St. Louis Blues
Who Walks In When I Walk Out
The Firehouse Five Plus Two
Good Time Jazz
The Firehouse Five Story, Vol. 2
Cover Illustration & Design: Le Gouillon
Recorded under the supervision of Lester Koenig
Good Time Jazz Records L-12011
Good Time Jazz Records GTJ L-6 (10 inch disc)
These selections were previously issued by GTJ on ten-inch, long-playing records L-2 & L-6 (1953). They have been remastered and reprocessed in 1955 using latest audio-engineering techniques for improved quality
From the back cover of L-12011: Not since the Original Dixieland Jazz Band made its startling impact upon the national consciousness in 1917 has there been anything like the Firehouse Five Plus Two. During 1950 their phenomenal success was one of the outstanding events in the popular music world. By the years end the FH5 was a national institution, a household phrase, and quite possibly America's favorite jazz band.
They kept their enthusiasm high through a series of strenuous professional engagements which found them playing for almost every imaginable kind of audience. The year began with a New Year's dance for the Carson City (Nevada) Volunteer Fire Departement. Back in Hollywood, their Monday nights at the Mocambo, on the Sunset Strip, became nationally famous, partly because of the many movie stars (Ginger Rogers, Ann Miller, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Barbara Stanwyck, etc.) who danced at their Charleston contests. These Monday nights continued for the better part of the year, with almost everyone in show business coming in to hear them.
Among their first and best friends was Bing Crosby, who had known them from their Beverly Cavern days. Bing invited them to play for his Pebble Beach Golf Tournament in January, and then asked them to his CBS Chesterfield radio program in February. They were responsible for an avalanche of fan mail, and came back for four more guest appearances during the year.
The movie colony took them up, Louella Parsons had them on her Sunday broadcast, they played at swank Ocean House in Santa Monica, and Charlie Farrell's exclusive Racquet Club in Palm Springs. Ed Wynn invited them to be guest on his Camel TV show in April. Through the summer they packed the Mocambo Monday nights; reservations had to be made two weeks in advance. In June and July they did two movies: Republic's Hit Parade of 1951 and MGM's Grounds For Marriage.
In the Fall they repeated their hit performance of the preceding year for Frank Bull & Gene Norman's famous Dixieland Jubilee at the Shrine Auditorium before almost 6,000 cheering fans. In October the National Broadcasting Company flew them to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, en route, for a Milton Berle TV show, and a personal appearance on Martin Block's WNEW Make Believe Ballroom.
Christmas Day they appeared on Walt Disney's One Hour in Wonderland over the whole NBC-TV network, and played their version of Jingle Bells, which had been a hit record of the holiday season. TO start 1951 off in their own spectacular way, they became the first jazz band to play in Pasadena's Rose Bowl Parade on New Year's Day before an audience estimated at two and a half million people!
It is difficult to believe they managed to play as often as then did (an average of three times a week), and keep the band a spare-time hobby. Yet, during all this busy year, Ward, Clarke, Ed and Frank were hard at work for Walt Disney, completing Alice In Wonderland. All four had still other interests. Ward expanded his fleet of antique cars with a 1911 Seagrave hook & ladder, and a 1910 Maxwell for use as a Chief's car in parades. His paintings were seen in half a dozen exhibitions. Clarke was busy with his experimental theater work. Frank built a modern house and learned dozens of classic piano rags. Ed wrote a play and continued breeding his champion French Bulldogs.
Harper did art designing for several movies (including The Thing at RKO), painted covers for Colliers and other leading magazines, taught at Los Angeles art school, and began a new career as a movie actor. Monte and Danny, the two professional musicians in the band, were in demand for outside jobs, and found time to venture out into the business world, Monte into real estate and Danny into wholesale photograph record distribution.
One day Frank Thomas sent Ward an inter-office memo: "We are supposed to be playing jazz for fun. When it stops being fun, we ought to stop playing." A band meeting was called and the decision was unanimous: the recording session of May 1952 (at which When You Wore A Tulip, Lonesome Railroad Blues & Runnin' Wild were made) was to be their last public until they felt like playing again. Knowing that, the band really enjoyed the date, and played with remarkable spirit and drive.
On a job, in a club or at a dance, after playing a particularly wild set, Ward used to step panting to the house mike and gasp, "We're gonna take a rest!" Now, with the record session behind them, Ward's announcement that the band was going to "take a rest" for a long time created a sensation in the music business. To the amazement of the booking agency which handled them, Ward flatly turned down job after job.
