Cross Words - Little Ramblers with Adrian Rollini, Jimmy Dorsey, Red Nichols NYC March 30, 1925

The Little Ramblers
Cross Words (Between Sweetie and Me) (mx 140476-2)
New York, NY March 30, 1925
Columbia 346-D
79.67 RPM
Red Nichols, t / Tommy Dorsey, tb / Jimmy Dorsey, cl, as / Sam Ruby or Fred Cusick, ts / Adrian Rollini, bsx / Irving Brodsky, p / Tommy Felline, bj / Stan King, d / Billy Jones, v
Nice clean copy of this very late Columbia acoustical recording (I think, anyway--DAHR says this is a W matrix). This was very difficult to work on, being very over-recorded and boxy. Nearly every loud note clips the living daylights out of the equipment. I did what I could in a single night. It's difficult to present both the full range of the recording and not have it massively distort, so I ended up manually editing hundreds of notes in spectral editing software.
Really satisfying melody by Nichols, rhythm by Rollini, and JD alto.
I chose this record in particular to work on because my wife is a New York Times crossword addict, and this tune hits particularly close to home!

[@peterdilg7155]

Almost a Harmony ! Love this tune ------Thanks-Never heard this version before !

[@thendrjazz]

Another one of those fine 1920s sides where you couldn't afford the band a few years later when both Dorseys and Nichols led their own bands.

[@620film]

Does this recording have the "W" in the matrix/lock groove area?

[@exponent_of_sock5972]

DAHR says it's a W matrix, but in retrospect it's acoustical. That was my thought the whole time but second-guessed it after looking at some docs saying that they were already recording electrically at the time. It doesn't look much different from really bad electrical recordings, but I think my intuition was right the first time.

[@MikeThomas78]

Definitely acoustic recording. No W in the blank wax on my copy.

[@bobboscarato1313]

@@MikeThomas78 It sounds real good for an acoustic record!

[@Gennettor-nc8kx]

This is not a Western Electric recording.