Speak Easy Jazz

Hot, sweet sounds played on American band stands,

records and radio that became its first popular music

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                 © 2025 - Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved

 

Speak Easy Jazz concert offers the hot, sweet tunes that were popular between 1919 and early 1930s. This music was popular with the era’s speakeasy denizens — flappers, crooners, doughboys, bootleggers and stage door johnnies. The hallmarks of these 100-year-old tunes are the syncopated rhythms, memorable melodies and clever lyrics.

Many jazz tunes were first heard when played by small combos on band stands, vaudeville stages, juke joints and live radio broadcasts. But you could also could hear jazz on 78 rpm records positioned in an apparatus called a Victrola – a cabinet that enabled listeners to "play" a record on a turntable that fed sound into an external horn.

Musical luminaries of the 1920s

The rascals who produced these jazz gems were up-and-comers — the vocalists, songwriters, song pluggers, band leaders, pianists, as well as guitar, clarinet, horn and sax players. Don't forget musicians on kazoos, tenor banjos and comb & tissue paper.

Any list of 1920s jazz cats includes such musical luminaries as Lonnie Johnson, Al Jolson, Gene Austin, Rudy Vallee, Louis Armstrong, Irving Berlin, Fats Waller, Eddie Lang, Hoagy Carmichael, Nick Lucas, Isham Jones, Cliff Edwards and Paul Whiteman.

 

Such an esteemed group of jazz artists includes as well such vocalists as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Ethel Waters, Sophie Tucker, Ruth Etting, Alberta Hunter and Mildred Bailey.

We also can't omit singer-songwriter Victoria Spivey and her Chicago Four, pianist-arranger Lil Hardin Armstrong and the Hot Five combo she led with husband Louis, or songwriter Dorothy Fields, who wrote lyrics of more than 400 songs for Broadway musicals and Hollywood films.

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Mound City Blue Blowers

This early jazz combo made 30 recordings between 1923 and 1936. Its earliest members included Dick Slevin (kazoo), Jack Bland (banjo), Eddie Lang (guitar) and Red McKenzie (comb & tissue paper). Lack of drum kit led to use of a suitcase brushed with small hand brooms. Later members included: Frankie Trumbauer (sax), Jack Teagarden (trombone), Coleman Hawkins (sax), Muggsy Spanier (cornet), Glenn Miller (trombone), Jimmy Dorsey (trombone), Nappy Lamare (banjo) and Bunny Berrigan (trumpet).

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Jazz hits from the 1920s include:

• April Showers           • Sweet Sue–Just You          • Marie

• It Had To Be You       • If You Knew Susie             • Bye Bye Blues

• Tip-Toe Thru Tulips    • April Showers                   • Bye-Bye Blackbird

• Toot-Toot Tootsie       • She's Funny That Way       • Stardust

• My Blue Heaven        • Carolina In The Morning    • Makin Whoopee

• Five-Foot-Two           • Honeysuckle Rose             • If I Had You     

• Ain’t Misbehavin'       • It All Depends On You        • After You've Gone

• CA Here I Come        • I'll See You In Dreams       • Always

• Avalon                      • Ain't She Sweet                • Blue Skies

People adore these up-tempo tunes today as much as they did back in the 1920s. Songs in the Speak Easy Jazz program include:

Sheik Of Araby was composed in 1921 by Harry Smith and Francis Wheeler, with music by Ted Snyder, in response to the popularity of Rudolph Valentino in the movie of the same name. It is said that New Orleans jazz artists were first to put the song in their repertoire, insuring its longevity.

 

Oh, Lady Be Good! was composed by George and Ira Gershwin for the 1924 musical, Lady, Be Good! The play featured the premier appearance of the brother-sister dance team, Fred and Adele Astaire, and ran on Broadway for 330 performances.

This Gershwin tune spawned a host of hit recordings by such artists as Paul Whiteman and his orchestra (1924), Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards (1925), Jack Hylton and his orchestra (1926), and Buddy Lee with the Gilt-Edge Four (1926). In the 1930s the song was a hit for jazz artists Benny Goodman, Slim & Slam, Artie Shaw and Count Basie.

In 1947, Ella Fitzgerald's recording of "Lady Be Good" was notable for her scatting. Her 1959 recording of the song helped establish the Gershwin Songbook at the very top of America's greatest music.

 

I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby — This song was composed in 1928 by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields for “Blackbird Revue,” a Broadway show that ran for two years.

Urban legend says the song was composed in about an hour after the songwriters over-heard a young couple lament a lack of resources to buy jewelry as they window-shopped at Tiffany’s on Fifth Avenue in New York. According to author Jack Burton, the songwriters heard the young man say, " Gee, honey, I'd like to get you a sparkler like that, but right now, I can't give you nothin' but love!"