This was one of the few instances in the history of jazz and popular music where a band as successful as the FH5 refused offers estimated conservatively as in excess of $100,000 because they'd rather have some time to work at their regular jobs, attend PTA and cub scout meetings, go fishing, or catch up on their sleep. During their vacation, whey they were resting, they worked at Disney on Peter Pan, The Lady And The Tramp and Sleeping Beauty. Ward also directed and produced Melody, the 1st Cinemascope cartoon. Harper was busy designing submarines for 20 Thousand Leagues Under The Sea and trains for The Great Locomotive Chase.
But in the Fall of 1953, the old urge to play returned, and so the boys dug out the fireboats. To be sure they kept their amateur standing, they decided to concentrate on entertaining in Army, Navy and Veterans Hospitals. Ward appears on Here's To Veterans, the VA broadcast carried by almost every station in the country. Rehearsals started for a coast-to-coast TV show, and they signed a new long term recording contract with GTJ. During 1954 and 1955 they played when the spirit moved them, usually confining their activities to Friday or Saturday nights. They are still the despair of the professional booking agents, turning down lucrative jobs and accepting those they think might be fun: college and high school dances, fire department parties, the Los Angeles Art Directors' frolic, and the annual Dixieland Jubilee in Los Angeles. And, for the first few weeks after the opening, they played weekends at Disneyland. Now, once again, their lunch hours at the studio are filled with two-beat, and the phone at the Kimball house keeps ringing with offers. The word is out, and the FH5 is off on the latest chapter of their remarkable story.
Frankie & Johnny, St. Louis Blues, Down Where The Sun Goes Down & Copenhagen were recorded at Radio Recorders' Studio B in Hollywood, Calif., July 20, 1950 with Ward Kimball, trombone; Danny Alguire, trumpet; Clarke Mallery, clarinet; Frank Thomas, piano; Harper Goff, banjo; Ed Penner tuba; Monte Mountjoy, drums. Lowell Frank was the recording engineer. The loud scream which starts Frankie & Johnny is Harper's ida of how Johnny sounded when Frankie shot him. On St. Lousi Blues Ward is responsible for that police whistle and cry of "La Rhumba". Sweet Georgia Brown is another in their Charleston series with a vocal in the style of Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys of the '20s. Harper does the vo-do-do-de-o stuff, and the off-beat cymbal is struck (and choked) by Ward.
12 Street Rag & Wabash Blues were recorded at RCA Victor's Studio in Hollywood, Calif., Oct. 7, 1950 with the same personnel. Seth Perkins was the recording engineer.
Sobbin' Blues, Sweet Georgia Brown & Lonesome Mama Blues were recorded at Radio Recorders' Studio B in Hollywood, Calif., March 9, 1951 with the same personnel. Val Valentin was the recording engineer.
Firechief Rag, Just A Stomp At Twilight, Who Walks In When I Walk Out were recorded at Capitol Records' Melrose Studio A, June 12, 1951 with the same personnel except Dick Roberts replaced Harper Goff on banjo. Roy Duann was the recording engineer. Frank pumps an old camp-meeting organ on Twilight and the gadget which makes the "marching men" on Who Walks In comes from the Walt Disney Studio's arsenal of sound effects. – Lester Koenig, October 31, 1955
Frankie And Johnny
Sweet Georgia Brown
Sobbin' Blues
Just A Stomp At Twilight
Down Where The Sun Goes Down
St. Louis Blues
12th Street Rag
Copenhagen
Wabash Blues
Firechief Rag
Lonesome Mama Blues
Who Walks In When I Walk Out
From the back cover of GTJ L-6: Danny Alguire, cornet: Born Chickasha, Oklahoma, August 30, 1912. At five he was the youngest member in the Ft. Worth, Texas, Rotary Clubs Boys Band, playing mellophone. He got hi first trumpet in 1928. In 1935 he joined the now historic migration out of the Dust Bowl, arriving in Los Angeles with his horn, suitcase and 35c in cash. Averaged a dollar and a half a night plus tips as a professional musician until 1938 when he got steady job in Bakersfield, California. In 1939, he met Benny Strickler, the young trumpet player who was the greatest single musical influence in his life. Strickler later helped him get a job with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. In 1942, he joined the Navy as radioman, and served on the Alchiba (AKA-6), an attack cargo vessel engaged in amphibious operations. Four officers and two other enlisted men abroad also liked jazz, and with them Danny played two-beat in the South Pacific for a year and a half. After the war, he gave up music for a fingerprinting job with the Los Angeles Police Department. When jazz came back in 1949, he quit the Police Department for the Firehouse Five, and has been with them ever since.
