazz name, but always highly regarded by those in the know.

The third member of the trio is drummer Gordon "Specs" Powell. Again, Powell was never a really big name in jazz, but was respected by his colleagues, and was the first Black musician to be hired by CBS.

This album, on the Stinson label, is excellent jazz, and shows how modest Jerome could be. The music is under his name, but he gives Teddy Wilson at least as much solo space as he takes for himself - more on the first side, "What is There to Say."

This album has not been reissued in full. "Emaline" and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" appeared on the Jerome retrospective album Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and three previously unissued titles from the session showed up on Something Old, Something New. But here are all the originally-issued sides. Stinson, like its sister labels Asch and Disc, was not known for the quality of their pressings, which tended to be noisy. I used a little more noise reduction than usual, but tried not to degrade the sound of the instruments. I've included the album notes from the inside of the cover - click the picture for a larger view.

So here's the Jerry Jerome Trio, with "Fingers MacDigits."

Jerry Jerome - tenor saxophone

Teddy Wilson - piano

Specs Powell - drums

Recorded in New York, June 6, 1945

Stinson album S-359

What is There to Say

Emaline

Callng All Cats

Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams

Sunday

You're Lucky to Me

A Rare Lee Konitz Take

 Alto saxophonist Lee Konitz (1927-2020) was one of the finest improvisers in jazz history. His style was unique: light-toned, thoughtful, and meticulous. He once said that when he heard himself playing a phrase he had already played, he would take the horn out of his mouth. 

Without going into clichés about "cool jazz," I'll point out that Konitz was associated with Lennie Tristano and his circle in his early career. His recordings for the Prestige label show the Tristano influence strongly. A recording session from March 8, 1951 has some Tristano-like features, but also shows Konitz moving away from his teacher's shadow, notably by the inclusion of two George Russell compositions.

One title from this session is unusual. Two takes of "Yesterdays" survive, and one of them was issued only on the original 78 - Prestige 755. All subsequent issues of this session use a take of "Yesterdays" with Miles Davis playing an introduction and coda. Miles is not present on the 78  issue. This leads me to believe that the trumpet-less take was issued in error, since Miles's name is listed on the label.

In any case, this take has never been reissued, and I can't find it anywhere on the web. The overall feel of the side is similar to the more familiar version, but Konitz's improvisation is very different. There is some interesting (and quite Tristano-esque) interplay between the saxophone, piano, and guitar - an aspect that is much more subdued on the commonly-known take.

So here it is: a rare recording by Lee Konitz - perhaps the rarest of his commercially issued sides. For context's sake, I have also included the other side of the record, "Duet for Saxophone and Guitar." This quite abstract piece has been reissued many times.

Yesterdays

Lee Konitz - alto saxophone; Sal Mosca - piano; Billy Bauer - guitar; Arnold Fishkin - bass; March 8, 1951

Duet for Saxophone and Guitar

Lee Konitz - alto saxophone; Billy Bauer - guitar; March 13, 1951

Tony Parenti in the Studios

One of the delights of listening to 78s from the 1920s and 1930s is finding excellent jazz solos in the middle of ordinary pop/dance records. You never know when young Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, or one of the Dorsey Brothers will emerge from the depths of a studio dance band to rip off a hot solo that gives the record a new life. Here are three such records from the 1930s featuring one of my favorite clarinetists, Tony Parenti.

Parenti was somewhat of a picaresque character. He began recording in his native New Orleans in 1925, and apparently was quite popular and successful there. But by the end of that decade he had moved to New York to try his luck, and while pure jazz was somewhat out of favor in the early days of the Depression, Parenti found plenty of dance band, studio, and broadcast work. But by the end of the 1930s, he once again walked away from a pretty lucrative musical life to go on the road with Ted Lewis. After that he moved around a good bit - including three years in Miami and a stint back in New Orleans - before ending up back in New York for good. His fellow musicians noted Parenti's love of gambling, and always assumed that his many moves were to keep one step ahead of the bookies to whom he owed money.

But whatever his relationship to the bookies was, Parenti was a gifted and imaginative clarinetist (as well as a solid saxophonist). Although he is now remembered as a dixieland clarinetist, his versatility and reading ability served him well in the New York studio scene of the 1930s. Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, and (later in the decade) Artie Shaw were the first-call studio clarinetists in town, but Parenti was just behind them.

I'll start with the best of the bunch: Chick Bullock's "With Plenty of Money and You," from November 21, 1936. Bullock was a popular singer, and he frequently had excellent jazzmen backing him in the studio. Here Parenti gets a full chorus, and he makes the most of it with some of the best improvising I've ever heard from him. Incidentally, Artie Shaw was also on this record date, and plays an obligato to Bullock's vocal on the other side of the record, "Where the Lazy River Goes By."