Today, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" is a performance and recording standard played in every repertoire, every venue and every speed.

Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out was composed by Jimmie Cox in 1923 and popularized with Bessie Smith's recording, which was released in September, 1929 — a few weeks before the Stock Market Crash. The ragtime-era song bemoans the vicissitudes of fortune and fickleness of friends amidst hard times.

"Nobody Knows You" became a standard with jazz and blues artists, including Sidney Bechet (1938), Leadbelly (1948) and Scrapper Blackwell (1959). Most recently, it was a hit for British guitarist Eric Clapton on his deceptive-labeled Unplugged album in 1992.

 

Ain't Misbehavin', according to popular legend, was composed on a child's piano in 1929 by Thomas "Fats" Waller (1904 - 1943) while "lodging" in alimony prison. Luckily, he had lucrative deals with several Tin Pan Alley music publishers who paid him for each song he wrote. So, he earned enough on this one song to get out of jail. Sadly, Fats never earned another dime on the song.

Pop recordings of "Ain't Misbehavin'" include those by singing star and actress Ruth Etting (1897 - 1978), crooner Gene Austin (1900 - 1972), band leader Leo Reisman (1897-1961) in 1929. That same year Louis Armstrong performed it in a popular musical revue called Hot Chocolates at Connie's Inn, a Harlem speakeasy.

Like its rival, the Cotton Club, Connie's Inn featured entertainment by black performers in a music pit and barely clad female dancers on a stage. The audience included mostly white males, businessmen, and their secretaries seated at dimly lit tables.

All that jazz

It's been said that as a college boy in Indiana Hoagy Carmichael would travel to Miami, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles to hear the jazz he loved and meet its musicians. But he wasn't the only one looking to soak up all that jazz.

Indeed, some say the public's attachment to jazz was lubricated by many factors. They included easy access to bootleg liquor, proliferation of 78-rpm records, rise of radio, growth of the legitimate stage and Broadway musicals, and the marvel of "talkies."

Ultimately, ragtime and jazz music helped upend the social and sexual mores of the day as much as the back seats of Henry Ford’s Tin Lizzie autos. Because of jazz music, we now consider the 1920s as America's first post-War period — a time characterized as the Roaring Twenties and its Lost Generation.

 

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 © 2025 — Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved

Bucky + 1930s Richter uke

2025   Concerts   Schedule

Apr 7, 2025   —   Poets of the Prairie

Milltown Public Library, Milltown NJ

Apr 10, 2025   —   Broadway Memories

Moravian Hall Square, Nazareth PA

May 15, 2025   —   Speak Easy Jazz

Havenwood Campus, Concord NH

May 16, 2025   —   She Did It Her Way

Fox Hill Village, Westwood MA

June 17, 2025   —   She Did It Her Way

Lansdale Public Library, Lansdale PA

Aug  3, 2025   —   She Did It Her Way

Edison Public Library, Edison NJ

Sep 13, 2025   —   Crooners & Swingers

Old Bridge Public Library, Old Bridge NJ

Sep 18, 2025   —   MidCentury Melodies

Little Falls Public Library, Little Falls NJ

Sep 24, 2025   —   Crooners & Swingers

Heath Village, Hackettstown NJ

Oct 12, 2025   —   Moon, Stars & You

Fuller Village, Milton MA

Oct 13, 2025   —   Vintage Guitar Roadshow

Havenwood Campus, Concord NH

Nov 15, 2025   —   Hollywood Souvenirs

Greenwood Lake Public Library, Greenwood Lake NY

Dec 28, 2025   —   Crooners, Swingers & Idols

Mahwah Public Library, Mahwah NJ

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Dale Evans  —  1948
North Hollywood CA

      2026  Concerts Schedule

        Apr 22, 2026

        MidCentury Melodies

        Retired Friends Club of Greendale

         Worcester MA

        Jun 21, 2026

        Poets of the Prairie

        Mahwah Public Library

         Mahwah NJ

                                                                       July 11, 2026

                                                        Great American Songsters

                                                        Free Library of Northampton Township

                                                        Richboro PA

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                             © 2025 - Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved

Martin built total of 19 guitars for Bacon in the 1920s

Martin made ten 0-21 and nine 2-17 models between 1922 and 1924. Only four Bacons have surfaced in vintage guitar markets since 2005.

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© 2025 by Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved

A multi-year study of guitar design, production and sales of C. F. Martin & Co reveals the Nazareth PA firm produced 19 guitars for Bacon Banjo Co of Groton CT from July 1922 to March 1924. Of the 19, only four are known to exist. 

