11. JAZZ 78 Napolean's Emperors Victor 38057 Mean To Me

$

34

Napolean’s Emperors – My Kinda Love b/w Mean to Me

Victor 38057. victor sleeve. Very clean copy. VG+. (black and gold scroll label)

by Hans Eekhoff
(from the liner notes of The Original Memphis Five, Napoleon's Emperors, The Cotton Pickers 1928 – 1929 on Timeless Records)

Napoleon's Emperors was an enlarged version of the Original Memphis Five. The two titles for Victor feature Joe Venuti aand Joe Tarto, respectively on violin and bass; adding them to the band made it sound twice as big as a result. Mean To Me was a big hit, made popular foremost by singer Ruth Etting, whose recording (coupled with Button Up Your Overcoat, another famous tune of the day) sold over a million copies. Here the band turns it into a fine 'hot dance' version with outstanding Jimmy Dorsey on both alto sax and clarinet backed by the unmistakable drumming of Stan King. My Kinda Love too is excellent, again without a vocal which leaves room for solos by the Dorseys, Venuti, Lang and Signorelli. Gettin' Hot, recorded nine days later, is just that. After an unsuspecting 20 bar intro by piano and violin the band starts off in a minor key with unbelievable drive. After that the theme, in a major key, begins with a very careful ensemble soon going on full strength, backed by King's driving drumming and Tarto's tuba. All bandmembers then take solos before the romping last chorus. As a complete contrast Anything is very modest and quiet with virtually straight solos by Napoleon and Jimmy Dorsey backed by a solemn rhythm section. Eddie Lang's solo is again proof of his extraordinary talents. You Can't Cheat A Cheater is played in a nice medium tempo and, like the previous two titles, composed on the day by the bandmembers. Solos are by Lang, Jimmy Dorsey, Napoleon and Tommy Dorsey. Although Phil Napoleon's brother Ted has always been mentioned as the drummer on this session, the snare-drum figures leading into the fast eight bars at the end are again typical of Stan King. 

ABOUT THE RECORDS:

I work at an Audio Archive in Indiana and once a year our librarian weeds through the collections and sort out the duplicates. We then hold a sale, which I attended recently. I usually collect 45s and LPs, with an emphasis on honky-tonk and rockabilly music, but our recent sale was dominated by 78s. I was blown away by what I found. No country, but some amazing music. In the first box I found dozens of early jazz, hot jazz (whatever you want to call it) 78s on Gennett, Victor, Puritan, Okeh, Paramount, Vocalion, Blue Note, Folkways, Asch, Bluebird, Columbia, Brunswick as well as numerous one-offs and smaller independent labels. I was stunned! In that first box were 78s by Charlie Johnson and his Paradise Band, King Oliver and his Orchestra, Connie’s Inn Orchestra, Clarence Williams’ Blue Five, Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers, Ma Rainey, New Orleans Rhythm Kings, the Louisiana Sugar Babes, Dixieland Jug Blowers, Napoleon’s Emperors, Ed Lang, Bessie Smith, etc. There were also numerous blues 78s by Blind Willie Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy and even “atomic” gospel recordings by the Golden Gate Quartet. Then of course there were the amazing recordings of the usual early jazz suspects: Duke Ellington and his Cotton Club Orchestra, Benny Goodman, Oran “Hot Lips” Page, Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Fats Waller, Hoagy Carmichael (our local hero), Fletcher Henderson, Johnny Dodds’ Black Bottom Stompers, Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra and also with his Hot Five. In later boxes I even found some Blue Note 78s, some Folkways recordings as well as some field recordings by John A. Lomax.

The sad news? I couldn’t buy it all. The great news? I bought a lot of it. The sadder news? I’m broke and have to sell it. A few amazing things about these records: 1.) Since their arrival in the archive (usually a donation from a well-known jazz collector), they have been stored in upright position, in sleeves, in a temperature-controlled environment (I believe in the 60 degrees range). 2.) Once in control of the archive, these records are never played more than once (to transfer the files digitally), using the most up-to-date audio equipment to meet preservation standards. 3.) Most of these records, because they were donated by serious collectors, have been kept in amazing condition and come in their original sleeves! (or at least a company matching the label that I believe was probably the original sleeve). My thanks to redhotjazz.info for much of the accompanying information.

GRADING:
My system uses the following:

P - filler copy only. unplayable.

G - will likely play through, but has lost its luster and has several scratches

VG - will play through, but may have some light scratches

VG+ - a very clean, record. may have a few light surface marks

VG++ or M- = super clean, looks unplayed

I do not own a proper needle to play these and thus, the 78s listed here are visually graded.

SHIPPING:

Records will be carefully packaged and bounded by cardboard and placed in a box of peanuts for safe shipping. Due to the fragility of 78s, insurance is required. After the auction closes I will inform you of the insurance price (whatever the USPS charges) based on your total purchase price. Please do not pay for your item until you have received an invoice from me. I do offer combined shipping for multiple purchases. For overseas bidders, please ask for shipping quotes before bidding. Payment by Paypal only…Domestic USPS Priority Mail is $7.00 (this saves me on buying boxes and extra packing materials, it also means your record arrives faster) for the first item. Note that shipping is not $4.00 as ebay has imposed in the shipping listing above (for the reasons just stated). Each additional item purchased is only $1 (plus the added insurance).

Please also see my other auctions as I am also selling many more Jazz 78s, as well as many 45s and LPs of the honky-tonk, hillbilly bop, rockabilly, bluegrass and country variety. Thank you for reading and happy bidding!!