This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And for today the story of a small independent record company from Chicago, a pretty unusual story as this was an operation that was born out of necessity rather than out of the ambition of a wannabe record boss. I will tell you later what founded the Old Swing Master record label - but first some music. And I start with Kitty Stevenson, released on Old Swing Master 10 which was the first release of the label. Here is I'm Satisfied.
01 - 10 - Kitty Stevenson - I'm satisfied
02 - 10 - Kitty Stevenson - Blues By Myself
And the other side of Old Swing Master number 10, Kitty Stevenson with the Blues By Myself. And the story around this record is pretty much the story how this little label started, 'cause this was recorded with Todd Rhodes' band in 1947 for the Vitacoustic label in the United Broadcasting Studio in Chicago. Now Vitacoustic had been pretty succesful with the white band the Harmonicats, but financial mismanagement and the 1948 recording ban of the American Federation of Musicians had caused the label go bankrupt. Vitacoustic had never collected their masters at United Broadcasting and studio owner Egmont Sonderling succesfully kept them out of the hands of the IRS, but it meant that if he'd ever see anything back of the 13,800 dollars Vitacoustic still owed him, he had to release them himself.
And so he started a joint venture with local DJ Al Benson, hoping that he would get some extra airplay on his programs, and started a little record company to release the material of Vitacoustic's Rhythm & Blues series. The name of the label was the moniker of Al Benson, the Old Swing Master - hey, it's a bit like they'd start a record company named the Rocking Dutchman.
Now it doesn't look like Mr. Sonderling nor Al Benson really had ambitions to start a record label - it was out of necessity to at least cash a little on these Vitacoustic masters. But once established, Sonderling also released from other defunct labels that had their masters with him, and maybe still owed him money. And so the second release of the label, number 11, was from the late Rhumboogie label, that was named after the famous club on 343 East 55th street. T-Bone Walker had made fame in Chicago and brought the Rhumboogie Club to bloom since he'd come to town in 1942. The next record was cut in '45 for that Rhumboogie label. So listen to T-Bone Walker with the two sides of Old Swing Master number 11 - My Baby Left Me and She Is Going To Ruin Me.
11 - T-Bone Walker - My Baby Left Me
11 - T-Bone Walker - She Is Going To Ruin Me
(jingle)
13 - Four Shades Of Rhythm - Baby I'm Gone
14 - Howard McGhee - Hot and Mellow
Two more sides from the remains of Vitacoustic. That wonderful vocal group were the Four Shades of Rhythm and like most of the Vitacoustic output this was from late December of 1947. Like all record labels, Vitacoustic had been stockpiling masters for the upcoming recording ban of the American Federation of Musicians, a strike where the Union had forbidden any recording of music. I've featured this strike and some December '47 music some time ago here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman and of course record companies were the first target to suffer from this ban, but also were the recording studios, though by mid-48 some illicit recording had resumed.
It was just one of the factors for Vitacoustic to fail - next to radical financial mismanagement. The little company had a jump start with an instrumental that by all means was innovative - or call it an experiment with a harmonica trio, named the Harmonicats. The first 1000 copies of their Peg o' My Heart sold out in two days and the record stayed on Billboard's number one played in juke boxes for weeks - that is number one pop. This had nothing to do with Rhythm & Blues.
Well thinking they could conquer the world they soon launched a hillbilly and a race division - nowadays we'd say country and Rhythm & Blues, and for the latter leased masters of Todd Rhodes, a veteran in the Detroit music scene, that were recorded for the Sensation label, and they contracted John Lee Hooker, Milt Jackson and Russell Jacket. But the R&B series saw only 6 releases - five of them leased from Sensation.
Where most of the pop recordings had been done at the Universal studios, the Rhythm & Blues were done with United Broadcasting of Egmont Sonderling and he managed to keep the Vitacoustic masters that were in his posession out of the hands of the auctioneers when vitacoustic's assets were to be sold publicly. Well the masters that were auctioned, some 182 in pop and hilbilly, got a bid for 750 dollars, that is, together in a lot with 52,000 new pressed records. Now that doesn't just tell us about the quality of the Vitacoustic stuff - but even more about the slump that the indie recording industry had gotten in, just after the '48 recording ban. Masters just didn't sell, some record companies gave them away in exchange for the royalties they might possibly yield.
