S D Records

Revision note. We have made a correction to the original recording date for S D 100.

S D Records was the brainchild of two Chicago record collectors, John Steiner and Hugh Davis. As with most collector jazz labels of the period, S D focused on reissuing vintage jazz recordings from the 1920s and 1930s and new recordings either by artists from that period or by younger artists who played in a traditional style. The company was founded in January 1944, but Steiner and Davis had already been working together for four years, recording music in the city at various homes and on location in clubs. The label's original headquarters were at Steiner's home, at 104 East Bellevue Place. Steiner and Davis departed from usual business model for a collector label: they did not operate a record shop to help support it, although both bought and sold extensively in the collector market. But in June 1947, when S D was no longer making new recordings but was continuing with its release program, the company's headquarters moved to Chicago's downtown, at 8 South Dearborn. There Steiner operated a "record exchange," essentially a record shop for rare jazz discs.

The partnership after which the label was named survived barely more than a year: in February 1945 Davis sold his half of the company to Steiner (the transaction was announced in Down Beat on February 15). Steiner operated the imprint on his own for the next five years. Because of the trouble they were having, getting pressings of reasonable quality at an affordable price, Steiner and Davis had already quit pressing S D 78s in the fall of 1944; a Down Beat item on January 1, 1945 announced that S D was suspending activities "until conditions return to normal."

In mid-1945, the dormant company's address changed to 1225 North Lasalle; i.e., the Uptown Playhouse Theater, where Steiner was actually living while promoting trad jazz concerts and operating other ventures. But Steiner was compelled to regroup after the theater burned down on April 20, 1946. He resumed recording with a session in September 1946, and made a limited edition S D release available for Christmas of that year. In March 1947, Steiner found a pressing plant that he trusted; he began using the Bishop plant in Southern California, enabling several S D releases that had been held back to finally make it to market. In December 1947, he recorded a session by traditional jazz cornetist Doc Evans for the Dublin's label, operated by a local record store. Around February 1948, Steiner was able to acquire the remnants of the old Paramount label. After a couple of premature announcements in the press, 13 78s on his revived Paramount imprint rolled out in 1949, and 19 more would follow in 1950; Steiner also began producing new traditional jazz material for release on the label. Meanwhile, sporadic S D releases straggled on through 1948 and 1949, coming to an end with 2 last 78s around June 1950.

In Record Changer advertisements for the final S D releases, the company was referred to as Paramount Distributors; its location was now Steiner's apartment at 1637 N. Ashland Avenue. From then on, though Steiner sold S D 78s that he still had in stock, he ran a company called Paramount. Steiner would reissue much of the S D material on 10-inch Paramount LPs between 1952 and 1955; he revived the S D imprint for one 10-inch LP in 1954.

S D bore many resemblances to another Chicago-based independent, Session. Session, which opened a couple of months before S D, was also founded by ardent record collectors (Phil Featheringill and Dave Bell) with an interest in 1920s jazz and blues. Both labels combined new recordings with reissues (and a commmon interest in Jelly Roll Morton); both embraced technical innovations (wire recordings for S D; vinyl pressings for Session); both struggled getting records pressed during World War II, and both relied on the Bishop Pressing plant in Southern California after the war ended; and both were undercapitalized boutique operations that often had to delay or abandon planned releases. But after Session closed for good in the fall of 1947, Phil Featheringill and Dave Bell sold off their record collections and got out of the business. John Steiner continued with new releases until 1955, and kept contributing to the study of jazz history long after that.

John Steiner was born July 21, 1908, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During the late 1920s and early 1930s he was in college, working towards his PhD in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin. On weekends he would head down to Chicago, soaking in city's world of jazz. He also began building a record collection. After getting his PhD in 1933, Steiner became a research chemist and later a university chemistry professor, but of his many passions he is best known for his interest in early jazz. Not only did he collect records, he collected oral histories and promoted concerts of traditional jazz. In 1935, with Helen Oakley (later Helen Oakley Dance) and Harry Lim (later the proprietor of Keynote Records), Steiner founded the country's first hot jazz club. The Hot Club of Chicago (HCC), modeled after the famous French club, regularly sponsored small combo jazz concerts in the city during the second half of the 1930s.

By the 1940s, Steiner was thoroughly ensconced in Chicago's traditional jazz community. These being the years of factionalism and polemics, the "moldy figs" were subject to considerable derision from modernists. He was the jazz correspondent for Jazz Information, and contributed to the traditionalist Jazz Session magazine.

Meanwhile, back in 1938, Steiner had met another avid jazz collector with a scientific bent, Hugh Davis. Davis was a native of Wichita, Kansas, who worked as an electrical engineer for a variety of Chicago manufacturing plants. At one point, he worked for the Seaburg jukebox company, doing development. He designed a home recorder for the firm, which they marketed. Together, Steiner and Davis perfected equipment for recording live jazz performances and for dubbing old disks. As early as 1940, they were traipsing around the North and South Sides of Chicago with "several hundred pounds of recording junk" in search of jazz, generally of the traditional variety. With ever improving technology, the pair recorded jam sessions, solo and band performances, and radio shows. They also dubbed many rare jazz and blues disks, some of which were previously unknown test pressings.

In January 1944, Steiner and Davis founded S D Records to issue the jazz recordings they had been gathering from the previous four years and a series of new sessions they had planned. For the reissue side of their enterprise, Steiner and Davis acquired rights to 24 sides from the old Paramount label, a blues and jazz imprint that had operated out of Port Washington, Wisconsin, from 1917 to 1932. The company's first releases were in the 100 series, which was a reissue series. Steiner bragged to Down Beat's George Hoefer, Jr., about S D technical standards:

Steiner and Davis reported that future releases of new material would include piano solos by Jack Gardner and Tut Soper, and combos featuring Punch Miller, Jimmy Dudley, and Wild Bill Davison. Also cited for possible release was a 1940 recording they made of the Pete Daily Jazz Band featuring Frank Melrose. (A set of 1940 studio recordings of a Frank Melrose band featuring Pete Daily and Boyce Brown finally got its first release on Delmark in 2006, but so far as we know Steiner and Davis were not involved with them.) These performers were thoroughly in the traditionalist camp. Not all of them would actually make it onto the S D label. Some would never appear at all—because the lacquers of their recordings were destroyed in the fire in April 1946—and some would be held for release until 1952 or later, on Steiner's revived Paramount label.

The neophyte label operators assured Hoefer that they had "signed with Petrillo and have union approval on all releases they make," suggesting that the American Federation of Musicians in the past had not been fully supportive of their live recording activities.

Sources Used: John Steiner, "Here In Chicago," The Jazz Session 5 (Jan.-Feb. 1945): 3, 22; George Hoefer Jr., "The Hot Box," Down Beat, 1 February 1944; "Disc Exchange Set Up By Steiner," Down Beat, 26 March 1947, p. 13.

Steiner and Davis had recorded many live sessions, and were partial to piano players. This was partly out of personal interest--Steiner was an excellent piano player whose jazz styling revealed a heavy Earl Hines influence. But there was also a financial angle--a solo piano player was more economical than a combo. Thus, there were recordings by Cow Cow Davenport, Jack Gardner, Cassino Simpson, and Frank Melrose, but most of these sessions did not end up on S D. One reason is that many of the live concerts Steiner and Davis recorded in the 1940s were done on 16-inch discs, often yielding tracks that were too long for release on 10 inch S D 78s. The Cassino Simpson session, from 1942, is the earliest that saw release on a S D 78 (albeit just one side, which was held for release until the end of 1947.)

SD1. Cassino Simpson / Cass Simpson*

Steiner and Davis recorded these sides during a visit to Simpson at the Elgin Mental Hospital, where the famed pianist was a patient. They became aware of his presence there in 1940, but were not able to record him right away. In a reminiscence about his location recording trips with Hugh Davis, Steiner said:

According to Johnny Simmen ("Cassino Simpson," Storyville no. 28, April-May 1970, pp. 123-127), Steiner wrote him in 1940 about discovering Simpson at the mental hospital, remarking, however, that there was "no hope of getting him to record." Obviously something had changed by 1942. Simmen, like J. R. Simpson in his 1955 Jazz Journal article on Simpson, dated the recordings to 1944 and 1945.

The only track to be released on a 78 appeared on S D Merry Christmas 1947, a special gift record, issued in a limited edition. The Merry Christmas 78 looks rather hastily put together, as "After You've Gone" is misrendered, and the recording date is given as 1944. In the trail-off shellac the DP is really a monogram of a D with a P stuck in it. On the flip side was a Red Nichols side of a radio broadcast transcription that Steiner picked up in Los Angeles (see session SD10 below).

All but one of these sides lay on the shelf until after Steiner revived the Paramount label in 1949. Paramount CJS 109 was released in 1954. Chicago Piano 12-001 was released in the 1970s; Cassino Simpson was given the B side while the A side was taken up with recordings of Kansas City Frank Melrose that Steiner had obtained from Paramount and the American Record Company and initially released on a 10-inch LP on his revived Paramount label.

Steiner and Davis developed an appreciation for Simpson from his work on several Paramount sides, notably the ones he made with singer/pianist Laura Rucker, who gave up the keyboards for the 1931 session (two of these sides were reissued in the S D 100 series; see SDR3 and SDR4 below).

Pianist Cassino Wendell Simpson was born in either Chicago or Venice, Italy, on July 22, 1909. He recorded as early as 1923 with trumpeter Bernie Young and then worked with Arthur Simm's orchestra, which was subsequently led by Young. Simpson left the Young orchestra in 1930. For a time he worked with Erskine Tate. In 1929, Simpson made some valuable recordings with Jabbo Smith and Ikey Robinson. During 1931-33, Simpson led his own bands in Chicago, followed by a stint accompanying Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon.

In 1932 or thereabouts, Milt Hinton played in a band with Simpson at the Showboat. The front man was trumpeter Jabbo Smith; John Thomas was the trombonist; Scoops Carry, Jerome "Don" Pasquall, and Scoville Brown made up the reed section; Ted Tinsley was the rhythm guitarist; and Floyd Campbell (later replaced by Richard Barnet) was in the drum chair.

After the club owners fired Jabbo Smith, who often missed the entire first set, and sometimes skipped out before the night's work was over, Simpson took over as leader. The band continued for a little while, doing freelance jobs and working a couple of nights per week at the Regal Theater.

In 1935, the mental problems came to the fore when Simpson tried to kill Frankie Jaxon. Cassino Simpson was admitted to the Elgin Mental Hospital. In the hospital he played drum in the marching band and piano and vibes in the dance band. The S D recordings were the only ones he made in the asylum. He died there on March 27, 1952.

