Thursday, 4 September 2008

The 78s - Reichsrundfunk





These are 10" discs made of flexible material. They seem very similar to the Decelith discs (entry to follow). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramophone_record which includes an illustration of a Decelith blank used for self recording. Reichsrundfunk was the German national broadcasting service and no doubt used Decelith discs with their own brand on the label. It also strongly indicates that the recordings were made when 14AOD was in Glinde near Hamburg. The dates stamped are too early to be recording dates - the band was not in exisitence until late 1944 and did not reach Germany until after V.E. Day in 1945 - so I would guess these are dates of manufacture of the blanks.

"Bededo!!" should of course be "Perdido". This sounds like a "live" recording. There is a bit of crowd noise. Someone announces the tune and invites the audience to "Take your partners for a quickstep - gents' excuse me!" (not a phrase one hears much nowadays).

On the flip side (the label is blank so not reproduced here) is a rendition of the Glenn Miller classic "American Patrol". And yes, I do know the tune is much older - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._W._Meacham. The instrumental line-up here is interesting; this is the only 14AOD recording where I am sure I can hear a second saxophone. I have some photos that I shall post later showing the band had another saxophonist identified only as Ralph. That may be him we can hear. And the saxes are playing a supporting role - none of the fancy solos we usually hear from Sutton.

"Alexander's Rag Time Band" sounds like the whole band. Turn the disc over and we have two songs on one side - an unknown female vocalist accompanied only by guitar and bass. I have no clue at all who the singer is.

Researching these recordings has taught me a lot about the music of the time - it wasn't all Glenn Miller - and "Cow Cow Boogie" led me to Ella Mae Morse, a very talented recording artist of the 1940s and 1950s who is largely forgotten today. There are some clips of her on Youtube - check them out.

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