Varsity - Latest Updates

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Comment by 78-Ron:

Images added

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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 cyeaman SUBS:

[YouTube Video]

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Comment by cyeaman SUBS:

[YouTube Video]

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Comment by Mike Gann:

Your comment helped me to put the proper release date on Varsity no. 8081. Many thanks, cyeaman.

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Comment by cyeaman SUBS:

ODP states December 1938, but Rust states ca. December 1939. However, in "Eli Oberstein's United States Record Corporation", Allan Sutton notes that this latter date isn't possible because the other tracks recorded at the session were reviewed "Jazz Information" on November 24, 1939 (Varsity 8081).

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Comment by DeweyGill SUBS:

@Mike Gann -Same as Rust. The 1940 date came from a Savoy lp reissue 1980’s with extensive liner notes, which seem incorrect.

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Comment by Mike Gann:

ODP says that both sides were recorded in December 1938.

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Comment by DeweyGill SUBS:

I have two recording dates for this, December 1938, and 1940
Both sides are pretty hot, esp. side 2

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Comment by han enderman:

Varsity 8173 - Personnel (on label) includes Billy Carton-tp (= Carter) & Carleton Harkins (= Hawkins), as on the next release from this session (8179), but composer of Pom Pom is Benny Carter. Joe Turner sings on 2 titles from this session.

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Comment by han enderman:

Varsity 8147 - label images added. As on the other release from this 14 Dec 1939 session (8135), Hawkins is mentioned, but Carter plays under pseudonym Billy Carton. - Composer (Thomas) Dorsey misspelled Dorsay on label (to be corrected in track details).

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Comment by han enderman:

Varsity 8135 - on this 1st release by the Varsity Seven, Hawkins does not have a pseudonym, but Benny Carter has, as on the 3 later issues. - What is the relation of (composer) Leonard Feather to this session?

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Comment by DeweyGill SUBS:

I remember that there was some friction around the time of his departure, I’ll have to dig out my old Downbeats from that era. i seem to remember them chronicling that rift at the time

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Comment by xiphophilos:

Eli Oberstein worked for Victor between 1929 and February 1939, rising from salesman and accountant to recording supervisor and finally head of RCA Victor's budget label Bluebird, which he built into a major pop music label.

By 1940, when this was recorded, Oberstein had left (was fired from?) RCA Victor. He ran the Varsity label as a budget label that was supposed to rival the Bluebird label. Around the fall of 1940, both Varsity and its sister label Royale went bust. That did not stop Oberstein, however. By 1941, he had founded another record company and released the Elite and later the Hit Record label. Both managed to issue new records even during the 1942-1943 Petrillo recording ban and despite the scarcity of shellac during the war years.

More on Oberstein here.

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Comment by DeweyGill SUBS:

Thanks, Mike. He tried changing his phrasing, but he couldn’t change his tone. And I’m not sure what Eli Oberstein’s relationship was with Victor anymore.

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Comment by Mike Gann:

Per this website Carleton Harkins is a pseudonym for Coleman Hawkins.
https://www.swingdjs.com/viewtopic.php?t=990

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Comment by DeweyGill SUBS:

Are we sure Carleton Harkins isn’t Coleman Hawkins moonlighting? He was under contract to Victor as a bandleader at the time.

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Comment by cyeaman SUBS:

[YouTube Video]

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Comment by cyeaman SUBS:

[YouTube Video]

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Comment by W.B.lbl:

It appears this incarnation of Varsity used label type from the future Queens Litho (then simply known as Kaltman Press) in Long Island City, NY. (The earlier iteration used Keystone typesetting.)

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Comment by DeweyGill SUBS:

It appears Eli Oberstein reactivated Varsity as a discount label in the late 1940’s. Many sides were reissues of Hit and Majestic material. The B side was recorded at the same session that produced “Red Silk Stockings And Green Perfume”, but I cannot find evidence of any previous issue.