Question regarding Edison Jazz Records

[phonojim]

The Original Memphis Five recorded four sides for Edison under their own name (and none using pseudonyms as far as I know). The titles are: "Jelly Roll Blues" and "A Bunch Of Blues" on 51246 and "Great White Way Blues" and "Shufflin' Mose" on 51204. All four of these are great titles.
Several of the Golden Gate Orch./California Ramblers sides feature some great Red Nichols solos - "The Flapper Wife" 51551 being a good example. The Ramblers also used the Golden Gate Orch. pseudonym on Pathé, Perfect, Banner and Regal. Nichols also appears on some Don Voohries (sp?) sides, eg: "Blue Skies" and "Who Do You Love" 51919 and a couple of rare sides as Red and Miff's Stompers. Vincent Lopez also appears as Lopez and Hamilton's Harmony Kings in the 1921/22 era. I have a couple of those with early white-on-black paper labels. Earl Oliver's Jazz Babies was actually Harry Reser's Orch.

Jim

[VintageTechnologies]

Another hot jazz band that has not been mentioned yet is the "Original Memphis Five". Sadly, Edison did not issue too many sides by that group, but those recordings were really, really good!

There is a possibility that OMF recorded as Broadway Dance Orchestra for Edison. Has "Original Memphis Five" ever appeared on the label or did they only record under a pseudonym for Edison?

The Original Memphis Five recorded for Edison as the OMF. Others have said The Broadway Dance Orchestra was actually the Vincent Lopez band, a fact that I did not know until recently. You can hardly go wrong buying BDO recordings - practically everything they did was at least good, if not very good. I also like many recordings by the Atlantic Dance Orchestra. Kaplan's orchestra - not so much.

[52089]

Several of the Golden Gate Orch./California Ramblers sides feature some great Red Nichols solos - "The Flapper Wife" 51551 being a good example. The Ramblers also used the Golden Gate Orch. pseudonym on Pathé, Perfect, Banner and Regal. Nichols also appears on some Don Voohries (sp?) sides, eg: "Blue Skies" and "Who Do You Love" 51919 and a couple of rare sides as Red and Miff's Stompers.
Jim

The Red and Miff's Stompers sides are some of my favorite Diamond Discs. I own a beat up copy of Alabama Stomp/Stampede and would love to find the other disc. Here's a link to my YouTube playlist of all 4 Red and Miff sides:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUlYnFN ... 2Lrq-s5du7

[tubaphone]

I just listened to 52089's videos of Red & Miff's Stompers playing 'Stampede' and 'Alabama Stomp', great stuff! The Edison's of this group are all top notch. They do a very nice job on Jelly Roll Morton's 'Black Bottom Stomp' too. All of the records show terrific ensemble playing with really good solos.I've tried many times to get all of these records only to be outbid every time but I'll keep trying, they are worth it.

[Valecnik]

There were a few black jazz bands that recorded on Edison, I'm surprised that they have not been mentioned yet. They were Fletcher Henderson and his orchestra, Charlie Skeete's and Wilbur Sweatman. Pianist Lemuel Fowler and his band did some fine backup to one of the blues singers on Edison also. Others have mentioned the fine records by the Golden Gate Orchestra and the Georgia Melodians, these are some of my favorites for jazz on Edison too.

And "Let us not forget" Noble Sissle.

[audiophile102]

Several of the Golden Gate Orch./California Ramblers sides feature some great Red Nichols solos - "The Flapper Wife" 51551 being a good example. The Ramblers also used the Golden Gate Orch. pseudonym on Pathé, Perfect, Banner and Regal. Nichols also appears on some Don Voohries (sp?) sides, eg: "Blue Skies" and "Who Do You Love" 51919 and a couple of rare sides as Red and Miff's Stompers.
Jim

The Red and Miff's Stompers sides are some of my favorite Diamond Discs. I own a beat up copy of Alabama Stomp/Stampede and would love to find the other disc. Here's a link to my YouTube playlist of all 4 Red and Miff sides:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUlYnFN ... 2Lrq-s5du7

I was knocked out by the You tube videos! Boy, I sure hope I can get Red Miff's Stompers records in my collection. That's great jazz.

[larryh]

I was recording some selections today and decided to put up a recent find. Its "Open Up Your Heart" from Running Wild, Its a borderline Jazz type piece from what I can tell. It incorporates the features that create an interesting selection to my ears. Anyone else find this to be in the Jazzy type vain?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTpQX6zjD0E


Larry

[Victrolacollector]

As I have said many times, Edison did record some great material, but as collectors we will find far more of the waltz and other less desirable recordings than a hot title. By the mid-twenties these recordings were starting to come out, but Edison resented the public changing taste in music. As a result, expect to pay big bucks for any hot titles such as Golden Gate Orchestra, etc. Case in point, "The Charleston" was very popular in the 1920's, it can be had on a Victor for maybe $10.00 or less, whereas a copy on Edison can fetch in excess of $200.00 on ebay.

So this is why it nice to have a Amberola machine, you can get some new reproduction cylinders of rare hot titles at less than you would spend for an original, if you can find one. I have some 4 minute cylinders such as "Charleston", on Vulcan, and "Wang Wang Blues", Heigh Ho! Heigh Ho!, from Berlin Phonograph Works.

[52089]

Another hot jazz band that has not been mentioned yet is the "Original Memphis Five". Sadly, Edison did not issue too many sides by that group, but those recordings were really, really good!

There is a possibility that OMF recorded as Broadway Dance Orchestra for Edison. Has "Original Memphis Five" ever appeared on the label or did they only record under a pseudonym for Edison?

The Original Memphis Five recorded for Edison as the OMF. Others have said The Broadway Dance Orchestra was actually the Vincent Lopez band, a fact that I did not know until recently. You can hardly go wrong buying BDO recordings - practically everything they did was at least good, if not very good. I also like many recordings by the Atlantic Dance Orchestra. Kaplan's orchestra - not so much.

I was going through Alan Sutton's Blue Amberol book yesterday, and he says that according to the Edison cash book, some of the BDO records are probably by Louis Katzman's Orch., and many others are by Lopez. He does list the specific orchestra for each record, except for a few where it's not clear which group was used.

[Torjazzer]

As I have said many times, Edison did record some great material, but as collectors we will find far more of the waltz and other less desirable recordings than a hot title. By the mid-twenties these recordings were starting to come out, but Edison resented the public changing taste in music. As a result, expect to pay big bucks for any hot titles such as Golden Gate Orchestra, etc. Case in point, "The Charleston" was very popular in the 1920's, it can be had on a Victor for maybe $10.00 or less, whereas a copy on Edison can fetch in excess of $200.00 on ebay.

I too find it difficult to pay more money for a record just because it's on the Edison label. Equal or better jazz can be found on most other labels for a LOT less money. By the way, if you have a copy of The Charleston on any label for $10 or less let me know. That title has been selling for over $100 lately, regardless of label.