Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 2, No. 4 (1928-01)

January, 1928 The Phonograph Monthly Review 157 Southland Syncopators couple Twiddlin’ My Thumbs and The Pal You left at Home on 1194-D; Rudy Wiedoft plays Llewellyn Waltz and Drdla’s Serenade —a familiar number in his stage appearances—on 1204-D; and the Singing Sophomores are welcomed back on 1203-D with When Honey Sings and Blue Heaven (de Leath assists in the former). Lee Morse is back on 1199-D; the South Sea Islanders on 1157-D; James Melton couples Diane and An Old Guitar on 1206-D; and Ruth Etting still fails to win me over with 1196-D (The Song is Ended and Together We Two). First among the race releases is aother record of tribute to the late Florence Mills, 14265-D, All the World is Lonely for a Little Blackbird and Empty Arms, crooned by Andy Razaf. Ethel Waters, one of the best of the blues singers, is heard this month in Some of these Days and Someday Sweetheart (14264) ; Martha Copeland offers 14262; Rev. J. C. Burnett preaches on 14261-D ; Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers are heard on both 15200-D and 15204-D; Barbecue Bob and Laughing Charlie combine talents on 14268; and virtually the entire company of Co- lumbia Southern artists is recruited for 15201-D, a two-part sketch, of a Corn Locker Still in Georgia. The Bush Broth- ers couple two sacred selections on 15203-D; the Columbia Mixed Chorus chants America the Beautiful and The Battle of the Republic on 1202-D; Rodeheaver and Doris Doe are heard on 1201-D ; Dale Winbrow on 1200-D ; Riley Puckett on 15198-D ; Roe Brothers and Morrell on 15199-D ; and Austin and Lee Allen on 15266-D. Ed Lowry brings up the rear with 1185-D, I Can’t Believe You’re in Love with Me and She Don’t Wanna. The Brunswick popular group is unusually extensive. First to be disposed of are three organ disks, 3678 and 3680 by a newcomer, Eddie Dunstedter; the third by good old faithful Lew White (3672). Blue Heaven is one of the selections played! The others include Dancing Tambourine, Are You Lonesome, Just a Memory, etc. Godfrey Ludlow plays two violin solos on 3647 (Mi viejo Amor and Estrel- lita); Steve Porter has an Irish sketch on 3689; Galla-Rini plays Blue Heaven on the accordion —delightful change—on 3665; and Hanapi and Kaleipua, and the Royal Hawaiians provide Hawaaian fare for those who care for it (3662 and 3682). Sannella and Wirges duettize Mother Macree and Macushla on 3502; Frank Munn sings Adeste Fidelis on one side of 3709, the other, together with 3690-4 are given up to familiar Christmas hymns sung by the Collegiate Choir. Esther Walker is good on 3670 and the Yacht Club Boys still better on 3671 (I Fell Head Over Heels in Love); Libby Holman asks Who’s That Knockin’? (3667); Bes- singer and Smalle duettize on 3663; the Criterion Quartet is responsible for 3688, and the Cook Sisters for 3668 (A Shady Tree and Where the Cot-Cot-Cotton Grows). Among the Southern series, Vernon Dalhart figures on 123 and 137, and the Old Southern Sacred Singers on 165. The Pace Jubilee Singers with Hattie Parker are heard on 7021 ; Nick Lucas on 3684 (Among My Souvenirs and Blue Heaven); Frank Munn again on 3660; Florence Easton on 10296; Vaughn de Leath on 3683 (Mister Aeroplane Man and Tin Pan Parade); and the Rev. Nix on 702 (The White Flyer to Heaven). For Vocalion, Lee Wilson plays At Sundown, Just A Memory, etc., on 15623 and 15625; Jim Jackson croons his Kansas City Blues on 1144; Rev. Nix gloomily warns that Death Might be Your Christmas Gift (1143) ; Henry Thomas sings of the Fox and the Hounds and Red River Blues (1137) ; Luella Miller is heard on 1147; Juan Pulido on 8120; Lewis James on 15633; and the enigmatically named Furry Lewis on 1134. The Victor dance list is unusually inclusive this month, but perhaps the best is 21056, Sugar and Make My Cot Where the Cot-Cot-Cotton Grows, by Nichol’s new organi- zation entitled Red Nichol’s Stompers. One misses several of the old “Pennies”, but there is some excellent and smooth playing of the not too hot blues type. Roger Wolfe Kahn adopts a Spanish accent in An Old Guitar and an Old Re- frain (one piece!) coupled with The Hours I Spent with You (fortunately not a revamped Rosary) on 21078. 