Continuing with this week’s theme of jazzy dance bands on electric Brunswick, we have a somewhat scarce disc from the short-lived Roy Ingraham orchestra.
Edward Roy Ingraham was the younger brother of Bert Ingraham, the very early 20th century composer of popular tunes who tragically died in 1910 at the age of twenty seven. Roy followed in his brother’s footsteps, both as a performer and composer, and around this time was conducting the orchestra at the newly constructed Paramount Hotel on 46th St in NYC. The grill room at the Paramount had a 19-foot ceiling and room for 850 dancers.
Roy only recorded three discs for Brunswick in 1929 and this tune is from his first session. He then got into composing for film and then got into radio broadcasting. He lived to the ripe old age of 93 and died in 1988 in Los Angeles.
“Me and the Clock (Tick-i-ty Tock and You)” is a pleasant tune with jazzy solos throughout. Not sure why this one didn’t make the cut in Rust’s seminal “Jazz and Ragtime Records” discography. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of information on personnel. Ingraham himself was said to be the vocalist. Highlights include:
0:00 Intro / Vocal
0:43 Trumpet solo
1:02 Piano solo
1:12 Trumpet solo
1:23 Ensemble
2:09 Trombone solo
2:30 Ensemble
This disc is quite clean, but had some strange heat marks on one side that caused warpage. I had to record this at 16 rpm to prevent the cartridge from jumping out of the grooves. Even so – I suspect perhaps the grooves had been also damaged by a dull steel needle, as you can hear some blasting distortion on louder transients throughout.
Recorded in New York City in May 1929.
Released as Brunswick 4366.
Credits:
Roy Ingraham – director
Instrumentation and personnel unknown.