[Dixielandjazz] Edison Records - was - Record Company Screw-ups

[Stephen G Barbone]

On Nov 24, 2010, at 8:51 AM, Marek Boym wrote:

> On 23/11/2010, Stephen G Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> From Blended.com: (among their list of the 20 biggest record company
>> screw=ups of all time) For more of the list see:
>> www.blender.com/lists/61239/20biggestrecordcompanyscrewupsofalltime.html?p=4
>>
>>
>> #17 Thomas Edison disses jazz, industry standards
>> America’s most famous inventor, and the creator of the phonograph,
>> also had his own record label: National Phonograph Company, later
>> Edison Records. Naturally, it was the biggest one around at first but
>> made two fatal errors. One was that Edison Records worked only on
>> Edison’s players, while other manufacturers’ conformed to the  
>> industry
>> standard and worked interchangeably. The other was that Edison let  
>> his
>> personal taste govern Edison releases—and he hated jazz: “I always
>> play jazz records backwards,” he sniffed. “They sound better that
>> way.” So after releasing the world’s first jazz recording—Collins and
>> Harlan’s “That Funny Jas Band From Dixieland”—the company spurned the
>> craze in favor of waltzes and foxtrots.
>
>
>
> Not quite!
> Just look up The California Ramblers and se how many of their records
> were issued by Edison.  Or The Cotton Pickers (I believe that was the
> pseudonym of The Memphis Five on Edison).
> A friend of mind actually possesses a one-sided about quarter-inch
> thick jazz Edison 78.
> Cheers
>
>
>
> Edison Records folded in
>> October 1929.
>>
>> By the way, listmates, to hear what is called the first jazz band to
>> record above, go to the below site and click on one of the various
>> blue colored links:
>>
>> http://www.archive.org/details/fjasband1916


Dear Marek:

I listened to some of the Edison recordings by the California Ramblers  
on Red Hot Jazz site. In my ears, most of them were more on the side  
of "jazzy dance music" rather than jazz. Just a few song renditions  
that I would say are jazz. Maybe parsing words, but that's how I hear  
it. Songs like Ain't Misbehavin' and Button Up Your Overcoat are  
mostly arranged ensemble passages. Very little solo work, no ensemble  
improvisation. To me, that is not jazz.

Regarding the Cotton Pickers, I did not find any Edison recordings of  
them on the red hot jazz site. Only Brunswick.

In support of you thoughts that Edison did produce some jazz records,  
note the following from one of the Edison sites on the web showing a  
yearly synopsis of Companyt progress:

http://www.edisonphonology.com/cylinder.htm

" 1928 - Thomas A. Edison's influence over the record business was  
greatly diminished due to old age, and the inventor's son Charles  
Edison stepped up to the task. As a result, more big city jazz tunes  
were included in the record catalogs to compete with disk record  
manufacturers like Victor and Columbia."

This supports the ide that Edison was not big on jazz prior to 1928.  
But by then, I suspect the tune selection made little difference to  
the company's fortunes as the Depression was looming and Edison was  
still weak compared to Victor, Columbia et al when it hit. The company  
went out of business and closed out its books on December 31, 1929.

Perhaps the beginning of the end for Edison occurred in 1923 when he  
cut dealer margins. As a result, the company lost a large number of  
dealers and soon after, started to to sell direct to the public via  
mail order. ASt the time, not a good way to market.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband