The Paull Sisters - a forgotten vocal duo

The Paull Sisters - a forgotten vocal duo ( English) De Paull Sisters - een vergeten zangduo ( Nederlands) The Paull Sisters - Stars of Radiolands ( English) De Paull Sisters - Radiosterren ( Nederlands)

THE PAULL SISTERS Edison DISCOGRAPHY
THE PAULL SISTERS Durium DISCOGRAPHY

Last Paull Sisters, Julia, passed away - 104 years old
THE PAULL SISTERS - A FORGOTTEN VOCAL DUO
Hans Koert

A year ago I posted a contribution about the Paull Sisters. I had found its name on a Hit of the week cover released in the fall of 1931 and that was all info I could find. Thanks to Bill Schoerner I received some additional information and a few photos and advertisements in which the two girls were introduced. Bill Schoerner is fascinated by these vocal groups and posted a series of blogs concerning the William Sisters.Within a few months most living relatives of these William Sisters were located and a lot of unknown information could be traced. And now, it seems .....history repeats itself ........ A few weeks ago I was contacted by Judye Talbot who happens to be the daughter of Julia. Julia was one of the Paull Sisters, together with her sister Ruth. Julia passed away last August 104 years old. Thanks to Judye I can show you some new photos and news paper clippings from Julia's scrap book and some new information, that was unknown up to now. Today the first part about their cooperation with Phil Spitalny.

Sleeve: Guilty - Phil Spitalny's Music - vocal by the Paull Sisters ( Hit of the Week L-2 - October 1931) (source: Hit of the week Discography - Hans Koert)
Julia was born in 1905 in Conrad, Iowa as Julia Brock and her sister followed two years later named Ruth. They went to Chicago to study singing and soon they sung professionally with Phil(ip) Spitalny's Music as the Paull Sisters. It is weird that they were even labeled in advertisements as Julia Paull and Ruth Paull, although their real name was Brock.
The Paull Sisters - a popular harmonising team (advertisement - 1930s)
Phil Spitalny, born in Odessa Russia, October 1890 played the clarinet in his native country before he immigrated, after the Russian Revolution, to the States (Cleveland). Here he became known as a dance band leader. His first recordings were made in Cleveland, March 1924. He moved to New York City a year later and recorded two songs with the Paull Sisters for Edison on the 31st of May, 1929 followed by several other recording sessions in the summer of 1929. Listen to: I Want to Meander In The Meadow by Phil Spitalny and his Music, sung by the Paull Sisters ( NYC June 1929)

The Paull Sisters made several recordings for Edison with that band and in February 1930 he recorded for the new born cardboard Hit of the week label.

I'm Keepin' Company / I Wanna Sing About You - Jack Norman's Orchestra ( = Phil Spitalny) with Chick Bullock. The Paull Sisters sing on the first tune. ( durium EN-5) ( NYC October 1931) ( Source: Durium Discography - Hans Koert)
The first Durium session with the Paull Sisters and Phil Spitalny's Music was scheduled October 1931 and titled Guilty and Goodnight Sweetheart; the Eton Boys were a male vocal group also present on this session, responsible for the small extra tracks She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain and In The Shade of the Old Apple Tree. These Hit of the week records were promoted as "the five-minute Hit-of-the-Week with almost twice the playing time of the average record at your news-dealer's next Thursday". These small 1.5 minutes tracks were used to complete the extra playing time.
Page from the Julia Brock's scrap book ( photo courtesy: Judye Talbot)
It is likely that, during the same session, recordings for Durium were made for export to Europe together with Chick Bullock - the popular US crooner. To prevent problems with legal contracts and things like that ( Chick Bullock was under exclusively contract for ARC), Durium used the pseudonym Jack Norman and his Orchestra for the Phil Spitalny group. The names of the Paull Sisters and Chick Bullock were skipped on the US pressings ( DURIUM), but on the European pressings by durium ( small letters) and Sefono labels the names were mentioned. On a Swedish Veckans SKIVA sleeve nr. 6, I have in my collection, one of those recordings: I'm keepin' company" is described as: Foxtrot: I'm keepin' company "Jag följer med dig! ".

