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Though this record is another testament to the durability of 78s; with heavy swish and had previously been broken in two pieces but remarkably well repaired by it's previous owner Roland Willis, it's also a hot one on both sides. --On this Henderson side, the vocal is by composer & songwriter Andy Razaf, and rarely did he ever sing on record.
Record courtesy of the Roland Willis Collection: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ1usV2EkyY_fdKKoBftLvg
When someone says Jazz or Swing, or Hot Jazz (if many non-collectors know what it really is), generally you'll have a variety of people you would think of first. Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and the inevitable Louis Armstrong. Though when I hear those genres, I'm more partial to another instrumental part of the advancement of all three genres listed. (Sometimes even unfairly so in comparison of others mentioned in the past.) That instrumental piece is of course the fabled pianist, arranger, and bandleader Fletcher Henderson. A man with a consistently changing sound, desirable roster of musicians, incredible discography, credited as one of the creators of swing, and has a great argument going for him having the hottest jazz orchs in the dance band era. Listening to his records are always a rewarding experience. His bands, when not under a vast amount of pseudonym, went under the standard \"and his orchestra\", His Hot Five, His Big Band, Connie's Inn Orchestra, and more titles. He also played for many bands including Will Bradley's, Joe Smiths, Bessie Smith's, Benny Goodman's (multiple, and frequently arranged for him too), Ethel Waters, and others.
In the last year in his time at Black Swan being 1923, his main orchestra would start recording. For Columbia and Edison briefly at first, but then with the dimestore & smaller labels like Claxtonola, Paramount, Puritan, Grey Gull and Banner among others. In 1924 there would be a solid signing to Columbia along with other lesser ones including Vocalion, Pathe, Apex, Perfect and more. As the electrical era came along, in came Brunswick, as well as Gennett, Domino, Autograph (allegedly), Victor, and still gripping onto Paramount. After a lackluster year in 1930 record wise, he would also briefly join Crown for a bit in 1931. In 1933 there'd also be a few recordings for Montgomery Ward as well as a start onto Bluebird, though everything else at the time was on Victor or Columbia. In 1934, this orchestra would have it's last recordings on Decca before breaking up, Henderson going over to Benny Goodman's orchestra to arrange.
Fletcher had a respectable number of hits throughout his career with this band. Of those include: King Porter Stomp in 1933, Charleston Crazy in 1924, Sugar Foot Stomp in 1925, Blues In My Heart in 1931, Dinah in 1926, Tidal Wave in 1934, Fidgety Feet in 1927, Honeysuckle Rose in 1933, Underneath The Harlem Moon in 1932, Gulf Coast Blues in 1932, Carolina Stomp in 1926, King Porter Stomp in 1933 (Different version) and several others.
Fred RIch was a Polish-American Bandleader, Pianist, and composer from the mid 1920s to the mid 1930s. Any 78er who does stuff with the 20s learn about him relatively quickly, along with the others like him like Sam Lanin, Lou Gold, and others. He was a Dimestore/ARC artist, which meant he mostly recorded on the smaller dimestore and ARC labels. And just like most other ARC/Dimestore artists, he too recorded with many pseudonyms. About as many as Sam Lanin or Lou Gold. He had only two orchestras he recorded under. His Main Orchestra, and His Hotel Astor Orchestra. His Hotel Astor Orchestra is who we're focusing on.
His Hotel Astor Orchestra started out in 1925, and soon after forming got to start recording on Columbia's newly made Dimestore label Harmony, and sometimes one or two on Velvet-Tone. They would have a few records on the Sears label Silvertone as well. Around 1926, they would start to get a few records on Columbia as Well. But that would quickly turn into more records on Columbia and less on Harmony. Climaxing in 1927, with getting Vaughn De Leath to sing with him for a short time, and only going down from there. But by 1929, he would stop Recording on Columbia and other labels under this name to focus more on his main orchestra.
He had a respectable amount of hits with his Hotel Astor orchestra. Save for the song The Man I Love in 1928, all of them would be in 1927. Those were Play Gypsies, Moonlight On The Ganges, Just A Little Longer, and Good News.
The A Side is called Dream Kisses by Fred Rich's Dance Orchestra which you can listen to here: https://youtu.be/cYILm9hdhyo
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