fixbutte 25th Oct 2022 | | 78 RPMBull Moose Jackson And His Buffalo Bearcats - I Love You Yes I Do / Sneaky Pete (1947) | Possibly the best article about Lucky Millinder is on Christopher Popa's Big Band Library where it reads:
He sometimes sang or danced, but could not read music - yet he was considered an excellent conductor, a "dynamaestro." He also was called a fine master of ceremonies, a great showman, colorful and eccentric, clever and shrewd. And his group was said to have been the greatest big band to play rhythm and blues.
When I see the photograph of Sally Nix, I wonder if she may have started her career as a vocalist. Interestingly there is a 7" single on 45cat sung by a certain Sarah Nix, who was also the co-composer of both sides, so I guess it was her. The year of release is unknown, but the small record label (Belmont H) was probably based in Connecticut, like their main act who even had an LP (Bill Hein, see here and here).
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fixbutte 23rd Oct 2022 | | 78 RPMBull Moose Jackson And His Buffalo Bearcats - I Love You Yes I Do / Sneaky Pete (1947) | Thanks again, gnomon (aka Roger), for your substantial comments, and especially for the Boarding House Blues movie recommendation. I agree with all you say about it, good and bad, but anyway there is a lot to watch and listen to, culminating in the 20 minute finale with your dad and his band.
Yes, The Doors must have known the film with its title very similar to their "Roadhouse Blues" and with Annisteen Allen constantly singing "Let it roll ... all night long". No, I don't know the title of the first number the band plays although it sounds very familiar to me too. And yes, I know the "Hucklebuck" discussion which I had outlined 15 years ago in a comment on RYM:
Paul Williams had heard the tune, called "D-Natural Blues" then and based loosely on Charlie Parker’s "Now's the Time", when playing a show with Lucky Millinder in 1948. He played it on his own shows and saw the audience do a new dance, the Hucklebuck. When the 1948 recording ban was over, Williams was the first to record and release it under this title.
So Charlie Parker may have been the real originator of the tune in 1945, and Paul Williams may have heard your dad's "D-Natural Blues" in the film which apparently premiered in 1948.
Here is the complete film on YouTube, although possibly truncated a bit at the top:
[YouTube Video]
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fixbutte 22nd Oct 2022 | | 78 RPMBull Moose Jackson And His Buffalo Bearcats - I Love You Yes I Do / Sneaky Pete (1947) | Thanks, xiphophilos, for the link to the biographical dates of Sally Nix. As we can't create biographies for composers on this site, I have uploaded her photograph and her obituary here. I have also uploaded a sheet music cover for "I Love You Yes I Do" that actually shows a picture of Lucky Millinder, which is somehow strange because his participation in the genesis and the recording of the song was not evident. As the 1952 Billboard article about the plagiarism lawsuit shows, however, Lucky Millinder had "supervised the King disking" and "figured as a defendant in the court action" (and, as suggested by gnomon, he may have traded or sold his authorship to Henry Glover).
So the family (Sally Nix, Lucky Millinder and their son) is eventually united here on this page.
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fixbutte 19th Oct 2022 | | 78 RPMBull Moose Jackson And His Buffalo Bearcats - I Love You Yes I Do / Sneaky Pete (1947) | Fantastic! So you were fortunate to meet the greatest jazz artists of the world when you were a youth. Something very special indeed.
I intended to ask you if your aunt was Margaret Nix White, a songwriter as well, but then I noticed that on Discogs she is identified as your mother's sister, not as her alias anymore, apparently corrected on your suggestion about two years ago.
I'd also like to add at least your mother's life dates to Discogs and RYM (Rate Your Music). Maybe you can specify the days of birth and death that you have not given yet.
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fixbutte 19th Oct 2022 | | 78 RPMBonnie Lou - Tennessee Mambo / Train Whistle Blues (1954) | Thanks, 78-Ron. Eventually, I have found another set of label images with correct proportions, uploaded them and moved them up.
