The Legends of the Rocking Dutchman - episode 152

Columbia 30000 series

Today the start of the Columbia 30000 "race" series that the label begun as the outlet for Rhythm & Blues after they'd decided to discontinue the OKeh label. Columbia had to crawl up from the damage of the 1942-44 strike of the American Federation of Musicians - in November of 1944 they were the last one to sign an agreement with the union, together with RCA Victor.

For two years they hadn't been able to record new material and had to rely on old recordings to release. You might think they'd got fed up with that, but in the early numbers of this new 30000 series, we find a remarkable amount of pre-strike material, recordings done for the OKeh label in 1940 and '41. Because of that, the music I play today differs a lot from contemporary releases of the leading, newly emerged independent labels - as if Columbia hadn't noticed Rhythm & Blues had changed dramatically during the strike - like all of the music business.

Transcript

Playlist

  1. Buster Bennett - Leap Frog Blues (Columbia 30001)
  2. Big Bill Broonzy - Roll Them Bones (30002)
  3. Memphis Minnie & Lil Son Joe - Please Set A Date (30003)
  4. James 'Beale Street' Clark - Get Ready To Meet Your Man (30005)
  5. Big Bill Broonzy - Hard Hearted Woman (30010)
  6. Blind Boy Fuller - Step It Up And Go (30011)
  7. Buster Bennett - Got Too Much Insurance (30013)
  8. Memphis Minnie - Mean Mistreater Blues (30015)
  9. Big Three Trio - Signifyin' Monkey (30019)
  10. James 'Beale Street' Clark - Come to Me Baby (30020)
  11. Little Son Joe - Black Rat Swing (30025)
  12. Brownie McGhee - Step It Up And Go No. 2 (30027)
  13. Curtis Jones - Glamour And Glory Blues (30030)
  14. The Yas Yas Girl - Froggy Bottom (30032)
  15. Curtis Jones - Tin Pan Alley (30034)
  16. Roosevelt Sykes - Let The Black Have His Way (30035)
  17. Buddy Moss - Joy Rag (30036)

Outtro:

  • Wild Bill Moore Sextette - Bongo Bounce
The following music served as background music during the spoken parts:
  • Kirk Kirkland - The Saxaphone Rag
  • Count Basie - Queer Street
  • Count Basie - Red Bank Boogie
  • Count Basie - Taps Miller
  • Count Basie - The Mad Boogie
  • Louis Jordan - Flat Face