Harper Goff, banjo: Born at Fort Collins, Colorado, March 16, 1911. Moved to Santa Ana, California, in 1920. When Harper was twelve his father died and from that time Harper supported himself and contributed to the support of his family. From 1924 - 1929, he attended Santa Ana High School. During the summers he worked as a cowboy riding the range back in Colorado, and used the money earned to finance his following year at school.
He got his first banjo in 1925, and taught himself to play it since he couldn't afford lessons. He never played with any band or musical organization until the Firehouse Five.
From the age of six his life's ambition was to become a magazine illustrator. He won a scholarship to Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and studied there for two years. In 1935 he got his first movie job at Warner Bros. as a production illustrator. During the war he designed and supervised the camouflage of several West Coast war plants. After the war he enjoyed great success as a commercial artist, with fifteen of his double-spread paintings appearing in Esquire and other pictures in Coronet, Colliers, This Week, Argosy and True.
Recently he found time to start a promising career as a movie actor, appearing in William Wyler's Detective Story for Paramount. At the end of 1951 he was working directly with Walt Disney at the Disney Studios on plans from future productions.
Ward Kimball, trombone and leader: Born in Minneapolis March 4, 1914. His early childhood was spent in Parsons, Kansas. His father moved to California to get warm in 1920. Ward heard his fist jazz band in front of a girlie show at Ocean Park and remembers being impressed with the way the trombone man played the horn with his foot. In the 6th grade Ward decided to be an artist when he won the grand prize (10c Hershey bar) for a drawing of a steamboat. Went to high school in Santa Barbara, California, played in the school band, and later in the Santa Barbara Symphony. In '31 put his horn away to devote himself exclusively to art, at the Santa Barbara School Of Art, and then at Walt Disney Studios in Hollywood. At Disney's since 1934, as an Animation Director, Ward has created such characters as the jazz crows in Dumbo, Jimmy Cricket in Pinocchio, the mice & Lucifer (the cat) in Cinderella, the Mad Hatter party, Tweedledum & Tweedledee & the Cheshire Cat in Alice In Wonderland.
A talented artist, he has exhibited paintings widely in So. California. He is known throughout the country for having a complete full-sized railroad (The Grizzly Flats RR) consisting of 3 Baldwin locomotives, 600 feet of track, depot, water tower, etc. in his back yard. He also collects old automobiles & fire equipment, and is an ardent member of the Horseless Carriage Club of So. California.
Clarke Mallery, clarinet: Born in Los Angeles, May 17, 1919 and lived in the Pasadena area since. He became interested in music at an early age; his mother was a fine singer, and his family were all musically inclined. He studied violin at first, then switched to clarinet, which he played in the Pasadena High School band. While at high school, he also sang with a local dance orchestra led by his older brother. At high school he was an outstanding track star, which led to a scholarship at the University of Southern California, Class of 1940.
In 1939 he took up high jump honors at the Big Ten-Pacific Coast Dual Meet at Berkeley. His best jump in competition was 6' 7 1/2". From earliest childhood he had been interested in drawing and during college worked as a sports cartoonist for the Los Angeles Examiner. After a summer job (1937) at Disney Studios, he decided on a professional career as an artist, and has worked on almost every Disney feature picture since that time, except for 1942-1944, when he was in the army. Clarke's other interests include acting, theatrical direction, and singing.
Monte Mountjoy, drums, Born Nov. 13, 1912 in Roundup, Montana, and grew up in Decatur, Illinois. He played trumpet as a small boy, but soon gave it up in favor of the drums. His interest in jazz started in 1926, playing drums in a band while still in high school. The thought of being a professional musician intrigued him, and he joined the union and went to work with various bands in and around Chicago when he was still in his teens. He played with Eddie Combs, Byron Dunbar, and from 1937 to 1942, with the Tony Hill orchestra.
In 1942 he went into defense industry making rotary diesels for tanks, back home in Decatur. He moved to Los Angeles defense job in 1943. Later, he went back into music and played with the Bob Wills and various Western bands in the Los Angeles area, including T. Texas Tyler and Spade Cooley. In 1949 when the FH5's original drummer, Jim McDonald, had to leave the band because of the press of his work at Disney, Monte jumped at the chance to get back into jazz. Besides playing with the FH5, he is in great demand as a drummer for record sessions, and has made sides for GTJ with Wally Rose and The Banjo Kings.
