The record changer (Feb-Dec 1948)

• II Louis Lewin Formerly of NEW YORK Takes pleasure in Announcing The Opening of the NEW Lewin Record Outlet at 5401 Hollywood Boulevard nr Western Ave. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA Temporary Phone. Hudson 21159 Night Phone. York 4503 Where as always you will find the BEST IN JAZZ. SWING. POPULAR, and all your OLD FAVORITES. Thousands of "Armstrongs," "Bessie Smiths," "Bix Biederdeckes," "Johnny Dodds," "Muggsy's." "Langs." "Jelly Rolls." "Millers." "Goodmans." "Holidays," "Bing Crosbys," etc., on all rare labels including "English Parlophones." Would all old friends and customers please write in their want lists. If in L. A. or vicinity, it would be well worthwhile to drop in. ALSO FULL LINE OF "POPULAR," CLASSICAL & FOREIGN RECORDS IN STOCK. As always . . . LOWEST PRICES Eugene Williams Gene Williams will probably be remembered as an eccentric who devoted what little he had of life to making jazz better understood, as a name on the Jazz Information masthead or a thin, pale guy who was always being argumentative about jazz. Now that he is dead — a suicide — a few people will say, "Too bad." And those who beat him over the head when he was alive may even go so far as to mutter, "Oh, well ..." And some who claimed to be close friends, who lived off him when he had money and who walked out on him when he didn't, will probably make loud mourning sounds. Or maybe they won't. What I have to say is very simple. During the years when we haphazardly went to Columbia College together, Gene was the best friend I had. We listened to records together, we haunted junk shops together, we got drunk together, we bellyached at the ways of the world together. So I think I know him just about as well as any man could. He was then, as he was throughout his short life, intolerant, cantankerous, generous, quick and piercing of mind. When Gene found jazz, it was more than music to him. It was mother, father, wife and kids to him, something to give his life direction and meaning. From the start, he set out to know more about it than anyone else. At first his approach was strictly academic : he tried to read all the books, hear all the records, list all the master numbers. When he and I decided to put out Jazz Information, he was just beginning to go after jazz in the real and raw. As he went deeper and deeper into it, he began cutting himself off from everything else in life. I think that, more than anything else, was responsible for the break between us ; he never quite understood how I could have interests outside of jazz. Eventually, Gene got in too deep, the phonies of the Bunk ' Johnson cult took him over, and — if you don't mind an old-fashioned word — took over his soul. But before that time, Gene had done some pretty wonderful things for jazz. Singlehanded, he built up Jazz Information, setting the pattern for all serious jazz magazines to follow and making it the great little publication it was. With very little help, he focussed attention on the discarded and misunderstood New Orleans past, taking the ball from the Jazzmen bunch. He brought Bunk to the Stuyvesant and put his money in the Kid Ory band. When most people's idea of a reissue was a Teschmaker record, , he put out the early-1920 Olivers, Ma Raineys, and Freddie Keppards. When they found Gene, his body was broken. But his mind and his heart had been broken many months before, as those of us who talked to him and listened to him talk knew. Psychiatry might have saved him had there been anyone who cared enough to get him — even to force him — to undergo treatment. At the end, Gene sat alone in a room, shut in behind the tragic curtain of his alienation, unable to reconcile the world in his mind with the world outside. I don't mourn for Gene because I know he had always been unhappy, even when we got drunk together during our college years. I'm just very sorry to see him gone. Jelly Roll said it better : "He was a good man but the Butcher had to cut him down — Ralph de Toledano YERBAj£UENA JAwUc <£hcp 5721 GROVE STREET OAKLAND 9 CALIF. Latest Circle Release KID ORY is now on Circle. In THIS IS JAZZ Volume II, today's greatest jazz band gives performances that will make history. Snag It/Savoy Blues, Down Among the Sheltering Palms/Weary Blues, taken directly from the now famous broadcast of August 9, 1947. Album S-ll (2-12" records) .. .$3.94 OTHER CIRCLE ALBUMS— S-9 Bill Davison Showcase $3.93 S-8 Ragtime Band 3.93 S-7 This Is Jazz Vol. I 3.93 S-6 Bessie Smith St. Louis Blues 3.93 S-5 Bertha "Chippie" Hill 2.88 S-4 Deep Woods Blues 3.93 S-3 South Side, Shake 3.93 S-2 Montana Taylor 3.93 S-l Marching. Jazz 3.93 CIRCLE singles, $1.05 each J-1001 Baby Dodds, Drum Improvisation Baby Dodds Trio, Wolverine Blues J -1002 Baby Dodds Trio, Albert's Blues Don Ewell, Manhattan Stomp J-1003 ••Chippie" Hill, How Long Blues Trouble in Mind J-1004 '•Chippie" Hill, Careless Love Charleston Blues J-1011 Freddy Shayne, Mr. Freddy's Rag Chestnut Street Boogie J-1012 The Eclipse Alley Five, Girls All Love the Way I Drive Rucket Got a Hole in It All CIRCLE releases are available to West Coast dealers at trade discounts EXNER Records, vinyl ite, $1.30 each Johnny Wittwer Trio 1 Wolverine Blues/Joe's Blues 2 Tiger Rag/Come Back Sweet Papa Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band 3 Dippermouth Blues/Savoy Blues i High Society/Ballin' the Jack PACIFIC Records, Frisco Jazz Band, 89c each 606 Red Wing/At the Jazz Band Ball 611 Fidgety Feet/Gotta See Mamma Every Night 614 When the Saints Go Marching In/Pacific Blues 615 Dippermouth/Sensation 616 Jazz Me BIues/Huggin' and Cbalkin 620 Copenhagen/Good Man is Hard to Find 631 Geo. Washington/Gettin' My Boots 639 Mamie's Blues/ Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll EXNER and PACIFIC releases are available to all dealers at trade discounts Mail orders of $5.00 or more are allowed 5c per record to help defray shipping expenses. Send for our latest list of available jazz records. 18 THE RECORD CHANGER