A snappy number written by pianist Seger Ellis first recorded by Tram and his band in 1929 – just two days before Tram and the entire Paul Whiteman Orchestra – including musicians, vocalists, arrangers, and electricians – boarded the Old Gold Special Train headed for Hollywood to film “The King of Jazz”.
On the way out West, the band stopped in city after city, recording special radio programs in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleaveland, Toledo, Detroit, Fort Wayne, Chicago, Springfield, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Lincoln, Denver, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco before settling in to Los Angeles to start filming on June 28.
Recorded in New York City on May 22, 1929. Released in the U.K. as Parlophone R 511. Originally released in the U.S. as OKeh 41268.
Credits: Frank Trumbauer – C-melody sax, alto sax, director Charlie Margulis, Andy Secrest – cornet Bill Rank – trombone Chester Hazlett – alto sax Irving “Izzy” Friedman – clarinet, tenor sax Min Leibrook – bass sax Joe Venuti – violin Roy Bargy – piano Eddie Lang – guitar George Marsh – drums
Do Doodle Oom is a very interesting acoustic recording of the early Henderson orchestra only about a month after Coleman Hawkins joined the group. Henderson said that he found Hawkins playing with Wilbur Sweatman’s band at Connie’s Inn, after having returned from a gig playing with Mamie Smith’s Jazz Hounds out West.
This tune was first recorded by the Henderson band for the Vocalion label in early August of 1923 as “Do Doodle Oom”. Recorded a month later for Columbia, the label misspelled the song title as “Do Doddle Oom”.
Elmer Chambers’ cornet leads us through the intro of this Porter Grainger and Henderson co-composition. At 1:13 Don Redman’s clarinet and Coleman Hawkin’s sax take over – trading riffs in a kind of call and response. At 1:55 the song takes a dramatic left turn – the beat picks up and Hawk’s baritone sax drives the rhythm section into a frenzied funk.
Details
Recorded in New York City on Thursday, September 13, 1923. Released as Columbia A3995.
Credits
Fletcher Henderson – piano, director Elmer Chambers – cornet Teddy Nixon – trombone Don Redman – clarinet, alto sax Coleman Hawkins – clarinet, tenor sax, baritone or bass sax Charlie Dixon – banjo Kaiser Marshall – drums
Another excellent Grey Gull track – from a decent Globe label copy on red shellac.
Personnel on this one were hard to track down, but thanks to Javier Soria Laso – found that this was actually the Emerson Studio band directed by Paul Bolognese!
He writes: “It’s also part of the same session on which they also recorded “What Name Is Sweeter Than Sweetheart” (Consolidated Record Corporation matrix 3766 with take A), “That Certain Party” (Consolidated Record Corporation matrix 3767 with takes A and B renumbered on Emerson 3019 as Emerson matrix 43036 with takes 1 and 2) and “You’ve Got To Say What I Mean” (Consolidated Record Corporation matrix 3768).”
Hats off to Javier for this great information!
Emerson Recording Laboratories began licensing its masters to Grey Gull and other chain stores starting in the spring of 1924. It then started recording new masters to order to its clients. So this was recorded in Emerson’s studio (formerly the Federal studio) in November 1925. It does not appear that it was ever released on the Emerson label – and does not appear in the Emerson discography – so it seems likely that this may have been a recording that was commissioned to be sold/licensed directly to Grey Gull.
In January, 1926 – shortly after this recording was made – Musical Director Bolognese left Emerson and moved to Grey Gull, where he helped them start their own recording studio. This led to the end of business relationship between Emerson (then known as Consolidated Recording Corporation) beyond the occasional licensing of masters here and there.
It makes sense then, that many of the mainstays of the Grey Gull studio band would be featured on this Emerson recording directed by Paul Bolognese – as they likely followed him when he started at Grey Gull.
Some great playing on this one! Lots of saxophone warbling and a growly wah trumpet solo starting at 1:17 by Mike Mosiello.
Recorded circa November, 1925. Released as Globe 8024. This recording also appears on Grey Gull 1314 and Globe 1314.
Credits: Paul Bolognese – violin, director Mike Mosiello – trumpet Eph Hannaford – trombone Larry Abbott – alto sax, soprano sax, clarinet John Cali – banjo
Sources: Emerson Records – The Complete Discography (1915-1928) by Allan Sutton, Mainspring Press Javier Soria Laso – conversation on 4/4/2026
Probably one of the most beautiful label designs in my collection – here we have a recording on the Lotus label, short-lived Indian label on the The Diamond Record Company of Bombay. Records on this label were manufactured by the National Gramophone Record Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Recordings for this label were made electrically, so the sound quality is quite good. Pressing and shellac also appear to be very good quality. The label ceased operations in 1942.
The title on the A side “તોયે તમી હસી લ્યો” seems to be an encouragement to laugh/smile, despite something bittersweet that may have occurred.
The title on the B side “સહન કંધ કરતાં લીજો” seems to be a kindly request to please continue to carry a burden and endure a weight on your shoulders.
At 78 rpm, the disc sounded slightly sped up and did not cleanly correspond to a key that a harmonium of the time would have reproduced. At a little under 76 rpm, the disc centered on a Sa corresponding to Eb, which seemed to sound most natural and made the most sense. The slightly slower tempo also seemed to complement the nature of the meditative performance and poetic lyrical themes.
Last week I found this copy in the wild in a hoard of postwar pop. Tons of RCA Victors, red Columbias, black Deccas and Capitols – and then this! It’s so clean that I ended up not even running a declicking filter on it.
