1928: Rev. B.L. Wightman and Congregation recorded “Live the Life” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6891. The track featured Lottie Kimbrough aka Lottie Beaman, Winston Holmes, Sister Elizabeth Cooper, and probably Josie Miles in the choir.
1928: Missionary Josephine Miles and Sister Elizabeth Cooper recorded “Holiness, part 1” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6571 and Champion 15589. Royalties sent to Winston Holmes in 1928 notes sales of approx. 400 copies of the Champion issue.
1933: The Sound Effects team “Large Fire: (1) Yelling – Throwing Water – Crashing Glass; (2) High Pressure Hose Line – Crashing Glass – Chopping” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett Sound Effects 1109 – B.
1923: Viola McCoy and Porter Grainger recorded “Chirpin the Blues” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5162 and Starr-Gennett 9405.
1923: Harvey Brownfield recorded “March Barrancas” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 5185 and featured Brownfield (acc).
1926: Joe Candullo’s Everglades Orchestra recorded “Spanish Mama” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3316, Champion 15110 (1,005 copies sold), and Buddy 8052 and featured Mike Mosiello & Harry Susnow (tpt), Goof Moyer & Gerry Salisbury (as/cl/ts), Frank de Carlo (pn), Nick Farrara (bs), John Montesanto (bjo), Joe Candullo (vn), and Billy Southard (d).
1928: Rev. B. L. Wightman and Congregation recorded “The Fountain of Cleanliness, Part 1” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6484, Champion 15531 (~600 copies sold), QRS R-7023, and Supertone 9297. A note in the ledger reads, “The Fountain of Uncleanness” (Lottie Beeman & Congregation – Winston Holmes, Missionary Josephine Miles (?), Sister Elizabeth Cooper (?).”
1928: Fiddlin’ Doc Roberts recorded “Old Zip Coon and Medley Reels” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6495, and Champion 15564 (~5,400 sold) & 33046 and featured Roberts (f) and Asa Martin (g).
1928: Josephine Miles recorded “Vacation in Heaven” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6534 and QRS R-7021 and featured Miles (v) and Elizabeth Cooper (pn).
1934: The Sound Effects team recorded “Confusion Of Voices In Concert Hall (Continuous): Increasing From 150 To 300 (Mostly Women’s) Voices” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett Electrical Transcription 1148-B.
1934: The Sound Effects team recorded “Raise + Lower Window; Raise + Lower Window – Wash Dishes; Doors; (1) Raise Window Shade; (2) Lower Window; (3) Raise Window; (4) Washing Dishes; (5) Opening Creaking Door; (6) Opening Creaking Door; (7) Closing Creaking Door” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett Electrical Transcriptions 1151-B.
1935: William Henry Smith’s Jubilee Singers recorded “This Old Hammer Killed John Henry” in Chicago. It appeared on Champion 50066 and Decca 7649.
1897: Happy 125th Birthday, Sidney Bechet! (5/14/1897) Bechet recorded with Alberta Hunter and Louis Armstrong as the Red Onion Jazz Babies for Gennett.
1928: Fiddlin’ Doc Roberts recorded “Smoky Row” in Richmond. The recording appeared on Gennett 6588 and Champion 15564. It featured Doc Roberts (f) and Asa Martin (g). The Champion issue sold approx. 5,400 copies between 1928 and 1931
1928: Vernon Dalhart recorded “Wreck of the Old Southern ’97” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6654, Champion 15121, Silvertone 8141, and Supertone 9241 and featured Dalhart (v & h), Carson Robison (g) and possibly Adelyne Hood (f).
1930: Cliff Perrine and His Orchestra recorded “Mysterious Mose” in Richmond. The recording appeared on Gennett 7214 and Champion 15999. Cliff Perrine was the vocalist and the Champion issue sold approx. 1,200 copies between 1930 and 1932.
1925: Nathan Glantz and His Orchestra recorded “One Smile” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3087.
1928: Monroe Silver records “Cohen Phones about His New Auto” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6544, Champion 15506 (1,583 sold), Silvertone 8304, Supertone 9125, and Angelus 3144 and featured Silver (v).
1925: violinist Scipione Guidi recorded three sides in NYC. “Liebesleid (Love’s Sorrow)” and “Rondino” appeared on Gennett 10098 with “Solvejg’s Song” released on Gennett 3105.
1928: Lei’s Royal Hawaiians recorded “Medley of Hawaiian Melodies” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6478, Silvertone 8123, and Supertone 9097 & 9327 and featured Francis Lei (g), Chester Smith (g), and ? Coleman (uke).
1930: Bert Stock and his Orchestra recorded four sides in Richmond. Here, his granddaughter returns several of these recordings to Richmond as a donation to the Starr – Gennett Foundation.
