Clarence Williams' Orchestra - Okeh 8617 (1928)

Ed Allen, ? Ed Anderson c / Ed Cuffee tb / Albert Socarras, ? Russell Procope cl, as / Arville Harris cl, ts / Clarence Williams p / Leroy Harris bj / Cyrus St. Clair bb / Floyd Casey d (I'm Busy...)

Recorded in New York on September 20, 1928.


Jimmie Gunn & His Orchestra - Bluebird 6500 (1936)

I am this close to completing the Jimmie Gunn run. This record is the missing piece. Although I have it in my possession, it's not mine...yet. Still trying to work out a deal.

Here are the others.



Original Crescent City Jazzers - Okeh 40101 (1924)

Added another one to the Big Easy collection (had to go across the pond for this one). 

This was the first recording by The Arcadian Serenaders...which would be called that after this session. It's also Sterling Bose's debut recording.

From wikipedia...

Sterling Belmont "Bozo" Bose (September 23, 1906, Florence, Alabama - June 1958, St. Petersburg, Florida) was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. His style was heavily influenced by Bix Beiderbecke and changed little over the course of his life.

Bose's early experience came with Dixieland jazz bands in his native Alabama before moving to St. Louis, Missouri in 1923. He played with the Crescent City Jazzers and the Arcadian Serenaders, and with Jean Goldkette's Orchestra in 1927-28 after the departure of Beiderbecke. Following this he worked in the house band at radio station WGN in Chicago before joining Ben Pollack from 1930 to 1933. He also worked with Eddie Sheasby in Chicago, and moved to New York City in 1933. He had many gigs in New York in the 1930s and 1940s, including time with Joe Haymes (1934-35) and Tommy Dorsey (1935), Ray Noble (1936), Benny Goodman (1936), Lana Webster, Glenn Miller (1937), Bob Crosby (1937-39), Bobby Hackett (1939), Bob Zurke, Jack Teagarden, Bud Freeman (1942), George Brunies, Bobby Sherwood (1943), Miff Mole, Art Hodes, Horace Heidt (1944), and Tiny Hill (1946). Following this he did some further freelancing in Chicago and New York, and then moved to Florida in 1948, setting up his own bands there.

Bose suffered from an extended period of illness in the 1950s and eventually committed suicide in 1958.

Sterling Bose c / Avery Loposer tb / Cliff Holman cl, as / Eddie Powers ts / Johnny Riddick p / 'Slim' (Hall) Flohr bj / Felix Guarino d.

Recorded in New Orleans on March 17, 1924.



Handy's Orchestra - Okeh 4886 (1923)

W.C. Handy dir / Thomas Gray t / John Mitchell bj / "Handy Jr." (unknown) x. The rest of the sidemen are unknown.

Recorded in New York between April and June, 1923.


St. Louis Bessie - Vocalion 1559 (1930)

From wikipedia...

Charley Jordan (January 1, 1890 - November 15, 1954) was a St. Louis blues singer, songwriter and guitarist, as well as a talent scout, originally from Mabelvale, Arkansas. He was known for a unique style that drew on his rural roots.

Jordan recorded numerous singles for Vocalion and Decca between 1930 and 1937, and also performed with some well-regarded bluesmen from the 1920s to the 1940s. Jordan recorded with Peetie Wheatstraw, Roosevelt Sykes, Casey Bill Weldon and Memphis Minnie. He had most of his biggest hits, including Keep It Clean, in the early to mid-1930s. Later in that decade and into the 1940s, he worked frequently with Big Joe Williams.

In 1928 Jordan was shot in the spine. This was due to his extramusical career as a bootlegger. This gave him a long term disability and caused him to walk with crutches thereafter.


He died of pneumonia in 1954 in St. Louis, Missouri.

St. Louis Bessie (Mae Smith) v / Charley Jordan g / Henry Brown p.

Recorded in Chicago on September 19, 1930.


