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PHOTOGRAPHS
This page is a 'Work in Progress' feature, showing previously unpublished photographs of jazz and blues artists from my collection. Comments are especially welcome on personnel identifications or additional information. If you have any similar original photographic prints to sell I'd love to hear from you!
Dancer Vernon Castle in 1914
playing drums, a feat he performed nightly in the Irving Berlin
production 'Watch Your Step.' He took lessons from Charles 'Buddie'
Gilmore, ace drummer of Europe's Society Orchestra.
An unidentified black American Army band ready to play at a military cemetery in France or Belgium, c. 1918. Note the French officers on the rostrum. There is a strong possibility that this is the 15th US Infantry Regiment band under the direction of James Reese Europe; one clue is that the cornetist (third from left in the band) wears the stripes of a sergeant, and it is known that Europe's star cornet soloist was Sergeant Frank De Broit of Chicago. If there are any WW1 military experts who can help, please get in touch.
The Washboard Rhythm Kings, c. 1931
Ragtime and Jazz pioneer Wilbur C. Sweatman, c. 1928. Photo inscribed to saxophonist Gene Sedric.
Here is an extremely rare (possibly the only known surviving photograph ) of enigmatic Victor recording artist "Black Face" Eddie Ross. He was a minstrel show and vaudeville performer, who recorded several sides for Victor in the 1921-23 period, and also made an unissued test record for Edison in 1917 (Edison's comments in the company's auditions files was:- "Whistling impure. Banjo at first almost inaudible. Don't think of it.") His playing style is transitional, from the finger-picking of Vess Ossman and Fred Van Eps, to the fast plectrum style of Harry Reser - a highly-rhythmic cross between chord strumming and melody. His real name was Giraud Ross Edinger, and he was born in Hillsdale, Michigan, in March 1882, the third son of Joseph and Ida Edinger. His two other siblings were named Mertie and Bartley. He made his first banjo as a boy, using the skin of a wild cat and a cheese box! He was working in vaudeville as early as 1909 and it appears that he regularly toured in minstrel shows (he was with the Neil O'Brien Minstrels in the years 1914 - 1917, along with legendary minstrel man 'Lasses White) and in big-time vaudeville in the 1910 and 1920s - note that the photo was taken in Colorado. The Indianapolis of November 1, 1921 states: " The most diverting act on the current bill at Keith's [the local vaudeville theatre, part of the mighty Keith-Albee empire] is that of Blackface Eddie Ross, he of the African harp [a regular billing] and a most amusing line of talk. Mr. Ross is most versatile - he can play a banjo as it ought to be played, he can whistle a bit and knows how to put over a joke. Also, he never seems to be working hard at any of these things. His patter always comes easy and natural, and though there is no obvious punch in his stuff, there's a laugh a minute." In 1920 he married Mary Rock in Orlando, Florida and they had one child, Giraud Ross Edinger Jr. The couple divorced in 1926, Mary remarrying the former Chicago Cubs baseball star Joe Tinker. In 1924 Ross was touring with a revue led by female impersonator Julian Eltinge which also featured Tom Brown's Six Brown Brothers, the famous saxophone group. In 1926 he was with the Al G. Fields Minstrel Show, and the following year returned to vaudeville. He died of a heart attack in New York City on 22 November, 1931. I'm extremely grateful to Eddie Ross' grandson, Charles Rock Ross for providing family information.
Viola McCoy, c. 1924, autographed to music publisher Joe Davis
Bailey's Lucky Seven in Gennett's New York Studios, February 10, 1923. Probable personnel ( L-R):- Sam Lanin (pretending to blow clarinet), unknown, not Loren McMurray or Benny Krueger), Nick Lucas (not Eddie Lang as has been conjectured), Phil Napoleon (with back to camera), Joe Lanin, Miff Mole, Jules Levy Jr. Note the cymbal on the stool in front of Lucas - played by Sam Lanin? I'm grateful to Elizabeth Knight, granddaughter of Joe Lanin for identifying him as the pianist.
RUMOLINO'S HOT BOYS BAND, FRANCE, C. 1924. L-R: ---- Dahl (American), Tony Rumolino (Italian), ----- Jalouseau? (French), Clarence J. Gransie (American, also recorded with Gorman's Novelty Syncopators, The Happy Six, Yerkes' Bluebird Orchestra, Art Hickman's New York London Five, Jack Howard's Metropolitans and Joe Lanin's Jazz Band), Paul Gason (Belgian), Billy Thorburn (British), the latter best known for his work with the Savoy Orpheans and later with The Organ, The Dance Band And Me.
