Transcription Mystery Disc #134

This is a make of home recording blank I'd never seen before. It's 8 inches in diameter, and while branded for Grinnell's Music store, it's a metal core Packard-Bell PhonOcord record underneath. It has an outer-edge start and spins at 78 rpm. The disc is labeled unusually well It's a jazz recording of the Tommy Harris Band from 02-09-1950. It looked like Tommy Harris on the label but an Emcee cuts in at the end of the first song and clearly says "Haines."  The live cuts tell me that this is probably a dub of a live recording and not the original. I dubbed it with a Grado 78 cartridge because I had to. The groove was wide enough that a traditional needle just scraped the bottom of the groove.

The Tommy Haines Band


Grinnell's Music was founded in Ann Arbor in 1879 by Ira L. Grinnell. It grew into the world’s largest piano distributor by the mid-1950s. Jack Wainger of WKC inc bought the company in 1955 and opened up Grinnell's stores elsewhere. It went chapter 11 in 1968 and again in 1977. It was liquidated in 1981 and it's original store is now an apartment building. You can read more about Grinnell's here.

Since this disc dates to 11950 we know this disc originated at the original Grinnell's Music at 1515 Woodward Avenue in Detroit. It's possible it was even recorded there. There is a contemporary Tommy Haines band that plays rock music, clearly not the same group. I wish it were. It's possible that there is some connection but nothing I'm aware of.