1885: Happy 137th Birthday, King Oliver! (5/11/1885). The bandleader and influential figure in American popular music made his first recording in Gennett’s Richmond studios with his Creole Jazz Band in April 1923. In addition to being a ground-breaking cornetist, he possessed quite the eye /ear for talent…
1923: Bailey’s Lucky Seven recorded “March of the Mannikins” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 5153, Starr-Gennett 9382, and Apex 428.
1926: Porter Grainger’s Three Jazz Songsters recorded “Where Did Yo Get That Hat?” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3323 and Buddy 8051 and featured Perry Bradford (v), Gus Horsley (v), Bert Howley (v), and Porter Grainger (pn).
1923: Bailey’s Lucky Seven recorded “Yes, We Have No Bananas” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5154 and Starr-Gennett 9395 and featured Irving Kaufman (v).
1924: Daddy Stovepipe recorded “Sundown Blues” in Richmond. Daddy Stovepipe’s real name was Sam Jones and this recording appeared on Gennett 5459, Silvertone 4042, and Claxtonola 40335.
1927: Irving Kaufman recorded “Just Like a Butterfly (That’s Caught in the Rain) in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6153, Champion 15287, Bell 529, Silvertone 5156, Challenge 715, and Vocalion XA-18020 and featured Kaufman (v) with Nathan Glantz’s Orchestra.
1928: Ted Chestnut recorded “The Rowan County Feud” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6513 and Champion 15524 (~4,500 sold) and featured Chestnut (v), Asa Martin (g), and Fiddlin Doc Roberts (f).
1933: The Sound Effects team recorded “Team and Wagon on Gravel Road (Three Cuts) (First Train Whistle in Background)” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett Sound Effects 1099B.
1928: Oscar L. Coffey recorded “Six Feet of Earth Makes Us All One Size” in Richmond. The recording appeared on Champion 15523, Gennett 6496, and Supertone 9325. The Champion issue sold over 3,000 copies between 1928 and 1930.
1910: Happy 112th Birthday, Mary Lou Williams! (5/8/1910). Williams recorded “Now Cut Loose” with Duke Jackson’s Serenaders on 3/7/1927 in Chicago. It appeared on Gennett 6147, Black Patti 8009, and Champion 40109. The track featured Mary Lou Williams (v), Henry McCord (c), Bradley Bullett (tb), John Williams (sax), Mary Lee Burley (p), Joe Williams (bjo), & Robert Price (d).
1905: Happy 117th Birthday Red Nichols! (5/8/1905). Here is Red’s appearance on fellow Gennett Walk of Fame Inductee, Lawrence Welk’s show from 1956.
1923: Irving and Jack Kaufman recorded “Barney Google” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5152 and Starr-Gennett 9394 and featured the Kaufman Brothers (v).
1924: The Honorable James M. Curley recorded “Address of Welcome to Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, (Boston, July 17, 1924)” in NYC. It appeared on a specially designed Gennett 5472 which featured Curley’s autograph etched into the run-out. Curley served four terms as the Mayor of Boston, one term as the Governor of Massachusetts, and two terms as a Congressman before serving a few months in jail for bribery and mail fraud, a sentence commuted by President Truman.
1896: Happy 126th Birthday, Vic Berton! (5/7/1896). Drummer, Vic Berton, recorded many sides on Gennett including with Bailey’s Lucky Seven and Johnny Clesi’s Areoleans. Here Berton (d), Red Nichols (c), Miff Mole (tb), and several other unknown musicians record “Ain’t I Got Rosie?” as Johnny Clesi’s Areoleans on Ch. 15174 (as The Twin City Bell Hops), Gennett 3380, Gennett 6061, and Herschel Gold Seal 2010.
1927: Da Costa Woltz’s Southern Broadcasters recorded “Evening Star Waltz” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6240. The track featured Frank Jenkins (bjo), Da Costa Woltz (bjo), and Ben Jarrell (f).
1926: Chic Winter and his Hotel Gramatan Orchestra recorded “Will You Be True?” In NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3314 and featured Al Ross (v).
1927: Holland Puckett recorded “The Dying Cowboy” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6271, Champion 15428 (~11,000 copies sold), Herwin 75557, Silvertone 5065, 8152, & 25065, and Supertone 9253. The track featured Puckett (v & g).
1927: David Miller recorded “That Bad Man Stackolee” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6188, Champion 15334 (~2,200 copies sold), Challenge 327, and Herwin 75561 and featured Miller (v & g).
1928: Allison’s Sacred Harp Singers recorded “Not Made With Hands” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6691. While the recording card stated, “Put names on label: J .T. + S . T. Allison, J. T. Bradshaw, J. T. Vaughan, J. A. Prayton,” none appeared.
Gennett Records Discography 