LAURA HENTON with Eddie Durham When EDDIE DURHAM was alive (8/19/1906 – 3/6/1987) he always told me that the records he made with Laura Henton were the first electric or amplified guitar records. When EDDIE DURHAM was alive, I could never find the recordings; all I could find was a listing that they were made in 1928. I have since heard the records and, indeed, Eddie Durham is on them with an early amplified guitar. The records, however, were not made 1928. The Brunswick discs - #s 7129 and 7144 on 78 RPM – and, in particular their master numbers place them as part of Jack Kapp’s and Dick Voynow’s (of Bix and Wolverine fame) Kansas City “field” recordings done in mid-fall 1929, apparently in early November 1929. The less than finite dating of “early November 1929” mask our ability to easily call these Eddie Durham’s first recordings or to fully subscribe to Eddie’s own assertion that these were the first ‘resonated-amplified-electric’ guitar recordings. The fact that Eddie only plays guitar and is so important to the music may have led to him to recall these sides as the first such feature on guitar. It seems more likely, however, that the recordings made with Eddie on both trombone and solo guitar with the Bennie Moten Kansas City Orchestra done for Victor in October 1929 (starting on the 23rd) are Durham’s first recordings. These records with Moten are, therefore, more likely to be provide the first ‘resonated-amplified-electric’ guitar recordings. Still, the soon to follow Laura Henton session – if they are in fact the second to be made – are historically significant, more guitar specific, and musically great. It’s hard to hear the piano on these records. If it is Bennie Moten on piano, then it makes it far more likely that the bassist is Moten sideman VERNON Page, Vernon not Joe, and bassist page is definitely playing TUBA and not string bass. I find the musician Joe Page extremely difficult to trace and it seems much, much, more likely that it is Vernon Page than the UNKNOWN Joe. Even Walter Page on tuba would be a superior assumption than Joe Page. Finally, the song Laura Henton sings as “Lord, I Just Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes” was modified by progressive rockers and was recorded as “I Can’t Keep From Crying” by the Blues Project on their classic album “Projections” with an Al Kooper composer credit.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 21:45:47 +0000