[78-L] A novice-y type Purple OKeh question

[Han Enderman]

Actually there are 2 OKeh purple script label types:
1 - the familiar 40s type, range 05622-6747, issued ca. 7/40 - 6/45.
2 - similar, but the OK label name (= trademark) in bolder font, especially visible for the letter 'O'.
Range 6800-c.7096, issued ca. 6/51 - 1957. These 50s issues also have a different patent or 
registration legend below the label name on 2 or 1 lines (not 3 lines, as in the 40s) and do
not have texts like "Use ... needles".

Bessie's 6893 was released in 1952.
Fuller's 05476 is a Voc repressing (since the cat.nr is below 05622). Actually this also exists with
2 label variants, with resp. 4 or 3 (different!) text lines below the logo.
As will be known to all Rollini fans on this list, the last Voc issue in the 5000 series was 5621 by the 
Adrian Rollini Trio, and then the series continued with OK 05622 by Hoosier Hot Shots (and
OK 5621 by Rollini is thus a repressing).
In the ethnic series, Voc 16004 (rec 13 Apr 40) is followed by OK 16005 (13 Jan 41). 

There is, evidently, an OK 84000 Irish series. This has the type 1 label, and is thus from the 40s.
I have label images of 84004 (William Ryan, mxs 143666/7), 84042 (O'Leary mx 110045), 
84061 (Martin Beirne, mx 20226), 84145 (O'Leary mxs 110044/65) & 84187 (Flanagan Bros.).
So these are 1940s repressings of the Voc 84000 series.

Han Enderman
===
>>> The Bessie Smith is a dub, per Rust's Jazz Records..all 4 of those 1933 sides 
were dubbed for the Columbia and OKeh 40s reissues. About the only way you 
could tell visually is if the matrix numbers and run-out grooves look as if 
they're from the wrong period and if they have lead-ins.

Lots of OKehs from the early 40s sound muddy just because they were processed 
quickly and cheaply with substitute materials owing to wartime restrictions. 
But from 1940 on, every new recording on OKeh and Columbia is a dub from a 
16-inch lacquer original..some of them were awful, some of them sounded fine, 
and if the record stayed in print for a while, new dubs were made.

dl

Andrea Walsh wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I have recently (on a whim) been playing all my 78's that were issued on
> Purple OKeh, and I was planning on posting them to my blog.  While
> listening, I notice some are muddy sounding, or at least sort of far-away,
> and others are really clear and the sound is much more defined.
> 
> This may seem like a stupid novice type question, but what are the
> differences?  Are some of these dubs and others original?  I have been
> listening to everything from country and western swing to jazz and swing,
> novelty, gospel, rhythm and blues and blues.
> 
> I read what Rust has to say about the purple issue OKehs in the American
> Record Label Book, that the revived OKeh series of 1940 and after have
> normal CBS series masters, but what does that mean?  Is, for instance the
> recording of Bessie Smith doing "Gimme A Pigfoot" (OK 6893) a dub of a
> Vocalion and say, Blind Boy Fuller doing "Step It Up And Go" (OK 05476) an
> original?
> 
> How can one tell an "original" recording, if there is such a thing?
> 
> I am confuzzled.
> 
> Thanks in advance--
> 
> Andrea
<<<
----
>>> Yes..Vocalion 84145, per Spottswood's Ethnic Music On Records. A reissue of 
Columbia 33353-F. Does the OKeh pressing appear to be a dub (later style 
run-out and font) or a modified master pressing (1928 style runout plus an 
added trip groove)?

I've never heard of ethnic purple label OKehs! It isn't listed in Spottswood 
either. Live and learn.

dl

Gregg Kimball wrote:
> I am glad you asked, and that David answered, because I had wondered the 
> same thing. It also prompted a question.
> 
> Last night I was doing a CD compilation of Irish and French-Canadian stuff 
> featuring accordion (I'm sure there's a joke there), and one of the tunes 
> was "The Pigeon on the Gate" by O'Leary's Irish Minstrels from purple Okeh 
> 84145.  It actually sounds really good.  I had assumed this disc was a 
> re-issue of Columbia 33353-F, but looking at the catalog number now, maybe 
> it was also released on Vocalion?
> 
> Has anyone put the discographical information from any of the Columbia 
> ethnic series on-line?
> 
> Gregg
<<<