"High Society" Naylor's Seven Aces (Gennett, 1924) Their First Record

Oliver Naylor, p, dir: Edward "Pinky" Gerbrecht, c / Charles Hartman, tb / Bill Creger, cl, as / Newton Richardson, ts, bar / Jules Bauduc, bj / Louis Darrough, d / Jack Kaufman, v Gennett Recording Laboratories–New York Location, 11 East 37th Street New York, NY 31 Jan. 1924 8740- “High Society” (Porter Steele) Gnt 5392 Transferred with 3.0ML lateral stylus in Audiotechnica VMN70SP cartridge via Audiotechnica AT-LP120 Turntable. Discographic Info and Research from Brian Rust’s Jazz Records, The American Dance Band Discography 1917-1942, Newspapers.com, the Billboard, the Birmingham Public Library, Javier Soria Laso, Kevin Coffey, David Horniblow, and Colin Hancock. Recordings from the Colin Hancock Collection. For some reason the city of Birmingham had a significantly higher percentage of its jazz bands recorded than most other places in the United States. It makes sense in some ways, given that it was sizable city of about 200,000 in 1925. And it was near Atlanta, where many “out of town” recording sessions run by New York companies took place. But even so, why don’t cities like Indianapolis, Boston, or Baltimore have a similar output? Few cities had quite the same number of bands cutting for major labels like Victor, Columbia, Okeh, and Gennett as Birmingham. Oliver Naylor’s Seven Aces is the most well known of these bands, cutting several hot sides for Gennett, Victor, and Okeh throughout the 1920s. “High Society,” their first recording, is a red hot romp which takes some notable turns from the more popular New Orleans way of playing Steele’s march song.