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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
1929: Pie Plant Pete recorded “Boston Burglar” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6748, Champion 15752 (~7,200 sales), and Supertone 9351 and featured Claude Moye (v, h, & g).
1947: Albert Campbell of the Sterling Trio passed away. Along with Henry Burr and John Meyer, he recorded “Just Like the Rose” in 1917 in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 1504.
1950: Jaybird Coleman passed away. He recorded “Ah`m Sick And Tired Of Tellin`You” on 7/8/1927 in Birmingham, Alabama. It appeared on Gennett 6276, Conqueror 7268 (George Alexander), and Champion 15379 (Rabbits Foot Williams). A Champion royalty statement sent to B. C. Coleman, noted sales of 1,455 copies in 1927 and 1928.
1922: The Specialty Orchestra under the direction of Pietro Capodiferro recorded “Moon River” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 4828, Starr-Gennett 9212, Challenge 180 (Hanley’s Specialty Orchestra), Velvet Face 1049 (Joe Richardson’s Orchestra), and Connorized 3062 (Special Orchestra).
1927: Lou Gold with the Melody Men recorded “Ain’t She Sweet” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6068, Champion 15238 (2,349 copies sold), Challenge 253 & 352, Silvertone 5033 & 25033, and Vocalion XA-18001 and featured Murray mAster (vox).
1930: Nicholson’s Players from Salem, Indiana recorded “Turkey in the Straw, Old Folks Home, Big Eared Mule” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 7125, Champion 16137 (~1,000 copies sold), Superior 2738, and Supertone 9644 and featured Glen Spurgeon (g), Will J. Nicholson (bjo), Tilfer Floyd (f), Paul Ashabraner (hca).
1931: the Deep River Plantation Singers recorded “Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16378 (134 copies sold) and Superior 2814.
1933: Kenneth Houchins recorded “Wanderer’s Warning” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion S-16553 (110 copies sold) and Melotone 45006 and featured Houchins (v & g).
1923: Tom Ennis’ Irish Band recorded “Connaughtman’s Rambles: Frost is All Over” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5040, Starr-Gennett 9364, and O’Byrne DeWitt 39039 and featured John Muller (pn), Tom Quigley (f), Johnson (acc), and Ennis (pipes).
1993: Georgia Tom Dorsey (Thomas A. Dorsey) passed away. He recorded “Maybe It’s The Blues” in Richmond on 2/5/1930. It appeared on Champion 15994, Champion 50045, and Gennett 7190. A royalty statement sent to Dorsey noted sales of approx. 1,400 copies between 1930 and 1932.
1923: Glantz’s Metropolitan Players recorded “Saw Mill River Road” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5039 and Starr-Gennett 9348.
1925: Bailey’s Lucky Seven recorded “Alabamy Bound” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3039 and 5648 and featured Vic d’Ippolito and Red Nichols (tpt), Miff Mole (tb), and Dick Johnson (cl).
1929: Zack Whyte’s Chocolate Beau Brummels recorded “Mandy” in Richmond. It was released on Gennett 6781 and Supertone 9486. The band featured Sy Oliver, Bubber Whyte, and Henry Savage (c), Floyd Brady (tb), Earl Tribble, Snake Richardson, Al Sears, and Clarence Page (sax), Herman Chittison (p), Montgomery Morrison (bs), Zach Whyte (bjo), and William Benton (d).
1929: Elmer Grosso and his Royal Mount Orchestra recorded “My Inspiration in You” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6739, Champion 15657 (566 copies sold), and Supertone 9343 and featured Harold Arlock (vox) and Grosso (vn).
1935: Jimmie Gordon recorded “Graveyard Blues (Dead and Gone Blues) in Chicago. It appeared on Champion 50075 and Decca 7301 and featured Gordon (vox).
1924: Doc Cook’s Dreamland Orchestra recorded “So This Is Venice” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 5360. The recording featured Freddie Keppard and Elwood Graham (c), Fred Garland (tb), Joe Poston (as), Jerome Pasquall (ts), Jimmy Noone & Clifford King (cl), Antonia Spaulding (p), Bill Newton (bs), Stan Wilson (bjo), Jimmy Bell (f), and Bert Greene (d).
1925: The Tremaine Brothers recorded “In Shadowland” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3040 and 5646.
1927: Lou Gold and his Melody Men recorded “Ain’t She Sweet” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6068, Champion 15238 (2,349 copies sold), Challenge 253 & 352, Silvertone 5033 & 25033, and Vocalion XA-18001 and featured Murray Amster (v).
Gennett Records Discography 