Heypally's 78 RPMs

New Orleans Owls - Columbia 1045 (1926)

Inching closer to completing the Owls.

Benjie White cl, as, dir / Bill Padron c / Frank Netto tb / Pinky Vidacovich cl, as / Lester Smith ts / Mose Farrar p / Rene Gelpi bj, g / Dan LeBlanc bb / Earl Crumb d.

Recorded in New Orleans on April 14, 1926.

Ethel Waters, Duke Ellington & Orchestra, Mills Bros., Cab Calloway, Don Redman & Orchestra - Brunswick 01518 (UK) (6517 US) (1932)

Unfortunately, I only found this (UK pressing) record from the six song Blackbirds set.

So many great names jammed into 6 minutes.

Ethel Waters v / Duke Ellington p, a, dir / Arthur Whetsol, Freddy Jenkins, Cootie Williams t / Tricky Sam Nanton, Lawrence Brown tb / Juan Tizol vtb / Johnny Hodges cl, ss, as / Harry Carney cl, as, bar / Otto Hardwick as, bsx / Fred Guy bj, g / Wellman Braud sb, Sonny Greer d.

Recorded in New York on December 22, 1932.

Cab Calloway, The Mills Brothers v / Don Redman as, dir / Shirley Clay, Sidney De Paris t / Claude Jones, Fred Robinson, Benny Morton tb / Edward Inge, Rupert Cole cl, as / Robert Carroll ts / Horace Henderson p / Talcott Reeves bj, g / Bob Ysaguirre bb, sb / Manzie Johnson d, vib.

Recorded in New York on December 29, 1932.

Louis Armstrong With Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra - Decca 949 (1936)

Happy Halloween all you shellacaholics!

Louis Armstrong t, v / George Thow, Toots Camarata t / Bobby Byrne, Joe Yukl, Don Mattison tb / Jimmy Dorsey cl, as, ldr / Jack Stacey cl, as / Fud Livingston, Skeets Herfurt cl, ts / Bobby Van Eps p / Roscoe Hillman g / Jim Taft sb / Ray McKinley d.

Recorded in Los Angeles on August 7, 1936.

Bram Martin & His Band (Vocal By Al Bowlly) - Rex 9590 (1939)

Recently came into a large batch of R&B 78s and sorely outta place was this one. I didn't pay much attention to it until later that evening, when flipping it over, I saw Al Bowlly's name in parentheses.

While more of a fan of instrumentals from the shellac era, an appreciation for Bowlly's vocals has recently set in.

Checking the online Bowlly discography, this does appear to be his only side with bandleader Bram Martin.

Recorded in London on June 8, 1939.

King Carter & His Royal Orchestra - Columbia 2439 / 2504 / 2638 (1931)

I do believe that this is the first full run of a group...or a pseudonym of a group...I've acquired other than one-off's. (I almost had The Savannah Six run...aka The Original Memphis Five...but after I had won the auction for the missing disc, the seller informed me that it was broken while being packed)

Here we have all six sides recorded by the Mills Blue Rhythm Band under the name King Carter & His Royal Orchestra.

Wardell Jones, Shelton Hemphill, Ed Anderson t / Harry White, Henry Hicks tb / Charlie Himes cl, as / Ted McCord, Castor McCord cl, ts / Edgar Hayes p / Benny James bj / Hayes Alvis sb, bb / Willie Lynch d / Dick Robertson (as Dick Rogers) v.

Recorded in New York on March 23, 1931.

Recorded in New York on June 25, 1931.

(Posted in order of recording during the session)

Bonus Disc: Here we have the first two sides by the Mills Blue Rhythm Band.

Wardell Jones, Shelton Hemphill, Ed Anderson t / Harry White, Henry Hicks tb / Crawford Wethington cl, as, bar / Ted McCord cl, ts / Edgar Hayes p, a / Benny James bj / Hayes Alvis sb / Willie Lynch d / Charlie Lawman v.

Recorded in New York on January 21, 1931.

Tommy Brown & Orchestra - Regent 1030 (1951)

Looks like Tommy Brown is still going strong at 82 years old around the Atlanta area.

From wikipedia...

Tommy Brown (born May 27, 1931, Atlanta, Georgia, United States) is an American R&B singer, who achieved most success in the early 1950s, particularly on records with The Griffin Brothers.

