A side: Will Bradley Trio - Vocal Chorus by Ray McKinley and Will Bradley [in fact, not WB but Don Raye]
Drums - Ray McKinley
Bass - Doc Goldberg
Piano - Freddie Slack
B side: Will Bradley And His Orchestra - Featuring Ray McKinley
Trumpets - Steve Lipkins, Joe Wiedman, Herbie Dell
Trombones - Will Bradley, Jim Emert, Bill Corti
Saxes - Art Mendelsohn, Peanuts Hucko, Joe Huffman, Sam Sachelle
Drums - Ray McKinley
Piano - Fred Slack
Bass - Delmar Kaplan
Guitar - Bill Barford
A side (mx. CO 27872) recorded New York City, NY, August 12, 1940.
B side (mx. CO 25688) recorded New York City, NY, January 17, 1940.
Listed in A Supplement to The Billboard: Talents and Tunes on Music Machines, September 28, 1940, page 16: Latest releases.
My copy doesn't have the words "Trade Mark" under the Magic Note/Columbia logo, but also does not have a discernible center pressing ring. Fonts are the same as xiphophilos's copy, which are most clearly different from later pressings when one compares the credits on the B side. Earlier pressings use a serif font and later ones are sans serif. I wonder if mine was pressed after the "Trade Mark" was removed from labels but before the pressing ring appeared? When did the words "Trade Mark" leave these labels?
That "Yyyyyyyup . . ." makes me very happy.;-) I'm still learning, but I'm glad that I have made some progress under your patient instruction and do now get it right once in a while.
Now we only need y'all to check your own copies and see if you have an original release with the words "Trade Mark" under the Columbia logo.
I've now uploaded my own copy. It's been much loved and has lost a lot of its gold leaf, but the fact that it actually uses gold for the text indicates that it is earlier that Jock-Girl's copy. It has a center pressing ring that is clearly visible on the A side: a 1942 repress then?
I've asked our typeface expert W.B.lbl about these two label variants, and as always, he's been very informative again.
Jock-Girl's copy {images #421434 & 421435} was pressed in Bridgeport, CT. It "looks very much like c.1943, the print very much worse for wear." Catalog numbers are set in 14 point Condensed No. 1 font; the circular pressing ring is typical for Bridgeport's 1942-44 pressings.
Bob1951's labels {images #1861552 & 1861553} "would have been pressed around 1944 when those different fonts were in place. 6 point Vogue Bold with different 'M' and 'a'; what looks like 8 point Futura Medium Condensed for the B side song title, and 10 and 12 point for the artist name and song title, respectively, on A side; 7 and 12 point Futura Demibold; and for the matrix number, 7 point Century Bold." The catalog number is set in 10 point Futura Demibold, cf. the font sample at https://www.flickr.com/photos/28813954@N02/8200238884/in/photostream/
"Down The Road A Piece", a hilarious boogie woogie number, was played by the Will Bradley Trio, which was made up of drummer Ray McKinley, bassist Doc Goldberg, and pianist Freddie Slack. Will Bradley, in contrast to the record label, was not involved in the recording at all, as it is actually the writer of the song, Don Raye, who shares the vocals with McKinley. The original ad lib lyrics of "Down The Road A Piece" refer to all three musicians of the Trio ("Eight Beat Mack" McKinley, "Doc" Goldberg and "Ol' Beat Me Daddy" Slack). This side became a big hit (#10 on Billboard's Best Selling Popular Retail Records in Dec 1940), and the song was covered by a lot of artists, namely Amos Milburn who made it a fast-paced R&B hit in 1947, and became a clear musical model for Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" (who also made a cover of "Down The Road A Piece", which was covered again by The Rolling Stones).