1928: Art Payne and his Orchestra recorded “Blue Night” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6694, Champion 15639 (~800 copies sold), and Supertone 9334.
1930: Jimmy Long and Cliff Keiser recorded “Silver Haired Daddy of Mine” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16190 & 45089, and Superior 2632 and featured Long (v & g) and Keiser (v).
1932: Jess Hillard recorded “Blue Yodel No. 10 (Ground Hog Rootin’ In My Back Yard)” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16525. Hillard sang and played guitar.
1928: Green Bailey recorded “If I Die a Railroad Man” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6732, Champion 15652 (~1,500 sold), and Supertone 9320 and featured Bailey (v & g) and prob. Doc Roberts (f).
1930: Gene Autry recorded “A Yodeling Hobo” in NYC. Released on Champion 45172, Decca 5527, Montgomery Ward 4932 & 8017. Autry sang and played the guitar. Champion 45172 sold 555 copies for the period ending in September 1936.
1934: Blind Blake passed away. He recorded “Diddie Wa Diddie” on August 17, 1929, in Richmond. It appeared on Paramount 12888 and Broadway 5105 (Blind George Martin).
1925: Original Indiana Five recorded “Pensacola” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3218 and featured James Christie (tpt), Charles Panelli (tb), Nick Vitalo (as/cl), Harry Ford (?) (pn), and Tony Colucci (d).
1928: Green Bailey recorded “The Santa Barbara Earthquake” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6702, Champion 15652, and Supertone 9320. The recording featured Green Bailey (v), Asa Martin (g), and Fiddlin’ Doc Roberts (f). Performers royalties sent to Doc Roberts noted sales of approx. 1,500 copies of Champion 15652 in 1929.
1920: the Putnam Theatre in Brooklyn ran a newspaper ad for Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds, proclaiming her an “Attraction Extraordinary.” A few weeks earlier Okeh released Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues” and it sold extremely well. Thanks in part to Gennett’s victory in the early patent case (Victor Talking Machine Co. v. Starr Piano), an injunction to stop to smaller labels from using lateral cut 78s was denied. Thus Okeh could release this, the “first race record” to an eager audience who possessed the right equipment. Without the injunction, Okeh faced an uphill battle trying to release this on the unpopular vertical / ‘hill and dale’ disk.
1929: Bert Stock and His Orchestra recorded “Turn on the Heat” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 7059, Champion 15886, and Supertone 9585. The recording featured Doc Mayer (v), Joe Barone and George McKee (c), Delmar “Dick” Evans (tb), Hap Swanson and Lee Loveland (as/cl), Bert Stock and Edward Walker (p), Billy Yates (g), Hank August (bs), Billy Yates (bjo), and Doc Meyers (d/xyl). The Champion issue sold 2,746 copies in 1930.
1935: Gennett recorded President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech in Atlanta, “The Meaning of Progress,” dedicating the Techwood Homes near Georgia Tech. Techwood was a New Deal slum clearance project to build twenty-three brick and concrete buildings to house 604 families and 308 Georgia Tech students. It also included forty-two concrete buildings with 677 apartments at Atlanta University. It appeared on Gennett Historical 8 and the catalog noted “We introduce here out initial release of Historical and Educational recordings reproducing decisive moments of History, made as they occurred, or reproduced exclusively for Gennett by the author,” “1 double faced 16 inch 33 1/3 RPM 1 single faced 16 ich 33 1/3 RPM $14.00.”
1923: The Stellar Trio recorded “Dear Heart” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5316 and Starr-Gennett 9505. Also on this session, the Stellar Trio accompanied Vernon Dalhart on two sides “Can’t Yo’ Hear Me Calling Caroline” and “When the Swallows Homeward Fly.”
1925: Bailey’s Lucky Seven recorded “I Love My Baby (My Baby Loves Me)” in NYC. The recording appears on Gennett 3204, Champion 15065, Beltona 979, Guardsman 1876, and Scala 763. It features Arthur Fields (v), Red Nichols (c), Phil Napoleon (c), Miff Mole (tb), Dick Johnson ? (sax/cl), Bobby Davis ? (sax/cl), Fred Morrow (ts/cl), Joe Tarto (bs), John Cali ? (bjo), Vic Berton (d). Champion 15065 sold approx. 1,900 copies in 1926 and 1927.