Simpson sources: John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street (Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1972): 338; Milt Hinton, The Bass Line: 50; Tom Lord, The Jazz Discography, Volume 20 (West Vancouver, B.C.: Lord’s Music, 1998): S729.

Newly recorded material on S D began to appear on a 5000 series, on which Steiner put out releases by pianist Tut Soper and vibist Red Norvo with the Stuff Smith Quartets. S D 5000 and 5001, both by Tut Soper, were on sale by mid-May 1944. An advertisement for S D Records in Down Beat (May 15, 1944) lists 5000 and 5001 along with 100 through 104 (see below for the 100 reissue series).

The August 15, 1944 issue of Down Beat announced that 5000 and 5001 could also be purchased on wire, at a time when this predecessor to tape recording was not yet seen as a retail medium. S D was a true innovator in this realm. According to Bjöaut;rn Englund in his article "Early Pre-Recorded Tapes (1955-1957), "In the 1940s the Webcor wire-recorder achieved some popularity and John Steiner in Chicago issued a few titles from his Steiner-Davis label as prerecorded wires. This is the only label known to have done so" (Names & Numbers 36, January 2006, p. 38). Other record companies didn't get into the action until the early 1950s, with prerecorded tapes.

5000 and 5001 were listed again in S D's advertisement in The Jazz Record for November 1944.

S D 5002 and 5003 were also planned in 1944. But so far as we can determine, they failed to make it into circulation before Steiner quit trying to press S D records in the fall of that year. After that, they spent an amazingly long time in limbo... we have no evidence that they were released before 1950 (!). But more about all of that below.

The labels on 5000 and 5001 listed the company’s address, but misspelled Bellevue as "Bellvue." As he would do on all of his subsequent sessions, Steiner assigned master numbers according to the date of the recording and the take.

SD2. Tut Soper, piano | Baby Dodds, drums

Tom Lord in a note below his listing of this session said that there may have been a release on a 16-inch disk that contains this entire session. (Most likely, he is just referring to the session master; 16-inch acetates were common at this time.) Lord also consistently lists all S D releases as "Steiner-Davis." But none of the labels actually said this. In articles about his company and in advertisements, John Steiner followed the punctuation practices of his day and wrote "S. D.," but there are no periods on the labels.

S D 5000 and 5001 both show a monogram (a D with a P stuck in it) in the trail-off shellac on one side. The same monogram can be seen on some Session releases from this period. The records remained in Steiner's catalog until at least 1952, as they are advertised in a booklet that was included with his first 10-inch LP release on Paramount CJS101.

Pianist Tut Soper was born Oro M. Soper on April 9, 1910. In the early 1920s, Soper made a record on OKeh with a group of kids all 13 and under called The Five Baby Shieks. Besides Soper on piano, they included Art Elefson on drums, Howard Snyder on sax, and Elmer Fearn on violin. By the late 1920s he was a regular in Chicago clubs, despite being underaged, and performing with Bunny Berrigan, Wingy Mannone, Boyd Brown, and Floyd Town. After years of playing in bands, in the late 1930s Soper went solo, introduced vocals to his repertoire, and played in such clubs as the legendary Three Deuces (222 North State).

By the war years, Soper could be found in the famed "Randolph Street" nightclub district. He was playing around the corner from Randolph Street at the Capitol Lounge on State when the S D recordings were made. Steiner and Davis teamed Soper up with Dodds in pianist Jack Gardner’s apartment for the session. Gardner owned a particularly fine piano, which is why the session was held in his place, at 102 East Bellevue, a basement apartment located in the same apartment complex as John Steiner. Jazz fans tend to revel in improvisation, and Down Beat columnist George Hoefer loved the idea at how "impromptu" the recording was, as Soper and Dodds had never met before, and had feel each other out in the recording process.

Lord lists "Oronics No. 3" as being released on S D 5000, but Hoefer in his "Hot Box" column of 15 June 1944 lists the title as simply "Oronics," and gives the master number as 13144-1. He goes into detail how the "first test" of the number turned out to be the best, and ended up being used for release. We'll go with Hoefer on this; besides, the matrix numbers on S D 5000 back him up.

Down Beat reviewer John Lucas--who tended to favorably review his collector colleagues’ product--cited these releases as "some of the finest jazz piano waxed in many years." He raved about each one of the songs, and concluded, "The rip-rattling drum accompaniment provided by the one and only Baby Dodds simply could not be touched by anyone else. If Soper is super, Dodds is at once devastating, dynamic, and droll!"

In a lengthy review published in the October 1944 issue of The Jazz Record, George Avakian gave effusive praise to S D 5000 and 5001. "Picture Earl Hines in the full flower of his wildest period, playing as though it were his last chance to explode through with vital ideas of earth-shaking consequence. This is Tut Soper; an exciting, intensely live pianist whose work doesn't merely "send" you the way many agitated instrumentalists can--it reaches out, grabs you by the throat, and shakes and chokes hell out of you" (p. 3). Avakian contrasted Soper's genuineness and avoidance of clichés with the mannerisms of "the present-day frantic clique," into which he went so far as to lump "such hopeless musicians as Lionel Hampton, Art Tatum, Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, and a whole string of trumpet players, electric guitar virtuosos, and Hazel Scotts" (p. 3). Out of the four, Avakian declared that "[t]he originals--Oronics and It's a Ramble--are my pet sides, displaying Tut's talents in two tempos and two moods, both nonetheless full of his overall excitement. The first is sheer panic, but good; the Ramble is reflective and rather interestingly developed from the melodic view. The others are Soper franticizations of Thou Swell and Star Dust, and the tunes improve under his manhandling." (p. 3.) Of Dodds' contributions, Avakian complained (p. 11) that the drummer "loses much of his subtlety" on Oronics, but praised him for his rapport with Soper elswhere on the session.

John Chilton described Soper as one of the leading pianists in Chicago, and credited him with working with Bud Freeman, Wild Bill Davison, Boyce Brown, Bud Jacobson, and Eddie Wiggins, among others. In the early 1950s, Soper worked in California with Muggsy Spanier and Marty Marsala. He toured with Eddie Condon in 1960.

Soper in his later years worked mostly as an insurance salesman for the Chicago Motor Club. He died in March 1987. His obit described him as a former jazz pianist, who had played for 50 years in "some of Chicago’s most famous jazz clubs and with the bands of Gene Krupa and Bud Freeman."

Soper sources: M/Sgt. George Avakian, "Records--Old and New," The Jazz Record, October 1944, pp. 3, 11; George Hoefer Jr., "The Hot Box," Down Beat, 15 June 1944; [John Lucas] "Diggin’ The Discs," Down Beat, 15 July 1944, p. 8; Catherine Jacobson, "Oro ‘Tut’ Soper," Jazz Vol. 1, No. 10 (December 1943): 8-9; "Oro Soper" [Obit], Chicago Tribune, March 24, 1987; Tom Lord, The Jazz Discography, Volume 21 (West Vancouver, B.C.: Lord’s Music, 1999): S1057.

John Steiner’s North side apartment at 104 East Bellevue was the location for the next S D session, which teamed up two legends of jazz—vibist Red Norvo and violinist Stuff Smith—accompanied by Remo Palmieri on guitar and Clyde Lombardi on bass.

SD3. K. Norville, Xylophone | Stuff Smith, Violin | Clyde Lombardi, Bass | Remo Palmieri, Guitar

All information on the session is drawn from Anthony Barnett's book Desert Sands, the definitive bio-discography of Stuff Smith. (See p. 111 for the discographical entry.) Although Tom Lord used Barnett as a source, several errors crept into the listing for this session in Lord's Jazz Discography.

On the labels to S D 5002 and 5003, all four musicians are listed, but Red Norvo appears under his real name as "K. Norville." The date is given on the label as April 4, 1944, but the matrix numbers indicate April 5, which is confirmed by the session sheet.

The 78 lists "Red’s Stuff" on the label while the recording sheet says "Red Stuff." On Side A of S D 5002, Anthony Barnett indicates that track 4544-00-00 (possibly edited) is followed by 4544-4b (possibly also edited); Side B is 4544-5B all the way through. A cassette copy of the session made by John Steiner gave the last track the title "Blue Hugh's Hue"; on the session sheet, the piece was untitled.

As noted by Barnett, "Red’s Stuff" would be recorded for Keynote in July 1944 (on a session that included Teddy Wilson and Slam Stewart) as "Blues à la Red." Norvo subsequently recorded "Blue Hugh's Hue" for World Transcriptions (in May or June 1944) and for V Disc (in May). Both of these later recordings used the title "Red Dust" (credited to Fletcher Henderson).

The release dates for S D 5002 and 5003 continue to puzzle us. The release numbers and the appearance of the labels indicate a planned release in 1944. Indeed, S D 5002 and 5003 were announced by Leonard Feather in the 1945 Esquire Jazz Guide (published December 1944, p. 123).

However, a test pressing of S D 5003 shows the 8 South Dearborn address, proving that it wasn't done until at least 1947. And Charles Delaunay's Hot Discography from 1948 lists S D 5000 and 5001--but not 5002 and 5003. The first known advertisement for 5002 and 5003 appeared in the Record Changer for July/August 1950 (!). (And a list of titles for sale included in a booklet with Paramount LP CJS101, which was released in 1952, mentions "Red Norvo and Stuff Smith Quartet" but mislists the items as S D 5000 and 5001...) Since we haven't found an earlier review of these 78s, we have to go with mid-1950 as the release date, but we find the length of the delay intensely puzzling. Could there have been some legal tie-up?

Red Norvo was born Kenneth Norville on March 31, 1908, in Beardstown, Illinois. He built his reputation playing the xylophone and marimba, but also played piano. He began his career touring with a marimba band, the Collegians, in 1925. His first session under his own name was in 1929 for Brunswick Records, but it went unreleased. His next recording opportunity came in 1933. Meanwhile, he had been working with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in 1931, and there met Mildred Bailey, with whom he would be wed for 12 years.

In 1933 Norvo got a band together, Red Norvo and His Swing Septet, and began recording for Columbia. Thereafter he was rarely out of the recording booth. His last Columbia recording was in 1942. From 1935 to 1944 Norvo led bands from small combos to large orchestras. In October 1943 he recorded V-Discs for broadcast to the armed services. By this time he had switched from xylophone to vibraphone.

The April 1944 S D session was something of a coup for Steiner and Davis. They were of course recording him for what he represented in the past. Although Steiner would eventually issue a live broadcast featuring Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, it is most unlikely that he and Hugh Davis were anticipating anything like Red's famous 1945 session for Comet that included Bird and Diz.