BANDLEADER FRED SPINNELLY, C. 1927. Made some extremely rare and fine sides for Edison Bell Electron in London in 1927 and also worked in Italy.
DON REDMAN, c. 1935. A great candid shot taken backstage in his dressing room. Thanks to Vince Giordano for providing a date for this photo.
BENNY PEYTON'S JAZZ KINGS, LONDON, 1920. A photo from the mythically rare 'Dancing World' magazine of November 1920. L-R: Pierre De Caillaux, George Smith, Sidney Bechet (at rear), Joe Caulk, Fred Coxcito, Benny Peyton.
PAUL SPECHT AND HIS ORCHESTRA, NEW YORK, 1922. L-R: Frank Guarente, Archie Jones, Russell Deppe, Arthur Schutt, Specht, Chauncey Morehouse, Frank Smith, Harold Saliers, Johnny O'Donnell. The photo was signed by Specht to Philadelphia bandleader Robert Bennett, who made a few rare sides with his Frisco Syncopators in London in 1923. Note that Morehouse was a left-handed drummer!
Billy Arnold's American Novelty Jazz Band, London, 1920. L-R: Billy Arnold, Harry Johnson, Henry Arnold, Charles Kleiner, Billy Trittle (r.n. Trittlefitz), Charles 'Dinty' Moore. The Arnold brothers' real surname was Guldemann.
The Original Capitol Orchestra, London, 1923. Cartoon by 'Poli' from the Dancing World magazine. The personnel of the band changed during their tenure in England but the full identification of the band depicted is as follows:- --- Evans (bass), Bill Sell (drums), (there is debate over the actual surname - according to author/researcher Bruce Vermazen, a relative, the spelling should be Sell), Byron Webb (alto sax), Les Russuck (banjo) (often shown as Russick but all documentary evidence examined shows Russuck), Leon van Straten (viloin, director), John V. Sheppard (piano), Vic Sell (cornet), ---- Carter (sax), Richard MacDonald (trombone). The Sell brothers, were from Donnellson, Iowa and it has often been commented that Vic Sell's playing was very strongly influenced by such New Orleans trumpeters as Johnny De Droit and Albert Brunies. I now have evidence courtesy of Bruce Vermazen that Vic and Bill Sell spent the winter of 1921/2 with The Melody Makers, the resident band on the Streckfus line Mississippi paddle steamer 'Capitol' based for the winter season in New Orleans. According to an unidentified newspaper report:- " There were six men in the band, and they thought that they were pretty fair, but when they hit gay New Orleans, they discovered that they had vastly over-rated themselves, or rather the crowds that boarded the big excursion boat discovered it for them, and told the ship's officers they wanted none of this northern corn. "You see how it was," Vic said later. "We just had to, or get our notice, so every night when we pulled in to the dock, after the last excursion, we started hunting and listening. We made every dive in New Orleans, white, tan and black, and all the big night clubs. We listened to every band and every one that seemed to have something we liked, we watched and listened, then next morning we went onto the orchestra stand and the "Capitol" and hammered away till we could do it the way we thought it ought to be done." "... one night a fellow who said he was a purser off an English ship, listened and stood around half the evening. He came up and us if we'd all like to go to London. Of course we said yes - - just brushed it off... because we'd heard so much of that kind of talk. "... He said his ship was sailing next morning and that he'd see us when he came back, so we forgot about him. Then one day he did come back and he had the contracts. Six months at Rector's Cafe in London! Did we sign? I'll say we did!"
Nina Mae McKinney, autographed to bandleader Lew Stone
Bandleader Jimmy Joy, who made several fine records in the mid-late 1920s.
Art Hickman's New York London Five, London 1920. L-R: George Fishberg, Jack Howard, Clarence Gransie, Keith Pitman, George Klein. They made a number of fine records for HMV in 1920-21 and one side for Edison Bell Winner as Jack Howard's Metropolitans. The band had nothing whatsoever to do with bandleader Art Hickman - the group had been assembled by band contractor Harry A. Yerkes and they 'licensed' the Hickman name, as his records were already well known in England.
