[78-L] Tenor Sax Styles.

[david.diehl at hensteeth.com]

The saga of Irving Mills Master/Variety venture is detailed by Jim Prohaska at:
http://iajrc.org/variety.htm
Most USRC Varsity recordings sound as bad as ARC products because Eli Oberstein used the same studio (which was once Byers). 

Visit the Blue Pages: the Encyclopedic Guide to 78 RPM Party Records
http://www.hensteeth.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Van Landingham [mailto:danvanlandingham at yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 9, 2010 09:21 PM
To: '78-L Mail List'
Subject: Re: [78-L] Tenor Sax Styles.

I first heard Wardell Gray via some CDs of Earl Hines from 1947.He also cut an album forModern/RPM Records sometime in the fifties.It was called "Way Out Wardell".Gray wasmurdered in 1955 while appearing with Benny Carter's band in Vegas.The CD was put outby LaserLight/Delta Music around 1991.They were transcription discs.I actually picked upseveral of them including a good CD of Jimmy Dorsey's band circa 1946-49.Others I boughtwere of Louis Prima,Tommy Dorsey,Artie Shaw,Les Brown circa 1936,Basie(which had some horribly recorded tracks),the aforementioned Hines sides and a CD of Buddy Rich's rock band of the late sixties.The Prima CD I bought because it had a track of "Saint LouisBlues" on it and I had that one on a Varsity 78 circa 1946.From an engineering standpoint,Ithought it was quite good as opposed to those Varsities from the late thirties to early forties.Those Varsities from the thirties were as bad as the aforementioned Brunswicks andVocalions(I'm also including sides issued on Melotone).What can anyone out there tell meanything about the Variety and Master Records labels.The latter label,Master,was allegedlyowned by Irving Mills.There are a few Brunswicks in my collection that were manufacturedby Master.The master numbers were prefixed by the letter "M".Regarding Varsity,I had heard that the label was started by Eli Oberstein after he left RCA.The Varsities were iss-used as being produced by the United States Record Corporation.I know of his Elite recordings by way of a handful sides Bunny Berigan recorded for between November of1941 and March of 1942.A couple of those Elites came out on Design Records in theearly to mid sixties.I never knew who bought the masters to them save the fact that sometime in the forties Firestone Tire and Rubber issued them on the Philharmonic Air Chief label.Firestone used to market a cheap line of radio and phonographs back then.I had aFirestone clock radio.Those Berigan sides were reissued on Melodie Jazz along with someof Georgie Auld and the Artie Shaw Orchestra from January-February 1940.