In September 1923, The Washingtonians under Elmer Snowden's leadership began an engagement at the Hollywood Club in New York.
In February 1924, Snowden left, Charlie Irvis joined on trombone, and Ellington became the leader.
In November 1924, Ellington made his first recordings, backing vocalist Alberta Prime on It's Gonna Be A Cold, Cold Winter (matrix T2001-1) and backing Ms Prime and Sonny Greer on Parlor Social De Luxe (matrix T2002-2) on Blu Disc 1007.
The band stayed at the Hollywood Club until it had a fire in January 1925. The band went on the road in February, but returned to the renovated club, renamed Club Kentucky, in the spring. According to Steven Lasker's notes accompanying the massive 2010 Mosaic CD release, it had several engagements there until March 1927.
-Optimized.jpg)
Blu-Disc T1002-B
Matrix T2005-2
The Washingtonians
(Bubber Miley, Charlie Irvis, Otto Hardwick, Duke Ellington, Geroge Francis, Sonny Greer)
New Desor DE2402a
Recorded November 1924
Blu-Disc session, NYC
Blu-Disc T1002-B shows the title as Choo Choo; the complete title on the sheet music is Choo Choo (I Gotta Hurry Home).
Red label pressings (label name Blu-Disc) dated from 1924 and are extremely rare and valuable.
More about the Blu-Disc label here.
Additional notes re Blu-Disc Record Company:
In 1924 Leroy Smith and his orchestra appeared in a stage production in New York, and the newly formed Blu-Disc Record Company recorded two of the selections the band introduced in the show. The record was available at the theater's cigar counter and postcard sized flyers (see photo) were provided to help generate sales. Unfortunately it appears this was the only place Blu-Disc records could be purchased. As a result, the Blu-Disc Record Co. may hold the dubious distinction of being the shortest-lived record company in history. Its catalog seems to begin and end in the month of December 1924. Supposedly, the company issued the records listed on the flyer, ...some of these records have never been found, and there is doubt as to whether they were all actually pressed. Needless to say, Blu-Disc records are among the rarest known. (Courtesy of the Montgomery archive)
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Image courtesy of The Dooji Collection
Added 2012-01-23
Blue Disc 5001
Matrix T2005-2
Duke Ellington's Washingtonians
(Bubber Miley, Charlie Irvis, Otto Hardwick, Duke Ellington, Geroge Francis, Sonny Greer)
New Desor DE2402a
Recorded November 1924
Blu-Disc session, NYC
possibly at Emerson Recording Laboratories (DEMS/093/4)
The "B" side of Blue Disc T1002 shows the title as Choo Choo; the complete title on the sheet music is Choo Choo (I Gotta Hurry Home).
Expert Steven Lasker advises me Blue Disc blue labels are dubs pressed in 1948 in Glendale, California. Red label pressings (label name Blu-Disc) dated from 1924 and are extremely rare and valuable.
More about the Blu-Disc label here.
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Added 2009-01-24
-Optimized.jpg)
Blu-Disc T1002-A
Matrix T2006-2 or T2006-1
There is some question as to whether the matrix is T2006-1 (stamped in the wax runoff and shown on New Desor page 1) or T2006-2, as printed on the label. At page 16 of DEMS 1998/4 Steven Lasker wrote:
I am certain that -.1 was the only take issued, but an explanation is in order. All 78 issues I have encountered are pressed from the same master, and are the same take, with the same terminal groove configuration, but the information seen stamped in the run-off area is contradictory from one issue to another. I have examined the issues on Broadway, Triangle and Pennington, and all are stamped T 2006-2; the copy of Blu-Disc T1002 held in the Valburn collection at the Library of Congress is also stamped T 2006-2, yet my copy of this rare issue is stamped T 2006-1. Everybodys 1021 is stamped T 2006 (no take number is stamped) but bears the true take data T 2006-1 as inscribed in the central area of the master wax by the engineer at the time of recording. This hand-written (not stamped) information doesn't appear on other 78 issues, which were pressed from stampers from which the centers bearing this information had been milled out (so-called sunken-label pressings) unlike pressings on the Everybodys label, which are unmilled (flush-label) pressings."
The Washingtonians
New Desor DE2402b
Recorded November 1924
Blu-Disc session, NYC
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Image courtesy of The Dooji Collection
added 2012-01-23
-Nov1924-IMG_0316.jpg)
Blue Disc 5001
Matrix T2006-2
Duke Ellington's Washingtonians
(Bubber Miley, Charlie Irvis, Otto Hardwick, Duke Ellington, Geroge Francis, Sonny Greer)
New Desor DE2402b
Recorded November 1924
Blue Disc session, New York City
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Added 2009-04-10
Blu-Disc T1003-B
Matrix T2007-1
Jo Trent and the D C'ns
(Otto Hardwick, Duke Ellington, George Francis, Sonny Greer, Jo Trent)
Hardwick plays C Melody sax on this recording
Vocal Jo Trent
New Desor DE2402c
Recorded November 1924
Blu-Disc session, New York City, NY
Deacon Jazz was used in the Chocolate Kiddies revue, which Ellington and Trent wrote the book for in 1923. The revue toured Europe for two years, and Deacon Jazz is known to have been sung by Adelaide Hall and a chorus in Europe.