Ed Penner, tuba: Born Jan. 7, 1905 in Rosthern, a small hamlet in Northern Saskatchewan's wheat country. At thirteen Ed was an accomplished violinist. At the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon he studied harmony, counterpoint and composition, to fit himself for a professional career. He continued studying at the Chicago Musical College from 1925 to 1930 (with Leon Sametini and Leopold Auer), and financed his lessons by working as a saxophonist in dance bands and theater orchestras.
In 1930, after almost fifteen years of study, he decided he would never be a great violinist, and since he had always been interested in drawing, and had studied at the Chicago Art Institute among other places, in 1930 he got a job as staff artist on the Chicago Daily News. He worked on The News for five years, and then in 1935 came to Hollywood and Walt Disney.
He began as an artist with Disney, soon became a writer, and has written exclusively for Disney ever since. Among his credits are Pinocchio, Fantasia, Cinderella, Ichabod & Mr. Toad, Fun & Fancy Free, Make Mine Music, Alice In Wonderland and currently, Peter Pan.
Frank Thomas, piano: Born in Santa Monica, Sept. 5, 1912, raised in Sacramento and Fresno where his father was president of State College. At seven he took piano lessons for six weeks but quit "because lessons weren't any fun." Started drawing at three and at nine asked his folks if there was any profession "where all you do is draw funny pictures and don't have to work?" When they told him about cartoonists, he decided that was what he was going to be.
He went to Fresno State College for two years, and spent his last two years at Stanford, Class of 1933. After Stanford he went to Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, entering in the year Harper left. With his goal still set at cartooning, he applied for and got a job a Disney in 1934, and has been there ever since, except for 1942-1945 which he spent in the Army Air Force.
Before the war, at Disney's he was typecast doing "cute" stuff: Dopey in Snow White, Pinocchio in Pinocchio, Thunder & Bambi, when they were little in Bambi. After the war, he struck a fun of villains, the stepmother in Cinderella, Queen of Hearts in Alice, and lately Capt. Hook in Peter Pan. He, like Ward, heads a unit as Animation Director, and is considered one of the top men in the industry.
Also from the back cover of GTJ L-12012: Mississippi Rag, the first published ragtime composition (1897), was recorded at Radio Recorders' Studio B in Hollywood, March 9, 1951. It features Frank Thomas, piano; with Ward Kimball, trombone; Danny Alguire, trumpet; Clarke Mallery, clarinet; Harper Goff, banjo; Ed Penner, tuba; Monte Mountjoy, drums. Val Valentine was the recording engineer.
Show Me The Way To The Fire was recorded at Capitol Records' Melrose Studio A in Hollywood, June 12, 1951 with the same personnel except Dick Roberts replaced Harper Goff on banjo. Roy Dunann was the recording engineer.
Five Foot Two, San Antonio Rose, South & Chinatown My Chinatown were also recorded at Capitol Records' Melrose Studio A, Nov. 3, 1951, with the same personnel except Harper Goff was back on banjo, and Jerry Hamm replaced Monte Mountjoy, drums. Roy Dunann was the recording engineer. Translation of the introduction to Chinatown: "We are now most happy to present that distinguished artist, Harper Goff, who will favor us with a delightful banjo number."
Runnin' Wild, I've Been Floating Down The Old Green River, When You Wore A Tulip & Lonesome Railroad Blues were recorded at RCA Victor's studio in Hollywood, May 20, 1952 with the same personnel except Tom Sharpsteen replaced Clarke Mallery, clarinet. Seth Perkins was the recording engineer. Sound effects on Runnin' Wild by Ward Kimball's 1914 American La France fire truck.
Souther Comfort was recored Jan. 23, 1954, and Lovin' Sam March 20, 1954 at Capitol Records' Melrose Studio A with the same personnel except George Probert replaced Sharpsteen, clarinet; and Monte Mountjoy replaced Jerry Hamm, drums. John Palladino was the recording engineer. – Lester Young - October 31, 1955
China Town, My Chinatown
South
Lonesome Railroad Blues
Show Me The Way To The Fire
Lovin' Sam
When You Wore A Tulip
Five Foot Two
San Antonio
Southern Comfort
I've Been Floating Down The Old Green River
Mississippi Rag
Runnin' Wild
I've Been Floating Down The Old Green River, South, Southern Comfort and Lovin' Sam have not previously been released on long playing records. The other eight selections originally issued by GTJ on ten-inch long playing L-16, have been remastered in October 1955 using vastest audio-engineering techniques for improved quality.
