Rachmaninoff is back....

 I have made new transfers of Rachmaninoff on Edison, playing the Liszt "Second Hungarian Rhapsody" and a Scarlatti "Pastorale," to replace the files lost in  a computer crash. I'm still not satisfied with the quality, but here's the post, for what it's worth:

Rachmaninoff on Edison

Early Jean Moeremans (1899-1901)

 Jean Moeremans was not the first saxophonist to record, but he was the first to make a substantial number of records. Between 1897 and 1899  he made 21 solo recordings for Berliner Gramophone, as well as 14 duets with other instrumentalists or vocalists. He then moved over to the fledgling Victor label in 1900, where he recorded some 25 sides - mostly solo, but including some duet and ensemble recordings. His final Victor discs, recorded in 1904, are not difficult to find, but the Berliners and 1900-1901 Victors are elusive. I'm presenting four of them here

Biographical information on Moeremans is sketchy. He was born in Belgium and emigrated to Canada, probably in the 1880s. Bandleader Patrick Gilmore heard him there and recruited him for his New York-based concert band. After a stint in Gilmore's band, Moeremans became the featured saxophone soloist with the United States Marine Band. He never recorded again after 1904, and his later life is clouded in mystery. He died in 1937 or 1938.

Moeremans' style is seems slightly odd, or at least archaic, by today's standards.  His nearly vibrato-less sound is somewhat bland (as far as we can tell through the haze of the primitive recording techniques), and his phrasing is not particularly distinguished.  But his technical abilities are apparent, and are even more impressive when one realizes that the saxophones of his time had more primitive keywork than modern horns, and that he's doing all that while negotiating double octave keys; the linked octave key mechanism had not been developed when these recordings were made.

Transferring these very early disc records presented several problems, not the least of which was determining the proper playing speed for each disc. The standard of 78 RPM was not widespread until a few years into the 20th century - and even then record speeds did not become reliable until the advent of electrical recording in 1925. Berliners were meant to be played at "about 70 RPM," but that varied a good bit from disc to disc. 1900-1902 Victors were usually recorded at 75 to 76 RPM.

In determining the correct speed for these discs, I used my ear, my knowledge of the saxophone, an electronic tuner, and common sense. I still acknowledge that I could be wrong about some of my conclusions. The "Fantasie on Old Folks at Home" sounds natural to me when played at about 67.5 RPM. At that speed, the piece is pitched in E flat. And in that key, the Moereman plays up to the highest "normal" note on saxophone. If the speed is pushed any higher, Moeremans would have had to utilize the altissimo register of the saxophone,

which he was not known to have used, and which would have been unusual at the time. The other Berliner, "Miserere" from Trovatore, was recorded on the same day, and sounds right at more or less the same speed.

The Victors sound natural at about 75.6 RPM. And again, that puts them into reasonable keys which fit the range of the instruments.

Caveats: The first Berliner, "Fantasie on Old Folks at Home," is pretty worn. For a few seconds at the beginning, there is more noise than music. It quickly improves, though. The other records are in better condition, although they all show their age. The recording is fairly primitive and unstable - you'll hear lots of wavering of pitch. I've used minimal noise reduction and filtering in order to avoid affecting the sound of the instruments. There is some "blasty" distortion in the saxophone sound in "Miserere." 

I have been unable to track down the composer of the "Fantasie for Flute and Saxophone" on Victor Monarch A-462. The last title doesn't feature Moeremans as soloist, but as part of a woodwind ensemble playing Louis Moreau Gottschalk's weepy salon piece "The Last Hope." These are all 7-inch, one-sided records - the standard at the time - with a playing time of about two minutes each.

Berliner 0605: Fantasie on Old Folks at Home by Jean Moeremans; recorded October 13, 1899

Berliner 0582: Miserere, 'Il Trovatore by Jean Moeremans and Frank Badollet (flute); recorded October 13, 1899

Victor Monarch A-462: Fantasie by Jean Moeremans and Frank Badollet (flute); recorded October 26, 1900

Victor A-604: Gottschalk's Last Hope by Moereman's Wood Wind Quartet (flute, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon); recorded January 1, 1901

The Original Tuxedo Orchestra in 1947

Part of the slow pace at which I post to this blog can be explained by my quest to pick interesting, worthwhile records to spotlight. These days, a large majority of the music that has been recorded in the past can be found online. So as I consider records from my collection to post here, I ask myself several questions: Is this music worth posting, musically or historically? Have these records been reissued in a readily available digital format? Is this music already on the web? Are my records in such good condition that my transfer might be better than what's already out there?

This post features some records that aren't rarer-than-rare. They have been reissued here and there, and they have been posted on the web before. But the reissues are nearly as obscure as the original 78 issues. And my records are indeed in nice shape, indeed, although one side ("Marie Laveau") was mastered at a noticeably lower level than the others, and so has a little more surface noise. (Could the "1A" take number indicate a dubbing, rather than a pressing from the original master?) The bottom line is that this is extremely enjoyable music.

The Original Tuxedo Orchestra (later often called The Original Tuxedo Jazz Band) is the longest continuously existing ensemble in the history of jazz. Oscar "Papa" Celestin formed the band for an engagement at the Tuxedo Dance Hall on North Franklin Street in New Orleans in 1910, and kept the Tuxedo name through the years. Celestin led the band until his death in 1954, and after 111 years of gigs, the band is still a fixture in New Orleans - and only on its fifth bandleader!