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fixbutte 17th Oct 2022 | | 78 RPMBull Moose Jackson And His Buffalo Bearcats - I Love You Yes I Do / Sneaky Pete (1947) | Hello gnomon,
I am happy that you have eventually found this page concerning your own parents and I am proud that you can confirm the final result of my 2015 research. As I have the strong impression that your mother has not got the extent of fame that she earns (considering the ongoing stories about her name being a pseudonym of King boss Syd Nathan), I would like you to add some more information about her if you don't mind. When and where was she born, when and where did she die? Were your parents actually married (according to the Glover quote from the plagiarism lawsuit "she has been for many years a friend and employee of Millinder's")? Were there other musicians and songwriters in your family? Feel free to add what is worth telling, so it may spread around the Web.
Thank you very much.
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fixbutte 11th Sep 2022 | | 78 RPMBob Brandy - Yes — Yes — Yes / King Solomon (1936) | Something else: You didn't link the well-known version by Tampa Red, but the version by James "Stump" Johnson, recorded in January, 1929 and released on the small QRS label: R. 7049
Tampa Red's version (recorded with Georgia Tom in May 1929) credits "Johnson" as composer on the label of Vocalion 1277. It is also on YouTube:
[YouTube Video]
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fixbutte 11th Sep 2022 | | 78 RPMBob Brandy - Yes — Yes — Yes / King Solomon (1936) | Thanks, xiphophilos, for telling us about the "Yas Yas" background. I personally noticed the term for the first time, like many people of my age, in the early 1970s on the Rolling Stones live album "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!", without understanding its meaning though. I suspected it was a synonym for shouting, inspired by the Beatles "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" or something.
As I found out later, the album title was actually a quote of the Blind Boy Fuller song "Get Your Yas Yas Out", released on Vocalion 04519 in 1938.
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fixbutte 5th Sep 2022 | | 78 RPMLi'l Millet And His Creoles - Rich Woman / Hopeless Love (1955) | And please note everybody what is stated there: "This X is only a side indicator and should not be added as part of the catalog number." In fact, we add it under "Other Cat#s" though.
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fixbutte 30th Aug 2022 | | 78 RPMPeerless Quartette - The Worst Is Yet To Come / Ja-Da (Ja Da, Ja Da, Jing Jing!) (1919) | Colors of your labels appear to be very different too.
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fixbutte 15th Aug 2022 | | 78 RPMJimmie Revard And His Oklahoma Playboys - What's The Use / Since You Left Me, Hon (1937) | Missing B-side label added.
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fixbutte 23rd Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMShannon Grayson And His Golden Valley Boys - Since His Sweet Love Has Rescued Me / Let Me Travel Alone (1950) | Clean set of promo (Dee Jay Special) labels uploaded and moved up.
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fixbutte 20th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMMaurice Chevalier - Mimi / Un Tout P'Tit Peu (1948) | Unstickered A-side image restored and moved up
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fixbutte 19th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMBlack Swan Dance Orch. - Pretty Ways / There Ain't No Nothin' Gonna Take The Place Of Love (1921) | Released as "feature release of the 5th series" on Black Swan Records (together with numbers 2008 and 2014), apparently for the month of September 1921, see Black Swan ad in The Chicago Whip, September 17, 1921 issue (page 6).
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fixbutte 18th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMAlberta Hunter - Bring Back The Joys / How Long, Sweet Daddy, How Long (1921) | In fact, the uploaded ad from the November 5, 1921 issue of The Chicago Whip was first published there several weeks before. The earliest publication date that I have meanwhile found was September 17, 1921 (page 6), matching the presumed month of Black Swan's fifth monthly releases. It was reprinted several times unchangedly, other publication dates were September 24, October 1, 8 & 15, November 19 & 26, and maybe more.
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fixbutte 18th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMAlberta Hunter - Bring Back The Joys / How Long, Sweet Daddy, How Long (1921) | Here we had three different designs of the A-side label but no B-side image. Now I could at least add one B-side label.