21080 gives up one side to Nat Shilkret’s Nothin’ (very frankly named) and one to Baby Your Mother by Don Bestor’s Or- chestra. Shilkret is also heard in Humpty-Dumpty and You Came Along (from “Just Fancy”) 21082, There’s a Cradle in Caroline (21040); and Where is My Meyer (21025). On the latter two disks the coupling is provided by George Olsen— The Song is Ended on the first and Blue Baby on the second. Olsen also plays Worryin’ on 21026 (coupled with the Troubadours’ Our American Girl, an ex- citing tribute to Ruth Elder, with airplanes roaring and everything), and has both sides of 21034 to himself— My Heart Stood Still and I Feel at Home with You; both are disappointing. Waring’s Pennsylvanians play Way Back When to Johnny Johnson’s coupling of We on 21053; and another Shilkret number (Dainty Miss) is revealed on the other side of the Hilo Hawaiians’ Song of Hawaii. The Brunswick group is lead by one of the finest dance records of the month, Isham Jones sonorous and full- blooded performance of What’ll You Do. Note the splen- did timpani solos near the end! Together We Two on the reverse is not quite as good, but the first side should most emphatically not be missed. Dodd’s Black Bottom Stomp- ers are noisy but not especially interesting in Come on and Stomp and After You’ve Gone on 3568; the latter piece has never been eclipsed in the Charleston Chasers’ famous Co- lumbia version. Frank Black has two disks devoted to hits from Good News (3655 and 3697); The always excellent Park Lane Orchestra couples Back Where the Daisies Grow and Lonely in a Crowd on 3698; Ernie Qolden’s band give a new version of A Shady Tree on 3651; the Colonial Club plays Are You Lonesome? on 3673; Ray Miller’s Orchestra has a prize-title winning number (Yep! ’Long About June) coupled with Blue Baby on 3673; Abe Lyman exhibits his usual smooth performances on 3632 (You’re So Easy to Re- member and Love Baby. The Regent Club plays Worryin’ and Diane on 3692; and the Six Jumping Jacks get greatly excited in Look in the Mirror and Pastafazoola on 3650. Nor should A1 Hopkin’s Buckle Busters be forgotten; they play Cluck Old Hen on 180. The Okeh dance records might well have been taken first, for they contain the largest number of good per- formances of the month. First by all means is a new per- formance of Black and Tan Fantasy by Duke Ellington that eclipses even the startling Brunswick record of this remarkable piece and even more remarkable performance. If one wishes to hear “effects” that are effects, here is the disk! What Can a Poor Fellow Do? on the other side, has a very interesting beginning, but for the rest is not up to Ellington’s best. May this 8521 be the first of many Okeh records by this unusual orchestra. For those who like the unique style of Trumbauer’s arangements, Humpty Dumpty and Baltimore on 40926 will prove real finds; both are excellent in Trumbauer’s original and modernistic man- ner. Miff Mole and his Little Moler’s are below their usual standard, unfortunately, in their current release, My Gal Sal and Original Dixieland Onestep (40932) ; but Louis Armstrong is as barbaric as ever with the Weary Blues and That’s When I’ll Come Back (8519). Justin Ring’s, Orches- tra couples Among My Souvenirs and Away Down South In Heaven on 40945; the Gotham Troubadours are heard on 40939, 40927; Russell Gray’s Orchestra on 40938; Bob Stephen’s Band on 40925 (two hits from “The Five O’Clock Girl”); Lanin’s Famous Players are heard on both sides of 40937 (Where Have You Been All My Life and My New York) and one side of 40933 (There Must Be Somebody Else —coupled with the Royal Music Makers’ The Song is Ended); the Okeh Melodians offer 40941; and the Goofus Five are back again on 40940 with Blue Baby and Is She My Girl Friend! Last comes one of Clarence Williams’ al- ways interesting releases, this time coupling Yama Yams Blues and Church Street Sobbin’ Blues (8525). Paul Specht leads off for Columbia with a vigorous Roll Up the Carpets, coupled with Hot Feet on 1186-D. There is an excellent piano solo in the first which makes one wish for the universal substitution of piano solos for vocal choruses. The poor pianists seldom get a chance and they are almost invariably infinitely superior to the vocalists who so often take the place of the pianists’ brief moment of glory. The always dependable Columbians have two rec- ords this month, 1183-D and 1184-D, including I Live, I Die