More acoustical 78s for May, 2026: 1904/1905-1924: Wilbur C. Sweatman, Joseph C. Smith, Earl Fuller, Victor Military Band

 

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

Eddie Maynard, His Orchestra and Chorus: Fabulous 50's (Promenade 2084)--repost

musicman1979 requested a re-upload of this offering, which seemed like a good idea, and so here it is.  Originally posted in 2020, but with the original upload junked by Workupload some time ago.  This is a revised version of my original text.

This Promenade LP features an overview of the 1950s, credited to bandleader Eddie Maynard, but with no Eddie Maynard to be heard--the usual cheap-label game.  Well, unless that's Eddie on the cover, which I doubt.  For once, we have a budget LP model holding, not major-label LPs, but albums from the very budget label itself--smart move.

So, my job was to figure out where these tracks, reissued here in 1957 or 1958, originally came from.  And I knew this had to be 1957 or 1958 because the liner notes refer to the 50s as "not yet completed" and mention a "man made satellite" (Sputnik or Explorer?) as a new item.  From the notes: "(The 50's) are the years that saw a Republican Administration replace a long-incumbent Democratic one.  Progress in Atomic Research to such an extent that it might prevent us all from witnessing 'The Stupid Sixties.'  Atomic Research devoted to the ways of peace could however change our out-look on this approaching era to such an extent that certainly the 60's will be called 'Stupendous.'"  Interesting and weird liner notes, and at least Promenade provided something beyond a stock back cover.

Anyway, I figured these were all Prom/Promenade tracks (Homes-level deduction, there), and I was mostly correct.  The big exceptions: Because of You, sung by the famous Perry-Como-soundalike vocalist Johnny Kay, best known for his SPC Christmas tracks, and Cry (more on that second track in a moment).  From the Internet Archive:

Finding this was pure luck.  Since the singer sounded so much like Johnny Kay, I plugged "Johnny Kay" and "Because of You" into the IA, and up popped this.  And it's the LP track!  "Popular Records" (not to be confused with the "Popular" Extended Play Records series) was obviously either 1) a Synthetic Plastics Co. sublabel to begin with or 2) a label bought up by SPC after it tanked.  And there's Cry by Larry Foster with the Preston Saniford Orch., and originally issued on the obscure budget label, Cameo (Cameo Records 323).  And Cameo seems to have been in the same label group as Popular Records.

Why Promenade didn't use Loren Becker's version of Cry is a major mystery, and it should have us wondering whether maybe Columbia decided to threaten Prom over its deft copy of Johnny Ray and the Four Lads.  Could that be?  Columbia may have sent a nasty-gram threatening a day in civil court, and a lawsuit would certainly have sunk SPC's record division/laundry closet.  ("Your sound-alikes are sounding too alike.  Tread softly or we'll sink you.  Yours sincerely, Columbia Records.") 

The others are Prom, Promenade, and Waldorf label jobs, and I've done my best to track down the original artists, labels, and years, though there's a lot of guesswork on the release years.  Nevertheless, at worst, the recording dates would only be off by a year or, at the most, two.

Very good sound on this cheap-vinyl pressing, despite the usual loud hiss in the space between tracks (which I did my best to edit out).  But, despite the junk pressing, these tracks were reissued by Promenade without fake, "rechanneled" stereo or tons of reverb.  For that we can be thankful.





DOWNLOAD:  Eddie Maynard, His Orchestra and Chorus.zip


Here in My Heart--Loren Becker w. Enoch Light Orch. (Prom; 1952)
Because of You--Johnny Kay w. Milton Herbert Orch. (Popular Records)
Young Love--Larry Star (Promenade; 1957)
That's Amore--Artie Malvin w. Bobby Byrne Orch. (Prom; 1954?)
Make Love to Me--Betty Glenn w. Enoch Light Orch. (Waldorf, 1954?)
Till Then--Brigadiers Vocal Quartet, w. Prom Orch. (Prom; 1954)
Cry--Larry Foster w. Preston Sandiford Orch. (Cameo Records 45-323, 1951?)
Earth Angel--The Rockets, The Prom Orch. (Prom, 1955)
Outside of Heaven--Loren Becker, w. Enoch Light Orch. and Chorus (Prom; 1952?)
Jamaica Farewell--Jim Galdys, w. the Promenade Orch. and Chorus (Promenade; 1956)
Heartbreak Hotel--Bill Marine, Maury Laws Orch. and Chorus (Prom; 1956)


Fabulous Fifties, Eddie Maynard and His Orch. (not), Promenade 2084, late 1950s.

