Biography
The Harlem Wildcats cut sides for Gennett and its offshoots, among them the pioneering bargain imprint Varsity, at a moment timelines of the label classify as its late phase rather than the celebrated early years. Around the dawn of the 1930s, when precise session logs frequently vanished, the company’s roster featured little-known groups whose names alone suggested eccentric, danceable energy. Documentation remains thin on several of these units, including Bat the Hummingbird—whose moniker fit neither creature—alongside Scare Crow, Jim Jam, and the seemingly downcast Sally Sad.
Numbers issued by the Harlem Wildcats themselves carry titles that practically beckon listeners onto the floor or flirt with outright defiance, among them “White Zombie,” “The Call of the Freaks,” “Mouthful of Jam,” and the existentially titled “This Is the Chorus of a Song.” Scant exposure has followed, partly because compilers grew weary of protracted licensing negotiations and therefore bypassed entire stretches of the later Gennett listings, sometimes mistaking the material for fading hillbilly styles. Such assumptions proved doubly mistaken: the overlooked acts frequently worked in unrelated idioms, and the supposed declining genre was far from finished. Composer credits on several Harlem Wildcats pieces list A. J. Shaw, in reality bandleader Joel Shaw, who also cut “The Call of the Freaks” under his own name and may have shaped the Harlem Wildcats ensemble; the same piece served as a signature theme for Luis Russell’s orchestra.
Numbers issued by the Harlem Wildcats themselves carry titles that practically beckon listeners onto the floor or flirt with outright defiance, among them “White Zombie,” “The Call of the Freaks,” “Mouthful of Jam,” and the existentially titled “This Is the Chorus of a Song.” Scant exposure has followed, partly because compilers grew weary of protracted licensing negotiations and therefore bypassed entire stretches of the later Gennett listings, sometimes mistaking the material for fading hillbilly styles. Such assumptions proved doubly mistaken: the overlooked acts frequently worked in unrelated idioms, and the supposed declining genre was far from finished. Composer credits on several Harlem Wildcats pieces list A. J. Shaw, in reality bandleader Joel Shaw, who also cut “The Call of the Freaks” under his own name and may have shaped the Harlem Wildcats ensemble; the same piece served as a signature theme for Luis Russell’s orchestra.