Brown formed a small band with himself as the drummer in the 1940s, and worked in clubs around Atlanta. In 1949 he recorded "Atlanta Boogie" on the Regent label, a subsidiary of Savoy Records. The track contained early references to rock and roll :

Well, the whole town's rockin' just about the break of day

Well, when the bar starts jumpin' you can hear the cats all say

Well, let's rock'n'roll, well, let's rock'n'roll

Yes, let's rock'n'roll till the break of day...

In 1951 he moved on to Dot where he was teamed with the Griffin Brothers, an R&B orchestra led by brothers Jimmy Griffin (trombone) and Ernest "Buddy" Griffin (piano) from Norfolk, Virginia. They had toured widely with Amos Milburn, Paul Williams and others, and recorded as the backing band for Margie Day on two R&B Top 10 hits, "Street Walkin' Daddy" and "Little Red Rooster."

In June of that same year Brown was featured singer on the R&B Top 10 hit "Tra-La-La", credited to the Griffin Brothers Orchestra, and later in the year the combination reached # 1 on the R&B chart with "Weepin' and Cryin'" credited to The Griffin Brothers Orchestra featuring Tommy Brown.

The Griffin Brothers disbanded in 1954. Buddy Griffin later recorded with Gloria Swann, as the duo Buddy and Gloria who had an R&B hit with "I Wanna Hug Ya, Kiss Ya, Squeeze Ya", while Jimmy Griffin joined Atlantic Records. They both did not achieve the same hits as previous, and were dropped from their respective record labels.

In the early 1950s, Brown was called up for military service, and when he returned he moved to United Records in Chicago. He played for a while in Bill Doggett's band, and claimed to help write Doggett's hit "Honky Tonk". He also recorded with Walter Horton during this period. Over the next decade he recorded R&B for a number of smaller labels, before starting to perform and record as a comedian in the 1960s and 1970s.

After a later career as a social care worker, he returned to performance in 2001, subsequently appearing in clubs and at blues festivals around the world.

Recorded in Atlanta on January 24, 1951.

"Doc" Cook & His 14 Doctors Of Syncopation - Columbia 1298 (1927)

From wikipedia...

Charles L. Cooke (September 3, 1891 – December 25, 1958) was an American jazz bandleader and arranger, who performed and recorded under the stage name Doc Cook. Unlike many early jazz musicians who used monikers denoting advanced degrees, Cook was a Doctor of Music awarded by the Chicago Musical College in 1926.

Born in Louisville he first worked as a composer and arranger in Detroit before moving to Chicago around 1910. Cook became resident leader of the orchestra at Paddy Harmon's Dreamland Ballroom in Chicago from 1922–27, acting as conductor and musical director. The ensemble recorded under several names, such as Cookie's Gingersnaps, Doc Cook and his 14 Doctors of Syncopation, and Doc Cook's Dreamland Orchestra. Among those who played in Cook's band were Freddie Keppard, Jimmie Noone, Johnny St. Cyr, Zutty Singleton, Andrew Hilaire, and Luis Russell. After 1927 Cook's orchestra played in Chicago at the Municipal Pier and the White City Ballroom.

In 1930, Cook moved to New York City and worked as an arranger for Radio City Music Hall and RKO, working there into the 1940s. On Broadway he had a number of important orchestration credits, including The Hot Mikado (1939) and the first U.S. production of The Boy Friend in collaboration with Ted Royal in 1954. A proponent of ragtime, he also worked frequently with Eubie Blake, supplying the arrangements for the 1952 revival of Shuffle Along.

Cook recorded 6 sides for Gennett in early 1924, then as Cookie's Gingersnaps, recorded 4 sides for OKeh in June of 1926. He then signed to Columbia where he recorded 14 sides between July of 1926 through March of 1928.

George Mitchell, Elwood Graham c / Bill Dawson, Fayette Williams tb / Jimmie Noone cl / Joe Poston as / Billy Butler as, vn / Clarence Owens ts / Jerome Carrington p / Johnny St. Cyr bj / Bill Newton bb / Andrew Hillaire d.

Recorded in Chicago on June 11 (AC) & 15 (B), 1927.