Volume five of
Clara Smith's complete works as reissued by Document during the 1990s covers a segment of her career from July 30, 1927 to December 31 1929, beginning with her recording of
Tiny Parham's "Black Cat Moan." The title of that song apparently engendered an executive decision at Columbia Records causing her backing band (which included cornetist Gus Aiken, reedman Bob Fuller, and pianist Stanley Miller) to be listed as Her Five Black Kittens. This seasoned blues vocalist closed out the decade by making records with some of New York's finest jazz musicians, including
Duke Ellington's trumpeter Freddy Jenkins (tracks six and seven) as well as pianist and composer
James P. Johnson (tracks 17 and 18). Other noteworthy instrumentalists include pianist Lemuel Fowler, cornetists Ed Allen and Joe Smith, trombonist Big Charlie Green (who sounds especially pungent during
Thomas A. Dorsey's "It's Tight Like That"); cellist Marion Cumbo (listen for him during "Got My Mind on That Thing" and "Wanna Go Home"), and an unidentified kazooist (who was probably pianist Porter Grainger) on "Ain't Got Nobody to Grind My Coffee." ~ arwulf arwulf