Lee

Acoustical 78s for May, 2026: 1907-1922 dance sides

 

This weekend, I found myself sound-restoring seventeen acoustical 78s, and I ended up with sixteen usable tracks.  The first two unusable tracks were strictly a matter of improper "normalizing"--I ripped the Original Dixieland Jass Band's Indiana and Darktown Strutters' Ball in a single track, and this turned out badly.  Reason being, the dynamic balance differs considerably between the two numbers.  So, I had to re-rip them separately, which worked for normalizing.

And I've discovered, based on this batch, that VinylStudio's auto-normalizing feature works perfectly approx. 80 percent of the time.  Otherwise, I have to manually adjust same, which is typically a quick and easy task.  Three of today's sixteen tracks ended up either too loud or too soft, but again the fix is short and simple.  My logical conclusion: Acoustical 78s were recorded at different peak volume levels.  Thus, when balancing the dynamic ranges, some rips will balance out of kilter with the other tracks.

These are some of my favorite pre-electric 78s, and I assembled these from a larger row of maybe 30 discs pulled from overflow rows.  Kentucky Kut Ups, from 1907, is a recent addition to my collection, and against logic this ragtime march has a strong "ragtime to jazz" vibe, though I'm not sure why.  It might be due to the overlapping notes and beats necessarily created by ragtime rhythms, but there's a definite hint of call-and-response.  No doubt, jazz existed in 1907, and this Henry Frantzen march might very well have been influenced by early Dixieland (before Dixieland officially arrived in recording studios).  And we have the Original Dixieland Jass (!) Band on Columbia, with two sides recorded following the group's initial success at the Victor label, and not before, as was commonly believed at one time.  The amazing Fuzzy Wuzzy Rag by (W.C.) Handy's band is early-jazz gold, in my opinion, despite being categorized (by Gunther Schuller, I believe) as a ragtime-not-jazz side.

I think--or at least hope--that the attitude toward early jazz has evolved beyond "It's either King Oliver or it's not jazz," but I can't be sure.  And Der Rote Domino (The Red Domino, aka The Clarinet Polka) is a cool 1915 recording of this famous number, and in a style not unlike its modern presentation, albeit slower in tempo.  This side was recorded by the Columbia Orchestra and then marketed to different ethnic groups, including German-Americans (as with this issue).

Note the "fade" at the end of Barkin' Dog, as recorded by (Ross) Gorman's Syncopators.  I'm guessing that the player simply stepped back from the recording horn, unless there was some volume-dampening tech available in the studio.  Gorman, of course, originated the famous clarinet glissando at the start of Rhapsody in Blue.  This was Gorman's "iconic" contribution therefor.  "Iconic" gets on my nerves, since it's a word which can mean just about anything--or nothing.  It's even less useful than "authentic" as an adjective.  

Anyway, enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: Acoustical 78s May 2026.zip

Indiana--Original Dixieland Jass Band, 5/31/1917--Take 3

Darktown Strutters' Ball--Same, Take 3

Kentucky Kut Ups--Arthur Pryor's Band, 9/13/1907

Cold Turkey--Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch., 6/1/1917

Slow and Easy--Louisiana Five Jazz Orchestra, 12/16/1919

Swanee--Columbia Dance Orch., Dir. Charles A. Prince, 1/27/1920

Dance It Again With Me--Art Hickman's Orchestra, 9/15/1919

The Red Lantern--Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orch., Dir. Joseph Knecht, 4/19/1919

Down Home Rag--Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch., 3/19/1918

I Ain't Got Nobody Much--Same

I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise (Gershwin, A: Grofe)--Paul Whiteman and His Orch., 9/1/1922

Fuzzy Wuzzy Rag--(W.C.) Handy's Orchestra, 9/21/1917--Take 3

Barkin' Dog--Gorman's Novelty Syncopators, 9/2/1919

"Oh" (Oh!)--Ted Lewis Jazz Band, V: Jack Kaufman, 12/9/1919

Der Rote Domino--Polka Mazurka--Columbia Orchestra, 1/11/1915

So Long, Oo-Long (How Long You Gonna Be Gone)--Raderman's Novelty Orch, 1920

Lee

Bill St. Clair Swings Stephen Foster Favorites in a New Fresh Manner (Parade, SP 327)

Steven Foster classics in swing time: Bill St. Clair and the Eddie Maynard Orchestra beautifully manage this goal.  It helps when the songs are terrific, the vocalist is excellent, and the arrangements spot on.  This LP is a wonderful surprise--way above the norm for Parade.