In 1944, Norvo disbanded his sextet and joined the Benny Goodman band, and the following year saw him in Woody Herman’s band. In 1947, moved to Santa Monica, California and returned to leading his own combo. His 1950-1951 trio with Tal Farlow on electric guitar and Charles Mingus on bass was one of the leading "cool jazz" ensembles. During the 1960s, he had a long residency at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Norvo had to retire from playing after suffering a stroke in 1986; he died in Santa Monica, California, on April 6, 1999.

Norvo sources: John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street (Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1972): 277-78; Barry Kernfeld, "Red Norvo," The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (London: Macmillan, 2002, 2nd edition, Vol. 3, pp. 165-167); "Red Norvo, 91, Who Introduced Xylophone to Jazz," Chicago Tribune, 8 April 1999; Tom Lord, The Jazz Discography, Volume 16 (West Vancouver, B.C.: Lord’s Music, 1997): N350.

Smith sources: Anthony Barnett, Desert Sands: The Recordings and Performances of Stuff Smith. (Lewes, East Sussex: Allardyce, Barnett, 1995).

Probably intended at one time for release in the 5000 series was a session by Chet Roble and his group. All we know about this one is that Steiner cut it in the summer of 1944; an item in the August 15 issue of Down Beat signaled that the group had been recorded "for S D." But no releases ever emerged (even years later, when Steiner was putting out LPs on Paramount) and it is not known if any tracks are still extant.

For releases that were planned after he stopped trying to press S D's in the fall of 1944, Steinter dropped a zero out of the 5000 series numbers and jumped from 5003 to 504.

While the 500 series releases began in early 1947, the sessions they were drawn from took place in 1944 and 1946. The first of these sessions happened in January 1944, when Steiner and Davis waxed their friend, pianist Jack Gardner, accompanied by Baby Dodds on drums. Their Gardner 78 paired one number from the January session and another from a session in June 1944. We should note that the 500 series featured a label design in which the S and D were kitty corner from each other, thus not connected with a hyphen. (For consistency, we’ll refer to the label as S D rather than S-D throughout the text.)/p>

SD4a. Jack Gardner

SD4b. Jack Gardner

The copy of S D 508 in Tom Kelly's collection is stamped "A Bishop Pressing" on the B side, under the label, in a fashion that is familiar from 1946 and 1947 pressings of Session 78s. A test pressing of 508, in Volker Dorendorf's collection, was also done at Bishop, a pressing plant located in South Pasadena, California, where it began operations in April 1946. The test pressing gives "Paper Doll" as the title of "Doll Rag."

S D 507 and 508 were significantly delayed beyond 504 through 506, which had been released in March 1947. They were probably released in the spring of 1948. Both were advertised in the Record Changer for June 1948 but not mentioned in the company's ads in the same magazine that appeared in the July, August, and December 1947 issues.

Jack Gardner was born Francis Henry Gardner, August 14, 1903, in Joliet, Illinois. At the age of eight he began playing piano, after his family had moved to Denver. He moved to Chicago 1923 to play in Spike Hamilton’s Band. Jack Gardner first recorded in 1924 for OKeh, leading his own group. He did another session for the label the following year. He led his own touring band in the late 1920s. He also recorded with Wingy Manone (1928) and Jimmy McPartland (1936). In 1937 Gardner moved to New York. During 1939-1940 Gardner served as pianist for the Harry James Orchestra. Returning to Chicago, he led a trio at the Silver Palm (1117 West Wilson) for a while, and developed a friendship with John Steiner, out of which the S D session arose. Gardner subsequently moved to Texas. He died in Dallas on November 26, 1957.

Gardner sources: John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street (Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1972): 129; Tom Lord, The Jazz Discography, Volume 7 (West Vancouver, B.C.: Lord’s Music, 1993): G47-48.

The session of June 30, 1944, also included 3 titles laid down by an unusual trio that consisted of Gardner at the piano, Red Nichols on cornet, and Vic Engle in the drum chair. The story of the June 30th outing--a truly impromptu affair--was told in an article on Red Nichols in Record Research (combined issue 96-97, p. 10). Not long after he and his wife bought a house in Los Angeles, Nichols was en route to his new home when he passed through Chicago. "Red was staying at the Sherman Hotel and met Vic Engle at the Croydon Hotel by chance. They phoned John Steiner to ask 'what's happening?' On a quick impulse they set up a recording date. They used Jack Gardner because they could get his piano and room for the job--it took place at 503 W. Aldine St. on June 30. It was a tentative deal, but John liked the results immediately and paid off. That trio never worked before or after the two hours before Red's plane left for the coast."

SD5. Red Nichols, tr. | Jack Gardner, p. | Vic Engle, dr.

The copy of S D 507 in Tom Kelly's collection was pressed by Bishop, an outfit in South Pasadena, California whose major customers were Jump, Session, and other small indies with a jazz orientation. Although Bishop started its operations in April 1946, S D 507 dates from the spring of 1948. A test pressing from this session--we are not sure about the coupling--was mentioned in a December 1947 article.

Lord claims that in all only 300 copies of S D 507 were pressed--according to information he had received from collector Jack Hester. The VJC CD was titled Trumpet Royalty; the remainder of its cuts were by other artists.

One 78-rpm test pressing, made by Bishop, of 63044-1B backed by 63044-5B is now in the collection of Warren Hicks. At least one other test pressing is known to be extant; it has 63044-1 on one side.

Cornetist and bandleader Red Nichols was born Earnest Loring Nichols in Ogden, Utah, on May 8, 1905. He learned cornet under his father, a college music professor and leader of his family brass band. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s he was one of the most prolifically recorded of the white jazzmen, leading bands that enjoyed great popularity. His most significant recording legacy was the Brunswick recordings he made in the late 1920s under the name Red Nichols and His Five Pennies, a recording ensemble of varying size and lineup that included such musicians as Jimmy Dorsey, Eddie Lang, Miff Mole, Joe Venuti, Jack Teagarden, and Benny Goodman. During much of the 1940s and early 1950s, Nichols played long residencies in West Coast venues, notably El Morocco Club in Los Angeles and Club Hangover in San Francisco.

But Nichols emerged as a legend. In 1959 he played for the soundtrack of the movie, The Five Pennies, which in the typical Hollywood way--it starred Danny Kaye as Red Nichols--was loosely based on his life. Nichols found new popularity, and toured Europe in 1960 and 1964. He died in Las Vegas, on June 28, 1965.

Nichols sources: John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street (Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1972): 275-76; Tom Lord, The Jazz Discography, Volume 16 (West Vancouver, B.C.: Lord’s Music, 1997): N243-258.

A little while after the Red Nichols session, S D went into temporary hiatus. As Steiner would later explain, "In the fall of 1944 with record pressing at its highest output, and, as a result of shortages, lowest quality, since the turn of the century, S. D. Records suspended activity to await the availability of a prideful type of disc" ("Records to Burn," The Jazz Record, September 1946, p. 5). In fact, the company had already released 2 78s in its 5000 series and 5 in its 100 reissue series by the middle of May 1944, though there may have been an additional pressing run or two.

In February 1945, it was announced that Steiner had bought out Hugh Davis’s share in S D. Davis apparently had lost interest in the partnership. As George Hoefer reported, "Davis has other record activities not conducive to his continuing with S D." Steiner later stated that "Hugh Davis opened his Technical Recording Service, offering fine acetate copies of out-of-print records, non-commercial transcriptions, private recordings and off-the-air shots. It was expedient then for me to purchase his interest in S. D. and await the New Day" when the company could get more records pressed with reasonable quality ("Records to Burn," p. 5).

A brief item on Technical Recording Service appeared in Down Beat on May 21, 1947. It promised "all types of services... including direct-cut copying of valuable collector's titems, copies by re-recording, editing and patching of copies. The latter allows for copying certain choruses only and patching portions of one or more records together on a single plate. Concert 'air shots' are also available."

Hugh Davis would die way too soon, in 1948. He was survived by his wife Nina and a son Bill. Steiner would later marry Nina.

Meanwhile, the lull in S D's operations dragged on. Steiner would announce impending releases, then they would fail to appear. In George Hoefer, Jr.'s column of July 1, 1945, Steiner reported that he would be releasing the results from a live recording he and Davis had made at the H & T Tavern in 1941, featuring trumpeter Punch Miller and drummer Snags Jones. Granted, all that he promised was that the sides would appear "sometime in the future." Sometime would turn out to be 1952, when the Kid Punch sides finally showed up on a 10-inch LP on Steiner’s revived Paramount imprint.

Steiner had become preoccupied with the extensive work he was doing at the Uptown Playhouse Theater (1225 North LaSalle at Goethe). Initially he was called in to fix the group's recording equipment:

With 5 pianos in playable condition, several record players, radios, and even portable recording equipment available, the theater evolved into a major hangout for traditional jazz musicians and fans. In the July-August 1945 issue of the Record Changer, Steiner actually gave 1225 North Lasalle as the new address for S D.

As though all of this informal activity wasn't enough, Steiner branched out into public concerts. He organized a series of "jazz musicales" for the first and third Sunday afternoons of each month during July and August 1945 at the Uptown Playhouse Theater . His first session featured Bud Jacobson’s Jungle Kings. While Down Beat columnist Don C. Haynes was unimpressed by the group as a whole, he lauded the work of pianist Tut Soper and guitarist Jack Goss. In August, Steiner sponsored the Jimmy Noone Memorial Concert at the Uptown Playhouse, which featured a band consisting of Darnell Howard (clarinet), Boyce Brown (alto sax), Baby Dodds (drums), Gideon Honoré (piano), Jack Goss (guitar), Tut Soper (second piano), and Pat Pattison (bass). In addition, Steiner was doing a bunch of recording at the Playhouse.

The concerts ended when Steiner found himself in a spot of trouble with the Musicians Union. Reported Jazz Session editor John T. Schenck, "John Steiner, the person responsible for some very fine jam sessions in Chicago, ruined his chance for putting on future sessions, and possibly chances for others to stage jam sessions, by trying to pull a ‘fast one’ on the musician’s union by using a mixed band, avoiding to pay leader and stand-in money, and so on. ‘Know-it-all’ Steiner’s blunder will make it twice as difficult for the next person interested in staging a hot jazz concert or jam session." This kind of nastiness, unfortunately, was typical of Schenck, and Steiner never contributed another word to Jazz Session. Note the comment on the "mixed band." Steiner's trouble was with Local 10, the segregated White local of the Musicians Union. But Local 208, which had its own turf to guard, wasn't terribly supportive of racially mixed bands at the time.

