1902: Happy 121st Birthday, Skip James. (6/9/1902). Skip James recorded “22 – 20 Blues” and “If You Haven’t Any Hay Get On Down The Road” in Grafton, WI for Paramount (13066), but those recordings were also issued on Champion 50031. A royalty statement from Decca indicated Champion 50031 sold 96 copies for the period ending 9/30/36.
1921: Sam Moore recorded “Laughing Rag” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 4747 and Starr-Gennett 9146 and featured Moore (steel octo-chorda) and Frank Banta (pn).
1924: Jelly Roll Morton recorded “Jelly Roll Blues” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 5552, Silvertone 4038, Biltmore 1072, HJCA HC-57, and Jazz Collector L-50 and featured Morton (pn).
1922: McMurray’s California Thumpers recorded “Haunting Blues” in NYC. The recording appeared on Gennett 4904, Starr-Gennett 9260, and Rich-Tone 7045 (as the Dixie Boys). This recording featured Phil Napoleon & Jules Levy, Jr. (c), Miff Mole (tb), Loring McMurray (sax), Frank Signorelli (p), and John Cali (bjo).
1922: Vaughn de Leath recorded “Nobody Lied” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 4907, Starr-Gennett 9266, and Apex 470 and featured de Leath (v).
1926: Fess Williams and his Royal Flush Orchestra recorded “It’s Breaking My Heart to Keep Away from You” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3336, Champion 15120 (543 copies sold), Challenge 135, and Buddy 8056. The track featured Williams (v/cl), George Temple (tpt), David ‘Jelly James (tb), Perry Smith (ts), Ollie Blackwell (bjo), and Ralph Bedell (d).
1933: The Sound Effects team recorded “(1 & 2) Geese; (3) Angry Great Horned Owl Hissing And Snapping Beaks – Beating Wings Against Cage” at Izaak Walton Zoo in Hart, Michigan. It appeared on Gennett Sound Effects 1121-A.
1933: The Sound Effects team recorded “(1 & 2) Coyotes & Timber Wolf Howling (3) Fox Terrier Pup; (4) Two Fox Terrier Pups” at Izaak Walton Zoo in Hart, Michigan. It appeared on Gennett Sound Effects 1121-B.
1923: Julia Jones (v) and Perry Bradford (p) recorded “Liza Johnson Got Better Bread Than Sally Lee” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5177 and Starr Gennett 9407.
1928: Margaret McKee recorded “Turkey in the Straw” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6599, Gennett Rayo 40157, Champion 15666 (423 sold), Silvertone 8272, Supertone 9110 and Montgomery Ward 4994 and featured McKee (bird whistles).
1928: Van and his Orchestra recorded “A Shady Tree” in NYC. It appeared on Silvertone 8038 and Supertone 9001and featured Jerry White (v) under the direction of Peter Van Steeden.
1929: Bradley Kincaid recorded “Charlie Brooks” in Richmond. This recording appeared on Gennett 6958, Champion 16029 (as Dan Hughey), Champion 45039, Supertone 9648, and Superior 2788.
1930: Bayless Rose recorded “Black Dog Blues” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 7250, Champion 16037 (~1,400 copies sold), and Varsity 6056 and featured Rose (v & g).
1930: Ivy Smith and Cow Cow Davenport recorded “Alabammy Mistreated” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 7231, Gennett (Joe Davis) 5006, Champion 16057 (~1,300 copies sold), and Superior 2763 and featured Smith (v) and Davenport (v & p).
1922: Bailey’s Lucky Seven recorded “Dancing Fool” in NYC. The recording appeared on Gennett 4908, Starr-Gennett 9272, Apex 467, Cardinal 531, and Rich-Tone 7043. The session featured two takes -, & A that were released. The track features Phil Napoleon (c), Doc Behrendson or Johnny Costello (cl), and several unknown musicians.
1924: The Vagabonds recorded “Please” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5485 and Starr-Gennett 9566 and featured Frank Cush & Bill Moore (tpt), Lloyd ‘Ole’ Olsen (tb), Bobby Davis & Arnold Brilhart (sax/cl), Freddy Cusick (ts), Adrian Rollini (bs), Irving Brodsky (pn), Ray Kitchingman (bjo), and Stan King (d).
1927: Les Backer “The Gennett Aristocrat” recorded “Love Me” in St. Paul. It appeared on Gennett 6162, Champion 15311 (~900 copies sold), Silvertone 5152, and Superior 315 and featured Backer (v).
1929: Charlie Spand recorded “Fetch Your Water” in Richmond. The recording appeared on Paramount 12790. The track featured Span (v & p) and Blind Blake (g).
1929: George Hannah recorded “Gutter Man Blues” in Richmond. It appeared on Paramount 12788 and featured Hannah (v).
1930: Gene Autry recorded “In the Shadow of the Pine” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 7265, Champion 16050 & 45071, Decca 5464, Supertone 9704, and others and featured Autry (v & g).
1930: Cow Cow Davenport and Ivy Smith recorded “Now She Gives It Away” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 7275, Champion 16038 (~1,400 copies sold) & 50034, and Superior 2763 and featured Davenport (v & p), Smith (v).
1930: Gene Autry recorded “I’ll Be Thinking of You Little Gal” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16030 and Supertone 9705. The Champion issue sold approx. 5,000 copies between 1930 and 1932.
1928: The Harrison Quartet recorded “Casey Jones” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6670, Champion 15521 (5,574 copies sold) & 33045, Silvertone 8031, Supertone 9026, and Montgomery Ward 4944.
