22. JAZZ 78 Charlie Johnson Paradise Band Victor 21712

$

200

Charlie Johnson & his Paradise Band Dance Orchestra – Walk That Thing b/w The Boy In the Boat (Harlem Jazz) 78

Victor 21712 (black and gold scroll label) – A few light scratches, but overall a VG+. Comes with a victor sleeve

Hardly known outside of a small Jazz coterie, this small band contrived to create an ensemble effect much like the Fletcher Henderson outfit. Charlie Johnson played at Small's Paradise Club in Harlem (229 1/2 7th Avenue at 135th Street) on and off from approximately the mid-twenties to mid-thirties. The Boy In The Boat shows some beautifully-controlled muted work by Sidney de Paris; Walk That Thing gives a representative trombone solo from Jimmy Harrison. Ben Whittet (clarinet) and George Washington produce some delightfully lazy solo work on Hot Bones and Rice, whilst Sidney de Paris creates an Ellingtonian Cootie Williams growl solo which might be mistaken for the great trumpet man. Throughout there is a Clarence Williams overall sound which is probably due in part to the presence of that fine tuba player Cyrus St. Clair in the first two titles, and Billy Taylor in the second. This might be cited as some of the best recorded Harlem Jazz of the late twenties.
Taken from the book Recorded Jazz: A Critical Guide by Rex Harris and Brian Rust.

A few weeks ago this record sold for over $400. This record is in much better condition and my reserve is much less.

ABOUT THE RECORD:.

I work at an Audio Archive in Indiana and once a year our librarian weeds through the collections and sort out the duplicates. We then hold a sale, which I attended recently. I usually collect 45s and LPs, with an emphasis on honky-tonk and rockabilly music, but our recent sale was dominated by 78s. I was blown away by what I found. No country, but some amazing music. In the first box I found dozens of early jazz, hot jazz (whatever you want to call it) 78s on Gennett, Victor, Puritan, Okeh, Paramount, Vocalion, Blue Note, Folkways, Asch, Bluebird, Columbia, Brunswick as well as numerous one-offs and smaller independent labels. I was stunned! In that first box were 78s by Charlie Johnson and his Paradise Band, King Oliver and his Orchestra, Connie’s Inn Orchestra, Clarence Williams’ Blue Five, Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers, Ma Rainey, New Orleans Rhythm Kings, the Louisiana Sugar Babes, Dixieland Jug Blowers, Napoleon’s Emperors, Ed Lang, Bessie Smith, etc. There were also numerous blues 78s by Blind Willie Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy and even “atomic” gospel recordings by the Golden Gate Quartet. Then of course there were the amazing recordings of the usual early jazz suspects: Duke Ellington and his Cotton Club Orchestra, Benny Goodman, Oran “Hot Lips” Page, Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Fats Waller, Hoagy Carmichael (our local hero), Fletcher Henderson, Johnny Dodds’ Black Bottom Stompers, Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra and also with his Hot Five. In later boxes I even found some Blue Note 78s, some Folkways recordings as well as some field recordings by John A. Lomax.

The sad news? I couldn’t buy it all. The great news? I bought a lot of it. The sadder news? I’m broke and have to sell it. A few amazing things about these records: 1.) Since their arrival in the archive (usually a donation from a well-known jazz collector), they have been stored in upright position, in sleeves, in a temperature-controlled environment (I believe in the 60 degrees range). 2.) Once in control of the archive, these records are never played more than once (to transfer the files digitally), using the most up-to-date audio equipment to meet preservation standards. 3.) Most of these records, because they were donated by serious collectors, have been kept in amazing condition and come in their original sleeves! (or at least a company matching the label that I believe was probably the original sleeve). My thanks to redhotjazz.info for much of the accompanying information.

GRADING:
My system uses the following:

P - filler copy only. unplayable.

G - will likely play through, but has lost its luster and has several scratches

VG - will play through, but may have some light scratches

VG+ - a very clean, record. may have a few light surface marks

VG++ or M- = super clean, looks unplayed

I do not own a proper needle to play these and thus, the 78s listed here are visually graded.

SHIPPING:

Records will be carefully packaged and bounded by cardboard and placed in a box of peanuts for safe shipping. Due to the fragility of 78s, insurance is required. After the auction closes I will inform you of the insurance price (whatever the USPS charges) based on your total purchase price. Please do not pay for your item until you have received an invoice from me. I do offer combined shipping for multiple purchases. For overseas bidders, please ask for shipping quotes before bidding. Payment by Paypal only…Domestic USPS Priority Mail is $7.00 (this saves me on buying boxes and extra packing materials, it also means your record arrives faster) for the first item. Note that shipping is not $4.00 as ebay has imposed in the shipping listing above (for the reasons just stated). Each additional item purchased is only $1 (plus the added insurance).

Please also see my other auctions as I am also selling many more Jazz 78s, as well as many 45s and LPs of the honky-tonk, hillbilly bop, rockabilly, bluegrass and country variety. Thank you for reading and happy bidding!!