Duke Ellington - The Mystery Song (1931)
- 00:03:43
- YouTube
Duke Ellington - The Mystery Song (1931)
This is one of my favorite bits of Ellingtonia from this era, "The Mystery Song," written by Duke Ellington and recorded on June 17, 1931. The music was written to accompany a dance from the famous Cotton Club floor show. The record player is an Orthophonic Victrola model VE4-4X, or "Granada". The "E" in the model number indicates that the Victrola is fitted with a synchronous A/C motor instead of a wind-up motor. The machine has a full "orthophonic" playback system (for electrically-recorded records) including the special orthophonic sound box with a duralumin diaphragm and a folded exponential horn inside of the cabinet. Although the gigantic Credenza Victrola produced deeper bass, the Granada had the most accurate overall frequency response of all the acoustic Orthophonic Victrolas. The serial number indicates that this machine was probably manufactured in 1926. I shoot my video with a Sony Digital 8 format camera. For audio, I use a Shure SM-57 microphone on a stand placed about 4 feet in front of the Victrola horn. I use "soft tone" needles to keep from overloading the microphone. The mic is plugged directly into the video camera. The videos are edited with Windows Movie Maker. I use Sound Forge 9 to clean up the audio, but don't worry -- you're hearing the record exactly as the Victrola plays it! For more great music, videos, and trivia from this era, please visit my website, http://www.virtualvictrola.com.
YouTube | August 27, 2008
