Blanche Calloway & Her Joy Boys / McKinney's Cotton Pickers - Victor 22640 (1931)

Blanche Calloway, sister of Cab, recorded 3 sides with Andy Kirk's band in 1931 and seemingly had eyes on becoming their new bandleader. She was unsuccessful in her attempt to take over Kirk's group but she did manage to steal a few sidemen when she started up her new Joy Boys orchestra.

Harry Lawson, Edgar Battle, Clarence Smith t / Floyd Brady tb / John Harrington cl, as / John Williams as / Lawrence Freeman ts / Mary Lou Williams p / Bill Dirvin bj / Andy Kirk bb / Ben Thigpen d / Blanche Calloway v.

Recorded in Camden, NJ on March 2, 1931.

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

Recorded in New York on November 3, 1930.

Blanche Calloway & Her Joy Boys / Mckinney's Cotton Pickers - Victor 22736 (1931 & 1929)

Joe Keyes t / Edgar Battle t, a / Clarence Smith t / Alton Moore, Herb Alvis tb / Booker Pittman cl, as / Leroy Hardy as / Ben Webster ts / Clyde Hart p / Andy Jackson bj, g / Joe Durham bb / Cozy Cole d / Blanche Calloway v.

Recorded in Camden on June 11, 1931.

1931 Newspaper Clipping

Don Redman cl, as, bar, a, dir / Joe Smith, Sidney de Paris, Leonard Davis t / Claude Jones tb / Benny Carter cl, as / Coleman Hawkins, Theodore McCord cl, ts / Fats Waller, p, cel / Dave Wilborn bj / Billy Taylor bb / Kaiser Marshall d.

Recorded in Chicago on November 7, 1929.

1929 Newspaper Clipping

Blanche Calloway & Her Joy Boys - Victor 22661 (1931)

A while back, I posted Blanche Calloway's Victor 22733 showing where it was among Ben Webster's first recordings.

Well, here's his first.

Blanche Calloway v, dir / Joe Keyes, Edgar Battle, Clarence Smith t / Alton Moore tb / Booker Pitman cl, as / Leroy Hardy as / Ben Webster ts / Clyde Hart p / Andy Jackson bj, g / Joe Durham bb / Cozy Cole d / Billy Massey v.

Recorded in Camden, NJ on March 27, 1931.

Blanche Calloway & Her Joy Boys - Victor 22733 (1931)

Although Blanche was unsuccessful in her attempt to become leader of Andy Kirk's band, she was able to bag Edgar Battle and Clarence Smith from that group.

One item of note is that these sides are some of Ben Webster's earliest recordings having made his recording debut less than three months earlier with this same group.

Blanche Calloway v, dir / Joe Keyes, Edgar Battle, Clarence Smith t / Alton Moore, Herb Alvis tb / Booker Pitman cl, as / Leroy Hardy as / Ben Webster ts / Clyde Hart p / Andy Jackson bj, g / Joe Durham bb / Cozy Cole d.

Recorded in Camden, NJ on June 11, 1931.

Blanche Calloway & Her Joy Boys - Victor 22641 (1931)

Blanche Calloway, sister of Cab, recorded 3 sides with Andy Kirk's band in 1931 with eyes on becoming the new bandleader. She was unsuccessful in her attempt to take over Kirk's group but she did manage to steal a few sidemen when she started up her new Joy Boys orchestra.

Harry Lawson, Edgar Battle, Clarence Smith t / Floyd Brady tb / John Harrington cl, as / John Williams as / Lawrence Freeman ts / Mary Lou Williams p / Bill Dirvin bj / Andy Kirk bb / Ben Thigpen d / Blanche Calloway v.

Recorded in Camden, NJ on March 2, 1931.

A Nice Garage Sale Find

These were all found a few weeks ago...someone must really have been a Calloway fan!

Hi De Ho!