The only profit from the sessions was $19.90 out of the soft drink concession. Steiner did note that after he discontinued his sessions other trad enthusiasts formed the Chicago Hot Club, which was able to make a better deal with the Musicans Union.

After hotfooting it out of concert promotion, Steiner launched Jazz Record Seminars, which met every two weeks during the winter of 1945-1946. In 2 hour sessions, 20 or 30 records were played, with commentary from a panel of 3 or 4 experts. Musicians as well as record collectors attended regularly.

On top of the scheduled activities, informal sessions were going on just about constantly. One "jamboree" brought out no less than 27 of the local "hot boys," who according to Steiner produced 45 minutes of recordings. On that occasion, trumpeter Lee Collins, alto saxophonist Boyce Brown, clarinetists Darnell Howard and Volly DeFaut, no fewer than five pianists (Gideon Honoré, Tut Soper, Jack Gardner, Mel Henke, and Chet Roble), and drummer Jim Barnes were among the contributors.

Sources used: George Hoefer Jr., "The Hot Box," Down Beat, 15 February 1945, p. 11; George Hoefer Jr., "The Hot Box," Down Beat, 1 July 1945, p. 11; Don C. Haynes, "Jazz Struggles for Survival in Chicago," Down Beat, 15 July 1945, p. 4; George Hoefer Jr., "The Hot Box," Down Beat, 15 August 1945, p. 11; [John T. Schenck], "Steiner Sessions Fold Up," Jam Session 9 (September-October 1945): 26; John Steiner, "Records to Burn," The Jazz Record, September 1946, pp. 5, 6, 17.

While Steiner was recording regularly at the Playhouse, he must have intended the next session for release on S D, because he got George Hoefer to announce it in print.

SD6. Bert Patrick Quartet

George Hoefer, in his February 11, 1946 "Hot Box" column, reported these titles in his rundown of "recent waxings." Apparently Steiner never released the titles, if we can rely on Lord’s listing of them as unissued. Lord indicates that Norvo was playing vibes, but Hoefer lists him on piano. This grouping of musicians arose out of concerts Steiner was presenting at the Uptown Playhouse Theater. During intermissions at the Jimmie Noone Memorial Concert and the Baby Dodds Riverboat Band concert, Steiner featured performances by a revived vaudeville act, named the Mound City Blue Blowers after the legendary groups led by Red McKenzie. Steiner's reincarnated Blowers consisted of Frank "Josh" Billings playing a suitcase with whiskbrooms, Tut Soper on piano, and Jack Goss on guitar. According to Steiner, the same trio appeared on many informal sessions at the Uptown Playhouse, playing from 10 or 11 pm to daybreak.

It's hard for us to trace Bert Patrick's movements, because he rarely worked as a leader. On March 15, 1945, he filed an "indefinite" contract with Local 208 for a gig at The Irish Village, followed up by another indefinite contract on June 7. In November 1946 Bert Patrick was playing in Hillard Brown’s six-piece band at Joe’s Deluxe Club.

Bert Patrick and Soper/Goss/Billings sources: George Hoefer Jr., "The Hot Box," Down Beat, 11 February 1946, p. 11; John Steiner, "Records to Burn," The Jazz Record, September 1946, pp. 5, 6, 17.

There was another significant hiatus in Steiner's activities after a disastrous fire hit the Uptown Playhouse Theater on April 20, 1946. In his rueful post-mortem, "Records to Burn," he noted that the fire began as the Players were finishing the third act of "You Can't Take It with You."

It reduced the building to a shell. "Along with theater properties were consumed my library and clothes, furniture and office equipment, substantially all of the thousands of records racked in the phono-storage room, the recording studio (more destroyed by inundation than by fire), and every piano in the place, including my upright autographed with the sharp corner of a screw-driver by a host of visitors from Yancey to Slam." (p. 6).

Along with pressings of previous S D releases (but fortunately not their masters) Steiner lost no less than 150 unissued sides by Jack Gardner and his groups (Steiner refers to Gardner as the "musical director for S. D. enteprises since 1941"), 20 sides by groups led by Boyce Brown, a few by Frank Melrose, and location recordings by Gideon Honoré, Zinky Cohn, Punch Miller, Bobby Hackett, Joe Sullivan and Jimmy Yancey, along with many disks recorded from radio broadcasts by big name jazz artists.

Taking the chemist's analytical attitude, Steiner noted that when the 78s were inundated, the labels peeled right off the records pressed during World War II while sticking fast to the pre-war Decca, Columbia, and Victor product. "Wartime shellac compositions blistered upon long contact with dirty water and they became raspy under the needle... A few records of recent pressing, including some Savoy, Philo, and Keynote, after five days immersion, crumbled like clay pies, presumably due to solution of some element in their composition." (p. 17)

"There may be some gain from this experience, especially if this story carries a moral. Records are not to be stored in inflammable buildings. Records are to be copied and the copies widespread" (p. 6).

Sources on the fire: The Jazz Record, June 1946, p. 11; John Steiner, "Records to Burn," The Jazz Record, September 1946, pp. 5, 6, 17.

No doubt helping his recovery from the fire, Steiner was able to get in another recording session. On September 30, 1946, he conducted a marathon outing involving tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman and alto sax player Bill Dohler; Jack Gardner and Tut Soper took turns at the piano bench. Three S D 78s were drawn from it; they were released in March 1947, marking a return to activity for the label.

SD7. Freeman Five

The copies of S D 504 that we have seen bear the familiar embossing that indicates they were pressed by Bishop.

Of all the Bud Freeman sides released by Steiner, S D 504 got the most favorable mention by the Down Beat reviewer, who was not the ever-pliable John Lucas. It didn't hurt that "You Took Advantage of Me" was an old favorite of Freeman's; he had given it a memorable performance in 1938 for Commodore. Awarding the 78 three of the four possible quarter notes, the reviewer noted that both numbers swung "consistently with both reed men attempting good consistent improvisation."

"Ribald Rhythm" on S D 506 got a two-note review and the Down Beat scribe noted that the number was actually "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea."

John Lucas praised the sides in his "Jazz on Record" column in the Record Changer (April 1947), lauding Steiner for a "novel and stimulating idea," that is, using alto and a tenor sax as the "whole melody section in collective improvisation." With regard to S D 504, he said the sides find Dohler on alto and Freeman on tenor "weaving some of the most complex patterns conceivable, and with complete spontaneity."

The Freeman 78s on S D 504 through 506 remained in stock until at least 1952, when a booklet included with the first 10-inch Paramount LP release still advertised them for sale.

Finally, though, they were superseded by a 10-inch LP that collected 8 tracks from this session. Paramount CJS105 was called Panorama under the artist name Bud Freeman; Steiner released it in 1953.

SD8. Freeman Foursome / Freeman Four*

Lord gives the artist names as Bud Freeman Quintet and Bud Freeman Quartet. We are using the names as they appeared on S D 505 and 506. Paramount CJS105 was called Panorama and the artist's name there was plain old Bud Freeman; Steiner put it out in 1955.

The Down Beat reviewer gave both numbers two quarter notes out of a possible four. "The Man I Love" was criticized for poor mike placement and Freeman’s "unsteady" tone, and "Ontario Barrel House" was faulted for Freeman’s "honkey" tone and Gardner’s right hand lacking "technical freedom." Lucas, on the other hand, thought that "Ontario Barrel House" and "Ribald Rhythm" (S D 506) was the best of the three couplings. According to Hoefer, "Ontario Barrel House" is named for the street where the apartment that Steiner and Gardner shared was located. We checked the phone books from the period and could not find either Steiner or Gardner at that address. But then, they were apparently no longer at the Bellevue Place address, and the apartment that Steiner maintained at the Uptown Playhouse had been destroyed in the fire.

Bud Freeman was born Lawrence Freeman, on April 13, 1906. He is one of the famed members of the Austin High School Gang, and helped put Chicago on the map as a jazz center in the 1920s, playing with his schoolmates in the Blue Friars and then the Wolverines. He began on the C Melody sax in 1923, and switched to tenor sax in 1925. During 1926-27, he played in various Chicago bands, and then moved with Ben Pollack’s band to New York City in 1928. In 1929 Freeman was touring with Red Nichols. Early white jazz was gimmicked up with sound effects, and Freeman is credited with being one of the first white tenor sax players to free himself from the novelty approach (black tenorists, led by Coleman Hawkins and Prince Robinson, also had to escape the pull of the once-omnipresent "slap-tonguing" technique). During the 1930s, Freeman recorded extensively with such bands as Paul Whiteman, Tommy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman. He established his own band in the late 1930s, performing in a style that combined Swing with traditional Chicago style. From 1943-45, Freeman was in a service band, and upon becoming a civilian in the summer of 1945 formed his own band.

As one of the titans of early jazz, Freeman was frequently recorded during the 1940s and 1950s. He had a long residency in Chicago at his own Gaffer’s Club in 1949. In the late 1970s he was living in London, but returned to Chicago when invited to appear in the Chicago Jazz Festival in 1980. He retired from performing in 1989, and died in Chicago on March 15, 1991.

Freeman sources: John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street (Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1972): 125; R. Bruce Dodd and Jerry Crimmins, "Lawrence ‘Bud’ Freeman, Chicago-Style Jazz Legend," Chicago Tribune, 17 March 1991.

SD9. Dohler Four

The copies of S D 505 that we have seen were pressed by Bishop in South Pasadena, California.

The Down Beat scribe, "Mix," who reviewed the number with its flip, "The Man I Love," gave the number two notes out of 4, and faulted poor mike placement that kept Lannigan’s bass from coming through. Similar to his comments on Gardner, he appreciated Soper’s enthusiasm, but thought he needed more "technical surety." Lucas, in contrast, was more taken with Gardner and Soper than "Mix," gushing, "these records are priceless if only because of the electrifying work of Soper and Gardner."

The entire package of 3 S D releases was reviewed in George Avakian's column in the May 1947 issue of The Jazz Record. Alluding to the long pause since the last S D release, Avakian referred to the 78 as the company's "first post-war release in the form of three records featuring the tenor sax of Bud Freeman and the alto ditto of Bill Dohler... with a three-piece rhythm section" (p. 7). Avakian's assessment of the music was that the 78s "have a distinct jam-session flavor, and should appeal most to those who get a great kick out of these affairs. They are two-fisted improvisations, emotional rather than calculated, on familiar standards" (p. 8). Avakian thought that "Ribald Rhythm" wasn't quite up to the same level as the others, because the (unnamed) standard on which it was based "never was much of a jazz vehicle" (p. 8).

