Unissued On 78s, Vol. 4

Unissued on 78s means just that: some of the songs here may have
appeared on LPs, but even so they would be several decades old by
now, and collector s items in their own right!

When Victor s mobile recording unit arrived in Houston, Texas in March
1925, one of the bands they chose to record was led by Lloyd Finlay.
Seven titles were made, of which six were issued. Beyond the facts that
Seger Ellis was their piano player, and that Jack Murhill sang on the
unissued title, nothing else is known about this quite interesting group,
which falls stylistically somewhere between hot dance music and country.

Victor s second choice for that trip was Fatty Martin s Orchestra, a much
more straightforward jazz outfit than Finlay s. Two excellent titles resulted,
and although we do have a partial list of personnel for the orchestra,
that is as far as our knowledge goes! After this one session, the
participants returned to recorded obscurity.

Next up are two titles also made for Victor s mobile unit, but in New
Orleans by Tony Parenti and his Famous Melody Boys. This was their
third recording session of 1925, having already made one Victor session
on the previous day, and one several months earlier for Columbia. The
two selections here are first-rate examples of New Orleans jazz of the
middle 20s.