Apologies in advance for the rough start at the beginning – I think someone tried to play this record with a rusty nail! I lowered the volume a bit at the start so as not to cause undue alarm. It cleans up after a few seconds and after that is fine. Thankfully these laminated Harmony records hold up pretty well.
Found this one while carefully digging through the vast bins of 78s at Vintage Music Company in Minneapolis. Didn’t recognize the artist but knew it was going to be good! I really love Glascoe’s delightful playing on this disc, joyfully scampering around and never losing steam. There are a few moments of expressionistic gas pipe squeals and stutters that may unhinge the haters, but most of the playing here is fairly straightforward.
Fowler keeps right up, providing the swingin’ rhythmic drive that propels the clarinet solos forward. Aiding the rhythm section, an unidentified percussionist keeps a steady backbeat.
Percy Glascoe only put out two records as a soloist (both with Lem Fowler accompaniment) in the summer of 1925. He recorded a few records with Lem Fowler’s Washboard Wonders in 1925-26 and also one record as part of the Jim Dandies in late 1925.
It would seem Mr. Glascoe fell off the map after 1926 – though newspaper articles place him in Baltimore in 1930 leading a band called “Percy Glascoe’s Plantation Orchestra”. A Baltimore Sun article notes that in a “battle of the bands” event “Percy’s outfit went out with a blare of brass that nearly knocked down music racks. He blasted away with full might.”
Recorded in New York City on August 8, 1925.
Released as Harmony 8-H.
Live West of the Rockies? That’s an extra five cents for you, buddy.
Credits:
Percy Glascoe – clarinet
Lemuel Fowler – piano
Richard Ward – drums
There’s a nice writeup on Percy Glascoe and a curious analysis of the song form of this tune at:
https://www.pointofdeparture.org/archives/PoD-58/PoD58FickleSonance.html
Read the 1930 Baltimore Sun account of Percy Glascoe’s band:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-percy-glascoe-armistic/29397382/
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