Montreal, Quebec was bustling with American and Canadian musical talent who recorded during the early 1920’s, some played Vaudeville at the Princess Theatre, while others were fortunate enough to play at the Clubs and Hotels. You may be surprised at whom you see below!
Most Canadian jazz collectors of the 1920’s would say that the Gilbert Watson Orchestra, was the first to record jazz. Gilbert Watson was born in Glasgow, Scotland on October 31, 1896, and died in Peterborough, Ontario on August 12, 1959. He studied piano with Michael Hambourg and Harvey Robb, and played at the Allen Theatre in Toronto, Ontario. He worked for several music retailers in Toronto, including Mason and Risch (in the Victrola department) and Whaley Royce (as store manager).
In the mid 1920’s he formed his own dance band, which played at the Prince George Hotel, where he was heard on the Toronto radio station and, from 1935 to 1942. The band also appeared in dance pavilions around Toronto. In 1929 the orchestra also performed a recital at Massey Hall in Toronto, a first for Massey Hall. The seven or eight musicians made a total of nine sides for the Compo Company of Lachine, Quebec, first recording on July 12, 1925 and then again on November 15, 1926. Six sides released in 1925 appeared on the Apex and Starr labels, while the three sides made in 1926 appeared on the Domino label. It is not clear if any of the recordings ever showed up on other Compo labels such as Lucky Strike and Microphone.
Watson retired from music in 1942 after the Old Mill band broke up, and opened a Summer resort, Gil-Mar Lodge, and a dance hall at Sturgeon Lake in the Kawartha region of Ontario. Below is a photographic history of the Watson Orchestra, some pics are seen here for the first time! The first set shows the band in 1925 and 1929, and the second line shows The Old Mill Orchestra, along with some personal photo’s of Gilbert Watson and sheet music.
Most of this information has been provided to me by Gilbert Watson’s son, Doug, for whom I am very grateful. I hope to upload some recordings of the Gilbert Watson Orchestra in the near future.
On August 1, 1919 The Berliner Gram-o-phone Company Limited announced a newly conceived line of records which would promote Canadian talent, such as pianist Willie Eckstein, violinist Luigi Romanelli, whose orchestra appeared at The King Edward Hotel in Toronto during the early 1920’s, The Melody Kings Dance Orchestra from Montreal, and, around 1929, Fred Culley and his Royal York Hotel Orchestra.
James McIntyre, a Scottish born violinist, led his Chateau Laurier Orchestra, at the famous Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa, Ontario during the 1920’s and 1930. All of the research material about this obscure Canadian orchestra points to the fact that he broadcast live from the hotel five nights a week. What they fail to mention is that he made one single record on the His Master’s Voice 216000 series, which was number 216489. When I consulted Jack Litchfield’s excellent discography entitled “The Canadian Victor 216000 Series-Estimating The Recording Dates”, it is presumed that the record was released around May, 1925. The songs on the record are “In the Garden of To-Morrow”, and, “China Girl”.
The Starr Company of London, Ontario publicized their line of Starr Gennett records in the March 1, 1920 edition of The Border Cities Star, Windsor, Ontario.
We continue today with two more sections from the ledgers of the Compo Company, who pressed dime store labels at this time for the English market, including Crown, Sterling, Domino, and Royal. The Quebec stores still received the Starr label for the francophone population. These ledgers come by way of Jim Kidd from Montreal, who convinced the Compo Company to let the ledgers be placed in the Music Archives in Ottawa, Ontario, and Jack Litchfield, for gathering the information in writing.
Throughout 1924 and 1925 the Compo Company began to experiment with electrical recording. Their “new process” logo would appear on the Apex, Starr, Domino, and Microphone labels to signify the change from acoustic recording.
These records encompass 1927 to 1929.
The records of pressings between 1925 and 1927.
The records list pressings from 1923 to 1925.
These ledgers are provided thanks to the work of Canadian record researcher Jack Litchfield, who spent hours at the Canadian Archives in Ottawa, Ontario, so collectors could gain insight into the pressings of recorded works for both the French and English audience markets alike. The Starr Gennett label and Apex label were the primary Compo records at this time.
Canadian His Master’s Voice recording bandleader Fred Culley, and Rex Battle, who recorded on the Apex and Starr Gennett labels are mentioned in this Canadian Pacific insert in the Montreal Gazette, on October 29th,1929.
There is no doubt that Guy Lombardo and The Royal Canadians put London Ontario on the music map during the Big Band era.
Guy (Gaetano Alberto) Lombardo was born on June 19, 1902, in London, Ontario, Canada, to Gaetano and Lena Lombardo. Lombardo senior, who had immigrated to Canada from Italy, worked as a tailor, and the family lived on a small house on Queens Avenue in the town of London Ontario. Guy was the
eldest of seven children, five boys and two girls, born between 1902 and 1924 and took violin lessons from another Italian immigrant Prof. Venuta. In 1914 Guy with brothers Liebert (drums), Carmen (flute) and neighbour Kreitzer (piano) formed a quartet and played for the local Italian community. In 1920 they heard records of Paul Whitemans band and immediately became fascinated with the sound. They changed instruments to emulate it, Carmen to sax and Liebert to trumpet. By 1922 the group expanded to include more saxes, trumpets and trombone.
In the spring of 1923 the Lombardo brothers were hired as the house band for the Hopkins Casino at Port Stanley on Lake Erie. After the band started its second season at the Winter Gardens in London, the 21-year-old Guy decided that the group was wasting its time in Canada, and in November 1923 they traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, to make an attempt on the American market.