Here's an obscure session from one-third of the way into the band's career (so far). Celestin was beginning the last phase of his career, during which he became one of the most beloved figures in the New Orleans entertainment world - popular among tourists and locals alike. Under his leadership during this period, the Tuxedo played crowd-pleasing music, but retained an appealingly rough-and-ready quality that helped give the band a certain authenticity. Several of the band members, like Paul Barnes and Richard Alexis, are holdovers from earlier versions of the Tuxedo Orchestra, and appear on their recordings from the 1920s. The presence of jazz pioneer Alphonse Picou on clarinet is a very interesting bonus.  

These 1947 recordings were recorded at Cosimo Matassa's famed J & M Studio in New Orleans for De Luxe, a New Jersey label specializing in R & B. When De Luxe folded, these masters were issued on Regal, De Luxe's successor. I've presented them as issued on the Regal 78s; the master numbers reveal the original recording order, as well as the takes used. The label of "My Josephine" credits Celestin as composer, but it's widely known that saxophonist Paul Barnes wrote the tune, and this side represents Barnes' most prominent showing of the date. I only hear Sam Lee's tenor saxophone on "Marie Laveau" and "Maryland, My Maryland," so I'm not sure he actually plays on the other sides. The only processing I used is some very light noise reduction.

J & M Studio, North Rampart Street, New Orleans

October 26, 1947

Oscar "Papa" Celestin - trumpet; vocal on "My Josephine" and "Marie Laveau"
Bill Mathews - trombone
Alphonse Picou - clarinet
Paul Barnes - alto saxophone
Sam Lee - tenor saxophone
Mercedes Fields - piano
Harrison Verret - guitar
Richard Alexis - bass; vocal on "Hey La Bas"
Christopher "Black Happy" Goldston - drums

Regal 1200:

Hey La Bas (500-1)

My Josephine (502-4)

Regal 1201:

Marie Laveau (501-1A)

Maryland, My Maryland (503-2)

Three Songs by Will Marion Cook

 Will Marion Cook (1869-1944) was a prodigiously talented Black American violinist, conductor, and composer. Born William Mercer Cook in Washington, D.C., he showed musical ability at an early age. A year spent with his maternal grandparents in Chattanooga exposed him to a deeper strain of Southern Black folk music than that which he had heard in Washington; he would later call this his "soul period." He went on to study music at Oberlin, the Berlin Hochschule fur Musik, and with Antonin Dvorak at the National Conservatory of Music in New York.

It soon became apparent, though, that there was little place in the American classical music world for a Black violinist or composer, no matter how talented. Instead, Cook found a home in the musical theater. In 1898 he collaborated with poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar to create the first Broadway show with an all-Black cast, Clorindy, or the Origin of the Cakewalk. Cook went on to write dozens of musicals, including The Southerners, the first production to bring a racially integrated cast to Broadway. 

Cook's music was a product of its time, and some of the themes, lyrics, and titles of his songs are somewhat cringe-worthy when seen through 21st-century eyes. The lyrics (which he generally did not write) reflect the values Black entertainment was expected to exhibit at the time in order to appeal to a White audience. In any case, the historical importance of Cook's work, as well as its musical value, makes it worth preserving.

So here, then, are three contemporary recordings of Will Marion Cook's songs. The first is from 1905 - a song from The Southerners, which was first presented on Broadway the previous year. "It's Allus the Same in Dixie" is sung by Billy Murray and the Haydn Quartet. Murray was one of the most prolific of recording artists for the first twenty years or so of the record business, and the Haydn Quartet wasn't far behind in terms of recorded output. This recording is from a one-sided Victor "Grand Prize" disc, recorded on May 4, 1905. I'll say nothing about the lyrics except that they're by Richard Grant. This song may not be at the level of Cook's best work, but it's certainly interesting to hear this recording, made as it was when the song was still fairly new.

The next record, a two-sided Columbia from 1915, is more well-known, and presents The Right Quintette singing two of Cook's best and most famous creations. The Right Quintette was a popular (and, based on their recordings, very accomplished) Black musical group based in New York. They were a vocal quartet, but generously included their pianist in the count when they decided to name the ensemble. "Rain Song" and "Exhortation" are from Cook's 1908 musical Bandanna Land, and have lyrics by Alex Rogers. Along with "Swing Along," these have endured as Cook's most frequently-performed songs, and it's easy to see why. "Rain Song" and "Exhortation" are complex songs, interestingly constructed while still being catchy and engaging.

Cook's personality and later career are pretty interesting, but this is probably not the place to go into those subjects. I will digress to recommend a 2003 CD by The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, Black Manhattan, on the New World label. It includes Cook's "Overture to In Dahomey" and "Swing Along," as well as works by other pioneering Black composers like James Reese Europe, Ford Dabney, and Will Vodery.

Their are other transfers of these records on the web, but I think these, from records in my own collection, are pretty good. Enjoy these historical recordings of three songs by Will Marion Cook.

It's Allus the Same in Dixie - Victor 4434; Billy Murray & Haydn Quartet (May 4, 1905)

Rain Song - Columbia A1987; The Right Quintette (December 24, 1915)

Exhortation - Columbia A1987; The Right Quintette (December 24, 1915)

Repairs and Renovations

I have not added to this blog for some time. Even worse, all the links to the recordings were broken in a server update several months ago. Most links have now been repaired. There are still a few posts with broken links; unfortunately, these are cases in which the files have been lost. In most of those cases I will have to make new transfers from the records. I plan to do this over the next several months.

While working on repairs, I am planning some new posts. The next entry will feature three songs by composer Will Marion Cook, recorded in 1905 and 1915. Stay tuned!

This blog has been a Broke Down Engine, like in the 1935 Melotone catalog. But it will be up to speed soon.