Bill Dohler had been performing since the late 1920s, when he got together with his former classmates from Lake View High on the far north side of Chicago--Lake View High Gang doesn’t have the same ring as Austin High Gang. He bounced from band to band, playing for example in the 1930s Earl Hoffman band in Louisville.

Avakian commented that "Dohler, who is new to me, and probably a stranger to most readers, too, plays quite like Bud, and on the sides in which they improvise duets it's hard to tell which instrument is which" (pp. 7-8).

S D 505 remained in Steiner's catalog until at least 1952. But the entire session, Dohler's solo feature included, was reissued on a 10-inch LP in 1953. Paramount CJS105 was called Panorama under the artist name Bud Freeman and the Chicagoans. The LP contained a second version of "Blue Lou" (which appeared on the A side of the LP, without the notation "[Dohler, alto]"); we don't know exactly where in these sessions it came from. The same goes for a track that appeared on the B side of the LP as "Blop Bloose."

Sources Used: George Hoefer Jr., "The Hot Box," Down Beat, 26 February 1947, p. 12; Mix, "Diggin’ the Discs," Down Beat, 26 March 1947; John Lucas, "Jazz on Record," The Record Changer 6/2 (April 1947): 10; George Avakian, "Records--Old and New," The Jazz Record (May 1947), pp. 7-8; Booklet included in Paramount CJS101, released in 1952, courtesy of Konrad Nowakowski.

The Christmas singles

In addition to the 5000/500 series, S D put out a special 78 Christmas 1946, drawn from a Duke Ellington concert that Steiner had recorded at the Civic Opera House in Chicago. This was, in fact, the first S D release since the fall of 1944; releases in the 500 series would not begin until the spring of 1947.

A second limited edition single release for Christmas 1947, which paired Red Nichols and Cassino Simpson, was far from the last release from S D, because many were substantially delayed. But one side of it was actually recorded in 1947, albeit off the air.

A third single appeared in 1949 (probably for Christmas, but we'd like to verify that). Both sides were taken from the same 1947 broadcast. The last Christmas single is the only S D release to include a "modern" jazz group (in this case, an all-star lineup with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Lenny Tristano).

The UP prefix to the matrix numbers stood for the Uptown Playhouse Theater, where Steiner ran a recording studio until the theater was destroyed by fire. We assume that the Christmas 1946 release was actually mastered in the Uptown Playhouse studio, not long after the concert. But when it came to the Christmas 1947 release and the 1949 release, the UP prefix was (alas) purely commemorative.

SD10. Duke Ellington Orch.

Steiner recorded Duke Ellington concerts at the Civic Opera House on two different dates, using overhead microphones. He also recorded part of the evening concert on January 20 (not listed here; some tracks from it were also released on LP on D. E. T. S. 33). The second date, on November 10, 1946, featuring special guest Django Reinhardt, is now included in the same MHS 2 CD set, titled Duke Ellington: The Great Chicago Concerts; Mercer Ellington is listed as the producer, and the CDs were issued in 1994. For some reason the January concert is on the 2nd CD.

The listing in Lord was published before the MHS CDs were released. But is also fails to mention the S D 78, which was nearly 47 years old by then. "Frankie and Johnny" (to use the standard spelling) runs to 6:30, with the result that it takes up both sides of the S D. It features a long piano solo by the Duke, which is probably what recommended it to Steiner.

SD11. Red Nichols Band

Lord notes that the S D Merry Christmas 1947 item was a special gift record, issued as a limited edition (he doesn't list its predecessor from 1946). The DP is really a monogram of a D with a P stuck in it. The flip side to Merry Christmas 1947 was a Cassino Simpson recording that Steiner and Davis made back in 1942 (see sesion SD1, above). Broadway Intermission BR130 was an LP called At the Jazz Band Ball.

The Christmas 1947 release was the first S D to include an off-the-air recording. The airshot was most likely made by Steiner himself (he had been doing them for years, but lost most of his previous years' work in the Uptown Playhouse Theater fire.)

In early 1948, Steiner would switch his priority to reissuing material from the Paramount label. S D releases in 5000/500 series would drag on into 1950, but only in delayed fulfillment of previous plans. In 1949, Steiner threw in one last special release (presumably also for Christmas, though we need to verify that); it consisted of two more off-the-air recordings. As the only S D release to feature a bop performance, it is somewhat of a curiosity.

SD12. Dizzy Gillespie's Band / Wild Bill Davison's Band*

John Steiner recorded this show off the air and decided to put both performances of "Tiger Rag" on a special-issue 78. The matrix numbering (provided by Mike Stewart of Green River Records; the A matrix is on the B side, and vice versa) suggests a continuation of the Christmas issues. The labels, however, are the same ones that Steiner was using in his 5000/500 series.

Discographies such as Bruyninckx' and Lord's list this session under the title "This Is Jazz," which was used on many of the MBS broadcasts (although apparently not on September 20). The Dixieland group was normally billed as the All Star Stompers. On the battle-of-the-bands shows, with the outspoken traditionalist critic Rudi Blesh as its champion, it went as Rudi Blesh's All Star Stompers. The Bird-Diz-Tristano band was recruited by Barry Ulanov, a vehement proponent of bebop, and billed as Barry Ulanov's All Star Modern Jazz Musicians. As he often did, Steiner came up with his own names for each band.

The S D single was the first release for either track. "Tiger Rag" has appeared on many a Charlie Parker compilation since the early 1970s, when ESP-Disk' put it on an LP of Bird's airshots (the LP label misspelled it "Tiger Rage"). Starting with 1970s LPs on Spotlite and Zim, most of the Bird compilations have included the entire set by Barry Ulanov's All Star Modern Jazz Musicians, but for some reason only "Tiger Rag" from this date has appeared on All Star Stompers reissue packages.

When S D was launched, its first releases were actually reissues from the Paramount label. Steiner and Davis had negotiated with Otto Moeser of the Wisconsin Chair Company, which still owned the moribund Paramount operation, to license and put out sixteen releases. (We will have more to say about Paramount later, when we cover Steiner's purchase of why remined of the company.) The first two of these were S D 100 and 101, which probably came out in January 1944, were first advertised in the February 1944 issue of the Record Changer, and first reviewed in the April 1944 issue of The Jazz Record.

An ad for S D in the May 15, 1944 issue of Down Beat listed S D 100 through 104, as did the company's advertisement in November 1944 issue of The Jazz Record. So it appears that S D 102, 103, and 104 came out in April or May of 1944. And in the August 15, 1944 issue of Down Beat, 100 through 104 were also said to be available as wire recordings. It would be most interesting to know what kind of packaging was used for the wire recordings. The 100 series label on the 78s listed the company’s address, but misspelled the street name as "Bellvue."<

The promise to release 16 78s was somewhat exaggerated. We know of 11 that actually came out, ranging from S D 100 through 110. But one side of 103 had been recorded for Autograph/Rialto, and 105 and 106 were derived from the Edison label, so only 8 1/2 releases actually stemmed from the Paramount deal.

The label design of the 100 series was similar to that of the 5000/500 series, so in our discographical entries we've listed the label name as S D.

SDR1. King Oliver's Jazz Band

The original 78 rpm releases of these titles, all in 1924, were on Paramount 20292, Puritan 11292, and Claxtonola 40292. In 1950, S D 100 would be reissued in Steiner's Paramount revival series as Paramount 14014.

Apparently Steiner and Davis had no idea that Bob Thiele of Signature was planning to reissue this 78--or vice versa--so both reissues came out in early 1944, and ended up being reviewed together by S/Sgt. George Avakian. The takes used on both S D 100 and Signature 905 were the ones that appeared on Claxtonola 40292. As Avakian explained (in his "Records--Old and New" feature, The Jazz Record, April 1944, p. 3), "It's obvious that both outfits used identical Claxtonola originals from which to dub new plates. Oliver-Armstrong specialists will probably tear their hair out over this fact, since most of them have Claxtonola pressings [refers to Joe Bodine finding a bunch of them]..." As a consequence, neither Signature nor S D picked up the second take of "Mabel's Dream" (just one take of "Riverside Blues" was done at the session).

In his review, Avakian subscribed to then-prevalent theory that Oliver's Paramount session took place in March 1923 and therefore predated his first session for Gennett. The dating has long since been revised. Accordiing to David Sager in his notes to King Oliver Off the Record: The Complete 1923 Jazz Band Recordings (a 2006 release on CD), the session took place around December 24, 1923. Technical work on the reissue revealed that the sides from this session behaved like electrical recordings, although Marsh Laboratories' efforts, which had begun in 1922, were so early that they might be better described as primitivo-electric.

SDR2. Jelly Roll Morton, Piano Solo

This 78 was originally released on Paramount 12216 and Puritan 12216. "Mamamita" is a misspelling of "Mamanita" (in turn, a contracted form of "Mama Anita"), named after an old girlfriend of The Roll's.

SDR3. Johnny Dodds, Clarinet | Tiny Parham, Piano /Cassino Simpson, Piano | Laura Rucker, Vocal*

The Dodds/Parham side was originally issued on Paramount 12471. In 1950, Steiner reissued "Oh Daddy" as the B side of his last Paramount revival 78, Paramount 14032. (The A side was "Frog-I-More Rag" by Jelly Roll Morton, reissued from S D 103.) Two more duets by Dodds and Parham were cut the next month and released on Paramount 12483, but not used by S D.

The Simpson/Rucker first appeared on Paramount 13075, in the waning days of the label.

SDR4. Jelly Roll Morton / Cassino Simpson, Piano |Laura Rucker, Vocal*

Side A: Marsh Laboratories, Chicago, early 1924
Side B: Grafton, Wisconsin, 1931

"Frog-I-more Rag" is a solo piano performance by Morton. Around 1940, Steiner had found an unlabeled test pressing in a Chicago junk shop. Through consulting with Jelly Roll Morton experts (who were cited right on the label of S D 103!), he determined that it was a Morton performance from the 1920s. (See our Session page for details). It was, in fact, an unreleased recording that The Roll made for the tiny Autograph or Rialto label (the original matrix, not included on the test pressing, turns out to be number 534). "Frog-I-More" was recorded with the Marsh Laboratories primitivo-electric process (see the entry for S D 100 above).

Steiner and Davis paired the Morton and Johnny Dodds sides with two Laura Rucker Paramount sides from 1931. The source of their interest was Cassino Simpson’s piano accompaniment (although an accomplished pianist herself, Rucker concentrated on her singing for the session).

