Bumble Bee Slim - Vocalion 03328 (1936)

Born Amos Easton in Brunswick, Georgia, Bumble Bee Slim ran off to join the circus. He later went on to meet and be influenced Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell.

Does anyone know who his accompanists are on these sides?



Opie Cates & His Orchestra - 4 Star 1124 (1946)

This bandleader seemed to have had quite an array of jobs within his career as a bandleader...besides conducting his band since 1931, he became a musical director for a radio program (The Judy Canova Show), starred in his own comedy radio show (The Opie Cates Show), had a role in Lum & Abner...both on radio and a TV pilot. He became musical director for another radio show in 1950 which inspired the sitcom Green Acres.

But with all this on his resumé...he is probably best known (or not even known at all) for being the name inspiration for Sheriff Andy Taylor's son on The Andy Griffith Show.


Coleman Hawkins Quartet (Thelonious Monk) - Joe Davis 8251 (1944)

Mentioned a few weeks back how I had found a box (within my own collection) of post war jazz...a genre that is still not in my comfort zone...and was told to hang onto those "Dizzys & Monks." Yeah, Dizzy Gillespie was well represented in the stack but there were no Monks to be seen...until...

I opened another box today and the top record was Coleman Hawkins Quartet on Joe Davis 8251...I've gotta find 8250 now to complete the set of recordings made that day by the group.

Although Monk had recorded live cuts as early as 1941...the sides here are 2 of the 4 recordings he made during his very first studio recording session.

So...now I can finally say that I have a Thelonious Monk 78.

(He was also born in Rocky Mount, NC...the same place and about the same time as my country plowboy Grandpa. This also adds to the list of Tarheel jazz musicians I've been posting.)

Coleman Hawkins ts / Thelonious Monk p / Denzil Decosta Best d / Edward 'Basie' Robinson sb.

Recorded in New York on October 19, 1944.


The Tennessee Tooters - Vocalion 15068 (1925)

Just looked up the personnel in Rust's and lo and behold...every instrument is unidentified.



Pardon My French - Three Swing Label 78s

Found these at a local French antique store. Unfortunately, it has since closed down.

Anyway...Amusez-vous bien! (<---if that phrase is wrong...blame 'Free Translation')


Since the label below was erroneously a duplicate of the one above...I made my own...ya' like?





78s...To Play Or To Display...A Conundrum Solved

For far too long, I treated my 78s more as historical artifacts to look at and enjoy rather than something to play…and enjoy.

Besides collecting 78s, I also collected cd compilations of the same artists (Chronological, Neatwork, Jazz Oracle, Archives of Jazz, etc.) so I didn’t have the need to play the records when I had better sounding examples elsewhere. Just knowing I had an original was all that mattered…until…

Sonny Jones - Vocalion 05056 (1939)

Didn't find too much information on Sonny Jones but did come across this from his son's entry in Wikipedia:

Guitar Gabriel (Robert Lewis Jones) was born in Atlanta, Georgia, moving to Winston-Salem, North Carolina at age five. His father, Sonny Jones (also known as Jack Jones, James Johnson, and as Razorblade for an act in which he ate razor blades, mason jars, and light bulbs) recorded for Vocalion Records in 1939 in Memphis, accompanied by Sonny Terry and Oh Red (George Washington). Sonny Jones also recorded a single for the Orchid label in Baltimore in 1950 (as Sunny Jones). His family, who grew up sharecropping, shared a talent for music. His great-grandmother, an ex-slave, called set dances and played the banjo; his grandfather played banjo and his grandmother the pump organ; his father and uncle were blues guitarists and singers and his sisters sang blues and gospel.

Recorded in July of 1939 in Memphis. Is Sonny Terry and Oh Red present?


Jelly-Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers - Victor 38075 (1929)

Jelly Roll Moton p, dir / Boyd Red Rossiter, Walter Briscoe t / Charlie Irvis tb / George Bacquet cl / Paul Barnes ss / Joe Thomas as / Walter Thomas ts / Rod Rodriguez p / Barney ALexander bj / Harry Prather bb / William Laws d.

Recorded in Camden, NJ on July 9th & 12th, 1929


Sonny Greer & The Duke's Men - Capitol 10028 (1945)

The third and last 78 I own of a group led by Duke Ellington's drummer Sonny Greer.

These are two of four sides (Bug In A Rug & Kandylamb are the others) recorded by this band in Los Angeles on February 24, 1945 for a Capitol Criterion album set called The History Of Jazz.

Taft Jordan t / Barney Bigard cl / Otto Hardwick as / Duke Brooks p / Fred Guy g / Red Callender sb / Sonny Greer d.



Moran & Mack (& Luckey Roberts?) - Columbia 1094 (1927)

I do believe it all comes down to certain takes as to who the pianist is.




McKinney's Cotton Pickers - Victor 23024 (1930)

Here are 2 sides cut the week that Rex Stewart joined the group.

Don Redman cl, as, bar, a, dir / Joe Smith, Rex Stewart c / Langston Curl t / Ed Cuffee tb / Benny Carter cl, as / Edward Inge cl, as, a / Prince Robinson cl, ts / Todd Rhodes p / Dave Wilborn bj / Billy Taylor bb / Cuba Austin d / George Bias v.

Recorded in New York on November 5, 1930.