Martin built ten 0-21 rosewood and nine 2-17 mahogany models for the banjo maker, according to scans, photos and analysis of Martin ledgers, supplier inventories, staff records, factory logs, client correspondence and business reports by Canadian archivist Grieg Hutton, who published his compendium as Hutton's Guide to Martin Guitars 1833-1969.

These guitars are not just rare birds. They are priceless gems, with discrete features that can be appreciated by their owners and players, and appraised by vintage guitar authorities.

Hutton's tome lets us marvel at the 136-year process by which Martin designed, built and sold 256,003 instruments, including 19 Bacons. His intense labor and acute scrutiny are a boon to owners, players, dealers, collectors, luthiers and admirers of all Martin guitars.

Four Martin-made Bacons were hiding in plain sight

       1923 Bacon 0-21 - no sn

                             Corwin photo

1922 Bacon 0-21 - no sn

Bernunzio photo

1923 Bacon 0-21 - sn 18909

Elderly photo

1924 Bacon 2-17 - sn 20956
Private photo

 

For nearly 40 years Martin-made Bacons were believed to exist, but no one could say what they looked like. Most Martin experts could only echo Mike Longworth’s curt view of 1920s Bacons. “A few guitars without Martin stamps were made for the Bacons Banjo Co. about 1924,” said Longworth, company historian and inlay artist. “Some of Bacon’s guitars were probably made by other firms, as well.”

Unlike the better-known Bacon & Day flat tops and arch tops made by Regal between 1932 and 1938, the rarity of the Martin-made Bacons from the 1920s cannot be over-stated. Indeed, only four of the 100-year-old Bacons have surfaced in the past 20 years among players, collectors or dealers in the vintage guitar market.  

For years these four Bacons were quietly and joyously played by their owners and families. Even with the nascent allure of vintage guitars at the turn of the century, they still were objects of dealer opining full of scant detail, historical error and stark speculation.

In the past 20 years these guitars were played on public stages. They were displayed in photographs, correspondence and provenance. And, in the last five years this quartet of Bacons became a subject of diligent research, timely reporting and feature articles on this website.

Martin built instruments for 26 vendors from 1895 to 1935

Hutton describes 26 vendors that participated in Martin's "Customer's Line" from 1895 to 1935. These entities included instrument builders and importers, jobbers, wholesalers, catalog firms, retail emporiums, department stores, music publishers and private instructors.

Of the 26, eight ordered nearly 3,00 instruments in batches of one or two and up to 100 at a time between 1922 and 1927. Like Bacon, they wanted to buy Martin-quality instruments — guitars, ukes, mandolins and tiples — at wholesale prices for resale to their customers, clients and students.

          •••••••••••    Martin's "Customer's" Line – 1922-1927    •••••••••••

           Bacon Banjo Co.                     No Brand                                  1922 - 1924

           Perlberg & Halpin                    Beltone Brand                          1922

           Buegeleisen & Jacobson         S. S. Stewart Brand                 1923 - 1926

           H. & A. Selmer Inc.                  H. & A. Selmer Brand               1923

           W. J. Dyer & Brother                Stetson Brand                          1922

           Grinnell Brothers                      Wolverine Brand                      1922 - 1924

           Rudolph Wurlitzer Co.              Wurlitzer Brand                        1922

           H. A. Weymann & Son             No Brand                                  1923 - 1927

           •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

                                                                                                                                  Hutton's Guide to Martin Guitars 1833-1969

Martin first solicited Bacon's business in early 1922 at a music dealers' convention in N. Y. City, according to correspondence Hutton unearthed. In a July 7, 1922 letter to the Martin company, Fred Bacon, a 59-year-old music industry veteran, said he was approached at the convention by C.F. Martin III, the 28-year-old, fourth-generation scion.

Bacon recalled asking "Mr. Martin Jr. about making some Guitars for us in the white," or unfinished, "and we putting on our own special finish and selling them to our trade as Bacon Guitars."

In the letter Bacon also asked Martin to send "one style that you would list for about $25 and another (concert size) good spruce top, fine grain and rosewood back and sides, just joined without marquetry thru center of back, something you would list at $35 or $40."

Martin's specifications for two Bacon guitar samples

On July 24, 1922 Martin outlined two samples it would build and send to Bacon. The first, identified as "Our #2-17-C," was described as follows:

     Amateur size, Mahogany back, sides and top. Rosewood bindings, Single

     ring rosette of rosewood and ebony. Mahogany neck, rosewood veneered

     head. Rosewood fingerboard & bridge. Seventeen nickel silver frets. Three

     white position marks, six small side dots. Black bridge and end pins. Steel

     strings. Ebony nut, bone bridge saddle. Net price, in the white.....$10.75.

