Comments on: Sing a Song of 78s

By: Rob Godridge

Rob Godridge — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:50:53 +0000

this is gonna be long…

I love reading your site. I know little about moddern jazz, though i do like to listen to it. I love jazz but mostly big band and more traditional stuff, though if i need to really get into something i’ll listen to a blue note.

I collect 78s. I love them. I collect swing, jazz, and early stuff. I have records from 1904 with a dog in the background that is louder than the music, where the singer coughs on the introduction etc. I think that is magical. You wouldn’t get that on an lp! and that cough or dog or whatever was 110 years ago. How nerdy is that? i should get checked out shouldn’t i…

I’m based in the uk, and those folks that collected jaz in the uk, (excluding goodman etc) tended to be unbelievably geeky. I reently got a beautiful collection of mostly swing and bebop records and the original owner had written the personel, dates and stuff on every single record! there were about 500 of them and they were all in beautiful condition. Some of those esquire discs sound unbelievable, even the swing records, you can hear crooper’s brushes on the goodman trio records you can’t on the remasters.

This is a bit different these days for jazz though not much, but i’ll be surprised if you can find any cds or even lps of popular music of the 30s and earlier, or most of it. there’s an entire era of sound in those fragile discs.

It’s cylinders next, oh dear

By: Dan Axelrod

Dan Axelrod — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 18:48:03 +0000

Thr trouble with passion prose is it overtakes you. I just added this set to the collection after the last post. Is it a 10″ cover as well? Someone here should know.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/78-BOOK-of-2-JAZZ-BLUES-ILLINOIS-JACQUET-on-SAVOY-TAKE-A-L-K-/290821118687?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item43b64a1adf

By: Dan Axelrod

Dan Axelrod — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 17:30:43 +0000

Wow-what serendipity! After those last two posts, I searched ebay for Bop 78’s. There was one listing for the King Joy Orchestra. The BOP label lacked the exclamation (probably first incarnation of the label), but the tune title was EXCLAMATION BLUES! Holy Shit!
So thinking coincidences are visible lines in our destiny, I bought it. Of course the King Joy Orchestra is the King Pleasure Orchestra. And the flip is Moody’s Mood for Love. So this is the pre-Prestige issue. There I go, there I go… there I go!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/78RPM-Bop-211-King-Joy-Orchestra-Exclamation-Blues-Mood-for-Love-strong-VG-/230872019027?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item35c10b7053

By: Dan Axelrod

Dan Axelrod — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 16:54:10 +0000

If I were hot chick in ’58 with a poodle skirt, wet panties and a hungry little pussy, I’d fuck you myself lennib. But don’t forget the exclamation point on Bop! Records. That point to me, is the last girlie spasm around your spent penis which suddenly makes this harsh world calm again.
I recently bought “Geronimo” on Bop!–Dexter and Wardell’s take on Cherokee, from the L.A. battle where fans scream on tables and chairs.Though the lp might sound good, that 78 FEELS good. Watching it spin down for 3 minutes heightens the tension of the tenor battle, gets us close to the moment of creation, moves our brains in alpha, and as the temporal slowly begins to meet the eternal, for a time at least… we become immortal. Nice post lennib. Thanks.

By: lennib

lennib — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:54:34 +0000

At one time, pre-1997, I had 3500 plus 78’s. Nearly every Blue Note,nearly every Dial, including the issued alternate takes, myriads of BeBop odd labels and every Prestige/New Jazz 78 except three. I loved playing 78’s simply because of the time limitations, say what you had to say in 3 minutes. Boom, done. No endless meandering.
However, they took space and then we moved and I sold them all, perhaps they made it to Japan in one piece, except 20 and 5 album sets, 3 Bird, Ike Quebec and John Hardee on Blue Note.
This discuusion is fun to read, reminds me of those days, which now seem like another lifetime.
I mean, when I was digging, few were looking for BeBop on labels like Seeco and Bop and 4 Star and those labels out of LA, Fentone and Dolphins of Hollywood. And even Savoy’s and Dials were somewheat plentiful.
I too like holding an item with someone’s name or markings on it. A link to the past, to the person who one day was hip enough to go into a store somewhere and buy this record.
My favorite inscrition is on a Dizzy Gillespie record, “School Days” on the REgent label. In rough shape and not the best Dizzy, HOWEVER, on the back is written in blue ink,
“To the ‘coolest’ guy around
Love Jayne and Sue, ’58.”
And I am SOO jealous of that guy!!

By: Scott

Scott — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 02:04:19 +0000

Thorens TD 124 will give you the ability to play 45, 33, and 78. Also, an early unit with a fist series SME 3009 tonearm would be period state of the art for an original 1500 series BN hi fi rig of the era. Also like the first pressings it is tough to beat for sound quality still to this day.

By: don-lucky

don-lucky — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 16:41:21 +0000

…Thanks Terry, it’s definitely on the list ! (I can’t wait to hear what my copy of BN1 sounds like after all these years !)

By: ceedee

ceedee — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:54:13 +0000

Dan,re:”Of course dried brown stain on the back cover is the best. Along with shellac, it sums up our meaningless lives-We shit…we die.”
Dan-while I can only vouch for my own collection-I always recognized the brown stains as remnants from a “Cheech & Chong” youth,long gone. While I may have had(and still have)some lps that I disliked after giving them a listen,that distaste has always had it’s limits. I’m pretty sure you’ve unwittingly helped me to draw that line once more!

By: Terry

Terry — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 13:21:03 +0000

Don,
Get a 78 player (from your wife, for Christmas!) as most of the takes are different from anything you’ve heard on LP.

By: DARYL

DARYL — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 01:52:09 +0000

I enjoy the postings a bit off the familiar path of the familiar Blue Notes, so tip o’ the hat to Al.

It’s rare that a comment on JC has brought an audible guffaw the way that Dan’s second post did. What I appreciate about the comment is not merely the imagery. I appreciate the laser sharp focus he identifies regarding a first-pressing collector. It will stick with me as a useful illustration to distinguish categories of collectors for some time.