JONES & COLLINS' ASTORIA HOT 8 Two Shellac Victor Tests 1929 Masters E+ HOT JAZZ

$

200

SOME OF the finest New Orleans jazz ever committed to wax!  From November 1929, comes JONES AND COLLINS' ASTORIA HOT EIGHT.   

Recorded on a Victor field trip to New Orleans, this band is packed with legendary talent:  LEE COLLINS (trumpet), SIDNEY ARODIN (clarinet) / THEODORE PURNELL (alto sax) / DAVID JONES (tenor sax), JOE ROBECHAUX (piano), EMMANUEL SAYLES (banjo), AL MORGAN (bass), JOE STRODE-RAPHAEL (drums).   

OY, could I tell stories about these guys! - - about how David Jones taught Louis Armstrong how to read musical notation in 1921, when they were in Fate Marable's riverboat band; or about the fantastic six-man group Joe Robechaux would organize and storm New York with in 1933.  But I won't.  

The boys perform "TIP EASY BLUES" and "DAMP WEATHER."  

Though the recordings were made in 1929, they were not processed for issue until 1940.  These tests are from about 1940 or a little earlier.  They are high-quality oversized (11") shellac master pressings.  The original '29 engineer's writing is clearly discernible in the labels.  Deeply embossed into the reverse of each record is the classic "RCA-VICTOR" "spiderweb" logo.  These two masters (BVE-56536-1) and (BVE-56537-1) ultimately were issued as Bluebird B-10952.   

Both records are in EE+ condition.  

PHOTO:  Trumpeter Lee Collins, 1929

(N. B. Alto saxophonist Theodore Purnell was interviewed by jazz researchers Lars Erdogan and Richard B. Allen in 1972, and relayed some good first-hand information about this band.  According to Ted, leader David Jones was a gifted multi-instrumentalist who could play, with “great tone,” all the saxophones, and also “a lot” of French Horn, or Mellophone.  The boys called him “Fess,” or “Professor.” He’d already been to New York and back, before 1929.  The Jones & Collins records were cut in New Orleans, on Esplanade Street, in the Italian Hall.  They had many original “head” arrangements, four of which they recorded.  A “white boy,” Sidney Arodin, played clarinet on the session.  Even though he lived “across the river,” and integrated bands were frowned upon – especially in New Orleans! – all the other musicians knew Sidney and were unanimous that he could REALLY play, so he got the gig!  The Astoria Club was a real, happening night club, with M.C. Arthur Wynn, and many good acts - including Gladys Bentley, [later an OKeh artist] who uncorked a great “Am I Blue?” - and, of course, dancing – all backed up by Jones and Collins’ Astoria Hot Eight.  WOW! Hold my ankles! I'm goin' IN!). 

*****

These records come from my private collection, which I have been accumulating since 1967, and now am downsizing!  My highest priority in these eBay auctions is to give you the best possible idea of a record’s true condition and aesthetic value.  I always post at least four clear images, showing the record fore and aft, a close-up of the label, and the whole disc, warts and all.  If my purple prose won’t cut it, the pictures will!  Shipping is done with expert care. Your record will brave Media Mail in a stout corregated box, between four sheets of cardboard and a couple of “packers.”  I hope you are amused by these descriptions, and by the quality of service being offered.