Freddie Webster with Sonny Boy Williams

Trumpeter Freddie Webster (1916-1947) was a "musician's musician" - mostly forgotten now, but revered by his fellow trumpet players at the time. Dizzy Gillespie said of him, "Freddie Webster probably had the best sound on a trumpet since it was invented." Miles Davis once stated, "Freddie Webster is the trumpeter I tried to imitate," and Webster's influence is apparent in Davis' early recordings - hear Miles' "Now's the Time" solo with Charlie Parker. Webster combined his full, beautiful sound with a searching modernism; his unusual note choices revealed an advanced harmonic sophistication.

Unfortunately, Webster had a short life and didn't leave behind that many recordings. Most of the recordings he did make were as a big-band section player; there are only a few on which he was featured as a soloist. Here is a complete session from July 26, 1942, with Webster as part of a small band backing up singer Sonny Boy Williams. Besides Webster and Williams, the personnel is not known.

And not much is known about Enoch Williams, whose stage name is (perhaps intentionally) confusingly similar to that of blues singer John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson. (The other Sonny Boy Williamson, Rice Miller, had not yet recorded at the time.) No one would mistake Sonny Boy Williams for Williamson, though - John Lee's music was downhome blues, and Enoch Williams was a light, smooth, swinging crooner. The songs on this session tend toward novelty, and except for Webster's composition "Reverse the Charges," don't have much musical or lyrical value. But the unknown tenor saxophone soloist is quite good, and the alto saxist and pianist are solid enough. Webster's playing is fascinating, although he doesn't get any more solo space than anyone else. He doesn't solo at all on "Savoy is Jumpin'," but I've included it for completeness' sake.

Here are the four tunes in recording order. "Savoy is Jumpin'" and "Honey It Must be Love" were originally issued on Decca 8643; "Rubber Bounce" and "Reverse the Charges" on Decca 8651.

Savoy is Jumpin'

Reverse the Charges

Rubber Bounce

Honey It Must be Love

An Early "High Society"

"High Society" began life as a march composed by Porter Steele, who copyrighted it in 1901. Probably through performances by New Orleans brass bands, it became a traditional jazz standard. King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band made the first jazz recording of the piece in 1923. Here is an early recording of the march - possibly the first "High Society" on record.

The American Record Company was formed in 1904, and made records until the early days of 1907, when a court ruled that they operating in violation of the lateral recording patents shared by Columbia and Victor. But while they were in business, they produced records that were striking in appearance and of high quality for the time. The records were pressed on blue-grey shellac and featured an attractive, attention-getting label, even if it is somewhat condescending by today's standards. American made records in various sizes; many are ten and three-fourths inches in diameter, like this one.

The house band at the American studio was called the Regimental Band of the Republic; based on the record's catalog number, they probably recorded this version of "High Society" in 1905. An orchestral version of Steele's piece was recorded for the Leeds & Catlin label in 1906, but I have not been able to find any reference to a recording earlier than the American disc.

Jazz bands traditionally play "High Society" in B flat, modulating to E flat for the last strain. This recording sounds natural when played back at approximately 71 RPM, like many records from the first few years of the 20th century. At that speed, this version reveals itself to be in C/F, and the announcer at the beginning sounds normal.

When performed by jazz bands, a clarinet solo devised by early jazzman Alphonse Picou is considered an essential part of the last strain. It is usually said that he adapted that part from the piccolo part of the original, but that part is not present in this recording. The piccolo part in that strain is much simpler than Picou's solo, although with a little imagination, one can hear this piccolo part as a skeletal outline of what Picou came up with.

Enjoy this early recording of "High Society" - most probably the first.

High Society

1924 Brunswick Flyer

I haven't posted here in a while, so here's a quick post, with a promise of more to come. Here's a very interesting Brunswick Records flyer from 1924, of a type I haven't really seen elsewhere. It's eleven inches by six and a quarter inches, and is folded into thirds, although I don't know whether the folds were original or made by someone later. A previous owner has written lightly in pencil, "c. 5/24," and mid-1924 seems about right - the records touted here were waxed in late 1923 and early 1924.

