[78-L] Jazz as a Record Catalog Subject

[david.diehl at hensteeth.com]

My 1925 Victor catalog is similar to your 1920 listing: Fuller and a handful of remaining ODJB titles under "Jazz Band." Even the Original Memphis Five records are included in the "Dance" catagory. I suppose "Hot Jazz" returned as a category in the early 1940's.
 DJD
Visit the Blue Pages: the Encyclopedic Guide to 78 RPM Party Records
http://www.hensteeth.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Rodger Holtin [mailto:rjh334578 at yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2013 12:24 PM
To: '78-List'
Subject: [78-L] Jazz as a Record Catalog Subject

Basic Question: When/Where was Jazz a separate category in record catalogs?Secondary observation: Dance diminished as a categoryI am fortunate enough to have a handful of Victor Catalogs:1917192019301940 The 1917 seems to have been printed in March of 1917 andshows ‘“Jass” Bands’ as a category listing with the main white pages (Jass inquotes). Of course, it lists the firstODJB record as that’s all there was. Same catalog shows eight plus pages of DANCE records broken down intoevery little subcategory I’ve ever heard of and then some. (26 pages of “educational” stuff BTW) The 1920 catalog seems to have been printed in October of1919 and again it shows JAZZ BAND RECORDS as a category among the white pagesafter JARVIS, HAROLD and Jazz Babies by Marion Harris and ahead Jean by EvanWilliams. Under said category they listall the 1917-18 ODJBs and the four sides by Earl Fuller. Each tune is carefully noted as “one-step” or“fox-trot.” Same catalog shows againeight plus pages of DANCE records broken down into every little subcategoryI’ve ever heard of and then some, including 2 ½ pages of fox trots (and 28pages of “educational” stuff BTW). Dancerecords are shown with full page line per each record giving both titles(sometimes with composer), both artists if different, record number size andprice. Jumping to 1930, printed November 1929, I see a bigchange. Jazz is nowhere to be found asany kind of category in 1930. Dance isstill eight pages, but triple columns, three times as many tunes (with commensurately less detail), categoriesconsiderably pared back, and Fox Trot is now listed first, not alphabeticallyas before and all the minor oddities are gone, then segregated by artist (band)name. The 1940 seems have been printed early in 1941, and againbig changes in that the Dance section is two pages of odd stuff like Adagio(Gloomy Sunday[!]) Beguine, Bolero, Mazurka,Waltz, Stomps. The Fox Trot is missingfrom the list, but every pop tune is shown by the title as “FT” or “Vocadance”so they are more than well represented. OK, that’s a quick survey of 23 years of Victor catalogs,and my observation is that jazz was early recognized as a distinct musical artform and then got lumped in with all kinds of dance music, presumably as aquick, easy marketing decision by Victor. We do know the earliest ODJB labels carried the legend, ‘”For Dancing”and the story of the Reisenweber manager making the terse announcement that“This music is for dancing!” is pretty well known. My Real Question(s): How did the other companies handle this stuff? Did any other record company catalog of the Twenties orThirties actually label any music as “jazz” or did they all lump it with “dancemusic” too? The next newest catalog I have is Schwann from1970 and jazz is shown as a sub-set of Popular Music, essentially what it was(if tacitly so) for Victor in 1917-1920.RodgerFor Best Results use Victor Needles.._______________________________________________78-L mailing list78-L at klickitat.78online.comhttp://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l