The Jazz Pilots – 1925

Terminal Station in Atlanta, Georgia.  Built in 1905 and destroyed in 1972

From the Edward Mitchell collection, here are two 1925 recordings by Harry Reser’s band on the OKeh label from a time when OKeh’s larger rivals Victor, Columbia, and Brunswick had fully converted to electrical recording several months earlier, while OKeh was still relying on old-fashioned acoustic recording horns.

Harry Reser is widely regarded as the top banjo player of his era.  His band recorded many hundreds of sides under dozens of pseudonyms across almost all of the American record labels that existed during the 1920s and into the 1930s.

On OKeh, Reser’s band was usually credited as either The Jazz Pilots or Harry Reser’s Jazz Pilots – and the two sides here happen to be the very first Jazz Pilots recordings issued.  Reser’s band also recorded many – though not all – of the recordings that were issued as The OKeh Syncopators.

“Rambling Wreck From Georgia Tech” is the well-known fight song for the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as the name of the school’s mascot, a 1930 Ford Model A Sport Coupe (which succeeded the 1914 Ford Model T that had previously been used as its mascot).

The song’s melody dates back to the 19th century, though there are conflicting claims as to its exact origins.  The Colorado School of Mines began using a version titled “The Mining Engineer” as its fight song in 1879.  In 1895, Charles Ives copyrighted his own adaptation of the song as “Son of a Gambolier.”

The song first appeared in print at Georgia Tech in the school’s 1908 yearbook under the title “What Makes Whitlock Blush.”  The first arrangement of the song under the name “The Ramblin’ Wreck” was written in 1910 by the school’s first official bandleader, Matt Greenblatt.

In 1914, another arrangement, which was copyrighted, was written by Georgia Tech bandleader Frank Roman, who is credited on this record’s label.  Additional information about the song’s history can be found on the Georgia Tech Alumni Association’s website.

The vocal on the recording is provided by Johnny Marvin, an early crooner/ukulele player whose style was heavily inspired by Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards.  Marvin began making records for OKeh in 1924 and later became quite prominent on the Victor label.

“Sleepy Time Gal” was composed by Ange Lorenzo and Richard A. Whiting with lyrics by Joseph R. Alden and Raymond B. Egan and published in 1925.  The song is regarded as a standard and has been recorded many times over the decades.

Tom Stacks provides the vocal for this version.   Stacks was Reser’s drummer but is best remembered for his frequent role as vocalist on the band’s recordings – particularly the many comedic and novelty songs the band recorded as The Six Jumping Jacks and other pseudonyms.  Sadly, he died in February 1936 at the age of 36 after a fire broke out at a crowded Manhattan Chinese restaurant in which he was performing, just across 59th Street from Bloomingdale’s flagship department store.

The late Eddie Mitchell, to whom this record belonged, once commented that, had he lived, Tom Stacks would have been a natural candidate for transition into voice acting in animated films and television shows in the post-war years when dance bands were rapidly dying out