The Kentucky Colonels - Vocalion 14697 (1923)

No personnel listing at all for these first two or any of the other five sides recorded by this outfit.

Recorded in New York in October, 1923.



Louise Bennett Acc. by the Caribbean Serenaders - Melodisc 1139 (1950)

Found this excerpt regarding this record.

“This is one of the earliest recordings of Jamaican tunes recorded by a Jamaican performer, and also one of the very few calypso recordings by a woman. Louise Bennett recorded these two tunes in late 1950 (just prior to the beginning of Stanley Motta's MRS label), backed by the Caribbean Serenaders. The tunes are "Linstead Market" (described on the label as Jamaican Rhumba) and "Bongo Man" (Jamaican Christmas Song). There are some excellent jazzy instrumental solos on trumpet, clarinet and alto sax in addition to Louise's vocals.”


Beny Moré con Pérez Prado / y Orquesta Rafael de Paz - RCA Victor 23-1444 (1950)

From wikipedia...

Benny Moré (Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré Gutiérrez, 24 August 1919 – 19 February 1963), or Beny, was a Cuban singer. He is often thought of as the greatest Cuban popular singer of all time. He was gifted with an innate musicality and fluid tenor voice which he colored and phrased with great expressivity. Moré was a master of most genres of Cuban music, such as the son montuno, mambo, guaracha, and bolero. In particular, it is unusual for a singer to be equally proficient at both the fast rhythms (e.g. guaracha) and the slower rhythms, such as the bolero. Moré also formed and led the leading Cuban big band of the 1950s, until his death in 1963.

Read more here...



Fletcher Henderson And His Club Alabam Orchestra - Vocalion 14800 (1924)

Stopped at a small antique store in Micanopy, FL and asked the lady if she happened to have any 78s. She told me to follow her and then proceeded to walk right out the front door and onto the porch. She pulled back a blue tarp which was covering a plastic storage tub full of 78s. She explained that the tarp was placed over them because there had been a freeze a few days before. Geez.

I then flipped the first record and apparently disturbed about 30 sleeping tree frogs causing them to jump all over the place. Catching my breath and brushing frogs off my arm (yuck), I went for the first of two brown wax discs (easy to spot) and slid this one out. It was the driving force that kept me flipping through frogs.

Fletcher Henderson p, a, dir / Elmer Chambers, Howard Scott c / Teddy Nixon tb / Lonnie Brown as / Don Redman cl, as / Charlie Dixon bj / Ralph Escudero bb / Kaiser Marshall d.

Recorded in New York on April 15, 1924.


Luis Kalaff / Pablo Molina Y Sus Alegres Dominicanos - Aminka 511

Found this while milling about Old San Juan. Other than seeing that it was recorded in the Dominican Republic, I haven't found a recording date or much information on either singer...although there is a wikipedia page for Luis Kalaff in Spanish.