Image courtesy of Ate van Delden
added 2010-03-30
005-Optimized.jpg)
Blu-Disc T1003-A
Matrix T2008-1
Sunny and the D C'ns
(Otto Hardwick, Duke Ellington, George Francis, Sonny Greer)
Hardwick plays C Melody sax on this recording
Vocal Sonny Greer
New Desor DE2402d
Blu-Disc T1003-A credits SUNNY GREER AND THE D C'NS, but the handbill shows Sonny Greer and The D C'ns.
Recorded November 1924
Blu-Disc session, New York City, NY
Image courtesy of Ate van Delden
added 2010-03-30
Jas. R. (Prince) Robinson joined the band by May, and Freddie Guy replaced George Francis. Sidney Bechet played with the band that summer, and is thought to have recorded with it, but the records were never released if they were made.
The club was too small to accommodate a string bass, but Ellington hired Henry "Bass" Edwards on tuba. According to Sonny Greer, Edwards was a powerful player and would often take solos with red and green lights flashing on his tuba.
The band would start at 9 or 10 pm, and play shows at midnight and 2 a.m. as well. Fats Waller played when the band was on breaks. After the band went home, Ellington and Greer went from table to table, using a studio piano on wheels, making lots of tip money.
Perfect 14514
Duke Ellington's Washingtonians
Bubber Miley is replaced by Pike Davis in this recording
New Desor DE2501a
Recorded September 11, 1925, Pathé East 53rd Street studio, NYC (see DEMS 1997/2 page 4)
(I'm told this is a very rare label)
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Added 2007-12-01, specific recording date added 2011-09-18
Perfect 14514 B
Duke Ellington's Washingtonians
Bubber Miley is replaced by Pike Davis in this recording
New Desor DE2501b
Recorded September 11, 1925, Pathé East 53rd Street studio, NYC (see DEMS 1997/2 page 4).
(also a very rare label). The trombone solo is by Charlie Irvis, and the trumpet solo is Pike Davis.
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Image courtesy of The Dooji Collection
Upgraded 2011-11-22
001-Optimized.jpg)
Perfect 104 Race Record
Matrix 106729
Duke Ellington's Washingtonians
Bubber Miley is replaced by two trumpeters, Harry Cooper and Leroy Rutledge, in this recording
New Desor DE2601a
Recorded March 19, 1926, Pathé session, East 53rd Street Studio, New York City (see DEMS 1997/2 page 4)
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Image courtesy of Ate van Delden
added 2010-03-30, specific recording date added 2011-09-18
Perfect 104B
Matrix 106730
Duke Ellington's Washingtonians
Bubber Miley is replaced by two trumpeters, Harry Cooper and Leroy Rutledge, in this recording. Mark Tucker writes that this is Ellington's first instrumentally conceived composition to appear on disc, and it was neither copyrighted or published.
New Desor DE2601b
Recorded March 19, 1926, Pathé session, East 53rd Street Studio, New York City (see DEMS 1997/2 page 4)
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Image courtesy of Ate van Delden
added 2010-03-30, specific recording date added 2011-09-18
"Wanna Go Back Again" Blues
Gennett 3291-A
Matrix X57-A
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
Voc. Sonny Greer
Bubber Miley is replaced by two trumpeters, Harry Cooper and Leroy Rutledge, in this recording.
Eddie Lambert, in Duke Ellington, A Listener's Guide, writes that this recording includes the first instance on record of imaginative scoring by Ellington - the use of Hardwick's baritone sax offset by two clarinets and the trumpets, as opposed to the conventional sax against brass scoring in the verse and the bridge of Irvis' chorus.
New Desor DE2602a
Recorded Mar 30,1926, Gennett session, East 37th Street Offices, New York City
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Image courtesy of The Dooji Collection
upgraded 2010-06-08
WannaGoBackAgainBlues-Champion16105-A(Rare)-Optimized.jpg)
"Wanna Go Back Again" Blues
Champion 16105
Matrix X57-A
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
Voc. Sonny Greer
New Desor DE2602a
Recorded Mar 30,1926, Gennett session, East 37th Street Offices, New York City
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Image courtesy of The Dooji Collection
added 2010-03-28
Gennett 3342-A
Matrix X190
Duke Ellington and His Washingtonians
(Personnel: Bubber Miley, Charlie Johnson, Joe Nanton or Charlie Irvis, Otto Hardwick, Prince Robinson, Duke Ellington, Fred Guy, Bass Edwards, and Sonny Greer - source DEMS/061c.)