Ray Miller had a fine dance band indeed, although these sides were recorded just before the great trombonist Miff Mole joined the band, and several years before Muggsy Spanier's hot cornet became part of the mix. The blurb promoting the two blues records mostly avoids the condescending tone record companies usually took when writing about their "race" records. "Rosa Henderson and Viola McCoy tell their stories in positive terms. They sing to the Beale Streets of the world...."

Mitchell's Christian Singers

Mitchell's Christian Singers is my favorite gospel group - this quartet's loose, raw, rural style is unlike that of any other group. The Singers were farmers and laborers in and around Kingston, North Carolina, and they recorded extensively between 1934 and 1940; their earlier recordings appeared on the ARC (American Record Corporation) family of labels - Romeo, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, and Vocalion, as well as Sears' Conqueror label. Later issues appeared on Columbia and their Okeh subsidiary.

By the time they began making records, the group consisted of tenors Julius Davis and William Brown, baritone Louis Panella Davis, and bass Lewis Herring (replaced a year or so into their recording career by Sam Bryant). The "Mitchell" in their name was their manager,
Willie Mitchell. The Christian Singers remained
a local group, performing almost exclusively in
eastern North Carolina, although they did perform in John Hammond's 1938 "Spirituals to Swing" concert in Carnegie Hall. The group traveled to New York and Chicago to record, but otherwise stayed close to home.

Today Mitchell's Christian Singers are mostly remembered for the "Spirituals to Swing" appearance, if they are remembered at all. Like a lot of rural early-20th-century artists, their recordings have become more accessible in the digital age while paradoxically still being somewhat hard to find. Their complete output (nearly, anyway) has been reissued on several CDs on the Document label, but Document is not exactly well-distributed.

In any case, I have chosen to present transfers of three of my favorite  records, as well as pictures of all the different labels I have in my collection - so the pictures won't necessarily match the recordings.  The Conqueror is not in great condition, but the quality of the performance makes the flaws unimportant.

Conqueror 8769  - recorded April 28, 1936
Standing by the Bedside
What Kinda Shoes Do the Angels Wear

Vocalion 03180 - recorded August 10/11, 1937
I'm Praying Humble
I Don't Care Where You Bury My Body

Columbia 37479 - recorded August 6, 1940
Take My Hand
Don't You Want That Stone

Cecil Leeson, Classical Saxophonist

The three major pioneer virtuosi of the classical saxophone in the early 20th century were Marcel Mule in France, Sigurd Rascher in Germany and Denmark (and later in the U.S.), and Cecil Leeson, who was born on the plains of North Dakota in 1902. Although Leeson taught at Northwestern and Ball State Universities later in his career, his influence as a teacher was not widespread; his importance lies in his groundbreaking concertizing and recording, the commissioning of important works for saxophone, and as a historian of the instrument. Leeson was the first saxophone recitalist at Town Hall in New York (in 1937), and Paul Creston's very important Suite, Sonata, and Concerto for alto saxophone were all written for Leeson. And he was arguably the first American to record "serious" classical saxophone music - depending on how one defines those terms, of course. Leeson died in 1989.

Here is a three-record album of 12" 78s on American Decca, with Leeson and pianist Josef Wagner playing Edvard Moritz's Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano, op. 96, composed for Leeson in 1939. Although the album bears a 1941 copyright date, it was probably recorded in 1940; it appears in Decca's 1941 catalog, which "contains all records released to December 1, 1940." My copy is presumably from later in the 1940s; the first disc uses an early-1940s label style, but the other two records have labels of a variety that Decca introduced in 1946. (It was not unusual for record companies to use up remaining stock of discontinued labels, even if that meant that records in an album set had different labels, or even if two sides of a record had different label styles.)

Moritz (1891-1974) found himself in the unenviable position of being a prominent Jewish musician and composer in Hitler's Germany, so he emigrated to the United States in 1937. He composed and taught in New York City for the rest of his life; pop/jazz pianist and singer Bobby Scott was one of his students.

