[78-L] Who is that guitar?

[Michael Biel]

I picked up an unassuming post-war recording of 20s singer Georgie Price
and got a whale of a surprise.  There is a hot electric guitar -- and
possibly also a clarinet -- in Kenn Sisson's orch.  The record is 


Stork ST 1011-A (CR 1011A  JB WD) "Bye Bye Blackbird" 
Stork ST 1011-B (CR 1011B  JM-FR)  "Happy Anniversary"  (Price)

George Price   Kenn Sisson and Orchestra


The B side is a rather pedestrian song he wrote and sings in an
unaffected voice.  the guitar is not there.  The A side pulls out all
the stops in his Jolson/Cantor/Jessel delivery, and then in comes this
guitar from nowhere, quite separate from the orchestra -- it might be an
overdub.  Near the end it seems as if there is also a clarinet playing
along behind the guitar.


I had never heard of Sisson before.  He was a pianist with Ben Bernie
who formed a band in 1927 and recorded briefly for Brunswick -- but long
enough to make the first recording of Old Man River on the day Show Boat
opened, Dec 27, 1927, with an un-billed, unrecognizable, and
unrestrained Irving Kaufman taking plenty of liberties with this
up-tempo rendition of a song nobody had ever heard before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcswtJGegEk


Sisson died in 1947 so this is at the end of his career, but does anyone
have info on personnel in the 40s?  The guitar has all the earmarks of a
Les Paul, and it could be an overdub.  Anybody else have this record? It
is a plain silver on black label with a NYC location.



Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com