We often hear about the epicenters of early jazz: New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, and New York City. Here we find a delightful example of a peppy hot dance tune from the Twin Cities in Minnesota.
Arnold Frank led a dance orchestra at Roger’s Cafe which was located on Nicollet Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota. This excellent record was advertised by Okeh in an ad alongside three blues releases as “Dance music refreshed with beguiling syncopation” in the November 1927 issue of Talking Machine World.
Brian Rust’s “Jazz and Ragtime Records” noted that this song was recorded at the lavish Radisson Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, but this has been disputed and it is believed that the correct recording location is the Lowry Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota.
A “black maria” was slang for the paddy wagon that transported prisoners – either from where they were arrested to jail, or from jail to court. This tune by Fred Rose (who later became a notable songwriter in Nashville with Roy Acuff, penning songs for Hank Williams and Wanda Jackson, among others) was written in his Tin Pan Alley days in 1927. The lyrics (unheard in this instrumental version) find the narrator bemoaning his imminent arrest and relating anxious thoughts about the jail time he is facing.
Recorded at the Lowry Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 9, 1927.
Released as Okeh 40896 in October 1927.
Credits:
Arnold Frank – piano, director
Swanny Swenumsen – cornet
Stan Thompson – banjo
Russ Reed – drums
Unknown – trombone, clarinet, saxophones, tuba