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fixbutte 18th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMEthel Waters - Oh Daddy / Down Home Blues (1921) | Thanks, xiphophilos. Your itemization shows that Black Swan numbers 2009, 2012 and 2013 had not been allocated in early July 1921, supporting my guess that these were the new releases in August 1921 (and that 2010 and 2011 were released before 2009).
It also suggests that number 2008 was already allocated to Alberta Hunter then, although there is no trace of an actual release of that number before September 1921.
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fixbutte 17th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMAlberta Hunter - Bring Back The Joys / How Long, Sweet Daddy, How Long (1921) | Released as "feature release of the 5th series" on Black Swan Records (together with numbers 2014 and 2015), apparently for the month of September 1921, see uploaded Black Swan (Pace Phonograph Co.) ads.
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fixbutte 17th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMEthel Waters - Oh Daddy / Down Home Blues (1921) | Fair enough, xiphophilos. Meanwhile I have found an ad for "the 5th series" on Black Swan Records. As expected, the series comprises three new records ("feature releases"), i.e. numbers 2014, 2015 and the previously missing 2008. Counting five months from May 1921 on, I date these three releases to September 1921, matching the mentioned ad for Black Swan 2008 in the September issue of Talking Machine World. Bad news is that the 5th series ad was placed in the November 5th, 1921 issue of The Chicago Whip. Considering that in November 1921 already Black Swan 2021 was on sale, I guess the Chicago Whip ad just came a few weeks after the event.
[Edit: In fact, the Chicago Whip ad was first published on September 17, 1921 and reprinted there unchangedly several times, see Black Swan 2008.]
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fixbutte 16th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMEthel Waters And The Jazz Masters - There'll Be Some Changes Made / One Man Nan (1921) | "Now On Sale" in November 1921 according to the uploaded ad in Talking Machine World.
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fixbutte 16th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMEthel Waters - Oh Daddy / Down Home Blues (1921) | Thanks, xiphophilos, for editing several release dates. Still, based on a three records per month release scheme, I'd rather date Black Swan's "Third Release" including this one here to July 1921. Unfortunately, the July 1921 issue of The Crisis to confirm this is not available on Google Books (in contrast to the August issue). [Edit: I found it here, and it contains an ad with the "Exclusive Black Swan Artists" (including Ethel Waters) but sadly not the then current release list.]
Besides, considering the Black Swan ads, I feel certain that Black Swan 2008 was not released in August but in September 1921.
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fixbutte 15th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMEthel Waters - Oh Daddy / Down Home Blues (1921) | Some more thoughts about the early Black Swan release dates:
- The given New York 1920s source includes a Chicago Defender ad of the Black Swan "May Releases" with numbers 2001, 2002 and 2003.
- The "Third Release" (apparently for the month of July) in the Aug 10, 1921 issue of the Muncie Evening Press has eight Black Swan records from 2001 to 2011 (missing 2006, 2008 and 2009), and apparently 2007, 2010 and 2011 were the last of them.
- The Black Swan "Fourth Releases" ad in the August 1921 issue of The Crisis (page 188) and the above August 1921 ad in the Talking Machine World have three additional records 2009, 2012 and 2013, apparently for release in the month of August.
- So it looks that numbers 2004, 2005 and 2006 (all present in the August 1921 ad) made up the second monthly release in June 1921, whereas 2008, missing in all Black Swan ads until August, was to be released after that date. And indeed: Black Swan 2008, sung by by Alberta Hunter, was prominently advertised in the September issue of the Talking Machine World.
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fixbutte 15th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMEthel Waters - Oh Daddy / Down Home Blues (1921) | Black Swan release dates here for the first Black Swan records have to be checked anyway. The first record, Black Swan 2001, came out on May 17, 1921, not in August 1921, see New York 1920s.
