PINETOP SMITH * VOCALION * - Race Records-

    Una de las primeras grabaciones de VOCALION , en su fundación , Race Records., fué la que os ofrecemos de PINETOP SMITH , con su Pine Top's Boogie Woogie ; tanto el pianista como la discográfica forman parte de la Historia de la música afroamericana . 

            

Also commonly spelled “Pinetop,” boogie-woogie pianist Clarence Smith had been given his nickname as a child from his liking for climbing trees. It was this recording that later provided the inspiration for Tommy Dorsey’s classic big band hit “Boogie Woogie.” Smith died from a gunshot wound in a Chicago dance-hall fight only weeks after he made this track.

Original 78rpm issue on Vocalion 1245 - Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie (Smith) by “Pine Top” Smith (vocal with piano), recorded in Chicago December 29, 1928

TIP: Click this link to browse through all 59 videos of the 1929 HITS ARCHIVE collection, alphabetically arranged in the convenient YouTube Playlist format: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... 

THE 1929 HITS ARCHIVE - a collection of commercial recordings and songs that proved popular during the calendar year 1929 (some were recorded in 1928) via sales, sheet music, and radio exposure.…plus some others that have gained increased recognition or have been shown to have had an impact during the decades that followed.

Check out the daily music posts on my Facebook group: 1950s HITS--EVERY DAY! https://www.facebook.com/groups/82419...

MusicProf78 Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Musicp...

 

Vocalion Records is an American record company and label active for many years in the U.S. and the U.K.

History

Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their corporate divisions, the Vocalion Organ Co. The fledgling label first issued single-sided, vertical-cut disc records but soon switched to double-sided and then, in 1920, switched to the more common lateral-cut system.

Aeolian pressed Vocalion discs in a good-quality reddish brown shellac, which set the product apart from the usual black shellac used by other record companies. Advertisements stated that "Vocalion Red Records are best" or "Red Records last longer". However, Vocalion's shellac was no more durable than good-quality black shellac. Vocalion red surfaces are less hardy than contemporary[clarification needed] Victor Records, but the audio fidelity and pressing quality of Vocalion records are well above average for the era and are among the best of the acoustic era.

In 1925 the label was acquired by Brunswick Records. During the 1920s Vocalion also began the celebrated 1000 race series (records recorded by and marketed to African Americans).[1] The 15000 series continued, but after the Brunswick takeover, it seems that Vocalion took a back seat to the Brunswick label. From 1925 to 1927, quite a few Brunswick titles were also issued on Vocalion, and since the Vocalion issues are much harder to find, one can speculate that they were not available for sale in as many stores as their Brunswick counterparts. (It is not known if Brunswick dealers automatically sold Vocalion titles, or if Brunswick maintained a separate dealer network for exclusive Vocalion sales.) By 1928–1929, many of the records issued on the Vocalion 15000 series were hot jazz exclusive to Vocalion and are extremely rare and highly sought after.

In retrospect, it seems that Brunswick never really had a plan for the Vocalion 15000 series. From 1925 to 1930, Brunswick appeared to use this series as a specialty label for purposes other than general sale. This is assumed because of the relative rarity of the Vocalion popular series, the period of near-inactivity in this series in 1928, and the fact that some of the regular Brunswick releases were also put out for sale as Vocalions. This seems to also be a possible explanation as to why the early 1930s Vocalions are rarer than Brunswick records.

In April 1930, Warner Bros. bought Brunswick Records and, for a time, managed the company. In December 1931 Warner Bros. licensed the entire Brunswick and Vocalion operation to the American Record Corporation. ARC used Brunswick as their flagship 75-cent label and Vocalion as one of their 35-cent labels. The Vocalion race/blues series continued and continued to be popular. Starting in 1933, a number of Brunswick artists (Ozzie Nelson, Adrian Rollini, Henry King, for example) were assigned to Vocalion's then-new 2500 series. New signings (Dick Himber, Clarence Williams, Leroy Carr, among others) contributed to the growing popularity of the label.