1931: Roy Harvey recorded “ Where the Whippoorwill Is Whispering Goodnight” in Richmond. The recording appeared on Champion R-16312, Montgomery Ward 4947, and Superior 2701. The track featured the West Virginia Ramblers, who were Roy Harvey (v & g), Jess Johnson (v & f), Ernest Branch (bjo), and Bernice Coleman (f). A Champion royalty ledger noted approx. 200 sales in 1931 and 1932.
1934: Kenneth Houchins recorded “When Jimmie Rodgers Said Goodbye” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16793 & 45062 and Montgomery Ward 4926 and featured Houchins (v & g).
1922: Starr Piano president and Gennett records founder, Henry Gennett passed away in Dayton, Ohio. Gennett was born to Italian immigrant parents in Nashville, TN in 1852 and entered the family’s grocery business before branching out on his own wholesaling peanuts. He married Alice Lumsden in 1876. Together they had four children, Harry, Clarence, Fred, and Rose. Gennett with his father-in-law purchased the Starr Piano company and expanded its capacity, marketshare, and a west coast operation at the beginning of the 20th century. He began to turn day to day operations of the company to his sons who soon expanded into sound recordings, refrigeration, and during World War I, military manufacturing. After his passing at the age of 69, his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
1922: Homer Rodeheaver recorded six sides in NYC for Gennett and Rainbow. These recordings included “An Evening Prayer,” “God Will Take Care of You,” “The Church in the Wildwood,” “The Sinner and the Song,” “We’ll Say “Good-Night” Here,” and “When the World Forgets.” The Criterion Quartette appears on two of them. “Church in the Wildwood” appeared on Gennett 4916, Rainbow 1016, Silvertone 4916, and Herwin 75512 and features Rodeheaver (v), John Young (v), Frank Mellor (v), George W. Reardon (v), and Donald Chalmers (v).
1926: Chic Winter and his Hotel Gramatin Orchestra recorded “Faded Cherry Blossom” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3340.
1927: Eddie Carlew’s Baby Aristocrats Orchestra recorded “Darktown Shuffle” in St. Paul, MN. It appeared on Gennett 6198 and Champion 15308 (which sold 730 copies in 1927 and 1928).
1931: Roy Harvey & Jess Johnston & the West Virginia Ramblers recorded “John Hardy Blues” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16281 and sold 617 copies between 1931 and 1933. The track featured Roy Harvey (v & g), Ernest Branch (bjo), Jess Johnston (f), and Bernice Coleman (f).
1931: The West Virginia Ramblers recorded “Oh Dem Golden Slippers” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16757 & 45017 and featured Roy Harvey (g), Ernest Branch (bjo), Jess Johnston (f), and Bernice Coleman (f).
1924: Mr. Martin for Clarence Gennett recorded “A Talk (Scotch Stories)” in Richmond. This recording is, as far as I know, unreleased. What is most interesting is that it was placed in the K series matrices, which were the matrices attributed to most of the Ku Klux Klan recordings. Here is the recording card from that session. A great article about the K series appears at Mainspring Press.
1923: Art Landry and his Call of the North Orchestra recorded “You Tell Her – I S-T-U-T-T-E-R” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 5171 and featured Tiny Whalen and Teddy Hall (tpt), Glenn Bass or Dale Hart (tb), Zane Simms (as/cl), Don Murray (ts), Don Murray (cl), Sam Carr (bjo/fiddle), and Stan King (d).
1925: Wally Erickson’s Coliseum Orchestra recorded “ Got No Time” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 3068.
1926: Gennett’s mobile recording unit recorded several Hopi Indian sides at the El Tovar Hotel in East Mesa, AZ. These recording appeared on both the Gennett and Folkways labels, including Kutqa,Chief of Walpi Pueblo’s “Mucaiasti Katcina” on 5758.
1927: The Nazarene Congregational Church Choir of Brooklyn, NY recorded “You Gonna Reap Just What You Sow” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6180, Champion 15341 (1,644 copies sold), and Silvertone 5148. Charles Waters directed the choir.
1921: The Crescent Trio recorded “One, Two, Three, Four” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 4736. Starr-Gennett 9144, Connorized 3046, and Edison Bell Winner 3646.
1922: Homer Rodeheaver recorded “Open My Eyes, That I May See” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 4894, Rainbow 1037, and Silvertone 4894 and featured Rodeheaver (v).
1923: Callie Vassar recorded “I’m Lonesome, Nobody Cares For Me” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5173 and featured Vassar (v) and Richard M. Jones (pn).
1923: Richard M. Jones recorded “Jazzin’ Babies Blues” in Richmond. This solo piano piece appeared on Gennett 5174 and Jazz Collector L-85.
1925: Wally Erickson’s Coliseum Orchestra recorded “Hong Kong Dream Girl” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 3069.
1928: Rev. Joseph Callender recorded “God Leads His Dear Children Along” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6582 and featured Callender (v & g).
1928: Mildred Austin recorded “Anybody Here Want to Try My Cabbage” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 15530 (~1,000 copies sold) and Supertone 9281.
1928: John McGhee recorded “Hard Luck Jim” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6546, Champion 15751 (~1,900 copies sold), and Conquerer 7260 and featured McGhee (v).
1922: Homer Rodeheaver recorded “Mother’s Prayers Have Followed Me” in New York City. The recording appeared on Gennett 4897 & 4915, Herwin 75512, Rainbow 1010, and Silvertone 4915.
1928: Julia Johnson recorded “Hard Headed Daddy” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6519 and featured Johnson (vox) and Lowell Bolan (piano).
1930: J. Walter Fewkes, the Chief of the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institute passed away. Fewkes supervised Gennett’s field recordings of the Hopi Indians at the El Tovar Hotel near the Grand Canyon. One of the recordings featured Kutqa,Chief of Walpi Pueblo performing “Mucaiasti Katcina (Buffalo Hunt).” It appeared on Gennett 5758.
Gennett Records Discography 