In March of 1924 the Lombardos’ band recorded several songs for the Gennett label. Their sound differed little from that of other white bands of the era, however, and the recordings sold poorly. They soon realized that changes were needed if the orchestra was going to survive. They began to develop their own brand of sweet music, focusing on melody over improvisation. Brother Carmen also helped create a distinct saxophone sound which gave them instant listener recognition and helped set them apart from all the other bands. Their big break finally came in Chicago in 1927 when Guy paid radio station WBBM to broadcast a fifteen-minute segment of their performance at the Granada Cafe. By the end of the night the ballroom was packed and the radio station had received so many calls that they extended the broadcast further into the evening.
The musical team played at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City from 1929 to 1959, and their New Year’s Eve broadcasts (which continued with Lombardo until 1976 at the Waldorf Astoria) were a major part of New Year’s celebrations across North America. Even after Lombardo’s death, the band’s New Year’s specials continued for air two more years on CBS
Lombardo never forgot his friends in Ontario,, and when the Thames River, London Ontario flooded in 1937 he staged a benefit for flood victims in Detroit’s Fox Theatre. The band opened this engagement with a rendition of Home Sweet Home, moving some in the audience to tears.
Banjo player Andy Tipaldi is believed to have been born in New York in 1894. He and his brother John, a violinist, arrived in Montréal around 1917, with an orchestra of White musicians, to play at the Jardin de Danse. In 1921, the two brothers joined the Melody Kings, a group whose membership varied between five and nine players, according to its engagements. John Tipaldi wrote the ensemble’s arrangements. Over the years, the group’s roster included pianist Billy Munro, drummer Rob Roy, trombonist Al Gagnon, trumpeters Harry Louci, Rip Doucette and Robert Rochon, and saxophonists Léo Dufault and Alex Lajoie. In 1923, the Tipaldi brothers took over the management of the ensemble, which they renamed the Melody Kings Dance Orchestra. The new band held the stage at various venues in Montréal, including the Jardin de Danse, Chez Maurice Danceland, and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel (1925). The ensemble also played regularly on the radio station CKAC (1924).
The Melody Kings recorded about 40 pieces of music between 1923 and 1924 for the Montréal company His Master’s Voice, as well as a 1926 recording, Andy Tipaldi & His Orchestra, for the Starr label. Andy Tipaldi played with the Ritz-Carlton orchestra and with Billy Munro’s orchestra before disbanding the Melody Kings in 1928. In the stock market crash of November 1929, Andy Tipaldi lost much of the money he had made in real-estate speculation. He subsequently managed a club (although unsuccessfully) and worked to revive the American Federation of Musicians local 406, which he headed from 1942 until his death in Montréal, in May of 1969.
During the early 1920’s, the Berliner Gram-o-phone Company of Montreal ran a series of newspaper advertisements in the Montreal Gazette to promote Canadian made records for Victor, under the 216000 series, which promoted Canadian musicians. Here are these advertisements, from 1920 to 1924:
Why did some Apex records sell better than others? The answer may lie in the advertisements the Compo Company ran in various newspapers from 1921-1930. I came across these advertisements as part of my research into Canadian recordings of the 1920’s.
| Blossom Seeley | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Minnie Guyer July 16, 1891 San Francisco, California |
| Died | April 17, 1974 (aged 82) New York City, New York |
| Occupation | Singer, actress, dancer |
| Years active | 1908–1933 |
| Spouse(s) | Joe Kane (1911–1913) Rube Marquard (1913–1920) Benny Fields (1921–1959) |
Blossom Seeley (July 16, 1891 – April 17, 1974) was a singer and entertainer.
Seeley was born Minnie Guyer, in San Francisco, California, USA. A top vaudeville headliner, she was known as the “Queen of Syncopation” and helped bring jazz and ragtime into the mainstream of American music. She introduced the Shelton Brooks classic “Some of These Days” in vaudeville in 1910, one year before Sophie Tucker recorded it in 1911. Seeley herself was a major recording star with a series of solo records in the 1920s, and her biggest hits included “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans,” “Rose Room,” Irving Berlin‘s “Lazy“, “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” and her signature song, “Toddling the Todalo.” She was also featured in two 1933 films,Blood Money with Judith Anderson, and Broadway Through a Keyhole with Russ Columbo and Texas Guinan.
Seeley was one half of the vaudeville team of Blossom Seeley and Benny Fields. When they played the Palace Theatre in its Golden Era, they always had the No. 1 spot, even when sharing the bill with such stars as Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, andGeorge Jessel. Burns and Allen would remain their closest lifelong friends. In 1928, they filmed one of the very first Vitaphone sound shorts, Blossom Seeley and Benny Fields, in which Blossom introduced the song “Hello, Bluebird“, later re-popularized by Judy Garland in the movie I Could Go On Singing. The story of their marriage and career was made into the movie Somebody Loves Me(1952) with Betty Hutton and Ralph Meeker, which revived their careers and led to a string of TV appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Seeley and Fields also recorded three LP albums in the 1950s for the Decca, MGM and Mercury labels. Seeley continued to perform as a solo after Fields’ death in 1959 and was one of the legends who starred on the 1961 CBS special Chicago and All That Jazz. She also sang on the accompanying Verve album, which was her first in stereo. She made two appearances on The Garry Moore Show and sang her version of the Frank Sinatra hit “My Kind of Town” on a 1966 Ed Sullivan Show. Her last TV appearance was withMike Douglas, which he taped at the nursing home where she was living.
Blossom was previously married to, and performed with, Baseball Hall of Famer Rube Marquard of the New York Giants; a book by Noel Hynd detailing their relationship, Marquard and Seeley, was published in 1996. Seeley died in New York City.
from The Redcliff Review, Alberta, August,4th, 1927. If anyone has any information if this band made any recordings, please comment below.
the78rpmrecordspins 