The Hottentots (Floyd Mills & His Marylanders) - Supertone 9447 (1929)

Released on Gennett 6909 as Floyd Mills & His Marylanders; Champion 15759 and 16423 as Red Owens & His Gang; Superior 2829 as George Drew & His Orchestra and Supertone 9447 as The Hottentots.

Floyd Mills tb, dir / Hugh Parks, Bob Alexy t / Art Laney, Les Brown cl, as / Howard Shaffer cl, ts / Lloyd Mills p / Paul Bankert bj / Jack Jones bb / Charles Bowers d.

Recorded in Richmond, IN on June 26, 1929.







Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra - Decca 712 (1934 - 1935)

Jimmie Lunceford a, dir / Eddie Tompkins, Tommy Stevenson t / Sy Oliver t, a / Henry Wells, Russell Bowles tb / Willie Smith, Earl Carruthers cl, as, bar / Laforet Dent as / Joe Thomas cl, ts / Edwin Wilcox p / Al Norris g / Moses Allen sb / Jimmy Crawford d, vib.

Recorded in New York on October 29, 1934.


Jimmie Lunceford a, dir / Eddie Tompkins, Paul Webster t / Sy Oliver t, a / Elmer Crumbley, Russell Bowles tb / Eddie Durham tb, g / Willie Smith cl, as, bar / Laforet Dent as / Dan Grissom cl, as / Earl Carruthers cl, as, bar / Joe Thomas cl, ts / Edwin Wilcox p, cel / Al Norris g / Moses Allen sb / Jimmy Crawford d, vib.

Recorded in New York on December 23, 1935.


Dixieland Jug Blowers - Victor 20420 (1926)

From All Music...

A shadowy figure in jazz and blues history, Clifford Hayes was a violinist, but was more significant as a leader of recording sessions. He recorded with Sara Martin (1924), and often teamed up with banjoist Cal Smith in early jug bands including the Old Southern Jug Band, Clifford's Louisville Jug Band, the well-known Dixieland Jug Blowers (1926-1927), and Hayes' Louisville Stompers (1927-1929). One of the Dixieland Jug Blowers' sessions featured the great clarinetist Johnny Dodds, while pianist Earl Hines was a surprise star with the otherwise primitive Louisville Stompers (a jug-less group with a front line of Hayes' violin and Hense Grundy's trombone). Clifford Hayes' last recordings were in 1931.

Lockwood Lewis as, v / Johnny Dodds cl (House Rent Blues) / Clifford Hayes vn / Cal Smith, Freddy Smith, Curtis Hayes bj / Earl McDonald jug, v / Henry Clifford jug.

Recorded at the Webster Hotel in Chicago on December 10 (Lard) & 11, 1926.




Savoy Bearcats - Victor 20182 (1926)

Here are the Savoy Bearcats' first released sides. A previous recording session two weeks earlier, which included Leon Abbey on violin, resulted in two unissued tracks.

Would sure like to come across pianist, Joe Steele's Victor 78.

From wikipedia...

The Savoy Bearcats were an eleven-piece jazz band, led by Leon Abbey, which was the house band at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City from its opening in 1926 to 1928. The band's name was changed from the Charleston Bearcats while they were at the Savoy. After leaving the Savoy they became known as Leon Abbey's Band.

Tiny Bradshaw had passed through this outfit as drummer.

Duncan Mayers dir / Gilbert Paris, Demas Dean t / James Reevy tb / Carmelo Jari (Jejo) cl, as, bar / Otto Mikell cl, as / Ramon Hernandez cl, ts / Joe Steele p / Freddy White bj, g / Harry Edwards bb / Willie Lynch d.

Recorded in New York on August 23, 1926.



The Jungle Band - Brunswick 4345 (1929)

Duke Ellington p, a, dir / Bubber Miley, Arthur Whetsel, Freddy Jenkins t / Joe Nanton tb / Johnny Hodges cl, ss, as / Harry Carney cl, as, bar / Barney Bigard cl, ts / Fred Guy bj / Wellman Braud sb / Sonny Greer.

Recorded in New York on January 8 (Voom) & March 1 (Rent), 1929.