Vocalion record by Louis Armstrong

Starting in about 1935, with the change in label design to the black and gold scroll label, Vocalion became even more popular with the signing of swing artists like Billie Holiday, Mildred Bailey, Stuff Smith, Putney Dandridge and Henry "Red" Allen. Coupled with other short-term signings, including Fletcher Henderson, Phil Harris, Earl Hines, and Isham Jones, and their healthy Race and Country releases (within the same series, but with a zero added in front the catalog number) made Vocalion a powerhouse presence. Also, starting in 1935, Vocalion started reissuing titles that were still selling from the recently discontinued OKeh label (see the Armstrong label). In 1936 and 1937 Vocalion produced the only recordings of the influential blues artist Robert Johnson (as part of their ongoing field recording of blues, gospel and "out of town" jazz groups). From 1935 through 1940, Vocalion was one of the most popular labels for small-group swing, blues and country band. After the short-lived Variety label was discontinued (in late 1937), many titles were reissued on Vocalion, and the label continued to release new recordings made by Master/Variety artists through 1940. This added Cab Calloway and the Duke Ellington small groups-within-his-band (Rex Stewart, Johnny Hodges, Barney Bigard and Cootie Williams) to the label.

ARC was purchased by CBS and Vocalion became a subsidiary of Columbia Records in 1938. The popular Vocalion label was discontinued in 1940, and the current Vocalions were reissued on the recently revived OKeh label with the same catalog numbers. The discontinuance of Vocalion (along with Brunswick in favor of the revived Columbia label) voided the lease arrangement Warner Bros. had made with ARC back in late 1931, and in a complicated move, Warner Bros. got the two labels back and promptly sold them outright to Decca, but CBS retained control of the post-1931 Brunswick and Vocalion masters.

The name Vocalion was resurrected in the late 1950s by Decca (US) as a budget label for back-catalog reissues. This incarnation of Vocalion ceased operations in 1973; however, its replacement as MCA's budget imprint, Coral Records, kept many Vocalion titles in print and held its costs down by not changing the Vocalion trademarks and catalog numbers on album covers, even when the records inside bore Coral labels. In 1975, MCA issued five reissue albums on the Vocalion label.

In the UK, Decca used the Vocalion label mainly to issue US artists, replacing its Vogue label, the rights to whose name had reverted to the French Disques Vogue.

In 1997 the Vocalion brand was brought back for a new series of compact discs produced by Michael Dutton, of Dutton Laboratories, in Watford, England. This label specialises in sonic refurbishments of recordings originally made between the 1920s and the 1970s, often leasing original master recordings originally made by Decca and EMI.

Label style

From their early years through about 1931, the ornate label design was like the 1921 label (shown above) with only changes in the ownership info along the bottom. Starting in 1932 or so, the label changed to a gold color with the same overall design. For a very short time in 1935, the colors were inverted to a black label with gold printing. Collectors consider this short-lived style highly desirable (and a few good selling gold label issues were pressed using this rarer label design). Later in 1935, the label was changed to a black scroll label with a scroll covering most of the label design. In 1937, the label was changed again to a blue with gold printing and the legend "full range recording" along the top. In 1938 through 1941, the blue label was simplified (see the Armstrong reissue above).

Notable recordings

"Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" by Pinetop Smith, Vocalion 1245 (1928)

"How Long, How Long Blues" by Leroy Carr, Vocalion 1191 (1928)

"Sensational Mood" by Lloyd Hunter's Serenaders with Victoria Spivey, Vocalion 1621 (1931)

"Rising Sun Blues" by Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster, Vocalion 2576 (1933)[3]

"I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" by Patsy Montana, Vocalion 3010 (1935)

"Let Yourself Go" by Bunny Berigan and His Boys, Vocalion 3178, recorded on February 24, 1936

"I Can't Get Started" by Bunny Berigan and His Boys, Vocalion 3225, recorded on April 13, 1936

"Did I Remember?" b/w "No Regrets" by Billie Holiday, Vocalion 3276, recorded on July 10, 1936

"Summertime" b/w "Billie's Blues" by Billie Holiday, Vocalion 3288, recorded on July 10, 1936

"A Fine Romance" by Billie Holiday, Vocalion 3333, recorded on September 29, 1936

"Cross Road Blues" by Robert Johnson, Vocalion 3519 (1936)[4]

"I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" by Billie Holiday, Vocalion 3440, recorded on January 12, 1937

"Trust in Me" b/w "My Last Affair" by Mildred Bailey, Vocalion 3449 (1937)

"Where Are You?" by Mildred Bailey, Vocalion 3456 (1937)

"Doin' the Jive" b/w "Dipper Mouth Blues" by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, Vocalion 5131 (1937, released 1939)

"You Go To My Head" by Billie Holiday, Vocalion 4126, recorded on May 11, 1938

"So Help Me" by Mildred Bailey, Vocalion 4253 (1938)

"The Very Thought of You" by Billie Holiday, Vocalion 4457, recorded on September 15, 1938

See also[edit]