Night Trip To Buffalo - American Quartet (1910)
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Label adds "Two Irishmen in a sleeping car" under the title.
"A Night Trip to Buffalo" had been recorded by one of the earlier variants of the American Quartet at the turn of the century and was redone by the Haydn shortly thereafter.
We are hearing the 1910 version, and when this was issued, Victor literature called this updated version "much improved and funnier" than its antecedents.
Victor 16524
1910
Speakers are Billy Murray, John Bieling, Albert Campbell, and John H. Meyer
The name "American Quartet" was employed by a few ensembles, including one that made, around 1901, discs for the Victor Talking Machine Company and cylinders for the Lambert Company of Chicago. But the group with this name that enjoyed the most popularity was formed in 1909 and originally consisted of first tenor John Bieling; second tenor Billy Murray; baritone Steve Porter; and bass William F. Hooley.
This American Quartet, with Billy Murray's distinctive lead, was among the three most popular quartets to make records in the acoustic era, the other two being the Haydn and the Peerless.
This American Quartet came into being soon after Billy Murray signed contracts that restricted his services to Victor for discs and Edison for cylinders. Jim Walsh writes in the February 1970 issue of Hobbies, "For several years [Murray] had been singing frequently on Victor records with the assistance of the Haydn Quartet, but now it was decided there was a need for a foursome in which he would star. So John Bieling and Hooley were borrowed from the Haydn Quartet (in which, however, they continued to sing) and Porter was brought in from the Peerless, where he had been singing baritone." Arthur Collins joined the Peerless as Porter's replacement--possibly Collins was in the Peerless all along, and Walsh was mistaken about Porter being it.
Victor christened this group the American Quartet while Edison called it the Premier Quartet (in 1919, when the group worked for other companies, it was sometimes called the Premier American Quartet).
Earlier groups used the name. The March 1899 issue of The Phonoscope establishes that John Bieling, Jere Mahoney, S. H. Dudley, and William F. Hooley recorded for Edison as the Edison Male Quartet, for Berliner as the Haydn Quartet, and for other companies as the American Quartet. The July 1899 issue of that publication indicated that a group making cylinders for Reed, Dawson and Company (located at 74 Cortland Street, New York, and 516 Broad Street, Newark) was "The Original American Quartet." Whether this group was the one cited in March is unknown.
When the American Quartet with Billy Murray was formed in 1909, he must have seemed very young to other members. Murray was 31. Bieling was almost 40; Porter was 44; and Hooley was 47. The American Quartet's debut release, "Denver Town," was recorded in February 1909 and was announced in Victor's May 1909 supplement.
"A Night Trip to Buffalo" had been recorded by one of the earlier variants of the American Quartet at the turn of the century and was redone by the Haydn shortly thereafter.
We are hearing the 1910 version, and when this was issued, Victor literature called this updated version "much improved and funnier" than its antecedents.
Victor 16524
1910
Speakers are Billy Murray, John Bieling, Albert Campbell, and John H. Meyer
The name "American Quartet" was employed by a few ensembles, including one that made, around 1901, discs for the Victor Talking Machine Company and cylinders for the Lambert Company of Chicago. But the group with this name that enjoyed the most popularity was formed in 1909 and originally consisted of first tenor John Bieling; second tenor Billy Murray; baritone Steve Porter; and bass William F. Hooley.
This American Quartet, with Billy Murray's distinctive lead, was among the three most popular quartets to make records in the acoustic era, the other two being the Haydn and the Peerless.
This American Quartet came into being soon after Billy Murray signed contracts that restricted his services to Victor for discs and Edison for cylinders. Jim Walsh writes in the February 1970 issue of Hobbies, "For several years [Murray] had been singing frequently on Victor records with the assistance of the Haydn Quartet, but now it was decided there was a need for a foursome in which he would star. So John Bieling and Hooley were borrowed from the Haydn Quartet (in which, however, they continued to sing) and Porter was brought in from the Peerless, where he had been singing baritone." Arthur Collins joined the Peerless as Porter's replacement--possibly Collins was in the Peerless all along, and Walsh was mistaken about Porter being it.
Victor christened this group the American Quartet while Edison called it the Premier Quartet (in 1919, when the group worked for other companies, it was sometimes called the Premier American Quartet).
Earlier groups used the name. The March 1899 issue of The Phonoscope establishes that John Bieling, Jere Mahoney, S. H. Dudley, and William F. Hooley recorded for Edison as the Edison Male Quartet, for Berliner as the Haydn Quartet, and for other companies as the American Quartet. The July 1899 issue of that publication indicated that a group making cylinders for Reed, Dawson and Company (located at 74 Cortland Street, New York, and 516 Broad Street, Newark) was "The Original American Quartet." Whether this group was the one cited in March is unknown.
When the American Quartet with Billy Murray was formed in 1909, he must have seemed very young to other members. Murray was 31. Bieling was almost 40; Porter was 44; and Hooley was 47. The American Quartet's debut release, "Denver Town," was recorded in February 1909 and was announced in Victor's May 1909 supplement.