The Pop of Yestercentury

Plenty of 78s in my meager collection look like they double as charcuterie boards. In most cases, better-sounding copies are a Google search away. But one recent purchase seemed rare and unique enough to share (even with a crack providing polyrhythmic thumps). I’ve posted this record elsewhere but wanted to share it here for others to listen.

This is a disc on the short-lived Yerkes Dance Records label. Mark Berresford describes this venture—and its “utter and complete failure”—in his liner notes to Rivermont’s disc of Yerkes’s Happy Six recordings.

In a nutshell, bandleader, percussionist, and impresario Harry Yerkes had enjoyed a long, productive recording career before deciding to wax his own path. He severed his ties to major labels, purchased the former Black Swan/Olympic pressing plant in Long Island City, and bought Cameo’s old studio at 102 West 38^th Street. Contrary to some sources, Yerkes did not draw from or record at Grey Gull.

Despite a cheaper price and backing by instrument manufacturer Buescher, the scarcity of surviving discs indicates that people weren’t buying what Yerkes had to sell. He just couldn’t compete with the companies he left behind. One internet commenter points out that Yerkes also sold his discs by mail at a time when listeners could try out records in stores.

Yerkes didn’t even have a chance to make much product. Allan Sutton’s Olympic discography lists just eight sides. Based on contemporary reports, Sutton estimates that Yerkes cut these records in November 1923 and released them the following January. They feature familiar band names from other labels: Yerkes’s Famous Flotilla Orchestra, Yerkes’s Happy Six, Yerkes’s Jazzarimba Band, and, on this record, Yerkes’s Musical Bellhops:

This is a hot small band that plays with plenty of improvisation and rhythmic drive as well as ear-catching touches when it comes to arrangement. “Dancin’ Dan” starts with breaks before the trombone and trumpet weave around the saxophone’s lead on the verse—a reversal of the trumpet’s traditional role. The trumpet leads the following chorus while the piano lays down both accompaniment and ornament. A more traditional trumpet/clarinet/trombone front line follows the “excited” vocal—except for the clarinet dipping into a low register obbligato under the trumpet.

Simple but effective changes in timbre, register, and balance are also all over the flip side (and, unfortunately, so is another crack). “Sittin’ in a Corner’ substitutes a sax for the clarinet in the opening verse. For the chorus, sax and trumpet split the tune in a dialog. Another “earnest” vocal reveals a faint violin otherwise lost in the mix. The next chorus is arranged for trumpet, clarinet, and trombone like so many bands of the time—except the clarinetist’s volume and the record’s acoustic make it seem more like a clarinet solo.

To my ears, this doesn’t sound accidental. This clarinetist plays a typical descant role just fine elsewhere. The band is opting for a clarinet solo with brass background. The side closes with a preaching muted trumpet around the sax’s lead (presumably the clarinetist after switching to sax during the trumpet break). In a performance that barely lasts three minutes, this band explores several textures.

It’s too bad we don’t know who they are. Johnson and Shirley’s American Dance Bands on Record and Film mentions that Variety reported the six-man Yerkes Musical Bellhops playing in Bradford, New Jersey, in January 1924. Yet neither Variety nor ABDRF include any personnel. I can’t find these tracks in ABDRF or jazz discographies by Rust and Lord. One knowledgeable commenter points out that pioneering trombonist Tom Brown played with Yerkes and suggests that the group might include Brown’s fellow New Orleanians, like clarinetist Sidney Arodin.

Whoever these musicians are, I hope you enjoy the music. As always, further information and suggestions are welcome!