For the next one I'll jump from number 14 - the Howard McGhee record I just played - to number 18. What happened to the numbers in between? Well simply said I have not been able to track them down. And these include four sides of the band of business partner and local DJ Al Benson. One of them there's just one known copy of, that surfaced just recently after intensive research of Robert Campbell's Red Saunders Research Foundation - a leading group of very knowledgeable people that documented the Chicago Rhythm & Blues scene. I'm sorry listeners, I really would have loved to hear that and let you hear that.
So here is that number 18 that I did find. Snooky Prior and Moody Jones with the Telephone Blues.
18 - Snooky Pryor & Moody Jones - Telephone Blues
19 - Johnny 'Man' Young - My Baby Walked Out On Me
Johnny 'Man' Young backed up by Snooky Prior with My Baby Walked Out On Me. The nickname Man was short for mandoline, 'cause that's what John Young played next to the guitar.
And next is another one of Kitty Stevenson, the regular lead singer with Todd Rhodes and his band the Toddlers. Old Swing Master 20 had come to the label from Vitacoustic that had obtained the masters of this Detroit outfit from the Sensation label. Number 20 was a novelty calypso styled song that had come so popular in these days, titled Hold 'En Joe, and that song about a donkey definitely is a not too good effort. The flip is much better. So listen to With You.
20 - Kitty Stevenson - With you
22 - Floyd Jones - Stockyard Blues
The Stockyard Blues - you heard Floyd Jones and again with Snooky Prior on the harp and Moody Jones on the second guitar. This was a re-release from a recording on the Marvel label - as I told you before the Old Swing Master didn't just release Vitacoustic, but also from other labels.
Leased from the same label was the next of Jimmy McCracklin - though it had been recorded originally for the west coast label Trilon in Oakland, CA, and so it's been released on three labels. No copies on Old Swing Master have surfaced yet. Listen to three sides of Jimmy McCracklin - the two sides of Old Swing Master 24, I Can't Understand Love and Southside Mood and then on number 25 Listen Woman.
24 - Jimmy McCracklin - I Can't Understand Love
24 - Jimmy Mccracklin - Southside Mood
(jingle)
25 - Jimmy McCracklin - Listen Woman
Listen Woman of Jimmy McCracklin and that was Old Swing Master 25. And the next one again is a release from the Vitacoustic catalog. Little Miss Cornshucks - the stage name for Mildred Cummings - had done a session with Marl Young's band for the Sunbeam label that was owned by Young. Yet Sunbeam was another indie that didn't make it and so the masters were destined to be released with Vitacoustic but ended up at Sonderlings business.
Both sides are sentimental jazz ballads rather than nice jumping Rhythm & Blues - well you must have guessed my taste after 105 shows. Miss Cornshucks is said to be a major inspiration for Ahmet Ertegun to found the Atlantic record company and for Atlantic's songthrush Ruth Brown.
Cornshucks had been on tour for several years since that session with Sunbeam and done a session with Roy Milton's Miltone label so a release of her seemed like a good bet.
Listen to So Long.
26 - Little Miss Cornshucks - So Long
1010 - Memphis Slim - Believe I'll Settle Down
Memphis Slim with a side that was cut for the Miracle label that by 1949 had run into financial troubles. You heard I believe I'll settle down and for some reason Sonderling had decided to change the numbering system from straightforward numbers 10 to 26 to 1000 and up - this was 1010. Numbers 1000 to 1002 were for accordeonist Joe Petrak with recordings that were not Rhythm & Blues - not even close, with titles like the Barbara Polka and Christmas Waltz. So I'm not gonna play them - instead you'll get the flip of that Memphis Slim record, Country girl.
1010 - Memphis Slim - Country girl
1011 - Sonny Thompson - The Fish
And Sonny Thompson's The Fish - another one rescued from the defunct Miracle label - ends the story of the Old Swing Master. Egmond Sonderling left the recording business in 1950 and started radio stations in Chicago and later in New York. In 1987 he sold everything to retire in Florida. Al Benson did remain active in the recording business with his Parrot label and its subsidiary Blue Lake that were in operation from 1952 to early '56.
I hope you liked this little piece of history of Rhythm & Blues from the Chicago - and as always when it comes to music from this city, I'm indebted to Robert Campbell and his Red Saunders Research Foundation that put the Windy City's Rhythm & Blues on the map. The site of this foundation may not look very flashy but it's all very well documented, full of details and loaded with label scans. You can find more information on there - I put a link to their page on the Old Swing Master on my web site, where you can read back what I told you in todays show, review the playlist and see what's on next week. To find it, search Google for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman - the easiest way to get there. And of course you can e-mail me with questions or comments, the addres is rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com.
As for now, time's up so have a rocking day. See you next time here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!