February 4 in Gennett History…

1924: Frank Quinn recorded “The Four Courts” in NYC.  It appeared on Gennett 5396, Starr-Gennett 9525, and O’Byrne De Witt 39018 and featured Quinn (v & acc). 

1929: Jack Carroll and Gene Grady recorded “Before the Rain” in Richmond.  It appeared on Gennett 6772, Champion 15685 (over 12,000 copies sold), and Supertone 9349 and featured Carroll (v), Grady (v), and Andy Mansfield (pn). 

1930: Robinson’s Knights of Rest recorded “Mean Baby Blues” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16607. The track featured Bob Robinson (cl), Jimmy Blythe (p), and Scrapper Blackwell (g). 

1930: Teddy Moss recorded “Rocky Luck Blues” in Richmond.  It appeared on Gennett 7159, Champion 15973 (~1,200 copies sold), and Varsity 6065 and featured Moss (v), Jimmy Blythe (pn), and Scrapper Blackwell (g).  

1930: Carson Robison recorded “I Got a Gal in Kansas” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 7124, Champion 15947 (4,835 copies sold), and Supertone 9625.  

1936: Al Miller and his Swing Stompers recorded “Juicy Mouth Shorty” in Chicago.  It appeared on Champion 50072 and Decca 7830.  

February 3 in Gennett History…

1898: Happy 125th Birthday, Lil Hardin Armstrong! (2/3/1898). She recorded and co-wrote “Workingman Blues” with King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in Richmond on 10/5/1923. It appeared on Gennett 5275, Biltmore 1028, and Tempo R-29. 

1922: Ernest Hare recorded “Why the Difference Is in the Tone” in NYC.  This  appeared as an unnumbered demonstration recording as to the superiority of Starr’s line of phonographs.  

1926: Fiddlin’ Sam Long recorded “Echoes of the Ozarks” in Richmond.  It appeared on Gennett 3284, Challenge 103, and Buddy 8018.  The recording  featured Long (f) and Roy Kastner (g). 

February 2 in Gennett History…

1921: Sometime in February 1921: Green Brothers Novelty Band recorded “Arabia, One Step” in NYC. Joe Green was the xylophonist. It appeared on Gennett 4687, Starr-Gennett 9112, and Edison Bell Winner 3642.  This video notes its source as a 1921 Brunswick, so it is possible that Green recorded the song for both labels in 1921.  

1924: Naylor’s Seven Aces recorded “Ain’t That Hateful” in NYC.  It appeared on Gennett 5393 and Starr-Gennett 9518 and featured Edward ‘Pinky’ Gerbrecht (tpt), Charles Hartman (tb), Newton Richardson (ts), Bill Creger (cl), Oliver Naylor (pn), Jules Bauduc (bjo), and Louis Darrough (d). 

February 1 in Gennett History…

1922: Bailey’s Lucky Seven recorded “On the Gin, Gin, Ginny Shore” in NYC.  It appeared on Gennett 4831, Starr-Gennett 9210, Apex 489, Cardinal 523, Connorized 3058, and Edison Bell Winner and featured Jules Levy, Jr. (tpt), Vincente Grande (tb), Benny Krueger (as/cl), Lucien Smith (ts), and Gus Sharpe (cl). 

1923: Lanin’s Famous Players recorded “Crying for You” in NYC.  It appeared on Gennett 5049, Starr-Gennett 9351, and Cardinal 557. 

1924: Naylor’s Seven Aces recorded “31st Street Blues” in NYC.  It appeared on Gennett 5392 and featured Edward ‘Pinky’ Gerbrecht (tpt), Charles Hartman (tb), Newton Richardson (ts), Bill Creger (cl), Oliver Naylor (pn), Jules Bauduc (bjo), and Louis Darrough (d).  

1926: Bailey’s Lucky Seven recorded “(What Can I Say) After I Say I’m Sorry” in NYC. It appeared on several 78s under various pseudonyms including Gennett 3243, Champion 15067, Aco G-16008, Coliseum 1912, Guardsman 1908, Beltona 991, and Scala 768. The track featured Red Nichols (c), Bobby Davis (cl/sax), Benny Krueger (sax), Lucien Smith (sax), John Cali or Tony Colucci (bjo/gtr), and the Tremaine Brothers (vox). 

1933: Jess Hillard recorded “The Barnyard Stomp” in Richmond.  It appeared on Champion 16571 and 45026.  The track featured Jess Hillard (v and g) and Duke Clark (g).  The Champion 45026 issue sold 417 copies in the period ending 9/30/36.  

January 31 in Gennett History…

1906: Happy 117th Birthday, Roosevelt Sykes! (1/31/1906).  He recorded “Single Tree Blues” in Richmond on 9/7/1929. It appeared on Paramount 12827 as by Dobby Bragg. 

1922: Hazay Natzy and his Biltmore Orchestra recorded “Cutie” in NYC.  It appeared on Gennett 4830, Starr-Gennett 9209, Connorized 3063, and Rich-Tone 7030. 

1924: Naylor’s Seven Aces recorded “Hugo” in NYC.  It appeared on Gennett 5375 and Starr-Gennett 9548 and featured Edward ‘Pinky’ Gerbrecht (tpt), Charles Hartman (tb), Newton Richardson (ts), Bill Creger (cl), Oliver Naylor (pn), Jules Bauduc (bjo), and Louis Darrough (d). 

1934: Sylvia Porter “The Happy Buckeye” recorded “Old Bill Mosher’s Ford” in Richmond.  It appeared on Champion S-16743 & 45094 and Melotone 45094 and featured Sylvia Porter (vox) and Archie Porter (g & h). 