New Desor DE2603a
Recorded June 21, 1926, Gennett's East 37th Street offices,N.Y.C.
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Image courtesy of The Dooji Collection
upgraded 2011-11-22
(very rare)
Starr Piano Company operated Gennett at a loss after 1926. In December 1930, the Gennett Electrobeam label was withdrawn but the Champion and Superior labels continued, made from Gennett masters with pseudonyms replacing the artists' names. Selling for three-for-a-dollar in chain stores, Superior was discontinued in 1932, but Champion continued until 1934. In 1935, Starr sold the Champion trademark to Decca who continued to press the old Champion masters, selling them in the U.S., and in England on the Brunswick label. (Source)
Note the absence of "GE" on this label. This would appear to be an acoustical recording, since "GE" was used for the then-experimental electrical recordings. See GENNETT NUMERICAL SERIES by Björn Englund
Tucker writes "this time Miley made the date; the ensemble was better organized and played with verve. Although in some ways not as distinctive as "Choo Choo" and "Rainy Nights," these two sides, ... were an improvement over the Washingtonian's earlier discs for Pathé and Gennett. "Li'l Farinea," in particular, gave signs of promise for both Ellington and his band."
Lambert tells us the trumpets are Miley and Charlie Johnson, and that Joe Nanton has replaced Irvis now. Lambert seems less enamored with Li'l Farina than Tucker, praising Nanton's and Miley's solos but calling the melody tawdry.
Challenge 135-A
Matrix X190
The Memphis Bell Hops
(Ellington band's pseudonym for the Challenge label. Personnel: Bubber Miley, Charlie Johnson, Joe Nanton or Charlie Irvis, Otto Hardwick, Prince Robinson, Duke Ellington, Fred Guy, Bass Edwards, and Sonny Greer - source DEMS/061c.)
New Desor DE2603a
Recorded June 21, 1926, Gennett's East 37th Street offices,N.Y.C.
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Added 2007-09-14
(very rare)
Gennett 3342-B
Matrix X-191
Duke Ellington and His Washingtonians
New Desor DE2603b
Recorded June 21, 1926
Gennett's East 37th Street offices,N.Y.C.
Listen on Jazz Old Time On Line
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Image courtesy of The Dooji Collection
added 2011-11-22
009-Optimized.jpg)
Champion 15120 B
Matrix X191
Duke Ellington & His Washingtonians
New Desor DE2603b
Recorded June 21, 1926
Gennett's East 37th Street offices,N.Y.C.
Listen on Jazz Old Time On Line
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
the quality of these two digital sound files is very different - I suspect one was created by recording from an acoustical gramophone and the other from an electric phonograph = the REd Hot Jazz is better for listening.
Image courtesy of Ate van Delden
added 2010-03-30
-Opt.jpg)
Gennett 3403-A
Matrix X323
Alberta Jones with the Ellington Twins
(Otto Hardwick and Duke Ellington)
"Lulu Belle's Boy Friends"
New Desor DE2604a
Recorded Oct 14, 1926
Gennett's East 37th St. Offices, NYC
(i)Note the Gennett serial numbers 3403A
and Race Record 12-26
Updated 2012-01-21
-Opt.jpg)
-Opt.jpg)
Gennett 3403-B
Matrix X324-A
Alberta Jones with the Ellington Twins
(Otto Hardwick and Duke Ellington)
"Lulu Belle's Boy Friends"
New Desor DE2604b
Recorded Oct 14, 1926, Gennett's East 37th St. offices, NYC
(i)Note the Gennett serial numbers 3403B
and Race Record 12-26
Added 2008-04-05
Started in 1917 and at first marketed in Canada, the Brunswick label was intoduced to the USA in 1920. In November 1924, Brunswick acquired Vocalion from the Aeolian Company and exactly two years later, Ellington started recording for Vocalion. Brunswick recordings were made at 799 Seventh Avenue, New York, until December 21, 1931, and then in 1932 at ARC's 1776 Broadway studios, which had opened in early 1931.
Vocalion A1064
Matrix E4110W
Duke Ellington and His Kentucky Club Orchestra
New Desor DE2605b
Recorded Nov. 29, 1926, Vocalion session, "Special Colored Recordings," Room 1, Brunswick Studio, NYC
Listen on Jazz Old Time On Line
upgraded 2010-06-21
read about Vocalion race records here
Brunswick Collectors Series Album B1000, catalogue 80000A
Matrix E21872
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra
New Desor DE2605b
Priced at 75¢, this pressing was distributed by Decca in 1943 - see the advertisements here.
