The Red Onion Jazz Babies, a studio supergroup organized by Clarence Williams, recorded “Cake Walking Babies From Home” for Gennett in late December of 1924. The group included both Louis and Lil Armstrong along with Sidney Bechet. The Gennett side is an excellent example of New Orleans-style ensemble playing coupled with what amounted to a cutting contest between the dueling Satch and Bechet (most seem to agree on the Gennett version, Bechet gets the better of young Armstrong).
Remarkably, a second version of this tune was recorded in an Okeh session about two weeks after the Gennett version with a largely unchanged lineup – with Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Banjo player Buddy Christian, and trombonist Charlie Irvis all reprising their roles from the “Jazz Babies” session. Clarence Williams (who co-wrote the song) replaced Lil Armstrong on piano, and his wife Eva Taylor took lead vocals. This version is really quite remarkable – both for the strong vocal performance and hearing Louis Armstrong come into his own as a force of nature in real-time.
I’d describe it for you, but an outstanding play-by-play account of the two versions of “Cake Walkin’ Babies” has already been written in 2010 by authoritative Armstrong historian Ricky Riccardi. It’s a great read and can be found at:
https://dippermouth.blogspot.com/2015/01/90-years-of-clarence-williams-blues.html
I was fortunate enough to obtain this V copy for a shockingly reasonable amount at a poorly attended virtual auction last year that was selling the estate of a Los Angeles collector. The sleeve of this record noted that it came from the “Izumi Kinosita collection” – and it appears from its label markings to be the same copy that was sold by a Japanese seller in November of 2016 on eBay.
Please pardon the noisy rough start – it smooths out after 15-20 seconds. By the time we get to the solos immediately following the vocals, it’s playing quite clean.
0:00 Intro
0:40 B Section
0:55 Vocals (Eva Taylor)
1:34 Cutting Contest (Bechet v. Armstrong)
Recorded on January 8, 1925 in New York City.
Released as Okeh 40321.
Credits
Louis Armstrong – cornet
Sidney Bechet – soprano sax
Charlie Irvis – trombone
Clarence Williams – piano
Buddy Christian – banjo
Eva Taylor – vocals
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