January 30 in Gennett History…

1923: Ted Claire Snappy Bits Band under the direction of Chas. Watson recorded “Laughin’ Cryin’ Blues” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5060 and Starr-Gennett 9350. The only known player was Charles A. Matson on piano. 

1925: Members of the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Henry Hadley recorded “To a Wild Rose” in NYC.  It appeared on Gennett 2709 and Ginn Music Appreciation G-32-A. 

January 29 in Gennett History…

1925: Arthur Fields recorded “Let It Rain, Let It Pour” in NYC.  It appeared on Gennett 3034 & 5657, Starr-Gennett 9622, and Claxtonola 40417 and featured Fields (vox). 

1929: Alura Mack recorded “Seven Men Blues” in Richmond.  It appeared on Gennett 6767, Champion 15754 (~3,500 copies sold), and Supertone 9365 and featured Mack (v) and James Cole (g). 

1930: Stan Stanley’s Aristocrats Band recorded “Moanin’ for You” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 7120 and Supertone 9631and featured Alberta Haynes (v). 

1931: Gene Autry recorded “Pictures of My Mother” in Richmond.  It appeared on Champion 16372 & 45060, Superior 2596, Melotone 45060, Montgomery Ward 4931, and Rex 9461 and featured Autry (v & g) and unknown (md). 

1932: Bill Shepherd, originally from Cumberland, Kentucky, recorded “Bound Steel Blues” in Richmond.  It appeared on Champion S-16383 (485 copies sold) and featured Bill Shepherd (v? & f), Ed Webb (g), Hayes Shepherd (bjo), and Herb Shepherd (bjo). 

1980: Jimmy Durante passed away. He recorded “Why Cry Blues” with the Jimmy Durante Jazz Band in NYC in May of 1920. It appeared on Gennett 9045 and Starr-Gennett 9042. In addition to Durante (p), the track featured Frank Christian (c), Frank Lhotak (tb), Achille Baquet (cl), and John Hountha Stein (d). The Starr-Gennett Foundation inducted Durante into its Walk of Fame in September 2016.   

January 28 in Gennett History…

1924: Thomas Barry Hannom recorded “The Old Fenian Gun” in NYC.  It appeared on Gennett 5387, O’Byrne De Witt / Sein Fein Music House 39003 and featured Hannom (vox). 

1927: Jelly James and his Fewsicians recorded “Georgia Bo Bo” in NYC.  It appeared on Gennett 6045, Champion 15216 (2.023 copies sold), Silvertone 5023, Keith Prowse K-101, Paradox 4, and VJR 19 and featured George Temple (tpt), David ‘Jelly’ James (tb), Perry Smith (ss/cl), Henry Duncan (pn), Ollie Blackwell (bjo), and Ralph Bedell (d).  

1929: Bradley Kincaid recorded “Wreck on the C&O Road” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6823, Champion 15710 & 45098, Supertone 9350, and Melotone 45057 and featured Kincaid (v & g). 

1952: Gennett family matriarch and Starr Piano board member Alice Lumsden Gennett passed away. She was Henry Gennett’s wife and mother of Fred, Clarence, Rose, and Harry Gennett. She recorded a Christmas Greeting for Gennett’s Christmas series on December 7, 1922. It was un-numbered. The Criterion Quartet’s “Silent Night” appeared on the reverse side. 

January 27 in Gennett History…

1888: Happy 135th Birthday, Harry Frankel. (1/27/1888). Better known as ‘Singing Sam, the Barbasol Man,’ Frankel recorded “How Are You Going To Wet Your Whistle” in 1919 in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 4521. Frankel was also one of the first artists to record in the newly opened studio in Richmond.  Frankel passed away in 1948 in his home in Richmond, Indiana. 

1931: Bob Cranford and AP Thompson recorded “Otto Wood” in Richmond.  It appeared on Champion 16261 (1,420 copies sold) and featured Cranford (v & h) and Thompson (v & g).  

1931: Ernie Golden recorded “Dirty Hot” in NYC.  It appeared on  Champion 16661 and Superior 2830 and featured Tommy Weir (vox). 

1936: Dick Robertson and his Orchestra recorded “Alone” in NYC.  It appeared on Champion 40088, Decca 5900, and Montgomery Ward 4922. 

January 26 in Gennett History…

1924: Ladd’s Black Aces recorded “Nine O’Clock Sal” in NYC.  It appeared on Gennett 5366, Starr-Gennett 9514, and Silvertone 4047 and featured Harry Gluck (tpt), Miff Mole (tb), Ken ‘Goof’ Moyer (as/cl), Vernon Dalhart (v), and others. 

1925: Bix Beiderbecke and his Rhythm Jugglers recorded “Davenport Blues” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 5654, Brunswick 02206, HRS 22, and Session 6. The track featured Bix Beiderbecke (c), Tommy Dorsey (tb), Don Murray (cl), Paul Mertz (p), Howdy Quicksell (bjo), and Tom Gargano (d). 

1928: Milan G. Pancevac recorded twelve sides in Richmond.  These recordings appeared on six Personal Series funded by Z. Pellich Music Company in Detroit, MI and featured Pancevac (v & acc).  I have never seen or heard any of these records but – Here is a side he recorded for Victor later that year. 

1931: Bob Cranford and AP Thompson of the Red Fox Chasers recorded “Katy Cline” in Richmond.  It appeared on Champion S-16676 (1,420 sold) & 45061, and Superior 2594 and featured Cranford (v & h), unknown (md), and Thompson (v & g). 

1932: Earl Wright and The Arkansas Corndodgers recorded “My Ozark Mountain Home” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion S-16382, and Superior 2822 (Sam Weber). The Champion royalty ledgers noted to George W. Edgin (the group’s fiddler) sales of 104 copies in 1932 (and 1 copy in 1933).