November 29th in Gennett History, 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 Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues” was released an 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.
Gennett Records Discography 