The impending release of S D 103 was announced by George Hoefer, Jr., in his Down Beat column "The Hot Box" (April 1, 1944). In 1950, Steiner reissued "Frog-I-More Rag" on the A side of Paramount 14032, his last Paramount revival 78.

SDR5. Cow Cow Davenport, Piano | B. T. Wingfield, Cornet / Cow Cow Davenport, Piano | L. Pickett, Violin

Our information on S D 104 comes from a copy in Konrad Nowakowski's collection. The original issue was on Paramount 12452.

Our session information is drawn from Dixon, Godrich, and Rye. The two sides of S D 104 were part of a 4-tune session; Davenport didn't sing on either of the sides selected by Steiner. It was his first and only session for Paramount (preceded only by two tunes from May 1925 that were never released by Gennett). Davenport went on to record for Brunswick/Vocalion and Gennett (1928-1930) and Decca (1938).

Because John Steiner was dissatisfied with the quality and availability of pressings during wartime, and he was successively preoccupied with buying out Hugh Davis and operating his recording/rehearsal/performance complex at the Uptown Playhouse Theater, there was a long pause before the S D 100 series resumed. From the numbering, we may surmise that it was supposed to pick up with S D 105 and 106, which were mastered by Hugh Davis, but for one reason or another these were put aside; S D 107 and 108 beat them to market, and S D 109 and 110, which we know less about, may have done so as well.

SDR6. Red & Miff's Stompers

We got our information on this release from a copy in Tom Kelly's collection. Our impression is that S D 105 and 106 were planned years before the fact, because the labels still give 104 S. Bellvue [sic] as the address and include Hugh Davis's name. Though a test pressing was available by December 1947, when it was first cited in print as a "future" release, S D 105 was not mentioned in one of Steiner's advertisements until the November 1949 issue of the Record Changer. And it received its first review in February 1950. So, as one might expect, S D 105 is also listed in the 1950 catalog for Steiner's Paramount label.

According to Tom Lord's Jazz Discography, these two sides were cut at Red Nichols' second session as a leader, not long after The Roll's Victor recording of "Black Bottom Stomp" was released. (Since Edison had been long out of business, they must have been very hard to find in the mid-1940s).

The original issue was Edison 51878, which was recorded, mastered and pressed using the "hill and dale" or "vertical groove" technique. Steiner didn't put "Edison" next to the number--does that mean that the reissue was unauthorized? We know for sure that these sides were not covered by his deal with the Wisconsin Chair Company.

According to a brief item by Woody Backensto ("Small Change," Record Research 102, November 1969, p. 6), Edison recorded three takes (A, B, and C) of each tune. Both A and B takes of "Hurricane" are known to have been used for different pressings of Edison 51878, but Steiner recollected that Hugh Davis used a 78 in his own collection (with the A take) when he mastered the side for S D. Both the B and the C take of "Black Bottom Stomp" were issued on Edison 51878, but Davis used his copy of the 78 with the B take. A later reissue of the sides on Riverside LP 1048 would use the B take of "Hurricane" and the C take of "Black Bottom Stomp."

Lord's discography leaves out the first LP release of the sides. Paramount CJS 201, Red Nichols and the New York Originators: New York Style, came out in 1952. See below for more about the 10-inch LPs that appeared on John Steiner's revived Paramount label.

SDR7. Red & Miff's Stompers

Our information closest to the source for this one is Steiner's 1950 Paramount catalog. Like its predecessor, S D 105, 106 was planned in 1944--definitely before Hugh Davis sold Steiner his share of the company in February 1945. It was referred to in print as a future release in December 1947. The labels show the 104 E. Bellevue address. But the first advertisement to mention S D 106 ran in the Record Changer for November 1949.

S D 106 is a reissue of two sides from Red Nichols' first session for Edison--and his very first as a leader. The two sides were first released on Edison 51854, another "hill and dale" or "vertical groove" 78. The same two titles were remade by Red and Miff's Stompers (now a quintet) for Brunswick on January 12, 1927, and for Vocalion (never released) on May 18, 1927.

Each side was recorded in A, B, and C takes, all of which were issued at one time or another on Edison 51854. Again we are indebted to the brief item by Woody Backensto ("Small Change," Record Research 102, November 1969, p. 6) for the details. Mastering from 78s in his collection, Hugh Davis used the C take of "Alabama Stomp" and the A take of "Stampede." The C take of "Alabama Stomp" later appeared on Riverside LP 1048 and Vertical Jazz 5829-8, but the Riverside and Vertical Jazz LP reissues of "Stampede" went with the C take instead of the A take.

Tom Lord's Jazz Discography gives session information but mentions neither S D, even though they were the earliest reissues of the Edisons, predating the Riverside LP by several years. Lord also leaves out the first LP release of the sides. Paramount CJS 201, Red Nichols and the New York Originators: New York Style, came out in 1952.

All derived from Paramount sides, S D 107 through 110 were probably released in 1948.

SDR8. Charlie Spand | Will Ezell | Alex Hill / Charlie Spand, Will Ezell, Alex Hill, Papa Charlie and others

There are two known label varieties for S D 107. The earlier one (attested in Konrad Nowakowski's collection) uses a sans-serif type face, identifies only Spand, Ezell, and Hill on the label, and shows the (by now way obsolete) 104 East Bellvue address. However, John Steiner and Hugh Davis's names in script are replaced with "Fine Jazz Documents." The first pressing appears to date from 1948. It carries a D with a P stuck in it in the trail-off wax, a monogram that can also be found on some Session 78s.

The later variety (there is a copy in Tom Kelly's collection) mentions Papa Charlie on the label, gives no original master number on Side B, uses a font with serifs, and lists no address for the company. It probably came out in 1949 (the year that S D 107 got reviewed in print). On both versions, the labels to the S D reissue get the original Paramount matrix numbers wrong.

The initial release of this unusual single, on Paramount 12886, took place in 1930. The two-sided 78 was a specially recorded sampler featuring a medley of brief contributions by 6 of the company's top-selling blues artists. "Hometown Skiffle" is a blanket title. In Dixon, Godrich, and Rye, the session is ascribed to the Paramount All Stars, which was the term used in Paramount's catalogue, although neither the Paramount 78 nor the S D reissue would call them that. The Paramount label actually read: "Descriptive Novelty: Featuring Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Will Ezell, Charlie Spand, The Hokum Boys, Papa Charlie Jackson."

Here, according to Dixon, Godrich, and Rye, are the actual titles for each side. Part I consisted of

The opening of Part II is supposed to be the work of Blind Lemon Jefferson. If so, it was his last appearance in the studio, just weeks before he died of a heart attack. Some subscribe to the theory (rejected by Dixon, Godrich, and Rye) that Blind Blake is impersonating Blind Lemon on this record, along with making his own contribution. In any event, Paramount was trying to create the impression that Jefferson was still alive when the record came out. John Steiner left Blind Lemon's name off the S D label, so maybe he agreed with the impersonation hypothesis. Or maybe he just preferred to highlight the pianistic contributions--he didn't mention Blind Blake on either variant of S D 107, and put Papa Charlie Jackson's name on just the second version.

SDR9. Dobby Bragg

Dobby Bragg was a pseudonym that the prolific Sykes used when cutting for Paramount. Our information on the S D comes from the 1950 Paramount catalog, which includes some S D issues that remained in stock, and from a copy of the 78 in Dan Kochakian's collection (which lacks a label on the A side). The B side label on Kochakian's copy shows the 104 E. Bellvue address and closely resembles the earlier label used on S D 107 (with "Fine Jazz Documents" in place of Steiner and Davis's names in script). The first reference to S D 108 as a "future" release took place in December 1947. We estimate that S D 108 was released in 1948.

Our session information comes from Dixon, Godrich, and Rye (4th edn.). The original release was on Paramount 12827. Paramount was using the Gennett studios, located at Starr Piano Company in Richmond, Indiana, on a frequent basis in 1929. The second and last "Dobby Bragg" session, in Grafton, Wisc., around August 1930, produced sides that S D didn't reissue.

SDR10. Jelly Roll Morton's Steamboat Four / Jelly Roll Morton's Stomp Kings^

The personnel for this date was supplied many years ago by Boyd Senter, but there is no piano on "Steady Roll." Diehards maintain that The Roll was responsible for the second kazoo.

The original release was on Paramount 20332. S D follows Paramount in crediting "Mr. Jelly Lord" to Jelly Roll Morton's Steamboat Four and "Steady Roll" to Jelly Roll Morton's Stomp Kings. There were several releases on Paramount's satellite labels; the S D was the first reissue of either side. The labels on S D 109 (extra pale blue and white, with the anachronistic address on East Bellevue) are similar to those of 107 and 108, and indicate that it was released in 1948. S D 109 was cited in print as a "future" release in December 1947.

After Steiner got out of the LP business in 1955, he leased the Paramounts to Riverside, and there have been many subsequent reissues with varying degrees of legitimacy.

There are surviving alternate takes of each piece: 8065 (no take number) and 8066-2. 8066-2 was used on some pressings of Paramount 20332, and 8065 was also released in the 1920s. Though neither was used on S D, both have appeared on some later reissues.

SDR11. Jabo Williams / Skip James*

Our information about S D 110 is drawn from a 1950 catalog put out by Steiner's Paramount label, and on Dixon, Godrich, and Rye (4th edn). As with S D 107 through 109, the release date may have been in 1948, but further data are needed.

The Williams side first appeared on Paramount 13130, and the James side was originally released on Paramount 13085.

Skip James' legendary session for Paramount was a marathon: probably 21 titles were cut; 18 were released and consequently survive. The last six were done at the piano (with loud foot tapping, as Dixon, Godrich, and Rye take the trouble to note).

S D 110 supposedly made the James side "the first country blues to be reissued for the white collector's market." This assessment ought to be tempered, since the number features Skip James' piano rather than his guitar; during this period, Steiner focused on blues pianists. In 1949-1950 his revived Paramount operation would reissue sides by guitar-playing bluesmen, including Blind Lemon Jefferson.

Two other sides from Jabo Williams' only recording session were released on American Music in 1949 or 1950, and are mentioned in the 1950 Paramount catalog. This is one of several indications that Steiner was licensing the rights to reissue some Paramount material.

A set of transcriptions done by Red Nichols and His Five Pennies (at McGregor studios in Los Angeles, on four occasions from January 1945 to May 1946) have sometimes been misattributed to this S D 100 series. For instance, Tom Lord's Jazz Discography says they were released as Steiner-Davis 122 (on what purports to be an album of 5 78s!). In fact, these 10 tracks were released (at a much later date) on Stardust 122, an LP produced by an outfit that had no connection with John Steiner.