Five years earlier, Parenti recorded for the first time with Kate Smith, an unlikely musical partner with whom he would return to the studios several more times. The personnel of Smith's backing band is mostly unknown, but Parenti identified himself as the clarinet soloist on "Makin' Faces at the Man in the Moon." Kate Smith is remembered as belter, but she sings with taste here. It's a nice little record, with eight bars by Parenti, some hot violin, an excellent trombonist, and a trumpet or cornet player who (call me crazy if you will) sure reminds me of Muggsy Spanier.

The last and least of my Parenti-in-the-studio offerings is by the prolific Fred Rich Orchestra, with a vocal by Paul Small. Parenti gets a short eight bars here, but is perhaps overshadowed by excellent trombone and trumpet solos, probably by Tommy Dorsey and Bill Moore. 

Enjoy these obscure example of Tony Parenti as part of the New York studio scene.

With Plenty of Money and You (Chick Bullock - Perfect 7-02-01, recorded November 21, 1936)

Makin' Faces at the Man in the Moon (Kate Smith - Clarion 5359-C, recorded July 7, 1931)

Sing Something Simple (Fred Rich - Columbia 2299-D, recorded September 3, 1930)

Bracha Zfirah on Columbia

 Bracha Zfirah (or Zfira, Zefira, or Tzfira, depending on which transliteration from the Hebrew you choose) was a remarkable Israeli singer. Without going too much into the various ethnic branches of Judaism, she was of Yemenite heritage, but was raised in a Sephardic neighborhood in Jerusalem, and is often considered one of the greatest singers of Sephardic songs. Born in 1910, she met composer/pianist Nahum Nardi in 1929, and found an immediate musical connection. Nardi became her accompanist, and the couple was married in 1931. They parted, legally and musically, in 1939.

Zfirah continued to perform until shortly before her death in 1990. Although she was considered a cultural icon, her popularity waned over the years, as her style came to be considered old-fashioned. 

To inject a personal note - I began searching for klezmer and other Jewish 78s when I began a 12-year stint playing in Atlanta's 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra, which combined klezmer with jazz and Afro-pop. I found a green-label Columbia record by Bracha Zfirah in an antique store in Chattanooga, and was blown away when I got home and placed the record on the turntable. "Yesh Li Gan" was a striking song, and what a beautiful performance! I arranged the song for the 4WAKO, and it can be found on our Abdul the Rabbi album.

Here are three Bracha Zfirah 78s on the U.S. Columbia label. There are only five selections here because one is duplicated on two of the records - "Yesh Li Gan" is on the original blue-label issue and a later green-label issue from Columbia foreign series. I'm not sure whether or not any of these have been reissued, but they're all well worth hearing, in my opinion. The first thee selection were recorded in 1937; the last two in 1949.

Yesh Li Gan (I Have a Garden)

Shir Haavodah (Hymn of Praise to Labor)

Bein Nehar Prath (Between the Tigris and the Euprhates)

El-Hanegev (Toward the Negev)

Im Ein Ani Li (Who is For Me, If Not Myself?)

Bolton, Wodehouse, and Kern: The Birth of the Modern Musical

Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, and Jerome Kern changed the face of American musical theater; they basically invented the modern musical comedy. Before Bolton, Wodehouse, and Kern, Broadway shows fell roughly into two types: European-style operettas (The Merry Widow, Naughty Maria) or revue-type offerings, with the bare minimum of a plot interspersed with unrelated (or only tangentially related) songs and dances. To be sure, composers such as George Cohan and Will Marion Cook provided distinctly American-sounding songs to the best of these revues.

But Bolton, Wodehouse, and Kern took things a step further: in their conception, the musical comedy should have a tightly woven, coherent plot, and the songs should not just be catchy and entertaining - they should be vehicles to further the plot and/or reveal more about the characters. Bolton's scripts, Wodehouse's clever lyrics, and Kern's music, memorable and modern, were carefully integrated to form an entertaining, impactful whole.

The team only wrote five shows together, but their influence extended far beyond the sometimes limited run each musical had on Broadway. Their collaborations represent the peak of the "Princess Musicals," that string of shows performed at the smallish Princess Theatre between 1915 and 1919. Not all the trio's musicals ran at the Princess, but they were all in the modern, intimate style of the Princess shows.

In those days, there was no such thing as an "original cast album" - that concept had to wait until Decca recorded the Broadway cast of Oklahoma! in 1943. But as early as 1909, Victor Records began issuing recorded medleys of songs from Broadway shows in their "Gems" series: "Gems from Babes in Toyland," "Gems from The Belle of New York," etc. These usually filled one side of a 12-inch 78 RPM record, so each medley ran about four or four and a half minutes. Victor's Gems were recorded by the company's staff musicians, often very early in a musical's run, so that theater-goers who attended a show could then go to the nearest record store and buy a disc with their favorites.

