1929: Syd Valentine and His Patent Leather Kids recorded “Patent Leather Stomp” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 15883, Gennett 7026, Superior 2692, and Supertone 9686. The recording featured Syd Valentine (c), Slick Helms (p), and Paul George (bjo). A Champion royalty accounting to John E. Guernsey noted sales of approx. 2,000 copies between 1929 and 1932.
1929: Howard Thomas Orchestra recorded “Piccolo Pete” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6998, Champion 15840 (~1,800 copies sold), and Supertone 9575.
1924: Bailey’s Dixie Dudes recorded “I’m Satisfied” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5577 and Starr Gennett 9596. The band featured Bill Moore (c), Bobby Davis (as/cl), Irving Brodsky (p), Tommy Felline (bjo), Stan King (d/kazoo), and Adrian Rollini (goofus).
1924: Frank Quinn recorded “The Flogging Reel” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5567, Starr-Gennett 9599, and O’Byrne DeWitt 39029 and featured Frank Quinn (f) and Ed Georghegan (pn).
1925: Fiddlin Doc Roberts and Edgar Boaz recorded “Martha Campbell” in Richmond. The recording appeared on Gennett 3152. The Gennett ledger book had a “W” written next to these sessions, which probably indicated that engineer Ezra Wickemeyer and the recording staff were beginning to use the Westrex Electric recording process.
1926: Harry Pollock’s Club Maurice Diamonds recorded “Sunday” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3388, Champion 15173 (2,955 copies sold), Herschel Gold Seal 2008, Aco G-16142, Challenge 114, and Beltona 1132 and featured Arthur Ball (vox).
1929: The Tin Pan Paraders recorded “I Gotta Have You” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 7012, Champion 15838 (1,394 copies sold), and Supertone 9544 and featured Arthur Fields (vox).
1935: The sound effects team recorded a series of Harbor Noises featuring whistles, tug boats, etc. These recordings appeared on Gennett Sound Effects 1185. Not sure if this was the source of the famous Life Buoy commercial that used a Gennett Sound Effect for the tug boat horn to declare someone had “Beeeee – Ohhhh” that also became the mainstay sound in films and cartoons.
1925: Fess Williams & His Royal Flush Orchestra recorded “Green River Blues” in NYC. The recording appeared on Gennett 3182 and featured George Temple (c), David “Jelly” James (tb), Fess Williams (as/cl), Perry Smith (ts/cl), Ollie Blackwell (bjo), and Ralph Bedell (d).
1927: Frank Cloutier and his Victoria Cafe Orchestra recorded “Moonshiner’s Dance, Part One” in St. Paul. It appeared on Gennett 6305. Harry Smith included this track to close out his dance record on the landmark Anthology of American Folk Music.
1928: Horsey’s Hot Five recorded “Weeping Blues” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6722 and featured Mabel Horsey (pn).
1929: Billy Milton and his One Man Band recorded “The Old Fashioned Square Dance” in St. Paul. It appeared on Gennett 6318 and Challenge 407 and featured Milton (v, h, & g).
1930: Hack’s String Band recorded “Kentucky Plow Boy” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16292 (sold 422 copies) and Superior 2536 and featured Bill Brown (g), Charles Underwood (g), Gene Garrett (bs), Walter Cobb (bjo), Cricket Garrett (f), James Brown (f), Slats Bethel (mdl).
Sometime in September in Gennett History, 1916: Louise and Ferera recorded “Hawaii Waltz” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 7524 and Starr 7524 and featured Helen Louise (g/u) and Frank Ferera (g/u).
1923: Wendell Hall recorded “Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5271 and Starr-Gennett 9454.
1928: Alberta Jones recorded “Wild Geese Blues” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6642 and Champion 15635 (683 copies sold in ’28 & ’29) and featured Jones (vox) and most likely Horsey’s Hot Shots as her backing band.
1928: Ruby Gowdy recorded “Florida Flood Blues” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6708, Champion 15613, and Conquerer 7265 & 9265 and featured Gowdy (vox) and Horsey’s Hotshots with Mabel Horsey (pn).
