Transcribing 78 rpm records and renovating the original audio quality is often very tricky, unless you are a trained professional. In short, don’t try this at home!
Dancing the Devil Away started out as doubly tricky, because of the way Edison “diamond discs” were designed as opposed to regular 78 rpm records. While Edison may have been correct in that, in some ways, the reproduced sound of his products may have been better than the competition, Edison’s method of recording eventually went the way of many great discoveries.
Parenthetically, most early 78 rpm records are recorded and played back by having a needle move from side to side in the groove (i.e., “lateral recording”). The problem with this method is that unless a brand-new steel needle was used each time a record was played (and most people did not have the money to buy premium Victor 78 rpm records, so I imagine this did not happen often in most homes), then irreparable damage would happen to the grooves, affecting the quality of the sound.
With Edison’s method of recording, the needle went up and down (i.e., “hill and dale” recording), the diaphragm to reproduce the sound faced towards the disc, and the needle was a conical piece of diamond which didn’t need replacing very often. And when the world economy went south around 1929, Edison got out of the record business.
The fight between these two types of recording methods was not unlike the battle between VHS video cassettes and Beta video cassettes. Beta was probably the better of the two methods, but it lost out to VHS.
In my opinion, many of the later acoustic recordings by Edison on “vertical cut” Diamond Disc were far superior in sound quality to most “lateral” recordings issued by most other companies—I think they had greater presence and better reproduction of both upper and lower frequencies. The irony is that if Edison had beaten out the competition, then we might not have had “stereo” vinyl LPs—or at least they may have appeared far, far later than they did.
Diamond Discs were almost a quarter of an inch thick, with a coating on either side. If they were not stored in perfect conditions, e.g, with minimum heat and humidity, then the surface might “lift off” or the grooves might deteriorate significantly. But because of their design, it was possible to have much longer recordings than on regular 78 rpm records (and before someone corrects me, yes, Edison’s records were meant to be played back at 80 rpm).
In this 2017 Rivermont album, we are indeed fortunate to have Nick Dellow as both curator for the project, as well as doing the transcriptions and audio restoration. He also did an amazing job for the 2011 Up and at ’Em California Ramblers album for Retrieval Records (which I believe contained only Edison Diamond Discs), so he is the perfect person for this difficult and tricky job.
Every track is of some great technical, musical, or historical importance. The following are some of my favorites:
“When You Walked Out, Someone Else Walked Right In” is fascinating to hear an earlier recording of “hot” dance music, complete with great solos including extended trombone, muted trumpet, and saxophone solos, and an obligatory “hot chorus.” This dance orchestra was run by Ernest Stevens, who also made a number of “pre-jazz” popular piano solo recordings on the Edison label.
“I Like Pie” was recorded by the prolific Sam Lanin who had innumerable different bands including his eponymous one. At any given time, any of his bands might have included Red Nichols, the Dorsey Brothers, Eddie Lang, Frankie Trumbauer, and the always amazing Bix Beiderbecke. In this particular track the only “big names” I see are Bill Krenz, who was nominally involved in the ragtime revival, brass bass player Joe Tarto, and drummer Vic Berton—who also played with Bix and managed the Wolverines. This is really tight “hot” dance band music, not quite verging on jazz, but very arresting and delightful, nonetheless.
“Hot as a Summer Day” is absolutely fascinating. The accompanist, Arthur Schutt, was one of the most virtuosic of all the “novelty” rag composer-players, accompanying trumpeter Donald Lindley. While the tune is perhaps not my favorite (it is written by the trumpeter) his playing is very fine indeed, and has great control of his instrument, including all the effects expected of the day (e.g., glissandi, mute work, soft passages etc.). The other side, “Trumpet blues” uses lots of novelty effects, and I suspect he is also playing either a kazoo or “goofus.”
While the first seven tracks might be perceived as of great historical interest, the rest of the 21 tracks are arguably all some of the greatest “hot” dance recordings of all time. Two salient examples are “Here Comes Malinda” and “I Wonder What’s Become of Joe” played by the California Ramblers [recording as The Golden Gate Orchestra]. These are supported by the ever-present and ever-vibrant Bass Sax player, Adrian Rollini, surely one of the finest musicians of any ilk, ever. The whole rollicking recordings rest upon his exceptional bass work and he adds extraordinary virtuosic solos to the first one as well. In “Malinda” Bobby Davis also gives an exceptional solo on the lower registers of the clarinet with a lovely vibrato which generally I’m not fond of in clarinet playing—this in stark contrast to Larry Shields of the ODJB who almost always played in the higher registers.
Other highlights include (1) “Clarinet Marmalade” played by Phil Napoleon and his Orchestra, which is a delightful, hot, and more restrained version of the tune made famous by the ODJB; (2) the title track played by Don Voorhees and his Earl Carroll’s “Vanities” Orchestra, which is full of incredible pep, thanks to champion trombonist Miff Mole, cornetist Red Nichols, and Vic Berton’s driving drum work; and (3) “Missouri Squabble” played by the rarely-spoken-of Duke Yellman and his Orchestra, who was a fine pianist and outstanding bandleader—he chose fine musicians indeed to participate in his recordings, they are tight and exceptional players…and with the exception of Yellman, all their identities are lost to history.
Mark Berresford does an exemplary job of writing the liner notes for this album: not too academic, not too folksy in his style, he keeps you reading as you follow along with both the musical and historical delights. This must now rank as one of my favorite albums. Recommended without reservation.
Dancing The Devil Away: Hot Dance Music
on Edison Diamond Discs 1923-1928
Various Artists
Rivermont BSW-1166
rivermontrecords.com
Matthew de Lacey Davidson is a pianist and composer currently resident in Nova Scotia, Canada. His first CD,Space Shuffle and Other Futuristic Rags(Stomp Off Records), contained the first commercial recordings of the rags of Robin Frost. Hisnew Rivermont 2-CDset,The Graceful Ghost:Contemporary Piano Rags 1960-2021,is available atrivermontrecords.com.A 3-CD set of Matthew’s compositions,Stolen Music: Acoustic and Electronic Works,isavailable through The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music University of Illinois (Champaign/Urbana),sousa@illinois.edu.