1925: Fess Williams and His Royal Flush Orchestra recorded “Caroline” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 3210. The recording featured Fess Williams and Perry Smith on (v & sax/cl), George Temple on (c), David “Jelly” James (tb), Ollie Blackwell (bjo), Ralph Bedell (d).
1928: Kirk McGhee & Blythe Poteet recorded “If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 6731, Supertone 9318, and Champion 15651 & 45069 and featured McGhee (v & md) and Poteet (v & g).
1924: Red Onion Jazz Babies recorded “Santa Claus Blues” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5607, Silvertone 4032, Brunswick 80062, and several foreign and bootleg reissues. The recording featured Louis Armstrong (tpt), Aaron Thompson (tb), Buster Bailey (cl), Lil Hardin Armstrong (pn), and Buddy Christian (d).
1926: Elmer Grosso’s Greenwich Village Orchestra recorded “If Tears Could Bring You Back to Me” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 6002, Champion 15189 (1,511 copies sold), Challenge 211, Herschel Gold Seal 2014, and Vocalion X-9990.
1925: Pinkie’s Birmingham Five recorded “Headin’ For Louisville” in NYC. This recoding appeared on Gennett 3208 and in England on Scala 761. Brian Rust supposed Pinkie was Pinky Gerbrecht on cornet.
1931: Jess Hillard recorded “Doggone Them Blues” in Richmond. It was released on Champion R-16368, Champion 45047, and Superior 2760. Jess Hillard sang and played guitar. A royalty statement for Champion 45047 noted sales of 41 copies for the period ending 9/30/36.
1930: Gene Autry recorded “Yodeling Hobo” in NYC. It appeared on Champion 16166, Champion, 45172, Decca 5527, Melotone 45172, Melotone 45254, Montgomery Ward 4932, Montgomery Ward 8013. Champion 45172 sold 439 copies for the period ending 9/30/36. Champion 16166 sold 2,424 copies between 1930 and 1932.
1930: Cliff Carlisle (v & sg) and Wilber Ball (g) recorded “No Daddy Blues” in Richmond. It appeared on Champion 16165, Champion 45150, Decca 5398, Gennett 5000 (?), Melotone (Canada) 45208, and Superior 2638. Champion 16165 sold 1,548 copies between 1931 and 1933 and Ch 45150 sold 59 copies for period ending 9/30/36.
1931: Scrapper Blackwell recorded “Hard Time Blues” in Richmond. This recording appeared on Champion 16361, Superior 2827, and Varsity 6049. A royalty statement sent to Blackwell in 1932 indicated only 189 sales. Blackwell is on vocals and guitar. Leroy Carr played piano.
1933: The Sound Effects Team recorded “US Lock 37 Gate Opening – Ready Whistle – Steamer – Chris Greene – Start – Whistle – Pass – Recede” on the Ohio River. It appeared on Gennett Sound Effects 1129 – B and was recorded courtesy of the Greene Line Steamers.
1922: Cal. Smith’s American Orchestra recorded “Pack Up You Sins and Go to the Devil” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5011, Starr-Gennett 9326, and Edison Bell Winner 3864.
1924: Perley Breed’s Shepard Colonial Orchestra recorded “Tell Me Dreamy Eyes” in NYC. It appeared on Gennett 5608, Claxtonola 40401, and Starr-Gennett 9612. The recording featured Frank Cornwell (v), Warren Hookway (c), Perley Breed (sax), Brad Gowans (cl), Newell Chase (p), Junie Anderson (bs) George Dussault (d).
Nov. 23 in Gennett History, 1925: Bob Deikman and his Orchestra recorded “Shanghai Honeymoon” in Richmond. It appeared on Gennett 3236, Champion 15064, Beltona 945, Coliseum 1870, and Guardsman 1878.
Gennett Records Discography 