Original Indiana Five - Harmony 217 (1926)

Still on the lookout for a clean copy of the Original Indiana Five on Harmony 58.

From The Red Hot Jazz Archive…

The Original Indiana Five were not from Indiana. Their name was an apparent attempt to sound like other bands of the day that had names like the Original Memphis Five and the Original New Orleans Jazz Band. The band played mainly in New York City and were broadcast on the radio. They were active from sometime in the late Teens or early 1920s to 1929. They also recorded under the name of John Sylvester and his Orchestra. The group got back together in 1948 and played in New York until sometime in the early 1950s.

Tom Morton d, dir / Tony Tortomas t / Pete Pellizi tb / Nick Vitalo cl, as / Harry Ford p / Tony Colucci bj / Tony Pace v.

Recorded in New York on May 18, 1926.

Original Memphis Five - Edison 51204 (1923)

Looks like this may represent half of the output by the Original Memphis Five on Edison.

Phil Napoleon t / Charlie Panelli tb / Jimmy Lytell cl / Frank Signorelli p / Jack Roth d.

Recorded in New York on July 16, 1923.

Original Memphis Five / New Synco Band - Pathé 036134 (1924)

Original Memphis Five: (I think) Phil Napoleon t / Charlie Panelli tb / Jimmy Lytell cl / John Cali bj / Frank Signorelli p / Jack Roth d.

Recorded in New York on July 21, 1924.

New Synco Band: Unknown t / tb / cl / ss / as / p / bj / d.

Recorded in New York on August 5, 1924.

The Savannah Six (OM5) / Original Indiana Five - Harmony 58 (1925)

Not exceedingly rare or collectible but has proven tough for me to find...the only other one I've been able to stumble upon was cracked. Been after this one for three years since finding the other record by The Savannah Six. This completes the Original Memphis Five's run under this name on the Harmony label.

Phil Napoleon t / Miff Mole tb / Jimmy Lytell cl / Frank Signorelli p / ? John Cali bj / Jack Roth d.

Recorded in New York on October 26, 1925.

The Original Indian Five: Tom Morton d, dir / James Christie t / Pete Pellizzi tb / Nick Vitalo cl, as / Harry Ford p / Tony Colucci bj.

The Original Memphis Five - Vocalion 14506 (1923) & Columbia 155-D (1924)

Here's four more from The Five. (The others are here & here.)

Not sure as to the actual personnel for each recording with all the changes, omissions & replacements.

Recorded in New York on June 4,1924.

Recorded in New York in late January 1923.

Ladd's Black Aces - Gennett 4938 (1922)

The Original Memphis Five, aka Ladd's Black Aces.

Phil Napoleon t / Miff Mole tb / Jimmy Lytell cl / Frank Signorelli p / Jack Roth d.

Recorded in New York on August 24, 1922.

Broadway Seven / Broadway Music Masters - Grey Gull 1192 (1923)

Here we have the Original Memphis Five as the Broadway Seven and an undetermined (by me) Grey Gull studio band on the flip.

Broadway Seven: Phil Napoleon t / Miff Mole tb / Jimmy Lytell cl / as / John Cali bj / Frank Signorelli p / Jack Roth d.

Recorded in New York on December 1, 1923.

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.

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 on Low Down / Willie Lynch d / George Morton v.

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.

Original Memphis Five - Pathé 036134 (1924)

I'm Going Back To Those Who Won't Go Back On Me

Ted Claire Snappy Bits Band (Chas. A. Matson, Director) / Mandy Lee & Ladd's Black Aces - Gennett 5060 (1923)

Chas. A Matson (name misspelled on the label) was an in demand piano accompanist during the twenties. Here is he with an unknown band. (Also, here he is on one of his two Edison recordings.)

Recorded in New York on January 31, 1923.

Here we have an unidentified Mandy Lee (Vaughn De Leath?) along with the Original Memphis Five, aka Ladd's Black Aces.

Phil Napoleon t / Charlie Panelli tb / Jimmy Lytell cl / Frank Signorelli p / Jack Roth d.

Recorded in New York on February 15, 1923.

The Savannah Six - Harmony 56 (1925)

Using the pseudonym The Savannah Six, the Original Memphis Five waxed three sides on the Harmony label in New York on October 26, 1925.

Here are two of the three cuts. (Knowing this now, I've got to be on the lookout for the side I'm missing...Jacksonville Gal on Harmony 58) EDIT: Just got a copy three years later.

Phil Napoleon t / Miff Mole tb / Jimmy Lytell cl / Frank Signorelli p / ? John Cali bj / Jack Roth d.

Half-Way House Orchestra - Okeh 40318 (1924)

Kinda rough around the edges but here we have the first recording by the New Orleans outfit, the Half Way House Orchestra. Been difficult to find and add to the NOLA collection but not as elusive as their Wylie Avenue Blues.

Can't find the exact notation but I do believe that these are Leon Roppolo's last recordings.

From wikipedia...

Leon Joseph Roppolo (March 16, 1902 – October 5, 1943) was a prominent early jazz clarinetist, best known for his playing with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. He also played saxophone and guitar.

Leon Roppolo was born in Lutcher, Louisiana, up-river from New Orleans.[1] His family, of Sicilian origin, moved to the Uptown neighborhood of New Orleans about 1912. Young Leon's first instrument was the violin. He was a fan of the marching bands he heard in the streets of New Orleans, and wanted to play clarinet. An older relative with the same name played that instrument in Papa Jack Laine's Reliance Brass Band.

Roppolo soon excelled at the clarinet, and played youthful jobs with his friends Paul Mares and George Brunies for parades, parties, and at Milneburg on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. At the age of 15 he decided to leave home to travel with the band of Bee Palmer, which soon became the nucleus for the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. The Rhythm Kings became (along with King Oliver's band) one of the best regarded hot jazz bands in Chicago in the early 1920s. Many considered Roppolo to be the star. His style influenced many younger Chicago musicians, most famously Benny Goodman. Some critics have called Roppolo's work on the Rhythm Kings Gennett Records the first recorded jazz solos.

After the breakup of the Rhythm Kings in Chicago, Roppolo and Paul Mares headed east to try their luck on the New York City jazz scene. Contemporary musicians recalled Roppolo making some recordings with Original Memphis Five and California Ramblers musicians in New York in 1924. These sides were presumably unissued, or if issued unidentified.

Roppolo and Mares then returned home to New Orleans where they briefly reformed the Rhythm Kings and made some more recordings. After this Roppolo worked with other New Orleans bands such as the Halfway House Orchestra, with which he recorded on saxophone.

Roppolo exhibited ever more eccentric behavior and violent temper. This was finally too much for his family to take, and Leon was committed to the state mental hospital in 1925. Some writers have speculated that he was suffering from tertiary syphilis.

In his later life, Roppolo, looking old and feeble far beyond his age, would come home for periods when a relative or friend could look after him, and he would sit in with local bands on saxophone or clarinet.

Leon Roppolo died in New Orleans at the age of 41, and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, within sight of the old Halfway House building where he played for years.

Albert Brunies c, dir / Joe Loyacano tb / Leon Roppolo cl, as / Charlie Cordella cl, ts / Mickie Marcour p / Bill Eastwood bj / Leo Adde d.

Recorded in New Orleans on January 22, 1925.

Jazz-Bo's Carolina Serenaders - Muse 232 (1922)

Here we have The Original Memphis Five under one of their many pseudonyms.

Phil Napoleon, t / Miff Mole, tb / Sam Lanin, Sidney Arodin cl / Loring McMurray or Rudy Wiedoeft, as / Frank Signorelli, p / Jack Roth, d.

Recorded in New York on April 22, 1922.

Ladd's Black Aces - Gennett 5035 (1923)

Gennett's pseudonym for the Original Memphis Five.

Phil Napoleon t / Miff Mole or Charlie Panelli tb / Jimmy Lytell cl / Frank Signorelli p /Jack Roth d. Vernon Dalhart vocals on Mamma.

Recorded in New York on January 17, 1923.

The Andrews Sisters With Bob Crosby's Bob Cats - Fonit 61253 (1939) / Fred Rich's Dance Orchestra - Regal 8417 (1927)

From wikipedia...

Ray Bauduc (June 18, 1906 – January 8, 1988) was a jazz drummer best known for his work with the Bob Crosby Orchestra and their band-within-a-band, the Bobcats, between 1935 and 1942.

Bauduc was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the son of the cornetist Jules Bauduc and his elder brother Jules was also a professional musician, a banjoist-bandleader. Ray Bauduc's youthful work in New Orleans included stints in the band of Johnny Bayersdorffer and early radio broadcasts. In 1926 he moved to New York City to join Joe Venuti's band. His other work in the 1920s include recording sessions with the Original Memphis Five and a stint in the Scranton Sirens which also included Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey.

His stint with the Bob Crosby Orchestra brought him national fame. He co-composed, together with bassist Bob Haggart, the two big hits that the Bob Crosby orchestra achieved: "South Rampart Street Parade" (a New Orleans parade-type number first recorded in November 1937), and "Big Noise from Winnetka" (a bass and drums duet with Haggart, recorded in 1938).

His style, making use of woodblocks, cowbells, the China cymbal and tom-toms, marked him out from most drummers of the swing era, and made him one of the few white drummers (the others being George Wettling, Dave Tough and Gene Krupa, but they were not so obvious) to be directly influenced by Warren "Baby" Dodds.

After the break-up of the Crosby band, Bauduc organized his own small groups (often in a swing or even bebop style), rejoined Bob Crosby for occasional reunions, worked with Jimmy Dorsey (1948) and Jack Teagarden (1952–55), before joining fellow ex-Bobcat Nappy Lamare in a highly successful dixieland band that lasted until 1960, after which Bauduc went into semi-retirement in San Antonio, Texas. He died in Houston, Texas on January 8, 1988.

Billy Butterfield t / Warren Smith tb / Irving Fazola cl / Eddie Miller ts / Bob Zurke p / Nappy Lamare g / Bob Haggart sb / Ray Bauduc d / The Andrews Sisters v.

Recorded in New York on February 6, 1939.

Here we have a 21 year old Ray Bauduc from 1927.

Fred Rich p, dir / Nick Casti, Benny Bloom t / Earl Kelly tb / Ted Klein, Benny Fairbanks cl, as, ss / Phil Walzer cl, ts / Phil Oliwitz or Al Duffy vn / bj / bb / Ray Bauduc d / Irving Kaufman v.

Recorded in New York on November 12, 1927.