Sexteto Habanero - Victor 81569 / 81624 / 81751 (1928)

This post contains my whole collection of a whopping three Sexteto Habanero 78s...would really like to add that total.

Each was recorded at Liederkranz Hall in New York between May 29 & 31, 1928.

Victor's records show 7,152 records were sold.



This one was found along Florida's 'Space Coast,' it has the original store sticker showing that it was initially purchased in Havana, Cuba.

6,798 units were sold.



Recorded in New York on May 31, 1928.

4,820 were sold.


Thomas Waller / With Thomas Morris & His Hot Babies - Victor 21127 (1927)

Thomas Morris c / Jimmy Archey tb / Fats Waller p, or, v / Bobbie Leecan g / ? Eddie King d.

Recorded at Church Studio, Camden, NJ on December 1, 1927.


McKinney's Cotton Pickers - Victor 38013 (1930)

Don Redman cl, as, bar, a, dir / John Nesbitt t / Langston Curl t / Claude Jones tb / Jimmy Dudley or Joe Moxley cl, as / George Thomas cl, ts, v / Prince Robinson cl, ts / Todd Rhodes p, cel / Dave Wilborn g, bj, v / Ralph Escudero bb / Cuba Austin d.

Recorded in Chicago on November 23, 1928.


Fernando Álvarez Con La Orquesta De Bebo Valdés - Gema 2009

From wikipedia...

Dionisio Ramón Emilio Valdés Amaro (9 October 1918 – 22 March 2013), better known as Bebo Valdés, was a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger. He was a central figure in the golden age of Cuban music, led two famous big bands, and was one of the "house" arrangers for the Tropicana Club.

Valdés was born in Quivicán, and started his career as a pianist in the night clubs of Havana during the 1940s. From 1948 to 1957 he worked as pianist and arranger for the vedette Rita Montaner, who was the lead act in the Tropicana cabaret. His orchestra, Sabor de Cuba, and that of Armando Valdés, alternated at the Tropicana, backing singers such as Benny More and Pío Leyva. Valdés played a role in the development of the mambo during the 1950s, and developed a new rhythm to compete with Perez Prado's mambo, called the batanga.

Valdés was also an important figure in Cuban jazz and taking part in the Panart Cuban jazz sessions (one was commissioned by American producer Norman Granz). In the late 1950s he recorded with Nat 'King' Cole. In 1960, with his singer Rolando La Serie, Bebo defected from Cuba to Mexico. He then lived briefly in the United States before touring Europe, and eventually settled in Stockholm, where he lived until 2007. In Sweden he was instrumental in spreading the techniques of Cuban music and latin jazz.

Valdés was in the middle of the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, which he had suffered for several years, when he died in Stockholm, Sweden on March 22, 2013, aged 94.



McKinney's Cotton Pickers - Victor 38112 (1930)

Don Redman cl, as, bar, a, dir / Joe Smith c / John Nesbitt t / Langston Curl t / Ed Cuffee tb / Benny Carter cl, as / George Thomas cl, as, ts, v / Prince Robinson cl, ts / Todd Rhodes p, cel / Dave Wilborn g, bj / Billy Taylor bb / Cuba Austin d / Frank Marvin v.

Recorded in New York on January 31 & February 3, 1930.


McKinney's Cotton Pickers - Victor 38142 (1930)

Don Redman cl, as, bar, a, dir / Joe Smith c / John Nesbitt t / Langston Curl t / Ed Cuffee tb / Benny Carter cl, as / George Thomas cl, as, ts, v / Prince Robinson cl, ts / Todd Rhodes p, cel / Dave Wilborn g, bj / Billy Taylor bb / Cuba Austin d / Frank Marvin v.

Recorded in New York on January 31, 1930.


Gene Gifford & His Orchestra - Victor 25041 (1935)

Here we have 2 of 4 sides cut by Gene Gifford as a leader. Gifford was chief arranger for The Casa Loma Orchestra throughout the '30s.

From wikipedia...

H. Eugene "Gene" Gifford (May 31, 1908 – November 12, 1970) was an American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and arranger.

Gifford was raised in Memphis, Tennessee, and played banjo in high school; following this he played in territory bands, including Watson's Bell Hops and the bands of Bob Foster and Lloyd Williams. He formed his own group to tour Texas, and then switched to guitar to play with Blue Steele and Henry Cato's Vanities Orchestra in 1928.

In 1929 he arranged for Jean Goldkette, and that same year he joined the Casa Loma Orchestra, where he became the group's chief arranger. He played guitar and banjo in the ensemble but quit in 1933 to concentrate on arrangements for the group. He remained with Casa Loma until 1939 when he was bought out of his contract due to alcohol-related infractions of the band's strict rules, but returned to play with them in 1948-49. He worked as a freelance arranger in the 1940s and did much work arranging for radio. In the 1950s and 1960s he went into semiretirement from music, working in radio engineering.

Gifford led only one session as a bandleader, which yielded four tunes for Victor Records in 1935.

Bunny Berigan t / Morey Samuel tb / Matty Matlock cl / Bud Freeman ts / Claude Thornhill p / Dick McDonough g / Pete Peterson sb / Ray Bauduc d / Wingy Mannone v / Gene Gifford a.

Recorded in New York on May 13, 1935.



Erskine Tate's Vendome Orchestra - Okeh 4907 (1923)

Before there was Louis there was King Oliver...but before Oliver (and just after Bolden)...there was, in the New Orleans' lineage of jazz royalty, Freddie.

Here we have Freddie Keppard making his debut recording with Erskine Tate's Vendome Orchestra in 1923.

Erskine Tate bj, dir / Freddie Keppard, James Tate c / Fayette Williams tb / Angelo Fernandez cl / Buster Bailey cl, as / Norval Morton ts / Adrian Robinson p / Jimmy Bertrand d.

Recorded in Chicago on June 23, 1923.

(Transferred at 82 rpm after reading a comment by Mark Berresford)