Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch., Part 1 (1917-1919)

Here's some great info about Earl Fuller, from Tim Gracyk and Frank Hoffman: Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band/Rector Novelty Orch.

We'll be hearing a number of his Rector Novelty sides for Columbia, all repeats but in new, improved rips. (Just what I said the last time, no?)

Two of these tracks (Down Home Rag, I Ain't Got Nobody Much), I very recently posted in different EQ's. As happy as I was with the sonic detail in those two rips, I wasn't happy with the overall tonal balance. Or the lack of (what amounts to) bass (on an acoustical recording). So I decided to use the late, great John R.T. Davies' restoration of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band's Indiana as a reference track. I started with my own 78 copy of Indiana, getting it to sound as close to Davies' work as possible:

John R.T. Davies' restoration: Indiana (1917)--Davies
My restoration: Hartsfeld, trying to sound like Davies

Feel free to say, "Awesome job, Lee!" or "Don't quit your day job." Exacting work, for sure, even if I don't go to the same lengths as Davies routinely did.

I went on from there, keeping the Davies sound in my head as a template. And I've always wanted to type "in my head as a template."

To the music: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

PLAYLIST--EARL FULLER'S RECTOR NOVELTY ORCH., PART 1

RUSPANA--1919
SWEET SIAMESE--1919
COLD TURKEY--1917
12TH STREET RAG--1917
SINGAPORE--1918
OUT OF THE EAST--1918
DOWN HOME RAG--1918
I AIN'T GOT NOBODY MUCH--1918
RUSSIAN RAG--1918
HOWDY--1918
MORE CANDY--1917
IDA! SWEET AS APPLE CIDER--1917


Meanwhile, whoever swiped my copy of Earl Fuller's Mummy Mine, please give it back. Thanks!



Lee

Never fear--new stuff will soon be here

Well, new Earl Fuller rips, anyway--Earl being a bandleader who recorded very ragtimey and jazzy dance sides in the late 1910s. Vintage big band, really. "It was the big band of its day," my late, jazz-arranger father observed of Art Hickman and early Paul Whiteman--and he'd have said the same about Fuller, I'm sure. It sort of goes against the conventional history, which has the big band style showing up sometime after Dixieland makes its mark, but the proof is in the grooves. In fact, polyphonic jazz and big band jazz seem to have coexisted from the start. I'm torn between Hickman and Fuller as to who was the more big-band-y. And I've always, always wanted to type "big-band-y."

I've featured a lot of Earl at this place, though these new rips are Earl as you've (possibly) never heard him anyplace else.

Going up soon. Meanwhile, I'd give anything to figure out where my copy of Fuller's Mummy Mine disappeared to. I wonder if lost 78s end up in the same dimension with lost socks, keys, and change?

In other news, I'm in allergy misery from tree pollen. Every year about this time, I make the exact same observation: "Isn't this kind of early for allergy issues?" No, it's not. I don't suppose living around a bunch of trees helps the situation at all....

Lee

The funniest story

So, I couldn't find my glasses. I'd looked all over, starting with my computer desk. Finally, I looked again on my computer desk, and there they were, in plain sight!

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

I just had to share that.....

Sunday morning gospel--Doris Akers ("Miss Gospel Music") with the Harvest Time Choir

(This is a re-repost from 2007 and 2008. I thought it was time to re-reshare this marvelous music. The link has remained active through more then 900 downloads!)

"Doris Akers' God-given skillfulness in directing our Harvest Time Choir in glorious harmony and Holy Ghost liberty will inspire you as it does us," begin the liner notes for Glad Tidings (pictured above). Inspiring is the word. Doris ("Miss Gospel Music") Akers (1923-1995) was a songwriter and performer possibly best known for her appearances with The Gaithers and for her songs Lead Me, Guide Me and Sweet, Sweet Spirit, both featured in the 1972 music documentary, Elvis on Tour. Here, she directs (from the piano) the Glad Tidings Temple's Harvest Time Choir of Vancouver, B.C. The organist is Doug Moody.

As nearly as I can determine, the Glad Tidings Temple is (or was) a Pentecostal church--Glad Tidings possibly being the denomination. Reg Layzell, who introduces Doris and the choir, was born in England but came to Canada with his family in 1907, when he was three. He became pastor of the Temple in 1948. I'm guessing about 1963 for this LP.

These excellent tracks make for some lively Sunday morning gospel.
Doris Akers Directs Temple's Harvest Time Choir: Glad Tidings.

TRACKS

1. Introduction by Paster Reg Layzell
2. Standing on the Promises
3. We've Come This Far By Faith
4. Praise God, Hallelujah
5. My Expectation
6. Sweet Jesus (D. Akers)
7. Every Time I Feel the Spirit
8. I Felt the Spirit
9. I'll Be There
10. Joy, Great Joy, To My Soul

See ya next Sunday!


Lee