The Extraordinary Story
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In 1976, there was a fire in an abandoned house on Duckworth Street, in downtown St. John’s. At that time, a friend of mine worked with the St. John’s Fire Department. After the flames had been doused, my friend was searching through the smouldering ruins with an eye to anything unusual, and came across a rather strange blackened shape. Prodding it, he realized that it was a fireproof metal box - the sort designed for the deposit of valuable papers. It was, however, flatter and broader than those he had seen in the stationary stores. He brought it back to the station where he was able to spring the lock and open it. Inside he found a ten-inch 78-rpm record and a note. The heat of the fire had charred the note somewhat, but he was able to make out the following: “July 29th, 1930. The record in this box is believed to be unique and is deposited in the box for safety. I am sailing from St. John’s for Buenos Aires next month and I wish to secure the record for posterity on the happen chance that I might not return. The record is a test-pressing produced by a local firm on a portable apparatus of a performance of the song Doctor Jazz. It is believed that the record was pressed in 1925 and could be of historical importance.” The note was signed, but the signature, like most of the note, was not easily or entirely legible. Although the fire appeared to have done its worst with the contents of the box, it was still possible to make out on the label of the record's one grooved side - "Doctor Jazz." A story in the St. John’s The Evening Telegram of Jan. 30th 1924, mentions that ‘The Plantation Trio,’ a trio comprised of banjo, piano and drums, arrived from London on their way to New York. They appeared at the ‘Star of the Sea Hall,’ “playing all the latest New York ‘Jazz-Hits,’ and singing rag time ballads and southern ballads.” The ‘Star Theatre’ could seat 2,000 people. The Telegram went on to describe their debut as “without a shadow of a doubt a success that remains unparalleled in the history of attractions in this city.” A year later the drummer (Charles Foster) was back with clarinet, saxophone, violin and piano - engaged for a month at the ‘Star.’ The clarinetist was Ernest ‘Sticky’ Elliott who had played with trumpeter Johnny Dunn, singers Bessie Smith and Alberta Hunter, and the bands of Fletcher Henderson and Clarence Williams. He accompanied Mamie Smith on her million-dollar seller Crazy Blues - the record that set off the blues craze of the early twenties. My friend took the recording home and attempted to play it on an old Victrola he owned, but the fire had heated the record surface, causing the grooves to distort so that the needle could not be held firmly in the groove. The record was damaged beyond all playable possibility. Is it possible that this recording was made by some or all of the ‘Star’ performers? That a unique performance by ‘Sticky’ Elliott was made, and lost, in St. John’s? On the possibility that this could have been so, the first truly traditional jazz band formed in St. John’s was named in honour of what might well have been the first recording of real jazz in St. John’s. The Doctor Jazz Band continues to play to this day. (back to table of contents) |