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.

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

Stokowsky's 1921 Tannhäuser Overture

Lengthy, complex classical compositions posed difficulties for record companies in the pre-1925 acoustic era. A 12-inch record side could only contain four-and-a-half or (at the most) five minutes of music, so longer compositions had to be split over multiple record sides. And the acoustic recording process was fairly kind to strong vocalists, but was woefully inadequate in terms of capturing the timbre of instrumental ensembles. Orchestral music fared particularly poorly in the acoustic era, with record companies generally limiting orchestras to short, familiar warhorses, often edited to fit on one record side.

But as I've mentioned before, Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, understood the recording process better than most musicians. His are some of the best-sounding orchestral recordings of the acoustic era. And while he mostly offered shorter works and single movements (designed to fit on one record side) for his acoustic records, he was bold enough to record some longer pieces with the Philadelphia Symphony before it was common to do so.

Stokowski had been making records for four years when he recorded Wagner's 13-minute "Tannhäuser Overture" in late 1921. It's spread over three single-sided Victor Red Seal discs - sold separately, since the concept of the record "album" only became common with the advent of electrical recording. Stokowski leads the Philadelphians in a magnificent reading of Wagner's piece; its impact overcomes the limitations of the archaic recording process.

I have combined the three sides into one file below. The original issues are:

Part One - Victor 74758: matrix C-22808, take 10; recorded November 7, 1921
Part Two - Victor 74759: matrix C-22814, take 7; recorded December 5, 1921
Part Three - Victor 74768: matrix C-24999, take 2; recorded November 7, 1921.

All parts were recorded in Victor's Camden, New Jersey studios.

Philadelphia SO/Stokowski: Tannhäuser Overture

Gene Fosdick's Hoosiers - Complete

Gene Fosdick's Hoosiers was one of several excellent jazz bands that seemed to spring up from the fertile ground of the Midwest in the early 1920s. The Hoosiers recorded nine sides (at four sessions) for Vocalion in late 1922 and early 1923. An alternate take of one of the sides also exists: the version of "Farewell Blues" issued in Europe on the Beltona and Homocord labels is different than the Vocalion take. The nine Vocalion recordings were reissued as one side of an LP on the excellent reissue label Retrieval in 1979, but the music of the Hoosiers remains little-known. And to my knowledge, the European "Farewell Blues" has never been issued with the Vocalions.

Describing Fosdick's Hoosiers as a Midwestern band may not be really accurate. Fosdick was from Liberty, Indiana, but his recordings were all made in New York City. The personnel is not known in its entirety, and the names listed in the Rust discography are obscure, for the most part. Besides the leader's clarinet and saxophone, Rust lists Joe Rose on cornet, duo pianists Gerald Finney and Will Lanin, Ray McDermott on banjo, and drummer John Sonin. And then there's Gene Fosdick's younger brother Dudley; more about him later.

In his notes to that Retrieval LP, Mark Berresford puts forth a personnel that includes members of the Original Memphis Five, including cornetist Phil Napoleon, for all but the first session. Before I was aware of that, the clarinetist on the last session sounded remarkably like the OM5's Jimmy Lytell to me.  In any case, the personnel does differ from session to session, as does the musical approach.

The first two sessions feature a well-integrated three-piece saxophone section, and the style leans toward hot dance music, although jazz breaks and solos are featured. The passages featuring the two pianists, seemingly playing the same instrument, are some of the most dated elements of the first session. By the third session, there are two "melody" reeds, doubling clarinet and various saxes. The bass instrument seems to be a bass saxophone until the last session, when a tuba takes over the bass duties. By that last session, the Hoosiers have become an unabashed jazz band, and all pop/dance elements have fallen by the wayside. The European take of "Farewell Blues," taken from a German Homocord record, is broadly similar to the Vocalion version, but differs in enough details to let us know that there was some real improvisation going on. The reverse of the Homocord is "Railroad Man" - the same take as on Vocalion.

I've barely mentioned Dudley Fosdick, whose name has to be in the running for the least jazz-musician-like moniker ever. At only 20 years of age, he was in some ways the star of the first two sessions. (He doesn't appear on the last two dates.) In spite of the fact that his chosen instrument was the mellophone, that awkward cousin of the French horn, he became far more well-known that his brother and had a long career in music. To jazz buffs, he is probably best known for his contributions to records by Red Nichols and Miff Mole. His solo on "One Night In June" is a wild, virtuoso statement, and pretty advanced for 1922.