1920: Tommie Bradley and James Cole recorded “Where You Been So Long?” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16782, Superior 2555, and Varsity 6054 and featured Bradley (v & g), Cole (v & f), Eddie Dimmitt (md), and unknown (as/cl).
1929: Dobby Bragg recorded “Fire Detective Blues” in Richmond. It appeared on Paramount 12827 and Steiner Davis 108. Dobby Bragg was a pseudonym for Roosevelt Sykes (v & p).
1930: Byrd Moore and Jess Johnson recorded “Killin’ Time” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16469 and Superior 2539 and featured Moore (v & g) and Johnson (v & f). The Champion issue sold 213 copies in ’32 and ’33.
1924: Aileen Stanley recorded “I’m in Love with the Prince of Wales” and “Me and the Boy Friend” in NYC. They appeared on Gennett 5559. Stanley, a Vaudeville veteran, was one of the most popular vocalists of the 1920s and recorded blues songs for Black Swan under a pseudonym. Ironically, reportedly “she introduced Wallis Simpson to Edward, Prince of Wales, at the home of Thelma, Lady Furness.”
1929: the Carolina Gospel Singers recorded “Jesus Paid It All” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 7023, Champion 15856 (sold over 3,500 copies) & 45177, and Superior 2673. Gennett sent royalties to J. H. Parham.
1935: Harry Gennett Jr and the Sound Effects team recorded “Night Noises (Katy-dids, Crickets, etc. Frogs in B.G.” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett Sound Effects 1182.
1935: Ken Card recorded “The Last Flight of Wiley Post” and “Will Rogers, Your Friend and Mine” in NYC. Both recordings appeared on Champion 45148. Both songs paid tribute to these two men, an aviator and an American humorist, who died in a plane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska in 1935. Here is a news reel about these two men and their fated flight.
1924: Whistler’s Jug Band recorded “Jerry O’ Mine” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 5554 and Silvertone 4037. The recording featured Willie Black (bjo), B.D. Tite (jug) and ‘Whistler’ (g). In the Blues & Gospel discography, Dixon, Godrich, and Rye note “the artists real name is Buford Threlkeld.”
1925: Nathan Glantz and his Orchestra recorded “Let Us Waltz As We Say Goodbye” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3155 (Piggy Jones and his Orchestra) and Champion 15026 (Seven Syncopators). The track featured Franklyn Baur (vox). The Champion release sold over 2,500 copies between ’25 and ’27.
1934: the McKinney Brothers recorded “Coney Island Baby” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16830 and 45041.
1923: The Stellar Trio recorded “Kathleen Mavourneen” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5316 and Starr-Gennett 9457.
1925: Bailey’s Lucky Seven Recorded “Dream Pal” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3155 and Champion 15031 (757 copies sold in ’25 & ’26). The known players included Miff Mole (tb), Dick Johnson & Bobby Davis (as/cl), and possibly Red Nichols (tpt).
1929: Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded twelve sides in Richmond. These recordings for the Paramount label included “Yo Yo Blues” and “Bed Spring Blues,” which appeared on Paramount 12872 and Broadway 5056.
1926: Vernon Dalhart recorded “Billy Richardson’s Last Ride” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3378, Challenge 149 & 310, Hershel Gold Seal 2005, Herwin 75527, and Silvertone 3839 & 3851. The track featured Dalhart (v & h) and Carson Robison (g).
1927: Walter Anderson and His Golden Pheasant Hoodlums recorded “The Torch” in St. Paul, Minnesota. It appeared on Gennett 6266, Gennett 20274, and Electron 5090. The Gennett recording ledger listed the artist as Chas. Forsythe & James Kelly (Acc. Walter Anderson and His Golden Pheasant Hoodlums).
1929: Lou Gold and his Orchestra recorded “Lovable and Sweet” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6995, Champion 15822 (sold 1,842 copies), and Supertone 9519 and featured Sid Garry (vox).
1944: Joe Davis announced the licensing and relaunch of the Gennett name in Billboard magazine. He recorded new sides new works by the 5 Red Caps, Savannah Churchill, Gabriel Brown, and Walter Thomas and His Jump Cats, which featured Ben Webster and Oscar Pettiford on a redesigned label.
Gennett Records Discography 