The second, identified as "Our #0-21-C," was described as follows:

     Concert size, Rosewood back and sides. Selected spruce top. Rosewood

     bindings. Top edged with narrow rosewood & maple, Single ring rosette

     of colored marquetry. Mahogany neck, rosewood veneered head. Ebony

     fingerboard & bridge. Twenty nickel silver frets. Five pearl position dots,

     six small side dots. Bone nut & bridge saddle. Ivory-celluloid bridge and

     end pins. Gut and silk-center strings. Net price, in the white.....$20.00.

Martin quoted Bacon a net price of $10.75 for the 2-17-C model and $20.00 for the 0-21-C model.

Waverly tuners on
1923 Bacon 0-21

For unknown reasons Martin didn't identify tuners for the sample guitars. However, of the four extant models we find Waverly #1005 or #1008 tuners on an 0-21 guitar (at right) and Dinsmore & Jager #33 tuners on a 2-17 guitar.

Hutton offers a dry but fascinating round-up of the tuning machines Martin installed on guitars during the 1920s. This section has several barely readable charts that itemize year-end inventories.

For example, Martin had about 40 sets of Waverly #1005 and #1008 tuners at the end of 1922, says Hutton. Martin's stock of these tuners grew to about 515 sets at the end of 1924.

We also find Martin had about 104 D & J #33 tuner sets at the end of 1920, but only three #33 tuner sets at the end of 1922. However, these D & J numbers are misleading, Hutton warns.

"The records show that Martin did purchase D & J tuners between 1926 and 1936, even though they do not appear in the inventory records," he explains. It exhausted its stock of D & J tuners "before the end of each year, so none would be counted in the January 1st inventory count."

Bacon did not apply its special finish to Martin's samples

For unknown reasons, Bacon did not apply its special finish on either sample guitar. Instead, on September 19, 1922 Bacon wrote it would return both guitars so Martin could complete them in standard "lacquer finish, natural color."

So, we may assume all of the 1920s Bacons received Martin's standard lacquer finish. However, due to this change in specs it raised net prices on Bacon's guitars to cover its supplemental costs for finishing. The 2-17-C was now $12.50 and the 0-21-C was now $25.00.

Simultaneously, Bacon began ordering more guitars from Martin. It asked for two 2-17 and two 0-21 guitars on September 20, 1922. A week later it asked for two 2-17 guitars built in the Hawaiian style.

"The guitars would have been set up for gut strings, as Martin did for their own Hawaiian guitars at the time," Hutton remarks, "but since no nut extenders were included with the shipment, these must have been supplied by Bacon Banjo."

"C" Line instruments with distinct components

Like other instruments delivered to "C" Line vendors, design elements on the 1922-1924 Bacons varied in discrete ways from the concurrent guitars in the Martin catalog.

Hutton does not explain why such variations occurred on Martin's client guitars. Such changes may have been a fussy fixation to design details by either party in the transaction. They also may have been coincidental attempts to customize guitar design to meet the priorities of a producer or to sate the vendor's demand for marketable instruments.

In any case, variable design details on "C" Line vendors included:

     •  inclusion or omission of a Martin serial number on a neck block;

     •  vendor stamp on the headstock or back brace;

     •  choice or quality of tuning machines;

     •  inclusion of side dots;

     •  paper labels inside client instruments;

     •  marquetry design and location;

     •  rosette details;

     •  fretboard inlays;

     •  variations in neck size or nut width.

Serial numbers on some — not all — Bacon guitars

Hutton pointedly notes serial numbers were stamped on neck blocks of half of the 19 guitars Bacon ordered from Martin in nine tranches from July of 1922 to March of 1924.

None of the eight guitars Bacon ordered in five tranches between July and September of 1922 received a Martin serial number.

All of the 11 guitars Bacon ordered in four sets between February, 1923 and March, 1924 have serial numbers. Hutton lists them as "Regular Martin models with serial numbers supplied but without Martin stamp."

As Martin guitar owners know, this small step makes a big difference. It means we can discern the year of an instrument's completion and even trace its ownership over time.

For the record, Hutton tabulates the Martin serial numbers for the 11 Bacons as follows:

     Four 2-17 guitars ordered in February of 1923 received the

     following serial numbers: 18251, 18254, 18280 and 18282.

     Seven 0-21 guitars ordered in 1923 and 1924 received the following

     serial numbers: 18909, 19327, 19333, 19339, 20090, 20091, 20094.

