Unreissued American Music II: Charles Thompson

Way back in 2014 I promised some more 78s from the American Music label that had not been reissued. It took me awhile, but here is some prime piano ragtime and blues from Charles Thompson.

Charles Thompson (1891-1964), not to be confused with jazz pianist Sir Charles Thompson, was a formidable ragtime pianist and composer. Born in ragtime's "capital," St. Louis, Thompson is probably best known for his composition "The Lily Rag," and for winning the massive 1916 ragtime competition at the Booker T. Washington Theater in his hometown, where he emerged triumphant over Tom Turpin and 66 other pianists.

Bill Russell, the jazz historian who owned the American Music label, moved back to his hometown of Canton, Missouri in 1947. Canton was only 150 miles north of St. Louis, and in December of that year, Russell met Charles Thompson and decided to record him. His attempts to get Thompson on wax were seemingly jinxed. They got four good takes at Technisonic Recording Laboratories in St. Louis on December 30, 1947, but when the engineer dubbed the chosen takes onto a single disc for processing, they were overcut and distorted. Russell did not get the master discs back for many years.

Russell tried again on August 4, 1948, again at Technisonic, but was apparently disappointed with the quality of the performances. He wrote "no good" in his log beside most of the takes. Two tracks from this session were later issued on CD, however.


Finally, on August 2, 1949, Russell and Thompson successfully re-recorded the same four sides that Russell had planned to issue from the 1947 session. This time drummer Bill McCall was added, providing some fairly unobtrusive accompaniments. Russell issued two records on American Music, each featuring a rag backed with a blues.

By the time the revived American Music label issued a CD which paired Thompson with New Orleans/California pianist Dink Johnson, the long-lost 1947 master discs had been returned to Russell. So those were used for the CD issue. That means the 1949 78s have never been reissued. I seldom use the term "mint" to describe the condition of 78s, but these pretty much fit that description.

AM 527: The Lily Rag
                Derby Stomp

AM 528: Delmar Rag
                Lingering Blues

Unreissued American Music, part 1

Composer, violinist, percussionist, writer, and jazz historian Bill Russell started the American Music label in 1944 to issue the recordings he made of the traditional jazz musicians of New Orleans.  Between that year and 1953, Russell issued 40 78s (including seven 12-inchers) and 13 10" LPs of the music he recorded.  After that, the label was more or less dormant for years, although Russell would occasionally license some of the material for issue in Japan or Europe.

Eventually, the American Music catalog was bought by the Jazzology group, and Russell lived to oversee the first few AM CD reissues.  By now the CD series has expanded to the extent that almost all of Russell's American Music recordings are available on CD, including many alternate takes and previously unissued items.  But for a variety of reasons, there are a few of the original 78s that were never reissued on LP or CD.  I'll present them all here, starting with one side of AM 535, "Eh, La-Bas!" by the Original Creole Stompers.

The Stompers consisted of Herb Morand on trumpet, Louis Nelson on trombone, the searing clarinet of Albert Burbank, veteran guitarist Johnny St. Cyr, Austin Young on bass, and Albert Jiles on drums.  They were recorded by Russell at Burbank's home on Lapeyrouse Street in New Orleans on the evening of July 13, 1949.  Russell issued two 78s from the session; eventually almost the entire session was issued on CD, including four tunes from a rehearsal session the night before.  Barry Martyn, who produced the CD, opted to use the rehearsal take of "Eh, La-Bas!" instead of the originally issued take.  That rehearsal take has its own charm - it's slower, more relaxed, and two minutes longer than the 78 take.  But Burbank's clarinet is seemingly on fire on the originally-issued take, and it's a shame to let this fine music languish unheard.  So here's one side of American Music 535, featuring the clarinet and Creole vocal of Albert Burbank.

Eh, La Bas!