A nice promo picture from Paull Sisters the early 1930s. (photo courtesy: Judye Talbot)
In the liner notes ( mind I'm talking about a record sleeve from ca. 1934 !!) the Paull Sisters are labeled as a quartet: it reads: "Refrängsången utföres av en populär damkvartett - Paull Sisters - som utgör ett raffinerat inslag i schlagern" ( = The vocal refrain is performed by a popular female quartet - Paull Sisters, - a sophisticated sequence of the recording ). Mind that this sleeve was released in 1934 for a 1931 recording and there were no reasons anymore to suppress the names of the Paull Sisters and Chick Bullock but it is weird to learn that the Paull Sisters were labeled as a quartet.

The colorfull sleeve of the Swedish VECKANS skiva ( = Weekly record) ( photo courtesy: Hans Koert)

I asked Judye why they called them selves the Paull Sisters. I'll inform you about that in the second part later in which I will spotlight the 1930s with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, titled: The Paull Sisters: The 1930s.

THE PAULL SISTERS Durium Discography - Hans Koert

Thanks Judye for sharing the info and some photos from your mother's scrap book. Hope to publish more later. Thanks Jo for sharing your linguistic talent of the Swedish language.

This contribution will also be published on the Hit of the week blog.

Hans Koert

keepswinging@live.nl

In December 1929 the DURIUM PRODUCTS CORPORATION prepared the start of a new unbreakable record, made of cardboard. The well known weekly issues, called the Hit of the Week, were released in a weekly schedule, which started in February 1930. The Hit of the week blog and the Keepswinging blog will follow the development of these 80 years old records in an unique series of blogs. If you love to be informed about these contributions ask for the newsletter


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Don Ellis: May Time Restore?

Naar het Nederlands-Vlaamse gedeelte met o.a. een stuk over Chick Bullock.) DON ELLIS: MAY TIME RESTORE? DON ELLIS: HIS OWN SOUND DON ELLIS: HIS FINAL YEARS
Ken Orton loves to publish his Don Ellis biography: “In Search of Don Ellis, Forgotten Genius” – written in American English - completed and copyrighted in October 2007. There are well over 800 pages of text and over 200 pages contained in the “Picture Galleries”, that include many rare, unpublished shots.
Although he has tried over the past months to find a publisher or means of publishing, he was unsuccessfully. That’s why he loves to share exclusively this extensive article with the readers of the Keep Swinging blog

It is now almost 30 years since a true musical genius died of a heart attack at his home in N. Hollywood, Cal.

Don Ellis, born 25 July 1934 in Los Angeles, became an esteemed trumpet player and composer during his short lifetime through continuous study and commitment. His life was a quest into world music cultures and sound. He sought to extend the boundaries of musical sound and thinking to a limitless degree, always searching into the unknown for the unheard.

His mother – Winston Johnston Ellis – was a well-qualified pianist and organist who could have followed a career as a concert artist but chose instead to support her husband – Don’s father, E. Ezra Ellis – in his calling to the church. Ez became a Reverend Doctor of Divinity. Don’s parents were loved by all who knew them.
This was the environment in which the young Don grew up. Music became part of life and it is quite evident, from his mother’s notes, that he was very musically gifted from an early age. The sight of many gleaming trombones at a concert his father took him to fascinated Don so much that this, indeed, was the instrument he would like to have. However, events led to his parents purchasing a trumpet for him. Don became so enthralled he later wrote: “Nothing will ever stop me from playing my trumpet”.
On through school with various establishments, Don would eventually graduate at Boston University with a Mus B in Composition degree, in June 1956.
With the help of his trumpet teacher, John Coffin, Don would immediately audition and join the New Glenn Miller Orchestra, under the direction of Ray McKinley.
In December 1956, Don was drafted into the army. He served in Germany with the 7th Army Soldiers’ Show and toured with their Jazz II and Jazz III Units. The Jazz III orchestra, in particular, was extremely successful, Don’s skills in trumpet playing and music arranging contributing greatly. Featured were musicians of fame Leo Wright, Eddie Harris, Lanny Morgan, Dave Sanchez, etc within this very exciting ensemble.
Returning to the U.S.A after army service, Don would suffer some lean years in N.Y City, eventual work with a number of big bands, including Woody Herman, Maynard Ferguson and the groups of Charlie Mingus, George Russell would be a boost to his future career. In particular, his attendance at the Lennox School of Jazz would promote interest in his playing.
Don would record with a number of these ensembles, as well as with his own groups. The journey into experimentation became well under way, with the formation of the “Improvisational Workshop Orchestra”, where his developing interest in odd-meter time signatures began to emerge. In fact, a number of his later recorded big band charts began within this ensemble. (to be continued)
Ken Orton

The second part of this triptych wll be published Wednesday as: Don Ellis: His Own Sound. Tomorrow the Dutch version of part one: Don Ellis: De Tijd Zal Het Leren.

