The Missouri Jazz Band (Fletcher Henderson Orch) & Roy Collins Dance Orchestra (Nathan Glantz Orch) – 1925

Here are two recordings with jazzy “hot dance” passages from a mid-1920s Oriole record.

Oriole was a label manufactured by the Scranton Button Company specifically for the McCrory dime store chain.   Oriole did not have its own recording studios, and, as was common practice with many small labels and chain store brand labels, relied on masters made available by other record labels.

By the time this record was made and thereafter, Oriole sourced its material from masters recorded at the Independent Record Laboratories‘ studio at 55 West 16th Street in New York City for the Scranton Button Co. owned Regal Records, along with other labels manufactured by Scranton Button and distributed by the Plaza Music Company, such as Banner and Domino.

Artist credits on Oriole were almost always recording pseudonyms – and the pseudonyms might or might not have been the same as those used on issues of the identical recording on other affiliated labels.

The recording of “Then I’ll  Be Happy” features two giants of the Harlem Renaissance music scene whose talents as arrangers helped define the sound of the later swing and big band eras: Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra with Don Redman providing the vocal.

On Oriole, they were disguised under the pseudonyms of the Missouri Jazz Band and Gerald Nelson.  On copies issued by Regal, Banner, and Domino, however, they were credited under their own names.  Copies issued on the Slivertone label, sold through Sears, Roebuck & Company’s catalogs and retail stores, were credited as Sid Terry’s Collegians with Ray Gilbert on vocal.

The Missouri Jazz Band pseudonym was frequently used across Regal/Plaza Music-affiliated labels for recordings by a variety of bandleaders, including Adrian Schubert, Lou Gold, Sam Lanin, Nathan Glantz, and many others.

The Roy Collins Dance Orchestra pseudonym used for the recording of “Who Loves You Now?” on the flip side was also widely used across the different labels.  According to Brian Rust’s American Dance Band Discography, the band on this recording is Nathan Glantz’s.

Interestingly enough, Rust lists this recording as having been made but indicates that it was “rejected” and unissued.   Obviously, that was not the case given the existence of this Oriole issue.

I suspect, however, that Rust was not completely incorrect.  In nearby listings, he indicates that his information was based on the record label’s own internal files.  My hunch is that the recording was initially rejected for issue on the flagship Regal and Banner labels and noted as such in those files. But, I suspect, at some point later, someone went back and decided to pair the previously rejected master with “Then I’ll Be Happy” for release on Oriole.   I have not been able to find any reference to this recording appearing on any label besides Oriole.