Black Swan - Latest Updates

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Comment by Mike Gann:

[YouTube Video]

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Comment by Mike Gann:

[YouTube Video]

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Comment by Mike Gann:

[YouTube Video]

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Comment by Mike Gann:

[YouTube Video]

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Comment by Mike Gann:

The earlier editions of the prewar blues and gospel discographies omitted groups such as Fisk Jubilee Singers and Pace Jubilee Singers for similar reasons until they found out that collectors wanted to know more about them.

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Comment by rhythmdog:

For a group whose they have definitely generated more comments than might be expected...

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Comment by han enderman ●:

BS 21061 - Added are images of 21061-A & 2016-B to show mx.nrs P142-2 in the runout. Both look identical and I think 21061-A is a mispressing. Adjacent BS mxs are P-138/139 (BS 2022/2100 Henderson) & P-144/145 (BS 2023 Inez Richardson with Henderson). Probably P-140-143 were all by Four Harmony Kings (P140 & 142 on BS 2016). Thygesen says that some copies of BS 2016 have P143-2 on the label. This might indicate that there was some confusion over mxs P142/143 and that Love's Old Sweet Song was actually P143 (or else the untraced P141). Love's Old Sweet Song is listed for BS 2097 in BGR4 (reverse Harrod's Jubilee Singers), but unissued and no copies known (2000 series ended at 2064). Thygesen shows the BS catalogue May 1923 page listing 2097 with the number 21061 added after the songs.

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Comment by han enderman ●:

BS 2016 - Both songs are in Shuffle Along (1921 libretto). The Four Harmony Kings are mentioned on p.54-56 with these songs. Here is the 1922 sheet music of Ain't It A Shame by Hann, Simms & Brown (cover added).

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Comment by Mike Gann:

All of the artists on this record are Caucasian.

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Comment by Madshellacoctopus:

Am I correct in assuming that this is one of the Black Swan issues not actually by African- Americans?

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Comment by rhythmdog:

This also exists on a different style label, which seems to be rarer.

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Comment by rhythmdog:

[YouTube Video]

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Comment by rhythmdog:

Per your information, I have changed the superscript to -2 from -9, although I might point out that "Goodnight Angeline" is now entered here and it does indeed show P-142-2 as its matrix. I struggled to read the superscript number and thought it could either be a 2 or a 9, but if it is -2, then Black Swan seems to have used the exact same matrix number for two entirely different songs.

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Comment by han enderman ●:

BS 21061 - Said quote is absent in the 4th ed. of BGR (1890-1943 p269).
The embossed mx is P-142-2 (not -9) and this is the mx shown in BGR4 for Goodnight Angeline from c. Jul 1921, issued on BS 2016 & Pm 12104 (with Ain't It A Shame). BS 21061 is not listed in BGR4.
Helge Thygesen et al., Black Swan (1996) list 21061 as only release in the 21000 series, issued between Jul 1922 and Dec 1922, but at the time apparently had not seen the record as mxs are not given.

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Comment by Mike Gann:

This what I have from Blues and Gospel Records (1890-1942) for Four Harmony Kings.
This negro quartet did not make any recordings for the "race" market, their entire production was aimed at a white audience and of no interest.

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Comment by rhythmdog:

The embossed matrix number suggests this was recorded at the same time as their "Goodnight Angeline", and "Ain't It A Shame", which came from a musical put on by Sissle Noble and Eubie Blake in 1921 called "Shuffle Along" - which was a pretty big deal: from Wikipedia