CHICK BULLOCK ( 1908 - 1981)
This is the third article in row that wants to commemorate musicians, as they were born 100 years ago. On the 14th of September we had Charlie Beal - on the 15th Kid Sheik Cola and today Chick Bullock.

Chick Bullock was born in Bute Montana and passed away 27 years ago. It is said that he was one of the first pop-singers of the 1930s, He was a radio artist for some times, of course, but he became popular with the thousands of recordings he made. He became the most important singer for ARC (= The American Record Company), which released popular labels like Columbia and sung in all major orchestras and with all major jazz artists:, like Eddie Lang en Joe Venuti, Duke Ellington, Vic Berton, Dick McDonough, Ben Pollack, Adrian Rollini .... making a list means that you always forget names, so ... I'll finish it with the names of Don Redman and Fred Waring. Beinig an ARC-artist he whad an exclusive contract with ARC, but I can tell you, he sung for other labels, like Durium, too. Thanks to the depression he had to make money I guess. These recordings were for export to Europe only, so he wasn't afraid that his very recognizable voice should be heard in the States.

The record above, a Million Dollar Baby and Whistling in the Dance is such a European Durium on which Chick Bullock sings. His name is not on the label and the name Jack Norman was in fact Phil Spitalny, the US bandleader who would become known with is All-Women Orchestras during the late 1930s and 1940s.

Keep swinging

Hans Koert

keepswinging@live.nl

Nederlands-Vlaams ( To the English part with Don Elis: May Time Restore? )
CHICK BULLOCK ( 1908 - 1981)

Dit is de derde honderdjarige op rij, die in dit blog langs komt. On 14 september hadden we hier Charlie Beal, gisteren, de vijftiende Kid Sheik Cola en vandaag Chick Bullock.

Chick Bullock werd geboren in Bute, Montana en overleed 27 jaar geleden. Hij was één van de grootste popartiesten uit de jaren dertig. Hij zong voor de radio, natuurlijk, maar werd vooral bekend door zijn duizenden platen, die hij vol zong. Hij had een contract bij ARC, ( = American Record Company), die o.a. het label Columbia uitbracht. Hij zong met alle grote artiesten uit die tijd: Eddie Lang en Joe Venuti, Duke Ellington, Vic Berton, Dick McDonough, Ben Pollack, Adrian Rollini .... en als je begint een lijstje te maken, vergeet je een heleboel namen. howel hij een exclusief contract had met ARC nam hij ook wel eens een schnabbel aan. Omdat de depressie zeker ook de platenindustrie trof, moest er brood op de plank komen. Zo kan ik vertellen dat hij ook voor Durium opnamen heeft gemaakt; opnamen die nooit in Amerika verschenen, maar alleen voor export naar Europa waren. Zijn sonore, zachte stem zou in de VS snel herkent zijn. De hieerboven afgebeelde Duriumplaat is zo'n kartonnen hit: Million Dollar Baby en Whistling in the Dark, waarop Chick Bullock zingt. Het orkest van Jack Norman was in feite Phil Spitalny, die eind jaren dertig en begin jaren veertig bekend zou worden door zijn All-Women Bands, orkesten met louter vrouwen.

DON ELLIS: De Tijd Zal Het Leren:

Ken Orton schreef een uitgebreide biografie over Don Ellis. De biografie, “In Search of Don Ellis, Forgotten Genius” ( geschreven in het Engels) is klaar en nu is het wachten op een uitgever. Het bestaat uit meer dan 800 pagina’s tekst en meer dan 200 pagina’s foto’s, waarvan vele zeldzame en nog niet eerder gepubliceerde foto’s. Helaas is het Ken nog niet gelukt een uitgever te vinden en wil daarom graag, exclusief voor lezers van de Keep swinging blog, zijn boek aanbevelen in met dit uitgebreide essay.
Zal de tijd de herinnering aan Don Ellis rechtzetten?.
Lees het morgen in: Don Ellis: De Tijd Zal Het Leren

Keep swinging

Hans Koert

keepswinging@live.nl

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