The label does not agree with the New Desor discography.
If this was the Vocalion 1064, New Desor says it is DE2605b, recorded Nov. 29, 1926. If it was Matrix E 21872, New Desor says DE2704a, Mar. 14, 1927.
Both recording sessions were at the Brunswick studio, but New Desor identifies the earlier one as a Vocalion session.
The label identifies the group as Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, and lists 3 reed players. New Desor says it is DE and his Kentucky Club Orchestra. Peter MacHare's http://DEPanorama.net identifies the Nov 29 group as Duke Ellington & His Kentucky Club Orchestra: Metcalf, Miley, Nanton, possibly Prince Robinson, Sampson, Hardwick, Ellington, Guy, Shaw and Greer.
MacHare lists the same personnel for the March date. Neither his lists nor New Desor include Rudy Jackson or Harry Carney, who are shown on this label. According to Timner's Ellingtonia 4th edition, neither Jackson nor Carney recorded with Ellington until October 1927. According to New Desor, Jackson and Carney joined in June 1927, and according to Scott Yanow's brief biographical notes on http://answers.com, Jackson was with King Oliver in early 1927.
Benny Aasland's The Wax Works of Duke Ellington (1954) gives Vocalion 1064 for both recordings dates, i.e. matrices 4110W Nov. 29, 1926 and E21871, 21872,& 21873 Mar. 14,1927.
Jorgen Gennet Jepsen's 1959 discography only shows Vocalion 4110 for the 1926 date.
The label on this reissue that is part of a 4 record album (8 sides) appears simply to be the result of carelessness. If anyone can clear up the ambiguity, please let me know. Meanwhile I've showed one image as DE2605b and another copy as DE2704a.
Added 2009-02-05
.jpg)
Vocalion B 1064
Matrix E21641
Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra
New Desor DE2605d
Recorded Nov 29, 1926, Brunswick Studio, NYC
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Image courtesy of The Dooji Collection
Added 2007-09-28 Upgraded 2010-08-22
-BirminghamBreakdown-VocalionB1064.jpg)
Vocalion B 1064
Matrix E21641
Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra
New Desor DE2605d
Recorded Nov 29, 1926, Brunswick Studio, NYC
(note different layout of label)
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Added 2008-10-12
Brunswick album B1000
(originally Vocalion 1064)
Matrix E21641
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra
New Desor DE2605d
Recorded Nov 29, 1926, Brunswick Studio, NYC
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Added 2007-12-23
Vocalion A 1077
MatrixE4321W
Duke Ellington and His Kentucky Club Orchestra
New Desor DE2606a
Recorded in the afternoon of Dec. 29, 1926
Brunswick Studio, Room 1, N.Y.C.
(The studio recording sheet is headed "Special Colored Recordings")
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
added 2010-03-29
-Optimized.jpg)
Swaggie (Australia) S7
Matrix E4321WCC
Duke Ellington and His Kentucky Club Orchestra
New Desor DE2606a
Recorded in the afternoon of Dec. 29, 1926
Brunswick Studio, Room 1, N.Y.C.
(The studio recording sheet is headed "Special Colored Recordings") Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Image courtesy of Bill Haesler
(the Swaggie labels are 88 mm wide with a 3 mm black border that does not show in these images).
According to Steven Lasker in DEMS, Swaggie S7 and S8 were pressed from parts created at Decca Records in the mid-1940s by dubbing from copies of the Vocalion 78s. He wrote that this is established by the omission of these masters from Brunswick's 1931 inventory of metal parts, by a 1944 Decca inner-office memorandum, and by reference to the Vocalion and Swaggie 78s in question.
added 2010-03-29
-3456_1.jpg)
Biltmore 1004
Matrix E4321W
Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra
New Desor DE2606a
Recorded in the afternoon of Dec. 29, 1926
Brunswick Studio, Room 1, N.Y.C.
(The studio recording sheet is headed "Special Colored Recordings")
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Vocalion B1077
Matrix E4323W or E4324W
Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra
New Desor DE2606b or c
Recorded in the afternoon of Dec. 29, 1926
Brunswick Studio, Room 1, N.Y.C.
(The studio recording sheet is headed "Special Colored Recordings")
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
-Optimized.jpg)
Swaggie (Australia)
Matrix E4323WC
Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra
New Desor DE2606b
Recorded in the afternoon of Dec. 29, 1926
Brunswick Studio, Room 1, N.Y.C.
(The studio recording sheet is headed "Special Colored Recordings")
Listen on The Red Hot Jazz Archive
Image courtesy of Bill Haesler
added 2010-03-29