[78-L] Solitaire 78-L Digest, Vol 14, Issue 67

[David Lennick]

I have one CrystalTone 78, of a couple of the Bert Stone tracks on "Comic 
Novelties" (might be Old Man River/Mamselle). I'd still love to find a copy of 
"Comic Novelties Volume 2" which is listed (without a number, I think) on a few 
of the sleeves. It should contain another Lord Buckley track. So far, nobody 
has ever come across it and even the Buckley devotees were unaware of the one 
track on "Volume 1" (On A Coconut Island).

It does indeed say "Roy" Borden on my LP, but all sorts of other misinformation 
abounds on all these discs. Fascinating junk label. Probably did vanity 
pressings as well, since some of the "artistes" wouldn't have made it past the 
preliminaries on Tiny Talent Time. There's a disc called Violin Classics by 
Herman Henry which is either by the worst violinist ever allowed near a mike or 
a practical joke by someone like Jascha Heifetz, who was known for doing this 
kind of thing.

dl

zimrec at juno.com wrote:
> Solitaire 528 is unquestionably Boston, 1947.  Band is RAY Borden (not Roy).  The band included Charlie Mariano and Nat Pierce.  The Borden band recorded for the CrystalTone label in Boston and made several transcriptions intended for but apparently never used on radio.  Those were recorded at the Ace Recording studios.  Most, if not all of the Ray Borden transcriptions -- which exist only as acetates, not pressings -- are devoted to songs of a single composer.  Most of the arrangements are by Nat.
> 
> CrystalTone was owned by Manny Koppelman.  That's what the MK prefix to the matrix numbers stands for.  Koppelman also had something to do with Solitaire, according to what Nat had told me.
> 
> By the end of 1947, the band members had lost confidence in Borden and elected Nat Pierce a nominal leader.  In 1948, several of the band members, including Nat, went with Larry Clinton's band and subsequently made some transcriptions for the World company, now reissued on a Circle CD.  In 1949, the band members returned to Boston where Nat formed a band that recorded some sides for the Motif label owned by Reuben Moulds who was originally from Meridian, Mississippi.
> 
> Art
> 
> = = = = = = = =
> 
> Date: Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:20:49 -0500
> From: David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
> Subject: [78-L] Solitaire/Cameo mystery music
> To: 78L <78-L at 78online.com>
> Message-ID: <4B134821.70306 at sympatico.ca>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> I've mentioned Solitaire here a number of times over the years, and 
> occasionally been given bits of information as to the origin of these 
> recordings. Art Zimmerman thinks they came out of Boston originally, I believe, 
> and the late Robert Angus thought a lot of the classical recordings were taped 
> off the CBC. The label seems to have lived on in Canada more prominently than 
> in the US through the 50s. I still pick up any Solitaires or their Cameo 
> reissues, just to continue to be mystified.
> 
> Two cases in point here:
> 
> CAMEO 440, a reissue of SOLITAIRE 528.."Music of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter 
> + All Time Musical Hits" by Roy Borden's Orchestra. This is one of the weirdest 
> ones I've ever come across. For starters, the labels are reversed, but the 
> numbers in the disc (the original Solitaire numbers) are identical! Both sides 
> say "528-B" but the music is different on both sides. Each side is unbanded, 
> but the selections (not listed anywhere on the labels) are separated, by long 
> gaps, about 15 seconds. Everything seems to be taken from radio transcriptions, 
> either syndicated or from broadcasts, and the selections begin with a uniform 
> "World of Music" theme with a chorus. And there is transcription surface noise 
> at the start of several of the selections.
> 
> <snip>
>