However, as we congratulate Bill St. Clair and the Eddie Maynard Orch., I think it's fair to ask... do or did either of those persons exist?  Under those names, I mean?

Let's look at the evidence: This LP also showed up on Spinorama, Palace, Coronet, and Riviera.  Here, the orchestra is credited to Eddie Maynard, but elsewhere it's assigned to Fontanna, Mark Andrews, David Bruce, and... artist-unknown.  And, on Coronet, Bill becomes Dick Neilson.  The Fontanna version (on Palace), gives no vocal credit at all, though at least it's in stereo.  And had I known it was the same album, I'd have gone for it (because of the stereo), but the Parade monaural audio is nice enough--after I fixed it up, that is.

Bill, or Dick, or whomever, has a marvelous voice, and the Stephen-Foster-in-Swing-Time theme is beautifully managed, but we really have no reason to believe this singer is, in factual reality, named Bill St. Clair.  In fact, at my fake-hits YT channel, I have a Bill St. "Claire" on Big 4 Hits singing "Shake Rattle and Roll," and it doesn't sound like the same guy.  As for Eddie Maynard, he was a name-drop bandleader at SPC, Spinorama, and Parade.  A fill-in-the-credit bandleader.  

To be fair , Bill and Eddie ("Bill and Eddie"?) also put out an LP on Promenade called Let's Be Frank, on which Bill (or whoever he is) does a decent job imitating Frank Sinatra.  This might compel us to believe that Bill St. Clair was the singer's real name, but there's the problem of the many different credits for these Stephen Foster tracks.  And there's the problem that Bill seems to have done nothing outside of the rack-jobber realm.  Nobody said rack-jobber detective work was easy...

Anyway, according to the liner notes, "This is a great unique album and will provide many hours of listening enjoyment."  (If put it on repeat play, I guess...)  "Bill has a tremendously great voice," the notes continue, and Bill is a singer "from the Boston area who has his own TV and radio shows."  Except, I can find no online confirmation of same, and Google's AI can't, either.  No TV or radio shows on file for one Bill St. Clair.  Still, this is a superior budget-album experience--fine vocalist, spot-on arrangements, and great American tunes.  Hats off to Bill, Dick, Fontanna, Artist Unknown, and everyone else involved.

DOWNLOAD: Bill St. Clair Swings Stephen Foster Favorites in a New Fresh Manner.zip FLAC

Beautiful Dreamer

I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair

Nellie Bly

Old Dog Trey

Ring Ring de Banjo

Old Folks at Home

My Old Kentucky Home

Gentle Annie

Oh Susannah

Hard Times

Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming

Camptown Races

Lee

Repost: Society Favorites (That Are Our Favorites)--(Royale VLP 6042)

I'd featured this LP in 2017, and the Zippylink upload is long gone.  So, I've re-re-ripped this excellent but junkily-pressed LP in the best audio I can manage, and the sound is acceptable, save for a "wow"-filled Body and Soul and a "Twilight Three" track clearly remastered from a worn master.  I did a good deal of de-noising on the latter.

Royale, you'll recall, belonged to Elliott Everett "Eli" Oberstein, whose labels were probably the cheapest of the cheap, though I hesitate to make a claim that cheap--I mean, that large.  As is not infrequently the case with Eli, the music here is quite decent--much better than the second-rate vinyl it was pressed on.  Best of the bunch are the marvelous pre-RCA and Columbia Percy Faith sides, which date from the 1947 (orig. on the Majestic label).

Vintage easy listening which can't be beat, despite the Oberstein-quality reissue.  And can we assume that Society Favorites (That Are Our Favorites) was followed by Society Favorites (That Aren't Our Favorites)?


DOWNLOAD: Society Favorites Royale.zip mp3

                           Society Favorites (Royale) FLAC.zip

Body and Soul--Stevens Orchestra
Sweet and Lovely--Nat Brandwynne and Orchestra
Dancing in the Dark--Percy Faith and Orchestra
You and the Night and the Music--The Twilight Three
I Cover the Waterfront--Stevens Orchestra
I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plans--Chauncey Gray and Orchestra
That Old Black Magic--Percy Faith and Orchestra
The Continental--Jerry Wald and Orchestra

Society Favorites (That Are Our Favorites)--Royale VLP 6042 (10")

Lee