[78-L] Bessie Smith album

[Han Enderman]

There are 2 editions of the first Bessie Smith album:
1 - Columbia magic notes logo on front cover; only "BESSIE SMITH ALBUM" on spine; no album notes.
2 - Magic notes plus microphone logos on front. Spine not seen, but poss. with album number 8-C.

The records are known with 4 label types (with Nauck type nrs), always blue with COLUMBIA in upper case:
VIII.B.1 - Made and Pat'd in USA RE. ... at bottom (as on preceding label type).
VIII.B.2 - Longer bottom text; Full Range Recording in tiny font at top next to logo.
VIII.B.3 - License notice around label; 'Full Range Recording' in large font.
IX.A - Blue(!) CBS microphone label (not the usual red label); "Set 8-C" between label name and hole.

Rather odd is that 2 fonts are used for the tune titles: 
- elongated (the usual font, also on n3169-D by Ted Lewis) and 
- a smaller, more round font (known for VIII.B.1/2 & IX.A; poss. different printer?).

Usually the labels list the accompanists, but 3172-D Careless Love Blues (type VIII.B.1) is known in 2 variants:
1 - "BESSIE SMITH / with / Piano, Clarinet [sic] & Trombone / Accompaniment";
2 - "BESSIE SMITH / with Instrumental Trio / (Piano - Fletcher Henderson) / (Cornet - Louis Armstrong) /
(Trombone - Charlie Green).
The last version (IX.A) also lists the personnel, in a different layout, and presumably the variant without
the names of the musicians is the first pressing.

Apparently the Bessie album was regularly repressed and ultimately got nr 8-C.
Do previous Columbia albums also give the C as suffix on the labels?
Does someone know the release nrs for the records in albums C-1-10, before the Steinweiss revolution (sorry...)?

The available label images here are not very good and I would much appreciate to receive pictures
of labels and album.

Han Enderman
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>>> The Bessie Smith album is C-8.

C-1 is Tango Album No. 1
C-2 is Tango Album No. 2
C-3 is Rumba and Congo Album
C-4 is the first issue of Air Raid, which no living person has ever seen
C-5 is the second issue of Air Raid
C-6 is Merchant of Venice
C-7 is Twelfth Night
C-9 is European Dance Album
C-10 is Julius Caesar

This would put the Bessie Smith album in 1938, unless it WAS issued earlier 
without a number (as was the case with Victor's Bix Beiderbecke Memorial 
Album). From the October 1940 catalog (designed by Steinweiss, by the way).
dl
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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? 
Philip Fukuda
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There is no catalog number on my album. The spine just reads "Bessie Smith Album."

The records are 3171-D through 3176-D, but with following matrix numbers (so yes, these are dubs):

3171: missing from my album
3172: Careless Love Blues (21822)
          Weeping Willow Blues (21837)
3173: There Will Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight (21840)
          Alexander's Ragtime Band (21841)
3174: Muddy Water (21853)
          Money Blues (21871)
3175: missing
3176: Nobody Knows When You're Down And Out (21842)
          Back-Water Blues (21870)

The records are a mixture of blue label, block lettering COLUMBIA, with and without "Full Range Recording" at the top. So, I misspoke earlier. The ARC-Columbia label was not defunct in 1938, but probably limped into 1939 (should have checked "Note the Notes" first).

Also, the circular photo of Bessie on the cover is pasted on, though very expertly so it's hard to tell. The photo is a halftone, by the way.  My digital camera is broken, but I can piece together a color scan for you Mike.

So, do any of you have Columbia catalogs or supplements for 1937 to '39, pre-CBS ownership? That might shed some light on the matter. Though, I have a feeling that ARC considered Columbia an afterthought by this point (for popular stuff anyway), and spent more time and money on Brunswick & Vocalion.

Philip
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According to Geoffrey Wheeler's book - The Bessie Smith album had  no album number.  It was released "a few months after her death" which was Sept. 26, 1937.  However, a Columbia Records catalog from the mid-40s gives a number of C-8 for the album.  He also mentions that there was no booklet with it.
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I also have a Brunswick album "Twenty Minutes with Andre Kostelanetz" 
which also has no album number. So C-8 would have been added some 
time in 1938 since it fits between known albums by Orson Welles, all of which I 
believe have Full-Range labels (they also say "Mercury Record" rather than 
display Columbia). The February 1940 catalog lists C-8.
dl
---
This is an interesting point you bring up about the Full Range Recording labels.  Wheeler's book makes mention of 3 different label types used in one collector's album.  One was with the Full Range Recording label and the other two without but with different patent info on them.  Since you have Note the Notes, it would be Figures VIII.B.1 and VIII.B.2.
 
I happen to have all six discs but without the book.  None of mine have the Full Range Recording label so it would appear there was no standard over the course of the production run.
(gl)
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