On December 9 and 10, 1947, Steiner recorded Doc Evans' Dixieland combo. By this time, he had quit making new recordings for release on S D. But the matrix numbers are in his usual system of recording date plus suffix.

The session was mentioned in a Down Beat article on Doc Evans (December 31, 1947, p. 6) but there were many errors in that account, which claimed that Evans cut 16 sides, that Squirrel Ashcraft supervised the sessions, and that Hugh Davis engineered them.

In a letter to the editor (published in the issue of January 28, 1948, p. 10), Steiner noted that that 8 sides had been cut, not 16, and that Ashcraft helped to finance the dates and assisted, but did not supervise the sessions. He reminded Down Beat readers that Hugh Davis was no longer his partner; "for three years he has had no association with the company." He also denied engineering the date himself, in terms that didn't invite being taken seriously: "Steiner hasn't entrusted controls to his alcohol-palsied fingers in years."

The material was released on a boutique label operated by Dublin's, a Chicago record store. Dublin's D1 through D4, four 78 rpm releases pressed on vinyl and (apparently) released simultaneously at some point in 1948, were the label's entire output.

Dub1. Doc Evans

Our immediate source is Tom Lord's Jazz Discography, Vol. 6 (Redwood, NY: Cadence Jazz Books, 1993). Personnel are as listed on the labels, except (as Lord points out) for the drummer's last name, which was misspelled "Tolck."

Other tracks were obviously made at the December 9 session, though they could have been rejected. We do not know whether any material that did not appear on the Dublin's 78s or the Paramount 10-inch LP is still extant.

Dub2. Doc Evans

Our immediate source is again Lord's Jazz Discography, Volume 6. We do not know whether further takes from this session are still extant. A 1952 catalog, included as a booklet in the first Paramount LP, CJS 101, indicates that all four Dublin's 78s were still in stock and for sale from Steiner's Paramouht operation. Later the material from these sessions would be reissued on its own 10-inch LP, Paramount CJS 106; see the Paramount LP listing below.

Shortly before the Dublin's project, Steiner began working toward a more ambitious goal: purchasing the Paramount label outright from the Wisconsin Chair Company. At least that's what was happening behind the scenes. The initial publicity made it appear that Paramount releases would be coming from the original company. Only later would it emerge that Steiner now owned what was left of the label and was putting out the reissues himself.

Paramount had halted new recording in its Grafton, Wisconsin studio during the summer of 1932, and had quit pressing and shipping by the end of 1933. A few metal parts were leased to other companies. Around 1935, most masters and mothers and stampers, along with unsold 78s, were moved into a disused Wisconsin Chair company building for storage--some were disposed of immediately because they were damaged, others were taken home over time by employees, records were Frisbeed off the top of the building by boys from the area, a few metal parts were used to cover holes in walls, and most of what remained--be it metal or shellac--was sold for scrap at the height of the wartime shortages, in the summer of 1942. Virtually the only mothers to be preserved were around 100 that were leased to Jack Kapp's Champion label in the 1933-1935 period and stored at the old Gennett facility in Richmond, Indiana. (Others appear to have been dealt to the American Record Company during this period; it remains unknown whether they are still extant.)

So it was an odd sort of purchase. What Steiner got for his outlay was the trademark and master rights, plus the Chicago Music Publishing Co (he had modest success in renewing copyrights). He obtained virtually no tangible assets—no record stock except some unsold and not very well preserved Black Swan 78s, hardly any masters or plates (Steiner would eventually retrieve 51 that Paramount had leased to Champion), certainly no real estate. He managed to get some bookkeeping files, and was offered the recording apparatus, which he found so crude and antiquated that he kept a few styli for test purposes and got a Milwaukee junk dealer take the rest away. For his reissues of historic recordings that had originally appeared in the 1920s and 1930s, Steiner usually had to dub from issued 78s on Paramount or an affiliated label, or from test pressings that had fallen into the hands of collectors.

The March 1948 issue of the Jazz Finder announced the deal. Under the title "Paramount Back," the item (on p. 5) made it appear that the label's original parent company, the New York Recording Laboratories, would be responsible for the reissues. (Steiner had no trouble opening a post office box under that name in Port Washington, Wisconsin.) Collectors must have guffawed--or groaned--at the next sentence: "New records will be pressed as far as possible from the original masters, the company announced." But the item veered back into approximate realism with: "Well-known collectors who are assisting in the selection of items to be reissued include John Steiner, George Hoefer, Jr., Paul Eduard Miller, Hugh Davis, and Don Haymes." In fact, Steiner and his fellow collectors were, for the most part, providing the 78s to be reissued. Supposedly 34 sides would be reissued "annually," and buyers would be encouraged to purchase a $10 subscription that would entitle them to 12 78s from each year's reissue output. Nothing came of this particular plan. Indeed, a few of the artists mentioned in the initial advertisement (e.g., Piano Kid Edwards, Skip James, Jabo Williams, and Frank Teschemacher) would not end up being reissued on Paramount at all.

A different, scaled-back version was related in George Hoefer's "Hot Box" column in Down Beat (May 4, 1948, p. 11). Under the heading "Steiner reissues", Hoefer declared that "The first eight sides to be reissued by the New York recording laboratories of Port Washington, Wisconsin, through the efforts of John Steiner are hereby announced: ... These all will be on the original Paramount label." Again later in the year, Steiner notified George Hoefer of an impending release of Paramount reissue singles. But it was not until early 1949 that he got the 14000 series launched.

The initial package actually consisted of 13 single reissues of vintage 1920s blues and jazz performances. If the copy of Paramount 14001 in Tom Kelly's collection is indicative, the 78s were pressed by Bishop. Of the 26 sides in the package, 13 were taken from Paramount proper—the remainder from subsidiary imprints (Puritan), from labels that Paramount had purchased (Black Swan, QRS), or from previously unissued material. Among of the artists represented in the project were Johnny Dodds, Tommy Ladnier, Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, Clarence Williams, and Ma Rainey.

Two of the sides in this group originated from a Squirrel Ashcraft session of more recent vintage. Some sources say it was recorded in Chicago in 1941 for the World imprint. Another two came from Leadbelly's first commercial session, done for the American Recording Company in 1935.

Steiner took the unusual step of sending all 13 releases to reviewers all at once--but asking them to space out their reviews so only one would appear each month.

In 1950, he followed up with 19 more Paramount 78s; again, most of the sides came from the old Paramount or its subsidiaries. Four of the sides had already appeared in the S D 100 series.

Steiner ended his 78 series with Paramount 14032. Two more Leadbelly sides came from his first commercial session for ARC. A handful of others had been recorded for Gennett or Autograph; two were derived from piano rolls. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Frank Melrose release was made to look as though it originated with Paramount, when in fact the sides used had been recorded for Signature and not released on that label. In 1949 and 1950, Steiner licensed additional old Paramount sides to the American Music label, which put them out on 8 singles. AM 1 through 8 can be seen in Steiner's 1950 catalog, alongside Paramount releases--and S D's, some quite recently released, that remained in stock. Most of these AM's and the S D's were still in Steiner's catalog in 1952. Steiner also distributed American Music's new recordings of traditional jazz from the 1940s.

Sources: On what happened to Paramount's metal parts, the authoritative source is "Paramount's Legacy: What Happened to the NYRL's Recorded Inventory," by Alex van der Tuuk (http://www.mainspringpress.com/nyrl.html). The article also covers Steiner's revival of Paramount, though we take issue with some of the information provided there (e.g., the sequencing of Steiner's Paramount 78 releases, and the release dates for his subsequent series of 10" LPs).

New Paramount release	Artist	Title	Original release
14001A	Johnny Dodds with Richard M. Jones Jazz Wizards	Hot and Ready	Paramount 12705
14001B	Johnny Dodds with Richard M. Jones Jazz Wizards	It's a Low Down Thing	Paramount 12705
14002	Tommy Ladnier (with Edmonia Henderson)	Jelly Roll blues	Paramount 12239
	Tommy Ladnier (with Edmonia Henderson)	Lazy Daddy	Paramount 12239
14003	Fletcher Henderson	Prince of Wails	Paramount 20367
	Sammy Stewart Orchestra	Copenhagen	Puritan 11359
14004	Joe Smith Orchestra	Heart Breakin’ Blues	previously unissued
	"Mysterious Ragsmith"	African Rag	previously unissued
14005	Fletcher Henderson	Chimes Blues	Paramount 12143
	Fletcher Henderson	I Want To	Paramount 12143
14006	Leadbelly	All Down and Out	Banner 33359
	Leadbelly	Packin’ Trunk	Banner 33359
14007	Jelly Roll Morton	Big Fat Ham	Paramount 12050
	Jelly Roll Morton	Muddy Water	Paramount 12050
14008	Clarence Williams Orchestra	Squeeze Me	QRS 7005
	Clarence Williams Orchestra	New Down Home Rag	QRS 7005
14009	James P. Johnson	The Harlem Strut	Paramount 12144
	Fletcher Henderson	Unknown Blues	Black Swan 2026
14010	Meade Lux Lewis & George Hannah	Freakish Blues	Paramount 13024
	Meade Lux Lewis & George Hannah	Boy in the Boat	Paramount 13024
14011	Ma Rainey	Deep Moaning Blues	Paramount 12706
	Ma Rainey	Traveling Blues	Paramount 12706
14012	Fletcher Henderson	Swamp Blues	Paramount 12486
	Fletcher Henderson	Off to Buffalo	Paramount 12486

	Tea for Two	Paramount CJS109, Chicago Piano 12-001
	It Don't Mean a Thing	Paramount CJS109, Chicago Piano 12-001
	Blues Variations	Paramount CJS109, Chicago Piano 12-001
	Moonglow	Paramount CJS109, Chicago Piano 12-001
	Song of the Wanderer	Paramount CJS109, Chicago Piano 12-001
	Little Joe	Paramount CJS109, Chicago Piano 12-001
	Lost in a Fog	Paramount CJS109, Chicago Piano 12-001
	Variations	Paramount CJS109, Chicago Piano 12-001
UP 102 DP	After You're Gone [sic]	S D Merry Christmas 1947*