Four of the five Bolton / Wodehouse / Kern shows got the Victor Gems treatment, and I'm presenting them all here. There are several caveats to keep in mind while listening. First, to fit five or six songs onto one record side, each song had to be abridged - so we only get a verse or two and maybe a chorus of each song. The lyrics are sometimes difficult to make out through the murky recording and surface noise, especially when ensemble singing is involved. And all of these records show the kind of wear you would expect from 110-year-old discs.

Here are the four medleys in chronological order. Each is backed on its record by a medley from an unrelated show; I have only included the sides by our famous triumvirate. Artist credit on all is "Victor Light Opera Company." I have listed the featured vocalists on each number. Enjoy these glimpses into the beginnings of the modern American musical.

Gems from "Have a Heart" - Victor 35624; recorded February 23, 1917

    I'm So Busy (full chorus)
    And I'm All Alone (Elsie Baker)
    The Road That Lies Before (Olive Kline and Reinald Werrenrath)
    Honeymoon Inn (Harry MacDonough)
    You Said Something (Olive Kline and Lucy Isabelle Marsh)

Gems from "Oh, Boy" - Victor 35651; recorded July 19, 1917

    Till the Clouds Roll By (full chorus)
     An Old-Fashioned Wife (female trio)
     You Never Knew About Me (Harry MacDonough and Marguerite Dunlap)
    Rolled Into One (Olive Kline)
    Till the Clouds Roll By (full chorus)

Gems from "Leave It To Jane" - Victor 35666; recorded January 2, 1918        

    Just You Watch My Step (full chorus)
    The Crickets are Calling (Lucy Isabelle Marsh)
    What I'm Longing to Say (Reinald Werrenrath)
    The Sun Shines Brighter (Olive Kline and Harry MacDonough)
    The Siren's Song (Elsie Baker)
    Leave It To Jane (full chorus)            

Gems from "Oh Lady! Lady!" - Victor 35672; recorded March 13, 1918   

    When All the Little Ships Come Sailing Home (full chorus)
     Not Yet (Elsie Baker)
    Before I Met You (Reinald Werrenrath)
    Some Little Girl (female trio)
    She Found Me and I Found You (Olive Kline and Lambert Murphy)
    When All the Little Ships Come Sailing Home (full chorus)    

La Bohême - Acoustic

 For opera fans, here's a half hour of some legendary voices of the early 20th century, performing selections from one of the great operas - Puccini's La Bohême. These recordings, drawn from the Victor catalog, were made from 1906 to 1916, so they are all recorded acoustically. There are a few key selections missing, but most of the favorite arias and ensemble pieces from the opera are here. The great Enrico Caruso is heavily featured.

Of particular interest is Caruso's famous rendition of "Vecchia zimarra," the "Coat Song." This is a bass aria, but Caruso's voice was so flexible that he had no trouble bailing out Andrés de Segurola when that singer lost his voice during a Metropolitan Opera performance in Philadelphia; with his back to the audience, Caruso sang the piece while Segurola mimed the performance. The famous tenor was persuaded to record the aria the next day in Victor's Camden, New Jersey studios, but the recording was never intended to be issued. In the late 1940s, radio personality Wally Butterworth obtained a test pressing of the aria and issued it on a privately pressed vinyl 78, with an explanatory talk on the other side.

All of the other records are one-sided, as were all of Victor's Red Seal classical records in those years. The company didn't start making double-sided Red Seal discs until the 1920s. Part of the reason for this was economics. In order to attract the biggest stars of the opera world, Victor gave them lucrative contracts, with generous royalties on each record sold. So the company tried to maximize its profit by charging as much as possible for each issued selection. The royalties demanded by Victor's two biggest stars, Caruso and Nellie Melba, resulted in a duet record priced at five dollars for three and a half minutes of music - and that's the equivalent of over $150 in today's dollars. The star-studded Quartet cost six dollars - nearly $200 when adjusted for inflation. 

So here's a generous chunk of La Bohême, transferred with minimal noise reduction. Apologies for the occasional spots of "blasting" distortion in loud passages.

Act I:

Enrico Caruso: Che gelida manina (Rudoph's Narrative) - Victor 88002, recorded 1906

Frances Alda: Mi chiamano Mimi - Victor 74448, recorded 1915

Nellie Melba & Enrico Caruso: O soave fanciulla - Victor 95200, recorded 1907

Act III:

Geraldine Farrar & Antonio Scotti: Mimi, Io son! - Victor 89016, recorded 1909

Geraldine Farrar: Addio! - Victor 88406, recorded 1912

Geraldine Farrar, Gina Viaforo, Enrico Caruso & Antonio Scotti: Quartet: Addio, dolce svegliare - Victor 96002, recorded 1908

Act IV:

Enrico Caruso & Antonio Scotti: Ah Mimi, tu piu - Victor 89006, recorded 1907

Enrico Caruso: Vecchia zimarra (Coat Song) - RCA Victor 87499 (private pressing), recorded 1916

Wally Butterworth & Frances Alda -Why Caruso recorded the Coat Song - RCA Victor 87499, recorded c. 1949