One of the four recently identified Bacon guitars has a serial number that is not among those itemized by Hutton. It is a 2-17 model bearing Serial Number 20956, a number dating its production to late 1924.

The current owner of this 12-inch wide mahogany-bodied instrument reports it was his father's guitar. "He bought it second-hand sometime in the mid-1930s," he said. "It has been in the family ever since, though played very little."

Bacon finish, logo, back stamp, rosette and tuners

1923 Bacon 0-21 – sn 18909 – lacquer
finish, natural color, three ring rosette

As noted above, once Bacon received its first guitars "in the white" as it requested, Fred Bacon changed his mind and asked Martin to apply a standard lacquer finish. As a result, all but one guitar Martin made for Bacon has this lacquer finish in natural color.

The standard finish is evident on the 1923 Bacon 0-21 (at right) with SN 18909. It also has a "regular three ring rosette of colored marquetry" as listed in Martin's specifications for 0-21-C guitars.

1922 Bacon 0-21 — no sn, with
shaded top, single ring rosette

Not all Bacons were finished with the standard natural color. Of the four Bacons we show in this post, the first 0-21-C ordered by Fred Bacon on July 7, 1922 received a vibrant russet-shaded top finish. This guitar also has the single ring rosette Martin originally listed in its specs for the 0-21-C sample.

Strangely, in the last sentence of Hutton's chapter documenting the 19 guitars Martin built for Bacon, he reveals a startling fact about this shaded top guitar. “None of these guitars received any special stamp,” Hutton says, “although the first 0-21-C has 'Bacon' inlaid in pearl in the head stock veneer.”

1922 Bacon 0-21 - no sn

Hutton does not provide documentation for how or where he acquired this info, nor does he say which firm affixed the logo. I think it was Bacon's handiwork, however, because the stylized typeface used for this pearl logo is identical to what Bacon installed on its banjo and mandolin headstocks between its start in 1906 and its demise in 1938.

Not long ago we learned the luthier who performed a neck reset on this shade-top guitar 20 years ago found the letter S inscribed on its dovetail joint. This is another indication of the esteemed lineage of a precious guitar.

Vintage Martin collectors deem the S mark a sign of a "Special Order" guitar, an instrument with one or more custom elements. In his huge chapter on "Technical Specifications" Hutton indicates Special Order guitars were more common in the early part of the 20th Century. Prior to 1930 he says the S was a suffix applied to a style number (0-18S, 0-21S, etc.) on the neck block, but omits comment on its appearance in the dovetail joint.

Back stamp on 1923 Bacon 0-21

Finally, Hutton declares all of the 11 Bacons with a serial number were made with "no name," "no stamp" and "no brand." So we don't expect to see the Martin name splashed across the back brace, neck block or headstock of any of these guitars.

Still, it was a pleasant surprise to find three of the four known Bacons have back stamps on the headstock. Of course, we all know these guitars were built by C. F. Martin & Co., but die-stamped words on these guitars clearly proclaim: "Made by the Bacon Banjo Co. Inc., Groton, Conn, U.S.A."

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•••••••••     Bibliography & Resources     •••••••••

  

Hutton's Guide to Martin Guitars 1833 - 1969 by Grieg Hutton, © 2022 by Centerstream Publ'g, Anaheim Hills CA.

Martin Guitars, a History by Mike Longworth © 1988, 1994, Four Maples Press, Minisink Hills, PA.

Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars by George Gruhn and Walter Carter, 2nd edition, © 1999, Miller Freeman Books, San Francisco, CA.

Martin Guitars by Jim Washburn and Richard Johnston © 1997, Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA.

•••••••          •••••••          •••••••

"Bringing Home the Bacon & Day" — posted Weds, July 15, 2020 at http://kenlelen.blogspot.com/2020/07/bring-home-b-d-rare.html

"Recent Bacon & Day sightings" — posted Thurs, July 16, 2020 at http://kenlelen.blogspot.com/2020/07/recent-b-d-sightings-rare.html

"Four Martin-built Bacons surface" — posted Weds, March 21, 2021 at

 http://kenlelen.blogspot.com/2021/03/four-bacon-acoustic-guitars-made-by.html

"Large Shop Guitar Builders" — posted at https://acousticmusic.org/research/guitar-information/large-shop-guitar-builders/bacon-and-day

"Martins Specially Made For Other Firms" — posted at www.vintagemartin.com

"Mike Longworth — The Martin Guitar Company's First Historian" — by Steven Stone, Vintage Guitar Magazine, February, 2000 — reprint available at:

 www.fingerstyle2.com/uploads/1/6/4/7/16478070/vg_longworth_article_stone.pdf

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© 2025 by Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved