Great moments in technology
July 13, 2007 by nonotes
Of all the YouTube “SJI” ephemera, this one cracked me up the most. I was of course interested to see the title: “St. James Infirmary By Duke Ellington and his Orchestra 1930.” Wow! There’s footage of that!
I clicked immediately.
What the clip turned out to be was a video of a record playing. That’s it. A hand puts the needle on the 78, and then it’s a four-minute shot of the disc spinning, moving in for a bit of a closeup of the twirling label at one point. The conclusion is the needle bumping against the label in a brief hum of distortion, at which point the hand turns the record player (a “portable ‘His Master’s Voice’ gramophone from 1938 (Serie 102c, with green leather case,” according to the YouTube notes) off.
Ridiculous. And, intentionally or not, hilarious.
Anyway, regarding this actual version: The YouTube notes say it’s from January 1930, with a vocal by Sunny Smith. Sunny Smith was a pseudonym of Irving Mills, who of course had claimed credit for the song a year or two earlier, under a different name, Joe Primrose. I have a version of Ellington’s band under the name Harlem Hot Chocolates, with Sunny Smith vocals, doing the song in 1930, but it’s not this version. So, I’m a little confused about that, but perhaps I’ll sort it out later.
Update: Mr. Robert Harwood bails me out in the comments section regarding my confusion. He recognized the version being played here as King Oliver’s, with vocals by Frank Marvin, using the pseudonym Sonny Woods. Check the comment for more. Thanks as always Mr. Harwood!
“St. James Infirmary,” King Oliver
A couple of years ago I did some research into the song "St. James Infirmary," wrote up what I found, emailed that essay to friends and posted it on my web site (as part of a series of "Letters From New Orleans," as I was living in that city at the time). Based on the feedback, I wrote a second version of the essay, and asked for more feedback. Based on that, I wrote a 
Yep. An odd little video, Rob. But the recording, while from 1930, is King Oliver’s. Oliver didn’t play much in those days, having serious gum disease. On this recording he handed most of the trumpet playing to two men - Henry Allen and Bubber Miley. Oliver might be playing in the closing stretch, though. The singer is Frank Marvin - under the pseudonym Sonny Woods - so that might be where the confusion came in.
Oliver, by the way, tried to copyright this song but was beaten to the punch by Primrose.