A bit of a mystery record that I found in rough shape – but one worth giving a listen if only to hear the inspired saxophone solo starting at 0:44, which to my ears sounds quite thrillingly modern for its time – quite wild and unruly for a dance band record! The bouncy pianist was on quite a roll too – and delivers a solo of interest around 2:06. I went down a rabbit-hole trying to discover the identity of this orchestra – which might then lead to the identity of this saxophonist and pianist.
Up for an mystery? Read on.
The Challenge label (1927-1931) was considered the budget label of the budget Silvertone label pressed from masters made by other labels and sold by Sears and Roebuck for a mere 24 cents apiece. It has been said that the price of their records was low because recordings on the Challenge label often did not require royalty payments to be made. Artists on the Challenge label generally were (seemingly randomly) renamed with pseudonyms – which make them difficult to track down.
The band name “Roth’s Gang” appeared on several Challenge sides, including the flip side of this record, “A Shady Tree”, which has a matching matrix (7482-2) to a Sam Lanin recording from August 31, 1927. However, the recording Lanin made of “Miss Annabelle Lee” on August 8, 1927 does not match the matrix of this version. I have the Lanin version on the Lincoln label – and it is most certainly not this recording.
My next guess was Nathan Glantz – as some of his saxophone work has certainly surprised me in the past. Indeed, he recorded this tune with his orchestra on July 8, 1927 and it appeared domestically on the Banner, Domino, Regal, and Silvertone labels. However, that recording was under the matrix 7385. On the runout of this Challenge record it shows a matrix of 31167-1, which does not match. Additionally, listening to the Glantz record – it does not sound at all like this version.
I also struck out listening to versions by Ben Bernie, Ben Selvin (as The Knickerbockers), Ted Weems, Frank Farrell and his Greenwich Village Inn Orchestra, and Justin Ring – all polished versions but missing the raw intensity that the saxophone solo gave this one.
Hotter versions by London’s George Fisher and his Kit Kat Band and the California Ramblers also ended up not matching – either in matrix number or sound.
After about an hour of combing through various discographies, I found that this recording was also issued under the same matrix under the name “Imperial Orchestra” by the Bell label in mid-1927 (as Bell 528). Bell records – whieh were sold at W.T. Grant dime stores – did not have its own studio at this time and pressed masters from Emerson recordings – so this was finally a step in the right direction.
In the Emerson discography by Allan Sutton I finally found this matrix listed as being from Consolidated Record Corporation masters. Consolidated continued to produce masters for Bell and other labels even after the Emerson label ceased to be in June of 1927. This arrangement lasted until December of 1927, when W.T. Grant dropped the Bell label entirely in favor of the Diva label, produced by Columbia. This places the production of this side as occurring sometime between May and December of 1927.
Unfortunately, this matrix is listed in the Emerson discography as being recorded by an “unknown dance orchestra”. It notes that many “unknown orchestras” were attributed in various discographies to Fred Hall’s Orchestra – since he was Consolidated’s musical director starting in January of 1926. Although there is no real evidence that this is the case, it would seem this could be a situation not unlike the various Grey Gull studio bands that were made up of ad hoc combinations of players led by Mike Mosiello and Andy Sannella.
However – as many astute viewers have pointed out, immediately following this matrix is a tune by the Johnny Johnson band that also includes a vocal trio. Listening to that session, I’m now convinced this is Johnny Johnson and his Club Mirador Orchestra.
When making this transfer, I initially thought the record itself must have been fairly beat up, as there was some shrill distortion present that I had to work hard to tame. The distortion seemed most noticeable on loud transients and the vocal passage – which sounds quite nasally even by 20s standards. If this was recorded at Emerson in mid-1927, it likely was recorded using Emerson’s “Electrosonic” process – which is noted in the Emerson discography as being a “distortion-prone electrical process of unknown origin.” So perhaps the record condition is not totally at fault here.
Released as Challenge 747 (mx. 31167-1) and Bell 528.
Credits (based on instrumentation deduced by ear):
Unknown artists – trumpet (2), alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, piano, tuba, drums, vocal trio