[78-L] Bessie Smith album

[Michael Biel]

If I wake up in time (I gotta start getting to bed earlier) Leah and I
are going to R&H to look at some catalogs and magazines and I will be
looking to see the issue date.  I do think the album was sold with the
specific records and I think that George Blacker and I did figure out an
album catalog number decades ago, but it wasn't easy.  If I can't come
up with a copy to photograph myself, I NEED a color scan or photo of
it!!!  Is the photo a glued-on glossy photo?

By the way, on Friday in less than three hours, Leah and I BLEW THE
STEINWEISS LEGEND OUT OF THE WATER with some of the evidence we found at
another branch of NYPL in journals unrelated directly to records that I
bet nobody has ever thought to use.  No further hints about this stuff
-- you will have to go to ARSC in New Orleans to find out.  It helps to
know where to find things.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  

      

  -------- Original Message --------
 Subject: [78-L] Bessie Smith album
 From: "Philip Fukuda" <pfukuda at att.net>
 Date: Mon, January 11, 2010 2:23 am
 To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
 
 
 
 I'm just catching up on reading my emails after my vacation, so forgive
me if this has been discussed before.
 
 I've been following the Alex Steinweiss thread with interest, but
didn't have anything to add to the discussion until today. Imagine my
surprise at finding the c1937 (Driggs and Lewine's "Black Beauty, White
Heat" say 1938, but I think the label was defunct by then) Bessie Smith
Album at the 78 swap meet today. It has a brown cover with a photo of
Bessie with the names of the accompanying musicians. I tend to believe
the 1937 date since there is no mention of Bessie's death. Did it come
with a booklet (mine doesn't have one)?
 
 There is no text on the inside front or back covers. The album itself
doesn't have a number, so doesn't look like part of a series.
Unfortunately, I only have 4 of the 6 records. Also, I get the feeling
the records were sold individually, but the album was a "freebie" if the
customer bought all six records. Of course, they are the last six
records in the -D series.
 
 Does anyone have a 1937 or 1938 Columbia catalog or monthly supplements
to back up any of my wild guesses? 
 
 By the way, Happy New Year to all,
 Philip