(Shelton Brooks)
Australia
#2 Sydney
#2 Melbourne
#2 Brisbane
#4 Adelaide
#3 Perth
British-born singer-songwriter Ted Mulry (1947-2001) first became known through such sweet, melodic songs as his own Julia (1970) and Vanda & Young’s Falling In Love Again (1970), but his career really took off in the mid-70s with the Ted Mulry Gang (later TMG), a rocking goodtime band familiar on TV’s Countdown. See also Jump In My Car and So Much Love In My Heart.
Further reading: Ted Mulry page at Howlspace [archived].
(Shelton Brooks)
UK
#34 UK
Look at it this way: A lot of people have idolised the Beatles, but who did the Beatles idolise? … Joe Brown! – Jools Holland on Later With Jools (2008).
Single on Decca, the first of eleven charting singles 1960-1973 by London singer, actor and entertainer Joe Brown (b.1943), some solo but most with The Bruvvers.
Joe Brown’s biggest hits were A Picture of You (1962, #2 UK, written by Bruvver Peter Oakman with Johnny Beveridge), It Only Took A Minute (1962, #6, wr. Hal David & Mort Garson), and That’s What Love Will Do (1963, #3, written by Trevor Peacock, later known as ‘Jim Trott’ in The Vicar of Dibley).
The Beatles appeared with Joe Brown in the early 60s, and his hit song A Picture Of You was apparently a favourite of the band and of their manager Brian Epstein. The Beatles did their own version – with George Harrison on vocals – on stage and on BBC radio YouTube. Harrison in particular was close to Joe Brown who appeared on two of Harrison’s albums and featured in the 2002 Concert For George memorial (as did his daughter, the singer Sam Brown).
Further reading: 1. For more on Joe Brown’s links with the Beatles and George Harrison, see (i) the 2003 discussion Beatles and Joe Brown at rec.music.Beatles and (ii) the Wikipedia entry on Joe Brown. 2. TheBruvvers.com [archived].
Thanks to Terry Stacey for suggestion.
(Shelton Brooks) Australia
10″ 78 rpm disc on Prestophone, an early Australian jazz recording of Darktown Strutters’ Ball with unusual title variation.
Trumpeter, trombonist, arranger and band leader Frank Coughlan (1904-1979) was born in Emmaville NSW, near Glen Innes in the New England region. After returning to Australia from a fruitful sojourn in England, he worked in various bands before becoming band leader at Sydney’s Trocadero jazz venue. He was there from 1936 until its closure in 1970, except for wartime military service 1942-46.
Jack Mitchell’s Australian Jazz on Record discography shows that this has been a favourite with Australian jazz musicians, who have released many versions of Darktown Strutters’ Ball (also known as At The Darktown Strutters’ Ball). Excluding several unreleased sessions, they have included:
The Barrelhouse Four (Hobart) 1946, on the Ampersand label
Graeme Bell & His Dixieland Jazz Band (Melbourne) 1946, Dawn Club
Graeme Bell & His Dixieland Jazz Band (Melbourne) 1947, Pacific
Keith Hounslow’s All Stars (Melbourne) 1947, AWA (custom pressings)
Lazy Ade’s Backroom Boys (Melbourne, Graeme Bell personnel), 1949 Swaggie
Southern Jazz Group (Adelaide) 1947, Memphis, Dawn Club
The Port Jackson Jazz Band (Sydney) 1948, John Mystery
Les Welch And Hiis Orchestra (Sydney) 1953, Festival
Wocka Dyer & His Bacchanalians (Melbourne) 1955, Swaggie, Banff
Lazy Ade (Monsbourgh) And His Late Hour Boys (Melbourne) 1956, Swaggie
Ray Price And His Port Jackson Jazz Band (Sydney) 1961, Pix
Billy Burton’s Orchestra (Sydney) 1975, Axis
The Datsun Dixielanders (Melbourne) 1977, Jazznote
Adrian Ford’s Big Band (Sydney) 1977 Hammard
Frank Traynor’s Jazz Preachers (Melbourne) 1977, Rose Leaf
Pamela & Llew Hird (New Orleans) 1978, Stomperphone
Graeme Bell And Mr Bones (Sydney) 1979, Sea Horse
Sources
1. Jack Mitchell, Australian Jazz on Record 1925-80 (National Film & Sound Archive,1988). Out of print: see AbeBooks.
2. Frank Coughlan article at Wikipedia.
Thanks to Dave Overett for spotting the Port Jackson Jazz Band version and setting off this train of thought.
(Shelton Brooks)
USA
Earliest recording date
Victor 10″, 78 rpm disc recorded 9 May 1917 (Discography Of
American Historical Recordings), released November 1917 (Discogs.com).
Six Brown Brothers were Canadian vaudevillians, a blackface saxophone group credited with popularising the instrument in North America.
Other early recordings
• Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded 31 May 1917
• Brunswick Military Band recorded c. October 1917
• Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan recorded c. October 1917 released February 1918
First release?
I cannot confirm whose recording was released first, although the Original Dixieland Jazz Band is a strong candidate.
Later versions listed in Joel Whitburn’s chart books
• Jaudas’ Society Orchestra 1918
• Ted Lewis 1927
• Connie Haines & Alan Dale 1948
• Lou Monte 1954
Recording dates from DAHR which has a long list of recordings of the song (search from home page).
(Shelton Brooks) USA
Original version: published work
The Darktown Strutters’ Ball was copyrighted in January 1917 and probably performed on stage first by vaudevillian trio Benny Fields, Jack Salisbury and Benny Davis.
Sophie Tucker was an early performer of Darktown Strutters’ Ball, and she appeared on the cover of its sheet music in 1917, but she did not issue a recording of the song. Another song by the same composer, Some Of These Days (1910), was a standard in Sophie Tucker’s repertoire.
The history of the performances, recordings and citations of Darktown Strutters’ Ball is huge (and beyond the range of this page). See for example, lists at The Originals, Cover.info and Wikipedia
The song’s appearances range from a well-known original jazz dance by comedian Joe Frisco (1899-1958) to The Band’s quotation in the liner notes of the self-titled album (1969): I wanna be there when the band starts playing.
The composer and lyricist
Shelton Brooks (1886-1975) was born in Amherstburg Ontario but worked as a ragtime pianist in vaudeville in Detroit and Chicago. He was a prolific songwriter, best known for The Darktown Strutters’ Ball and for Some Of These Days (1910), identified with Sophie Tucker.
Further reading: The history of Darktown Strutters’ Ball at Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame covers the essentials on one page, and the site has another useful page about Shelton Brooks.
Thanks to Dave Overett for recalling The Band.
Jelly Roll Blues?
The lyrics of Darktown Strutters’ Ball include the lines I’m goin’ to dance off both my shoes, When they play those Jelly Roll Blues.
The influential jazz pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941) wrote and recorded a song called Jelly Roll Blues, published in 1915, but he claimed to have written it in 1905. In support of that, the Doctor Jazz website cites a newspaper item from Indianapolis in 1907: Fred Morton, “Jelly Roll,” just arrived in town … He is the town talk, because he wrote the “Jelly Roll Blues” (citation and image.) Morton released his own recording of Jelly Roll Blues in 1924 (as Ferd [Jelly Roll] Morton).
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Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2026. Chart positions courtesy of Gavin Ryan’s Australian Chart Books and Dean Scapolo’s Complete NZ Music Charts. Special thanks to Terry Stacey for information, corrections and suggestions. Thanks also to Tony Watson, Philippe Edouard, Dave Overett.., More…
