Super rare and in very nice condition with original case and alternate.
Harry B. Jay was a cornet player in what was America’s best-known internationally renowned Sousa band, which was based in Illinois not far from Chicago. In around 1909 he set up Columbia Band Instrument Company.
His Columbia instruments were renowned and widely used in Chicago, a major jazz center. You hear the sounds of his instruments on recordings of the 1920s – the cornet you hear played by George Mitchell in Jelly roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers, the trumpet cornets you hear played by King Oliver and Louis Armstrong in King Oliver’s Dixie Syncopators, and the trumpet cornet you hear played by Jabbo Smith of the Rythm Aces.
George Mitchell played one of the cornets on all the Jelly Roll Morton recordings (and others) as did Tommy Ladnier in those of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. A lot of other traditional jazz band players used H.B. Jay Columbia instruments in the 1910s and 1920s. One anecdote about H.B. Jay instruments coming into 1920s jazz in Chicago is from cornet player George Mitchell
When Louis Armstrong first played trumpet is a topic of jazz folklore, but what is beyond doubt is that in 1918 he went to Hollis Music where for a price of $68 a Harry B. Jay trumpet/cornet was purchased for him. It came with two alternative detachable mouthpipes, one to take a cornet mouthpiece, and one to take a trumpet mouthpiece. Whether or not Louis had a preference for one, or for the other, or for choosing the shank according to the sound he wanted for the next tune, is virtually impossible to tell visually because they look the same.
Harry B. Jay produced just over ten thousand Columbia instruments between about 1910 and the late 1920s after: they included violins, several varieties of trumpets, cornets and trumpet cornets, euphoniums, trombones, and other instruments. The quality of H.B.Jay instruments is fantastic, in terms of playability, design, construction, and sound. But more than that, they are truly icons of the jazz age.
Comments