As a saxophonist, I find Leeson's performance more engaging that Moritz's composition, which is accomplished without being particularly original or interesting. The phrase that came to my mind when I first listened was, "This is Brahms plus whole-tone scales." But as a pioneering saxophone recording, this album is very interesting indeed. (I believe that it's the first multi-record classical saxophone album recorded in the U.S.) On the original issue, three of the four movements are split onto two sides of a record - the short third movement is complete on the first part of side five - but I have edited the parts together and present them here as separate movements. In researching this blog entry, I found that there is already a transfer of these records online, but I immodestly think that my transfer is somewhat better.

There's a nice booklet included in the album, and due to the scarcity of these records (I searched for a copy for several years) I'm including scans of the all pages.

Moritz - Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano, op. 96:

First movement - Allegro molto

Second movement - Molto andante

Third movement - Scherzo - presto

Fourth movement - Finale - quasi allegro

James Reese Europe Follow-Up

My February 12 post, with all of James Reese Europe's 1913-14 Victor records, attracted lots of attention from record collectors. This is a follow-up post, responding to several requests and comments.

It was requested that I post pictures of all the labels, so I have done so below. And for those who prefer a lossless audio format, I have uploaded flac files.


Flac files:

Too Much Mustard

Down Home Rag

Irresistible

Amapa

Castle's Lame Duck

Castle House Rag

Castle Walk

You're Here and I'm Here

James Reese Europe's Victor Records

James Reese Europe (1880-1919), although largely forgotten today, is an important figure in the history of black American music. In the second decade of the 20th century, Europe took the New York (and beyond) dancing and music worlds by storm. In 1910 he formed the Clef Club, an organization to promote the black orchestras and composers of New York, and by 1912 he had attracted the attention of Vernon and Irene Castle, the most influential dance team of their time. Europe's dance orchestra became the Castles' "official" accompanists, which led to the Europe band's appearance in a Broadway show; they were the first black band to be featured on Broadway.

Europe's Society Orchestra recorded eight sides for Victor in late 1913 and early 1914. These records were state-of-the-art dance music of the time; the ragtime sides in particular must have been tremendously exciting for dancers and listeners used to more sedate sounds. Six of the sides were longer than the three-minute capacity of a 10" 78, and so were issued on 12" records. The ragtime sides have been reissued here and there over the years, but as far as I can tell, the others (a tango, a maxixe, and a waltz) have never been reissued.

When the United States entered World War I, Europe enlisted and took a band to France, where he served with distinction, with some front-line combat duty mixed in with bandleading. After the war he made a series of interesting recordings for Pathe; the best of these at least touched on jazz. Backstage at a concert, a disagreement with one of his drummers led to the latter stabbing Europe with a small knife. Although the wound seemed superficial, he died of internal bleeding a few hours later.

Since these were dance records (each label announces, "For Dancing"), the type of dance for each selection is listed after the title. The headlong rush of the one-steps, driven by the energetic playing of ragtime drummer Buddy Gilmore, is heady stuff, even over a century later. Here, at last, are all the Victor recordings by Europe's band. The usual caveats apply - these are acoustical recordings, and some sides are in better condition than others.

James Reese Europe conducting Europe's Society Orchestra, including Cricket Smith (cornet), Edgar Campbell (clarinet), Tracy Cooper, George Smith, and Walter Scott (violin), Leonard Smith and Ford Dabney (piano), Buddy Gilmore (drums) and five (!) banjo-mandolins. December 29, 1913; New York:

Victor 35359 (12")
Too Much Mustard - One Step or Turkey Trot (Cecil Macklin)
Down Home Rag - One Step or Turkey Trot (Wilbur Sweatman)

Victor 35360 (12")
Irresistible - Tango Argentine (L. Logatti)
Amapa - Maxixe Bresilien (J. Storoni)

Add Chandler Ford (cello), baritone horn and flute; omit banjo-mandolins. February 10, 1914; New York:

Victor 35372 (12")
Castle House Rag - One-Step (Europe)
Castle's Lame Duck - Waltz (Europe)

Victor 17553 (10"):
Castle Walk - One-Step or Trot (Europe/Dabney)
You're Here and I'm Here - One-Step (Jerome Kern)