Riverside Blues
I'm Floating Down The Old Green River
The Firehouse Story
Good Time Jazz - Set B
Good Time Jazz Record Co. Inc.
The Firehouse Five Story - Vol. 1 - GTL L-12010 - 1953 & 1955
Recorded under the supervision of Lester Koening at Radio Recorders' Studio B in Hollywood, Calif., with Lowell Frank as recording engineer. The cover was designed by L. C. LeGoullon, incorporating a photo of Ward Kimball's 1914 American La France fire-truck.
The Firehouse Five Story - Vol. 2 - GTJ L-12011 - 1953 & 1955
Recorded under the supervision of Lester Koenig. The cover was designed by L. C. Le Goullon.
The Firehouse Five Story - Vol. 3 - GTJ L-12012 - 1953 & 1955
Lester Koenig supervised all the recording sessions except the May 20, 1952 date which was die by Robert D. Kirstein & Nesubi Ertegun. L. C. LeGoullon designed the cover, incorporating a photo of an 1888 steam pumper from Ward Kimball's private collection of antique fire-fighting equipment.
From the back of the box: The Firehouse Five Plus Two is a national institution, a household phrase, and quite possibly America's favorite jazz band. This collection of thirty-six of their best known performances might well be subtitled The First Five Years, for it documents their story from 1949 to 1954, a story of continuing and undiminished popularity. While there have been many explanations offered for their spectacular success, the simplest is that they enjoy playing, they play happy music, and they make people feel goo. They were directly responsible for the Good Time Jazz Record Company, which was born with their first recording session May 13, 1949, and have been GTJ's exclusive recording stars ever since.
Their story began several years before, at the Walt Disney studios in Hollywood, where a group of animators, writers, and technicians who loved jazz, used to gather in Ward Kimball's office at lunch time to listen to records and play along with the phonograph. They had no intention of starting a jazz band, but one day the phonograph broke down; they decided to see what would happen if they sounded off without it, and they were in business.
At first they played for their own amusement at weekly get-togethers in living rooms. Then the word got around and they were asked to play at friends' parties, and an occasional public dance sponsored by local jazz enthusiasts. The personnel of the band at that time included Disneyites Ward Kimball (trombone), Frank Thomas (piano), Clarke Mallery (clarinet), Jim MacDonald (drums), and Ed Penner (bass sax). One night at a party, Ward and Clarke met Johnny Lucas, a young Pasadena trumpet player, who impressed them so much that they invited him to their next session. Johnny became a fixture, and is heard on the first four recordings. Later, on a vacation rail-fan excursion on the old narrow gauge Denver-Rio Grande in Colorado, Ward met artist Harper Goff who "just happened to have his banjo with him." They stuck up a few tunes (Ward had his harmonica), and the next informal session of the band found Harper firmly installed in the banjo chair.
At first, the band was known as "The Hugageedy 8" (a reference to their passion for antique cars), then as "The San Gabriel Valley Blue Blowers" (the Kimball's live in San Gabriel, a suburb of Los Angeles). Their third and final name came in a round-about fashion: Ward and his wife, Betty, had long been ardent members of the Southern California Horseless Carriage Club, and rarely missed a caravan, for which they'd get out their linen dusters and goggles, and their 1913 Ford. Since the point of these outings was to have a good time, they decided to compound their pleasure by brining the band along. But what to ride in? It had to be older than 1914 to qualify, and it had to hold seven musicians. After weeks of searching, a 1914 American La France Fire-Truck (see cover) was purchased from the city of Venice, California, for $225. It took six months to get it in shape, equipped with workable fire-fighting apparatus, and painted properly. Red fireshirts, white suspenders, authentic fire helmets were acquired and so, early in 1949 the famous Firehouse Five Plus Two ("Available for dances, weddings, picnics, wakes.") emerged upon the scene.
Shortly after, they were the hit of a spectacular Horseless Carriage Caravan (sponsored by General Petroleum) to San Diego, with people dancing in the streets along the route; they played a benefit for the late Bud Scott, banjoist and guitarist for the Ory band; made their first two records for Good Time Jazz; the Beverly Cavern, a small night club specializing in jazz, hired them for a series of Monday night sessions.