Here are the complete recordings of Gene Fosdick's Hoosiers in chronological order, with recording dates and details about the source records. The usual caveats concerning 78 RPM records apply: the records are in various states of wear, and there is surface noise. I have been sparing with noise reduction. I wish all the records had been in as good condition as "Railroad Man."

Novermber, 1922; NYC

10312            One Night in June (Vocalion 14473)
10313            Lost (A Wonderful Girl) (Vocalion 14473 - a different copy from the above)

December, 1922; NYC

10525            You've Got to See Mamma Ev'ry Night (Vocalion 14496)

January, 1923; NYC

10635            Peggy Dear (Vocalion 15403)
10636            Way Down Yonder in New Orleans (Vocalion 14496)
10641            Apple Sauce (Vocalion 15403)

March, 1923; NYC

11025             Farewell Blues (Vocalion 14535)

11026             Farewell Blues (Homocord B359 - as Homocord Jazz Band)

11027 or 8     Railroad Man (Blues) (Vocalion 14585 - reverse is by Ben Bernie Orchestra)

11030             Aunt Hagar's Blues (Vocalion 14535)

An Early Attempt at HIP

In the classical music world, the acronym HIP stands for historically informed performance. HIP attempts to use the performance style and instrument designs of the period during which each performed work was composed.


An early manifestation of the HIP movement was the American Society of Ancient Instruments, founded in 1929 by Ben Stad. Stad, a Dutch-born, Philadelphia-based musician,  became interested in early string instruments while still in Holland, and amassed a collection of early Baroque-era viols. The personnel and instrumentation of the ensemble, which was nearly a "family band," was:

Ben Stad - viola d'amore
Joseph Brodo - quinton (five string viol)
Josef Smit - viola de gamba
Maurice Stad - bass de viole
Flora Stad - harpsichord.

The Society recorded a fair amount for Victor during the 1930s, and some of these recordings have made it into the digital realm. However, Victor album M 271, titled Bach-Handel Album, has not been available digitally, and it's an interesting one. The specially-designed album book holds three ten-inch records and one twelve-incher. The album's musical centerpiece is a Suite by Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach, one of the most accomplished of Johann Sebastian Bach's sons. The three-movement Suite, which is not identified by key or opus number, is spread  across two of the ten-inch records and one side of the larger disc.

The other side of the twelve-inch record has a Sinfonia from the elder Bach's Cantata #35, Geist und Seele. The final ten-inch disc contains a rather odd choice for a string ensemble: Handel's Firework Music. Handel's suite was written for a large ensemble of winds and percussion; at the request of King George II, there were "no fiddles" at the premiere.

Which brings us to the question of how "historically informed" these recordings are. Research into early music was in its infancy in 1935, and Stad seemed to feel that playing these compositions on instruments from the time (or slightly before the time) of their composition was good enough. Without knowing more about the C.P.E. Bach Suite, I can't judge the "accuracy" of this performance. But the Bach cantata excerpt is obviously an arrangement, since the original scoring included oboes. And the performance of the Firework Music by a small consort of viols is, well, simultaneously charming and ridiculous.

But this was a noble attempt for the time, and it makes for enjoyable listening, whether it's historically accurate or not. My copy of this album, found at an estate sale a few years ago, is in very nice condition. The records are pressed on "Z" shellac, the higher-quality material Victor used for some classical pressings in the mid-1930s. For what it's worth, all four records are pressed from "A" stampers - meaning that they are early pressings of these records. Victor often went through scores of stampers for popular records; I wonder if they ever wore out the "A" stampers of this album, which probably had a limited appeal.

I have joined the parts of the first two movements of the C.P.E. Bach Suite, since they were each spread over two sides. Apologies for the slight rumbles at the beginning of the third movement and of the cantata "Sinfonia" - these are caused by a slight warp in the twelve-inch record.

The Bach-Handel Album was recorded in Victor's Camden, New Jersey Studio No. 2 on May 6, 1935.

C.P.E. Bach: Suite, Movement 1 - Allegro Moderato (Victor 1714)
C.P.E. Bach: Suite, Movement 2 - Andante Lento Molto (Victor 1715)
C.P.E. Bach: Suite, Movement 3 - Allegretto (Victor 8720, side one)

J.S. Bach: Second Sinfonia from Cantata 35 (Victor 8720, side two)

Handel: Firework Music - Allegro (La Rejouissance) / Largo alla Sicilliana (La Paix) (Victor 1716, side one)
Handel: Firework Music - Bourree / Minuet / Minuet No. 2 (Victor 1716, side two)