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fixbutte 15th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMEthel Waters - Oh Daddy / Down Home Blues (1921) | Not the A-side but the B-side, "Down Home Blues", was a huge hit for Ethel Waters and Black Swan, see uploaded half-page ad from The Talking Machine World, August 15, 1921, calling for a release date change from the current "June 1922" to around July 1921 (or even earlier).
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fixbutte 13th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMTrixie Smith - 2 A. M. Blues / I'm Gonna Get You (1923) | Considering the release date of the Black Swan record, the recording month given on the Online Discographical Project (April 1922) may be doubtful, by the way. Brian Rust puts up "c. November-December 1922" for debate, see Jazz and Ragtime Records (1897-1942): L-Z, page 1591, but I can't say who of the two has any factual arguments.
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fixbutte 13th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMTrixie Smith - 2 A. M. Blues / I'm Gonna Get You (1923) | @Christian Belena1
Although posted twice (I'll delete one), your comment can be misunderstood and is partly incorrect. What you probably wanted to say: recorded around April 1922 by Trixie Smith "with Orchestra", this was first issued by Black Swan (in March 1923, see Talking Machine World, March 15, 1923, page 166) and reissued by Paramount. The Paramount reissue did not happen before May 1924, though, when Paramount had "taken over all masters, contracts and artists of Black Swan Records" (see The Crisis, May 1924, page 47), and the correct catalog number for that record was 12166, see Online Discographical Project.
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fixbutte 11th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMNorfolk Jazz Quartet - Dixie Blues / Quartet Blues (1923) | You're right, cyeaman, and I have edited the notes accordingly. Indeed I noticed myself when inspecting the The Paramount 'Race' Records Series list again yesterday that after Paramount 12057 several more labels with the price indication are depicted: 12064, 12066, 12069, 12070, 12071, 12074 and, as you mentioned, 12077 and 12078.
Most of these can be dated to December 1923. Paramount 12066 by Alberta Hunter, however, has the price note but came out only in February 1924 based on the advertisement in The Crisis. Does Max Vreede's "Paramount 12000/13000 Series" perhaps give an earlier date for it?
Even stranger: There is a considerably higher number on the list with a price indication, Paramount 12217 by the Norfolk Jubilee Quartet (which was the same group), and that one is supposed to be released much later, in August 1924.
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fixbutte 10th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMNorfolk Jazz Quartet - Dixie Blues / Quartet Blues (1923) | Based on label information of the original release, we also have to change back the original B-side title and correct the artist name. Based on the price indication there, we have to date the original release to November 1923 at the latest, possibly October 1923 like the same group's record on Paramount 12054 (which was first advertised in the Norfolk Journal-Guide on October 20, 1923 and in the Chicago Defender on November 3, 1923).
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fixbutte 9th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMNorfolk Jazz Quartet - Dixie Blues / Quartet Blues (1923) | Also uploaded the missing "Quartet" A-side. Against my first guess, these labels with their "Price 75c" indication were also the original labels, as Paramount omitted the price indication on higher numbers than 12057 around November 1923, see e.g. The Paramount 'Race' Records Series.
For this reason the current Feb 1924 release date, based on several Paramount ads, apparently belongs to the "Quartette" reissue only (see The Crisis, March 1924, with "Quartette" spelling).
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fixbutte 9th Jul 2022 | | 78 RPMCharlie Parker With Strings - Laura / Dancing In The Dark (1950) | The Clef and the Mercury releases definitely did not come out in the same month, not even in the same year. Produced by Norman Granz and originally released on Mercury starting in 1948, many issues from the 11000 series (and from the 8900/89000 series) were reissued on Granz' own Clef label from mid-1953 on. The first original Clef issues in these series can be dated to August/September 1953, see my list Hot Jazz in the 1950s: Norman Granz' 8900/89000 Series on Mercury, Clef and Verve on RYM.
A few original Clef issues came out in 1947 before Granz' cooperation with Mercury (Clef 101-111 and releated albums), see Norman Granz' Jazz at the Philharmonic and Related Stuff
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