All-Blues Capitol A-roll Found
By Rob DeLand
I have some great news I want to share with everyone. One of the greatest categories of roll collecting is the blues tunes found on certain A nickelodeon rolls, particularly those issued by Capitol (Capitol Roll & Record Co. of Chicago). About a dozen or so all-blues rolls have been found to date, many recorded by Jimmy Blythe and Clarence Johnson and generally having a great live, hand-played, gut-bucket feel to them. These are generally the finest blues performances I know of on music rolls.
Yesterday I was at a friend's house playing some rolls, and he put on an all-blues Capitol A roll with no roll # or titles. All tunes were great, and he knew tunes #4 and #9. When I got home I looked them up and determined this is Capitol roll #1925, issued in July 1925. I checked with Ed Sprankle and Mike Montgomery, who are the best authorities on this stuff, and they verified that the roll had not been located before, and that the tunes are for the most part not found on other A-rolls either!
I'll list the tunes below. My friend recuts nickelodeon rolls on a regular basis, so I'm sure this will be available at some point, hopefully later this year. I just wanted to let you know what a great collecting category this is, and to share some of my enthusiasm. If anyone knows of other good original nickelodeon rolls that may deserve to be recut, please let me know and I'll get you in touch with someone who can do the work. When this roll is recut and available I'll be glad to pass the word on to this list if desired.
Capitol A Roll No. 1925 - "Red Hot Special" (from July 1925 bulletin):
1. Broadcasting Mama
2. Sally's Got the Blues
3. Superstitious Blues
4. Everybody Loves My Baby
5. Hateful Blues
6. Cold, Cold Mamas
7. Flag That Train
8. Twelfth Street Blues
9. How Come You Do Me Like You Do
10. I'm Satisfied
Don Teach was there to witness the happy occasion. (Hello, Don, I hope you made it back home safely with your new old piano. You don't know how difficult it was to _not_ call you back last night when I got home after midnight!)
Cheers,
Rob DeLand
(deland_robert@macmail1.csg.mot.com) |
(Message sent Mon 3 Mar 1997, 19:43:08 GMT, from time zone GMT-0600.) |
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