Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders - Victor 38068 / 38070 / 38122 (1929)

Here we have all of Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders output on Victor's 38000 series in order of recording date.

These are also Lionel Hampton's debut records.

Paul Howard ts, dir / George Orendorff t / Lawrence Brown tb, a / Charles Lawrence cl, as, a / Harvey Brooks p / Thomas Valentine bj, g / James Jackson bb / Lionel Hampton d, v / Alex Hill a.

Recorded in Culver City, CA on April 28 & 29, 1929.








Fess Williams & His Royal Flush Orchestra - Victor 23003 (1930)

Although Williams continued to front a band up into the 1940s, this record from 1930 would be his last.


Fess Williams cl, as, v, dir / Emanuel Clark, John Brown t / David 'Jelly' James tb / Bobby Holmes cl, as / Ralph Brown or Felix Gregory as / Perry Smith cl, ts / Walter 'Fats' Pinchon p / Andy Pendleton or Ollie Blackwell bj / Emanuel Casamore bb / Ralph Bedell d.

Recorded in Camden, NJ on July 31, 1930.


Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra - Okeh 40822 (1927)

Frank Trumbauer Cm, dir / Bix Beiderbecke c / Bill Rank tb / Don Murray cl, bar / Doc Ryker as / Irving 'Itzy' Riskin p / Eddie Lang g / Chauncey Morehouse d / Bill Challis a.

Recorded in New York on May 9, 1927.


The Crane River Jazz Band - Delta 5 (1950)

From wikipedia...

John R.T. Davies (born John Ross Twiston Davies; 20 March 1927 – 25 May 2004) was a remastering engineer of classic jazz records. He was also a trombonist, trumpeter and alto saxophonist. In the early 1950s he was a member of the Crane River Jazz Band led by Ken Colyer which spearheaded interest in the original New Orleans jazz style. Later he even achieved chart success with the 1960s jazz revival band The Temperance Seven. One of his eccentricities, captured in old photographs, was to wear a fez.

Davies was born in Wivelsfield, Sussex. For many he was considered "the world's leading specialist in the art of sound restoration," specifically in regard to jazz and blues existing on pre-magnetic tape media such as shellac 78s. He was particularly interested in recordings from 1917 to 1940.

Davies developed numerous methods for restoring old recordings and disliked modern techniques for removing surface noise. While he appreciated attempts to 'clean up' recordings and to create new versions of old recordings for modern audiences (e.g. the stereophonic remastered recordings by Robert Parker), in general he said he preferred remasterings which "keep everything and do as little as possible" to the original recording, and thought the remastering engineer should "Add nothing, take nothing away." The presence of his name on the credit of a reissue is generally considered the mark of a quality product.

He started his own record label called "Ristic" (after his childhood nickname) in the late 1940s which produced reissued recordings from 1949 to 1972.

Davies was always generous with his time and his collection and wanted it to be available for other people to use for research and reissues after his death. The Borthwick Archive at York University have accepted the entire collection  and are housing it in ideal conditions, and making a transfer suite available so that his wish can be carried out.

Ken Colyer, Sonny Morris c / Monty Sunshine cl / John Davies tb / Ben Marshall bj / Pat Hawes p / Julian Davies sb.

Recorded on August 1, 1950.


Sidney Bechet Quartet - Esquire 10-077 (1949)

The first post from a stash of one hundred & fifty, mostly mint UK issued 78s from the estate of a jazz collector originally from Scotland.

Sidney Bechet ss / Charlie Lewis p / Pierre Michelot sb / Kenny Clarke d.

Recorded in Paris on October 14, 1949.