The New Orleans influence on West Coast jazz, particularly the San Francisco division under the leadership of Lu Watters and Turk Murphy, has been strong for many years. It was inevitable the band would feel its impact. From the beginning they developed along New Orleans lines, with emphasis on an original and exuberant ensemble style. They'd heard the Oliver, Morton, Dodds and Armstrong records, and liked them. Even more important, they profited from association with such friendly New Orleans musicians as Kid Ory, Minor Hall, Ed Garland, Joe Darensbourg, Zutie Singleton and Albert Nicholas, who came to their sessions and played with them.
Up to this time, they thought their only appeal was to jazz fans. But they began to find ordinary people, who had never heard of the jazz cults, like the music when they heard it. From mid-summer on, they became increasingly popular, and wherever they played (an average of three times a week for dances, private parties, civic affairs, parades and benefits throughout the West) they won new friends for jazz.
Many explanations have been offered for the FH5's spectacular rise, ranging from "sociological" analyses to notions of jealous brethren in other less successful bands attributing their success to the fact they wear firehats and ride in a firetruck. One analyst appeared in print with the theory their popularity signifies a longing on the part of The Public to return to happier days of The Twenties before the Great Depression, World War II, the A & H Bombs, and the Cold War. They have also been labeled "a reaction to bop." Perhaps the simplest explanation comes closest to the truth. They are in the unique and extremely fortunate position of playing only because they enjoy it. Their own enthusiasm for jazz, and enjoyment in playing, are contagious and have been responsible for making a great many people, for the first time, aware of the vitality and gaiety inherent in the traditional jazz style. Perhaps a good part of their success in this connection comes from the fact they are not literal copyists of the past. They brought their own personalities, and a fresh, original approach to the jazz classics, taking them out of the museum and making them live again for a new generation.
Johnny Lucas and Jim MacDonald found it difficult to maintain the new and expand FH5 schedule; Danny Alguire and Monte Mountjoy joined the band on corner and drums. Both had been professional musicians who loved jazz but never had a chance to play it. When the FH5 offer came, they leaped at it, and remained with the band through the rise to fame which reached a peak at the year's end when they moved the Monday night sessions from the Beverly Cavern to the Mocambo. At the Mocambo, their revival in the Charleston and their uninhibited, happy music, put them in the national spotlight, and started them on an even more spectacular year in 1950.
Firehouse Stomp, San, Fireman's Lament & Blues My Naughty Sweetie were recorded May 13, 1949 with Ward Kimball, trombone; Johnny Lucas, trumpet; Clarke Mallery, clarinet; bass sax; Jim MacDonald, drums. In addition to his chores as leader, trombonist and some-time vocalist, Ward also operates the siren, fireball, tambourines, slapsticks, gongs, etc.
Brass Ball, Everybody Loves My Baby, Red Hot River Valley & Riverside Blues were recorded Oct. 8, 1949 with the same personnel except Danny Alguire replaced John Lucas on trumpet and Monte Mountjoy replaced Jim MacDonald on drums. Ed Penner learned to play the tuba between the two sessions, and played bass sax only on Everybody Loves My Baby. The whistler on Red Hot River is Harper, and Frank is featured in a celeste solo on Riverside Blues.
Yes Sir! That's My Baby, Pagan Love Song, Tiger Rage and The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise were recorded February 18, 1950 with the same personnel used on the pervious session. World Is Waiting is one of the FH5's show-stopping numbers. The house lights dim, and while Harper plays his tempo ad lib solo, Ward is busy lighting the kerosene lamp fastened to his washboard, just under a small cymbal, (yes, he also plays washboard). and puts on his set of thimbles, getting them on just in time to make an entrance with the tuba and piano for the second chorus, after which Ward favors the audience with a washboard solo. This precipitates a mad race to the finish, between Harper and Ward, usually ending in a dead heat, with both participants in a state of near collapse. Tiger Rag is unusual in that it is the first recorded instance of a fire siren taking a "break". Yes Sir! was the tune they played for their famous Charleston contests at The Mocambo. It is eminently Charlestonable, as a host of movie stars can testify. – Lester Koenig - October 31, 1955
Firehouse Stomp
Everybody Loves My Baby
Pagan Love Song
San
Fireman's Lament
Blues My Naughty Sweetie
Yes Sir! That's My Baby
Red Hot River Valley
Riverside Blues
Brass Bell
World Is Waiting For The Sunrise
Tiger Rag
These selections were previously issued by GTJ on ten-inch long playing records L-1 & L-2. They ave been remastered and reprocessed in 1955 using latest audio-engineering techniques for improved quality.
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