Stomp Off 1001 - Dickbaker.org

Aha, LC cy catalog of 1929 says,Call (The) of the freaks; by L. Russell andPaul Barbarin; pf. Jan. 30, 1929; E unp.3292; Luis Russell, New York.AND now I find that the very first recording ofit, on OKeh 8656, gave title as “The Call of”and credits as Russell-Barbarin. So where didit go wrong after that? Perhaps here: TheVictor Project entry for the King Oliverrecording calls it just “Call of the Freaks,” anddoesn’t have a composer credit—presumably,the 78 label read the same way—and aha,Victor V-38034 reads that way and has nocomposer credit; ditto for Bluebird B-6546.Anyway, we can now be assured of “The NewCall of” by Barbarin-Russell.Calliope Rag (James Scott)Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra 1108Elite Syncopators 1286Yes, Scott, but with a troubled history. It isthought to have been written by Scott prior to1910 for performance on a steam calliope inLakeside Amusement Park near Carthage,MO. The tune wasn’t published until itappeared in later editions of TAPR in 1964.According to Bob Darch, a relative of Scottloaned him the music in the late 1950s; unableto Xerox it, Darch jotted down the themes.Later he filled in the harmonies and wrote atrio, then copyrighted the tune under Scott’sname.Camille (David Thomas Roberts)David Thomas Roberts 1132Camp Meeting Blues [TemptationBlues] (Joe Oliver)Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble 1029Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ens. CD 1055Watergate Seven Plus One 1165Jacques Gauthé’s Creole Rice YBJB 1170South Frisco JB 1180Peruna Jazzmen 1204Southern Stompers (France) 1215Independence Hall JB 1384Red Rose Ragtime Band 1412Southern Stompers 1413Yerba Buena Stompers 141810/15/02: Interesting: Audrey found copyrightlead sheet in LC of Temptation Blues, dated8/11/23. This may mean that Temptation iscorrect title rather than Camp Meeting. Wouldhave to research recording dates and look forCamp Meeting in LC as well.Interesting: Rust lists two Camp MeetingBlues, one dated 1919 and the other 1923.The “1919" version rec. [Ford] Dabney’sBand (as “Camp Meeting Blues”), c. 10/19,Aeolian-Vocalion 12246; Tim Brymn BlackDevil Orch (as “Camp-Meeting Blues”), 3-4/1921, Okeh 4339.The “1923" version rec. King Oliver, 10/16/23,Columbia 14003-D, Phillips B-23573-H(Holland), Biltmore 1054,Temptation Blues rec. Clarence Williams, c.12/24, OKeh 8204 (no indication in Rust thathe thinks they’re the same song.The “Eckstein note” referred to above is from2/93, when he sent me several pages xeroxedfrom an unidentified book. Appears to be achapter titled “The Oliver Copyrights,”compiled by Howard Rye, and taken directlyfrom LC copyright files. It shows that Olivercopyrighted “Temptation Blues” on 8/11/23:Temptation blues, melody by J.O., arrangedby Lillian Harding; E570230, 11 August1923; Joseph Oliver, Chicago.And indeed, Audrey found copyright leadsheet for Temptation Blues, dated 8/11/23; thiswould have been submitted to LC in supportof the copyright registration.But what about the 1919 tune? I found andsearched every year of copyright registrationsfrom 1918 through 1923 without finding it. DidfindCampmeeting (The) blues; fox trot, 1492 byWilliam T. Carroll [of U.S.] piano. © Oct. 4,1920; 2 c. Oct. 25, 1920 E 491706; Pace &Handy music co., inc., New York.Now on to record labels:Aha, the Dabney “Camp Meeting Blues” is theone above by Carroll, according to Aeolian-Vocalion label. Couldn’t find the label for TimBrymn on Okeh 4339, but Red Hot JazzArchive says it too is by W. T. Carroll.And indeed, Oliver’s Columbia 14003-Dcredits Joe Oliver.And the one recording of Temptation Blues onOKeh by Clarence Williams? Red Hot JazzArchive credits “Reed”! And Online 78 saysit’s N. E. Reed. Alas, couldn’t find the actuallabel, and there was no “Temptation Blues”copyrighted in 1924.Well, this all brings us back to where westarted, with Camp Meeting Blues by JoeOliver, aka Temptation Blues. But a couple ofhuge questions are raised:1. Why did Oliver copyright it as “TemptationBlues” and then turn around two months laterand record it as “Camp Meeting Blues,”especially considering that W. T. Carroll’s“Camp Meeting Blues” had been released in1919 and 1921?2. How did modern jazz bands come toconsider “Temptation Blues” as an alternativetitle? It is, of course, but jazz bands don’tgenerally muck about in Library of Congresscard catalogs, they take stuff off records:Oliver recorded the tune as “Camp Meeting,”and nobody else in the era covered by Rustrecorded it as Temptation Blues.Answer to Question 2 could well be that TurkMurphy, who might just know such copyrightdetails, recorded it as “Temptation Blues”; I’llbet a lot—or all—of the other modern bandsthat have recorded it under that title learned itfrom Turk.Camp Meeting No. 1 [Camp MeetingMelodies] (Blind Boone)David Thomas Roberts 1317On the CD as Camp Meeting Melodies.Well, I can’t find any reference whatsoever tosuch a title outside of this CD. And here’swhy, quoting from Trebor Tichenor’s linernotes:In 1912, he was one of the first blackpianists contracted to cut piano rolls, for theQRS Co., then in Chicago. These earlyhand-played rolls are a rare legacy of agreat Missouri legend. Included amongthem are two folk medleys, "Camp MeetingMelodies," and "Rag Medley #2," the latterpublished by Allen Music Co. of Columbia,MO in 1909 as "Blind Boone's Southern RagMedley #2--Strains From The Flat Branch."There’s no copyright in the book for 1912,which doesn’t surprise me. What doessurprise me is that neither of the Boonebiographies I consulted bothered to mentionthese seminal piano rolls.The wisest thing to do with questions ofpiano rolls is to ask Robbie Rhodes—and asusual, he came through:I have only the QRS catalog of 1922,which shows only the rolls currentlyavailable. Many old songs of the precedingyears were dropped from the catalog.But the good news is Frank Himpsltranscribed some Blind Boone rolls to MIDIfiles (attached) for the enjoyment ofhistorians like you and me. Himpslappended all the label data into the filename, which I've expanded:1. Camp Meeting No. 1QRS 400034played by the composer Blind Boone2. Rag Medley No. 2QRS 200142played by the composer Blind BooneTrebor wrote, "These early hand-playedrolls are a rare legacy ..." Quite so. TheQRS recording piano was placed in servicein 1912 in Chicago and used intermittentlythereafter until the QRS piano roll operationmoved to New York around 1922.