Benny Carter Cut Eight Sides in Six Days Under Two Band Names, With a Pianist Fresh from Chicago and a Rhythm Section That Never Changed

On October 16, 1933, Benny Carter led a big band into a New York studio and recorded four titles: “Devil’s Holiday,” “Lonesome Nights,” “Symphony in Riffs” and “Blue Lou.” Six days earlier he had recorded four others, credited not to his orchestra but to The Chocolate Dandies, a smaller group with Chu Berry, Max Kaminsky and Floyd O’Brien. The matrix numbers run unbroken from 265156 to 265163, so the two dates were one project logged under two names. The thread through both is the rhythm section: Lawrence Lucie, Ernest Hill and Sidney Catlett, plus pianist Teddy Wilson, who by Jan Evensmo’s account had reached New York from Chicago only that October to join Carter. The October 16 sides were split across two labels, with “Symphony in Riffs” and “Devil’s Holiday” on Columbia 2898-D and the other two on OKeh 41567. Wilson’s name was not on any of them.