Cliff Jackson and his Krazy Kats recorded a number of HOT tunes for Grey Gull over the course of two months in early 1930, including the more well known “Horse Feathers” and “The Terror”. They also recorded some dance band numbers – including a waltz! I love this as it shows that working orchestras of the time had to be versatile in their repertoire to satisfy dancing audiences.
This tune was recorded in a marathon session in late February – where 12 matrices were cut resulting in 10 sides – all released on Grey Gull and on sister labels Radiex and Van Dyke. Most discs were credited to “Marvin Smolev and his Syncopators” but Van Dyke labels listed the band as “Newport Syncopators”.
Marvin Smolev was actually the songwriter of this tune – a fox trot ballad published in 1927 by himself and Berne Seaman. Not sure how the songwriter’s name became the psuedonym for the Krazy Kats, but Grey Gull worked in mysterious ways.
Here, it begins as an jaunty upbeat dance number – with some solo melodies performed that stick very close to the source material. That said, the arrangement and energy of the band is chef’s kiss. 👩🏻🍳😘🤌
Recorded in New York City on February 27, 1930. Released as Van Dyke 81851, Grey Gull 1851, and Radiex 947.
Credits: Cliff Jackson – piano, director Melvin Herbert, Henry Goodwin – trumpet Noisy Richardson – trombone Rudy Powell – clarinet, alto sax Earl Evans – alto sax Horace Langhorn – tenor sax Andy Jackson – banjo Chester Campbell – tuba Percy Johnson – drums
Despite the jazzy sounding name referencing the famous dance and the famous composition “Black Bottom Stomp” by Jelly Roll Morton, most of this tune feels like a marching band composition or college football team anthem. Boola Boola!
Recorded in New York City circa July 1926. Released as Grey Gull 8109, Radiex 8109, and Madison 1613 (as “Black Bottom Strut” by Southern Melody Makers).
Credits: Probably the Grey Gull Studio Band led by Mike Mosiello?
Francis Humplick was a Tanzanian guitarist, singer, and songwriter who recorded extensively in the late 1950s for African labels such as Gallotone, Troubadour, and His Master’s Voice.
Humplick’s gentle fingerstyle guitar technique and his almost conversational singing style are distinctive and immediately endearing. His two sisters Mary and Thecla provided lovely vocal harmonies and background vocals.
Not much is known about this beautiful song delivered in Chaga.
Gonna post some dime store titles this coming week for a friend.
This one has been posted online before – but at 78 rpm it seemed off-pitch to my ears. This one is a Mosiello original composition – probably sold directly to the label – so no sheet music exists to get a key reference from.
Had to increase speed to about 80.5 rpm – or drop down to 76.5 rpm for it to lock into a pitch. The higher speed sounded more correct – but see what you think. I could be wrong. I was pitching to Mosiello’s initial trumpet phrase starting around 0:06.
All of that technical esoterica out of the way – we’ve got ourselves a jaunty tune by what is often called the Grey Gull Studio Band. A pleasant number with the added interest that it contains both a violin AND an accordion solo. At 1:29 an alto sax solo by Andy Sannella feels like a chase scene and – I nearly forgot to mention – a lovely cameo xylophone solo by George Hamilton Green. All in all – a lovely arrangement by Mosiello and crew with some very elegant “chamber jazz” moments.
Recorded in New York City circa May-June, 1929. Released as Madison 5063 and Van Dyke 914.
Credits: Mike Mosiello – trumpet, songwriter Charlie Butterfield or Tommy Dorsey – trombone Andy Sannella – clarinet, alto sax Al Duffy (?) – violin Frank Banta – piano Charlie Magnante – accordion John Cali (?) – banjo George Hamilton Green, Joe Green – drums, xylophone
Well, it’s my birthday today so I decided to pick something to cheer me up amidst all the chaos in the world caused by the evil that men do.
So here is a Congolese rumba record that is sure to brighten your day featuring Franco, the “guitarist who makes the hearst of women spin”, and accompanied by the renowned O.K. Jazz. Originally released on the Loningisa label, this reissue on the HMV label is a good example of the many excellent titles from the Loningisa catalog that the LON series made available.
The title roughly translates to “Has love turned into suffering?”.
At the end of 1956, O.K. Jazz member Henri Bowane had left the Loningisa label “feeling neglected”, and in January of 1957, he poached O.K. Jazz members Jean Serge Essous and Philippe “Rossignol” Lando, who represented a third of the band, to the rival Esengo label. The remaining members of O.K. Jazz regrouped around guitarist Franco, who also composed many of the group’s songs.
Recorded in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo on June 21, 1957. Released as His Master’s Voice LON 1037. Originally released as Loningisa No. 182.
Credits: Franco (François Engbondu) – guitar Vicky Longomba, Edo Ganga – vocals Brazzos – guitar De La Lune – bass Célestin Kouka – maracas Nicolas “Dessoin” Bosuma – drums
Source: Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos by Gary Stewart
Can’t remember how this British disc early in The Winner label’s catalog made it into the collection – probably part of a larger lot. I tend to hold on to interesting discs like this. Reminds me a bit of something the EMGColonel might play (R.I.P.).
I’d dedicate it to my dear departed grandmother, Kathryn Rooney, but she likely would have disapproved of such cantankerous carrying on. She once sang in the choir for Pope John Paul II when he visited Des Moines in 1979. I recently found out my grandfather converted to Catholicism to marry her, so that gives you an idea of the radiant power of an Irish lass.
Me, I love the whooping and hollering during the tune. These fellas were having a grand time while recording this one!
Released as The Winner 2028 circa 1912 – at the twilight of the Edwardian era and the eve of the Great War.
In any case, this one is suitable for playing on loop at St. Patrick’s Day dance parties.