13144-1	Oronics [No. 1] (Soper)	S D 5000 A
13144-2	Butter & Egg Man (#1) -1, 2	unissued
13144-3	Butter & Egg Man (#2) -1, 2	--
13144-4	That's a Plenty	Baby Dodds 2
13144-5	Oronics No. 2 (Soper)	unissued
13144-6 A	It's a Ramble (Soper)	S D 5001 A
13144-7	Right Kind of Love -1	unissued
13144-8; DP 57	Thou Swell (Rodgers-Hart)	S D 5001 B
13144-9	Keeping Myself for You	unissued
13144-10 DP 7	Stardust Stomp (Carmichael)	S D 5000 B
13144-11	Oronics No. 3 (Soper)	unissued
13144-12	Tea For Two (drum novelty)	Baby Dodds 2, Dan [Jap] VC-4013, VC-7015

4544-00 + OB	Rehearsal [Red’s Stuff (Norvo-Smith)]	S D 5002 A (edited)
4544-1	Red’s Stuff (Norvo-Smith)	unissued
4544-2	Red’s Stuff (Norvo-Smith)	unissued
4544-4a	Red’s Stuff (Norvo-Smith) [false start]	unissued
4544-4b	Red’s Stuff (Norvo-Smith)	S D 5002 A (edited)
4544-5B	Red’s Stuff (Norvo-Smith)	S D 5002 B
4544-6	Confessin’ (Neiburg-Dougherty-Reynolds)	unissued
4544-7B	Confessin’ (Neiburg-Dougherty-Reynolds)	S D 5003 A
4544-8	Confessin’ (Neiburg-Dougherty-Reynolds)	unissued
4544-9	Confessin’ (Neiburg-Dougherty-Reynolds)	unissued
4544-10	A Fawn Jumped at Dawn (Palmieri)	unissued
4544-11B	A Fawn (Palmieri)	S D 5003 B
4544-12	Blue Hugh’s Hue	unissued

SD63044-9B	Bye Bye Pretty Baby (Gardner)		S D 508 B
	Rolling around in Roses		unissued

63044-1	Cheerful Little Earful	test pressing
63044-1B	Cheerful Little Earfull [sic]	test pressing
63044-3B	Cheerful Little Earful	S D 507 A
63044-4B	I’ve Got a Woman [She’s Funny That Way]	S D 507 B, VJC VJC1009 (CD)
63044-5B	Smoke Gets in Your Eyes	test pressing

	Confessin’	unissued
	Exactly like You	--
	I Talk about the Weather	--

SD93046-1	Taking a Chance on Love	Paramount CJS105
SD93046-3-1	Taking a Chance on Love	S D 504 A
SD93046-1	You Took Advantage of Me	Paramount CJS105
SD93046-5-1	You Took Advantage of Me	S D 504 B
SD 93046-18-1	Ribald Rhythm	S D 506 A, Paramount CJS105, I Giganti del Jazz [It] GJ34, Europa Jazz EJ 1027

SD-93046-11-1	The Man I Love -1	S D 505 A
SD93046-1	The Man I Love [alt tk] -1	Paramount CJS105
SD 93046-18-1	Ontario Barrel House*	S D 506 B, Paramount CJS105, I Giganti del Jazz [It] GJ34, Europa Jazz [It] EJ 1027

	The Star Spangled Banner	Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	In a Mellotone	D. E. T. S. 33, Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Solid Old Man	D. E. T. S. 33, Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Come Sunday / Work Song	D. E. T. S. 33, Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Rugged Romeo	D. E. T. S. 33, Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Sono	D. E. T. S. 33
	The Air-Conditioned Jungle	D. E. T. S. 33
	Circe	D. E. T. S. 33, Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Dancers in Love	D. E. T. S. 33, Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Coloratura	D. E. T. S. 33, Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
UP 5? / UP 50_	Frankie & Johnnie	S D Merry Christmas 1946, Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Caravan	Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Take the "A" Train	Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Mello Ditty	D. E. T. S. 33, Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Fugue	D. E. T. S. 33, Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Jam-a-Ditty	D. E. T. S. 33, Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Magenta Haze	D. E. T. S. 33, Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	Diminuendo in Blue	unissued
	Transblucency [KD voc]	unissued
	Pitter Patter Panther	Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	The Suburbanite	Musical Heritage Society 523584W [CD]
	My Little Brown Book [AH voc]	unissued
	Every Hour on the Hour [AH voc]	unissued
	I Ain't Got Nothing but the Blues	unissued
	Fat and Forty [AH voc]	unissued
	Blue Skies	unissued

SD100A; originally 1622-1	Mabel’s Dream (Smith)		S D 100 A, Signature 905, Paramount 14014
SD100B; originally 1624-1	Riverside Blues		S D 100 B, Signature 905, Paramount 14014

SD101A; originally 8071	Mamamita (Morton)		S D 101 A
SD101B; originally 8072	35th Street Blues (Morton)		S D 101 B

CRC9127A, SD102A A; originally 4332-3	Oh Daddy		S D 102 A, Paramount 14032
CRC 9128 A, SD102B A; originally L-818-2	St. Louis Blues* (Handy)		S D 102 B

CRC 9148, SD 103A A; originally 534	Frog-I-More Rag (Morton)		S D 103 A, Paramount 14032
CRC 9129, SD 103B A; originally L-817-1	Little Joe*		S D 103 B

CRC 9130 A, SD104A A; originally 4088-2	New Cow Cow Blues (Davenport) -1		S D 104 A
CRC 9131 A, SD 104B A; originally 4095	Stealin' Blues (Davenport) -2		S D 104 B

SD 105A; originally 11291-A	Hurricane (Mertz)		S D 105 A, Paramount CJS 201
SD 105B; originally 11292-B	Black Bottom Stomp (Morton)		S D 105 B, Paramount CJS 201

UP-49-b	Tiger Rag		S D 49 A
UP-49-a	Tiger Rag*		S D 49 B

107 A; originally 21543-2	Hometown Skiffle I		SD 107 A
107 B; originally 21544-3	Hometown Skiffle II		SD 107 B

originally 15563	Single Tree Blues -1		S D 108 A
SD108 B; originally 15557	Fire Detective Blues		S D 108 B

SD 106 A DP1; originally 11245-C	Alabama Stomp		S D 106 A, Paramount CJS201, Riverside 1048, Vertical Jazz 5829-8
S D 106 B DP1; originally 11246-A	Stampede		S D 106 B, Paramount CJS201

S D 109 A DP1; originally 8065-2	Mr. Jelly Lord (Morton) -1		S D 109 A
S D 109 B DP1; originally 8066-1	Steady Roll -2^		S D 109 B

originally L-1408-1	Fat Mama Blues		S D 110
originally L-763-1	Little Cow And Calf Is Gonna Die Blues (James)*		S D 110

SD12947-3	Lulu's Back in Town	Dublin's D1, Paramount CJS 106
SD12947-8	Doc's Ology	Dublin's D4, Paramount CJS 106
SD12947-11	Parker House Roll	Dublin's D3, Paramount CJS 106

SD121047-2	Walking My Baby Back Home	Dublin's D2, Paramount CJS 106
SD121047-5	One Sweet Letter	Dublin's D1
SD121047-6	One Sweet Letter	Paramount CJS 106
SD121047-8	S'posin'	Dublin's D2, Paramount CJS 106
SD121047-10	Can't Believe	Dublin's D4, Paramount CJS 106
SD121047-12	Hindustan	Dublin's D3, Paramount CJS 106

S D Records

© Robert Pruter, Robert L. Campbell, Konrad Nowakowski, and Tom Kelly

Revised September 19, 2007

One of John Steiner's most important discoveries. From the collection of Tom Kelly.

A Jazz Collector Is Born

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SD1. Cassino Simpson / Cass Simpson*

From the collection of John Holley

An S D advertisement from The Jazz Record, November 1944 issue, p. 18. Courtesy of Konrad Nowakowski.

5000 Series

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SD2. Tut Soper, piano | Baby Dodds, drums

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the AB Fable Archive Collection

From the AB Fable Archive Collection

SD3. K. Norville, Xylophone | Stuff Smith, Violin | Clyde Lombardi, Bass | Remo Palmieri, Guitar

From the AB Fable Archive collection

From the AB Fable Archive collection

From the AB Fable Archive collection

From the AB Fable Archive collection

500 Series

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SD4a. Jack Gardner

A test pressing of Jack Gardner's "Doll Rag," with the B side title incorrectly written on the label. From the collection of Volker Dorendorf.

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SD4b. Jack Gardner

A test pressing of Jack Gardner's "Bye Bye Pretty Baby," with a variant of the A side title incorrectly written on the label. From the collection of Volker Dorendorf.

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SD5. Red Nichols, tr. | Jack Gardner, p. | Vic Engle, dr.

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Warren Hicks

From the collection of Warren Hicks

After selling his share of S D to George Steiner, Hugh Davis opened his Technical Recording Service. From The Jazz Record, February 1946, p. 18; courtesy of Konrad Nowakowski.

SD6. Bert Patrick Quartet

From The Jazz Record, June 1946, p. 11. Courtesy of Konrad Nowakowski.

An advertisement for S D 504, 505, and 506, from The Jazz Record, May 1947, p. 12. Courtesy of Konrad Nowakowski.

From the collection of John Holley

SD7. Freeman Five

From the collection of John Holley

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SD8. Freeman Foursome / Freeman Four*

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SD9. Dohler Four

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Tom Kelly

The Christmas singles

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SD10. Duke Ellington Orch.

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SD11. Red Nichols Band

A bop performance on S D? Well, they are playing "Tiger Rag"...

SD12. Dizzy Gillespie's Band / Wild Bill Davison's Band*

S D 100 Series

The first advertisement for S D Records appeared in the Record Changer, February 1944 issue, p. 11. From the collection of Konrad Nowakowski.

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SDR1. King Oliver's Jazz Band

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SDR2. Jelly Roll Morton, Piano Solo

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SDR3. Johnny Dodds, Clarinet | Tiny Parham, Piano /Cassino Simpson, Piano | Laura Rucker, Vocal*

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SDR4. Jelly Roll Morton / Cassino Simpson, Piano |Laura Rucker, Vocal*

From the collection of Konrad Nowakowski

SDR5. Cow Cow Davenport, Piano | B. T. Wingfield, Cornet / Cow Cow Davenport, Piano | L. Pickett, Violin

From the collection of Konrad Nowakowski

From the collection of Tom Kelly

SDR6. Red & Miff's Stompers

From the collection of Tom Kelly

From the collection of Konrad Nowakowski

SDR7. Red & Miff's Stompers

From the collection of Konrad Nowakowski

The first pressing, from the collection of Konrad Nowakowski

The second pressing of S D 107, from the collection of Tom Kelly

SDR8. Charlie Spand | Will Ezell | Alex Hill / Charlie Spand, Will Ezell, Alex Hill, Papa Charlie and others

From the collection of Konrad Nowakowski