Paul Whiteman's Saxophone Sextette, c. 1922. L-R: Keith Pitman, Al Mitchell, Bradford 'Batty' DeMarcus, Frank Wheeler 'Waddy' Wadsworth, Gene Fosdick, Loren McMurray. Loren McMurray's pioneering role as a jazz saxophonist and his untimely death at the age of 25 is the subject of an article by me at the VJM's Jazz & Blues Mart website - www.vjm.biz/articles.htm
Walter Barnes and His Royal Creolians, c. 1929. It appears to date to slightly later than the 1928/9 Brunswick recordings but presumably includes most if not all of the men who appear on the records (though none of them have three trumpets!). Indefatigable researcher Chris Hillman suggests William "Bullet" Bradley as the trombonist rather than Ed Burke and that Cicero Thomas is the right-hand of the three trumpeters, which would put it before the band split in Autumn 1929. The other trumpeters are most likely Ben Thigpen & George Wright. However Albert McCarthy in his book 'Big Band Jazz' (where a poor copy of the above photo is reproduced) says that Thigpen did not join the band until Autumn 1929, replacing Thomas! Any help in identifying the musicians would be most welcome!
Louis Armstrong's Orchestra rhythm section, c. 1935. Luis Russell, piano, Paul Barbarin, drums, Pops Foster, bass, Lee Blair, guitar.
Red Nichols & His Orchestra playing in an unidentified church in Kansas City, 1933. L-R: Ernie Mathias, tpt; ?Frank Simione, sax; Frank Sacco, tpt; Joe Cataline, sax; Fred Morrow or Teddy Klein, sax; Alex Polacsy, tbn; ?June Rae or Frances Stevens, vcls; Red Nichols, cnt; Bill Lower, bb; Tony Sacco, gtr; Charles Riddick, pno.
Silent Film queens Laura La Plante, Marian Nixon and Ena Gregory 'stand in' with Carlyle Stevenson's Bon-Ton Ballroom Orchestra on its visit to Universal Studios, c. 1924/5. The Stevenson band recorded several fine sides on the West Coast for the Hollywood and Sunset labels.
Here's another recording studio mystery photo. It's the Columbians Dance Orchestra, a Columbia studio dance band comprising older 'house' musicians and young dance band players, under the direction of Robin Hood Bowers. The photograph was taken at the Columbia studios in the Gotham Bank Building, Broadway and 59th Street, New York, in c. October 1921. Our good friend and researcher Bjorn Englund points out the the picture was used in a Record Research on trumpeter Herman 'Hymie' Farberman, who provided the following personnel:- (L-R) Billy O' Gorman, Rudy Wiedoeft, Sam Feinsmith, Hymie Faberman, unknown drummer (possibly Columbia staff musician Edward Rubsam, whose career at Columbia went back to the company's earliest days), Harry Reser, Robin Hood Bowers (director), unknown piano (possibly Hugo Frey), unknown trumpet (possibly Jack Stillman), Ephraim Hannaford, John 'Pop' Helleberg. Note the music clips hanging from the ceiling, suspended from laterally-strung wires so that they can be easily repositioned.
Here's a somewhat battered, but historically important, photo of Ted Lewis and His Band, broadcasting from the makeshift-looking Union Trust Co.'s radio station in Cleveland, Ohio, at 7pm on Tuesday, 24th October 1922. Ted and the band were on tour with the Greenwich Village Follies when they took time out to make an early appearance on the radio. The personnel from left to right is:- Frank Lhotak, Harry Raderman, Frank Ross, Ted Lewis, Harry Barth, John Lucas, Dave Klein, Walter Kahn.
