Twenty-one acoustical gems to go with the previously-posted I've returned to a previous response curve and EQ (the one I was utilizing on my older editing program) after using a "safe" and easy acoustic(al) bass turnover for much of this year. The goal of this curve and EQ combination is to bring out (in a dynamically-balanced way) the lowest available frequencies in these already limited-freq. recordings for a full-bodied sound. I want the audio to have punch, and especially on sides of the very early 1900s.
Hiss suppression is a secondary--not principal--goal, and when we "maximize" the usable content, the upper-end hiss becomes less of a challenge to deal with, anyway.
Some of these have seen the light of blog before, but most likely in uploads which no longer exist in storage!
F.H. Losey's Noisy Bill is a "characteristic" march of 1904, with superb ragtime syncopation. My Oxford 78 is a 10-inch reissue of a 7-inch Columbia (though, oddly enough, DAHR lists the Oxford as a 7-incher), and I'm happy with the way that the slide trombone and percussion stand out. This side has some extra hiss, which I figure to be in the pressing itself, as opposed to a result of needle wear. Then we just forward to 1909 with Prince's Orch.'s outstanding handling of the famous Black and White Rag (George Botsford, 1908). Though another Columbia reissue on the Oxford label, its fidelity is full and "bassy." Then to 1917 and Victor and Joseph C. Smith: The lively one-step Umbrellas to Mend, the lower end of which I managed to capture fairly capably. Then, a robust 1918 one-step, Arabian Nights, as superbly presented by Joseph Knecht's Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra. Two classic Wilbur C. Sweatman sides follow from the same year, starting with the downright frantic Those Draftin' Blues, which initially sounded like a wild competition between the bandmembers but, after several more listens, comes across like highly-skilled Dixieland. And I'm guessing that Lucille employs a banjo harp.
Earl Fuller's remarkable 1917 Pork and Beans has seen a CD reissue, though this is my rip--and I'm not aware of any professional release of Fuller's Singapore (1918), which is possibly my favorite Fuller side. I much prefer Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch. on Columbia to Fuller's Victor "jazz" releases--and, ironically, the Columbias (to my ears) ultimately sound more like jazz, even though not marketed as such. Marketing frequently only tells part of the story--and, sometimes, a false one. The deceptively repetitious Singapore features varied (improvised) trombone phrases, interesting bass (bowed double bass, given that Brian Rust list a string bass and not a tuba?), and other subtly altered details which have this superbly syncopated fox trot chugging along in the best streamlined fashion. As in Dixieland, the cornet is the linchpin instrument, even if the player (whoever he is) doesn't budge from the melody. Maybe the finest ragtime-to-jazz example ever pressed onto shellac. It's like a slowed-down Original Dixieland Jazz Band offering, minus most of that group's flourishes.
Applesauce is an unusually lively 1923 number by The Columbians, and the Victor Military Band's 1916 Katinka medley offers much Victor-label bass, and--like so many of this group's 1910s recordings, it anticipates the dance-band sound to become the 78-rpm norm with Joseph C. Smith, Sam Lanin, et al. The two other sides by the VMB--Peg O' My Heart and Pullman Porters on Parade--are similarly forward-looking. Allah's Land, by contrast, is very much of its day (1919) but all the more charming as such. Bandleader Dullio Sherbo was quoted in a contemporary newspaper piece not singing the praises of jazz music, and yet here we have a fine example of what was, for its day, orchestrated jazz. That is, "written-down" jazz (which many jazz buffs don't regard as jazz, despite the importance of jazz scoring throughout the music's history), and closer to ragtime than jazz, probably, but jazzy enough. Maybe "jazz-ish" is the word.
Two more excellent Joseph C. Smith sides, plus the Don Richardson (bandleader, songwriter, and country fiddle player) composition Hezekiah (quite aggressive ragtime), and 1906 ragtime banjo picking by the great Vess L. Ossman, performing Neil Moret's (aka, Charles Neil Daniels) classic Silver Heels. Jump ahead five years, and it's the brilliant Victor Military Band with a big-band-before-big-band-sounding Alexander's Ragtime Band. My copy is a little choppy, but it's a full-sounding Victor waxing. Oh! By Jingo is a famous Albert Von Tilzer one-step, irresistibly rendered by (Sam) Lanin's Roseland Band in 1919, the year of its composition.
We close with the catchy "Oriental" fox-trot Suez, composed by Ferde Grofe and Peter De Rose, and a very lovely version of Tea for Two by the Benson Orchestra of Chicago, directed by Don Bestor on 8/28/1924. Interesting to hear a tune co-written by Grofe presented in classic Grofe/Whiteman fashion. It seems fitting.
Note: None of the Joseph C. Smith sides in this list appear on the terrific Archeophone two-CD Smith reissue.
DOWNLOAD: More Acoustical 78s for May 2026.zip
Noisy Bill--Columbia Band, 1904-1905
Black and White Rag (Botsford)--Prince's Orch., Jan.-July, 1909
Umbrellas to Mend--One-Step--Joseph C. Smith's Orch., 9/17/1917
Arabian Nights--One-Step--Joseph Knecht's Waldorf-Astoria Orch., 11/29/1918
Those Draftin' Blues--Wilbur C. Sweatman's Original Jazz Band, 8/16/1918
Lucille--Same, 3/19/1919
Pork and Beans--Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch., 7/19/1917
Apple Sauce--The Columbians--Dance Orchestra De Lux, 2/3/1923
Katinka--Medley--Victor Military Band, c. Edward T. King, 11/26/1916
Allah's Land--(Dullio) Sherbo's Orchestra, 7/18/1919
Oriental Stars--One-Step--Joseph C. Smith's Orchestra
Alexandria--Same
Hezekiah--One-Step (Richardson)--Conway's Band, Dir. Patrick Conway, 9/20/1915
Silver Heels (Moret)--Vess L. Ossman, Banjo with Orch., 1/26/1906
Alexander's Ragtime Band--Victor Military Band, 10/17/1911
Singapore--Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch., 12/10/1918
Oh! By Jingo--One-Step (Von Tilzer)--(Sam) Lanin's Roseland Orch., 4/28/1920
Peg O' My Heart--One-Step--Victor Military Band, c. Walter B. Rogers, 11/6/1913
Pullman Porters on Parade--Same, 10/9/1913
Suez (Grofe, De Rose)--(Mike) Markel's Orchestra (May, 1922)
Tea for Two--The Benson Orch. of Chicago, Dir. Don Bestor, 8/28/1924
Lee
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