Tim Gracyk's video: Who s Sorry Now The Happy Six led by Harry A Yerkes on Columbia A3861 1923 1920s dance music

"Who's Sorry Now?" is played by The Happy Six (led by Harry A. Yerkes) Columbia A3861 March 12, 1923 The music of "Who's Sorry Now?" was written by Ted Snyder; Lyrics are by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. The song was published in 1923. You smiled when we parted. It hurt me somehow. I thought there was nothing worthwhile. The tables are turning, and you're crying now while I am just learning to smile. Who's sorry now? Who's sorry now? Whose heart is achin' for breakin' each vow? Who's sad and blue? Who's cryin', too, Just like I cried over you? Right to the end--just like a friend-- I tried to warn you somehow. You had your way. Now you must pay. I'm glad that you're sorry now. Harry A. Yerkes controlled many bands and small units. His recording activities may exceed those of any other bandleader of the acoustic era (that is, before the advent of the microphone). He was a skilled musician, as we can hear on his xylophone solo "Happy Heine," from December 1905 or January 1906 (Columbia 3348) and his bell solo titled "Simplicity--Intermezzo" (Columbia 3361, later A878). Yerkes Jazarimba Orchestra discs were issued in November 1917 on the Starr Piano Co. label as well as the related Gennett Art Tone label. One title is George M. Cohan's "Over There." The ensemble recorded two titles for Columbia slightly earlier but the company did not issue these until April 1918 (A2482). Many bands bearing Yerkes' name (and several that did not) recorded for Columbia from 1918 onwards, at least until 1923. The July 15, 1919 issue of Talking Machine World reports, "The Columbia Graphophone Co. has just made a contract with Harry A. Yerkes, of Yerkes' Novelty Orchestra, for the exclusive right to record the work of the saxophone sextet with the understanding that the organization shall be known as the Columbia Saxophone Sextette." Before this, Yerkes led sessions with such very different companies as Victor, Gennett, Vocalion, Grey Gull, Lyric, and Paramount. Tom Brown, a white New Orleans trombonist who took part in all Yerkes sessions requiring a trombone, including sessions for the All Star Trio and Their Orchestra, reported that Yerkes managed the All Star Trio. A typical record is "I Might Be Your Once-In-A-While" (Emerson 10151, recorded around February 1920), on which alto saxophonist Wheeler Wadsworth, who had worked in Chicago with Tom Brown in 1916, plays two improvised choruses. George Green's xylophone offers interesting variations on many of the themes, and on "Twelfth Street Rag" (Victor 18713, HMV B-1262) the Trio becomes a quartet with the addition of an extra pianist, composer Max Kortlander, who joins the regular man Victor Arden to produce some attractive music. The full orchestra under Harry A. Yerkes' nominal direction seldom produced much jazz, nor did the early 1920s recordings of Yerkes' S. S. Flotilla Orchestra--we instead hear typical dance band performances. The earlier Columbias of the Happy Six offer some good performances. The Louisiana Five, connected with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band through clarinetist Alcide Nunez having played with both bands, had apparently dissolved at the end of 1919 or the beginning of 1920. Nunez worked for Yerkes for a time and is heard on the Happy Six's "Shake Your Little Shoulder" (Columbia A2929) and on "Railroad Blues" by Yerkes Southern Five on the other side, recorded February 28 and March 5, 1920 respectively. Nunez is also on "Poppy Blossoms" and "The Time Will Come," tunes interpolated into the main number, "Mystery" (Columbia A2905, cut January 11, 1920). Yerkes was also the agent for the American Five, which left New York on January 11, 1920, and arrived in England nine days later. Eddie Grossbart was the drummer. He was also the drummer of Ross Gorman's Novelty Syncopators, apparently another Yerkes band, which made two titles for Columbia in New York on September 27, 1919. "Barking Dog," issued on Columbia A2844, is good Dixieland jazz thanks to cornetist Clarence Grancy (or Gransie) and trombonist Keith Pitman. Both can be heard on two sides by the White Way Jazz Band on Paramount 20014, recorded without a drummer during the first half of 1920. Yerkes and Hickman knew each other. In the saxophone section of Hickman's orchestra was Bert Ralton, who later directed the original Savoy Havana Band in London. He became the victim of a shooting accident on January 16, 1927. Page 22 of the December 1923 issue of Metronome states, "Yerkes' 'Happy Six,' now a nine-piece combination, is part of the entertainment in 'I'll Say She Is' at present on the road waiting a favorable opportunity to come into New York." I'll Say She Is was the first hit show to star the Four Marx Brothers. Discs issued with the Yerkes label state that recordings were made at the Metropolitan Opera House. Sales were poor. "Who's Sorry Now?" The Happy Six (led by Harry A. Yerkes) on Columbia A3861 (1923)