We're grateful to our VJM partner Russ Shor for this previously-unpublished photo of the Scrap Iron Jazzerinos, taken in France in late 1918 or early 1919. This pioneering group consisted of American doughboys serving at the Base 21 Hospital of the Washington University School of Medicine in Rouen, France. Originally from St. Louis, the hospital team were based at Rouen's Champs des Courses race track from June 1917 to the end of the war. The band was formed from medical staff to boost the morale of both patients and staff, and when hostilities ceased in November 1918, they continued to perform, playing at many YMCA centres in France and Belgium, as well as at the Versailles Peace Conference and at the Casino de Paris. They made some crude, but exciting sides for both Path� in early 1919 and for The Gramophone Company in June 1919 in Paris, and stayed in Europe until at least 1921. The postcard was presented to "Major Pearman" (can anyone trace his regiment?) and the names and instruments ascribed are as follows (L-R):- Albert S. Angellotta, trombone; Syl C. Horn, banjo and violin; Edwin F. Dakin, violin; W. Russell Hauslaib, C-Melody saxophone; Clayton s. Thirkell, piano; Arshav K. Nushan, drums; Clarence W. Koch, trumpet. As author Mark Miller pointed out in his book "Some Hustling This! Taking Jazz To the World, 1914-1929 (Toronto: The Mercury Press, 2005) most, if not all the band members possessed a university education, either at Washington University, St. Louis, or Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and that they had been seconded to the British Army since mid-1917. The 3 balls are presumably a reference to a pawnbroker (the "Scrap Iron" reference). A number of researchers have laboured over the meaning of " Dot's Vee" on the bass drum (in the French HMV catalogue photo it looks like "Doy's Vee" but it is clear that it is not) and I would propose that it is "Mock German" for "That's We" or "That's Us." A very useful history with photos of the Base 21 Hospital can be found at http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/gh21/ww1/index.htm
We're grateful to our good friend Nick Dellow for this photograph of the Savoy Quartet, an important transitional syncopated group, that bridged the gap between the more formal structure of ragtime and the freer, uninhibited abandon of the early jazz bands. They played at both Murray's Club and the Savoy Hotel in London from 1916 to 1920, and in that period recorded prolifically on the His Master's Voice label. Their lively repertoire of popular songs and the latest dance hits from the USA nearly all feature the pleasant vocalising of American light tenor and banjoist Joe Wilbur, along with some interesting drum work from black American drummer Alex Williams. The two other band members in this photograph are pianist Claude Ivy (who appears to be wearing a regimental badge - probably a reservist - can anyone help?) and the legendary banjo soloist and composer Emile Grimshaw Senior.
Here's a great photograph of Vincent Lopez & His Orchestra, probably taken in about 1923, possibly in the Hotel Pennsylvania. I recognise Lopez (with baton), pianist Joe Gold, saxophonist Billy Hamilton (4th from left) and trumpeter Bob Effros (immediately to the right of Lopez). Jan Lindau from Sweden notes that the banjoist is Dave Berend, playing a Weymann tenor banjo and Bruce Vermazen, ace vintage saxophone expert, spots Harry Fink, formerly of the Six Brown Brothers, as the saxophonist on the far left. The others are probably as shown in The American Dance Band Discography, but any definite identification would be welcome.
The Happy Six in late 1919. Organised by band contractor Harry A. Yerkes, this group recorded extensively for Columbia between 1919 and 1923, employing some of the most important names of the jazz and dance band world of the time, including Rudy Wiedoeft, Ross Gorman, Clyde Doerr, Bennie Krueger, Earl Oliver, Clarence Gransie, Ted Fiorito, Phil Ohman, and xylophonists Joe and George Hamilton Green. Most importantly, some of their records feature pioneer New Orleans musicians Alcide Nunez and Tom Brown, being the first made by the latter - a key figure in both the earliest New Orleans bands to move to the North and also the New Orleans revival of the 1940s. The personnel of the band shown is Earl Oliver, trumpet, James Lent or Paul Creedon, drums, Tom Brown, trombone, Elmer Grosso, violin, Alcide Nunez clarinet and Albert 'Babe' Fuller piano. The latter sailed for England with The American Five (a group organised for the trip by Yerkes) on January 11, 1920, so the photo must date from earlier.
The Original New Orleans Jazz Band, 1918. L-R: Johnny Stein, Frank Lhotak, Alfred Laine, Achille Baquet, Jimmy Durante. An exciting early competitor of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, it was their fate to record a popular version of 'Ja-Da,' which was subsequently demanded of them by a rival company. Consequently, their limited recorded output is further diminished by duplication!
Billy Madden's Crescent City Orchestra, London 1921. L-R: Eddie Poggi, Albert Savarese, Nick James (real name Masserotti), Billy Madden, Joe Candullo, Lou Savarese. Original photo inscribed to drummer Eddie Gross Bart by Albert Savarese.