NEWSLETTER #125
Jazz, Dance Bands, Vocalists
The Archeophone Label   

   
 

 

We are pleased to now be offering recordings on the ARCHEOPHONE label which specializes in reissuing recordings from the dawn of the recording era in the 1890s through the early 1920 and are making a lot of important music available for the first time on CD. Sound quality is generally very good, bearing in mind the limited range of acoustic recordings and the rarity of the issues and each disc comes with a handsome illustrated booklet with lots of information on the performers, the performances, recording techniques and the times.

There are three series – the 1000 series is devoted to specific genres, the 5000 series to specific artists and the 9000 series which looks at the most popular recordings from a specific year or group of years.
 
 
MARION HARRIS Archeophone 5001 The Complete Victor Releases ● CD $14.98
21 tracks, 65 minutes, highly recommended. Little known today (if at all), this white Kentucky singer made her name by singing mostly tunes by Black composers, & is supposed to have recorded the definitive version of St. Louis Blues (for Columbia) until years later it was done by Bessie Smith. Also, she's credited to being a major influence on such fine singers as Lee Wiley & Ruth Etting. Coming out of the vaudeville/Broadway scene, Harris recorded these 21 sides for Victor between 1916-29, with a final coupling of The Man I Love/ Did You Mean It. Her biggest hit was Good-bye Alexander, a follow-up to her WWI novelty When Alexander Takes His Rag-Time Band To France (both from 1918), but was better known for her version of After You've Gone. The liner-notes point to her best blues material being rejected for release by Victor, & she supposedly went to Columbia when she wasn't allowed to record St. Louis Blues. Also includes Jazz Baby/ They Go Wild Simply Wild Over Me/ I Ain't Got Nobody Much. (GM)

 
VARIOUS ARTISTS Archeophone 1001 Real Ragtime - Disc Recordings From Its Heyday ● CD $14.98
28 tracks, 74 mins, highly recommended. When you think of ragtime these days, you think of quaint piano solos. Interestingly, the 28 tracks here do not have ANY piano solos - they were recorded out of not wanting to compete with the player piano/piano roll industry! Instead, we have banjos (solo, duets & with band accompaniment), cornets, military bands, accordions, even xylophone. The recordings were done between 1898 (the banjo duo Joseph P Cullen & William G. Collins' Berkeley March) to 1919 (banjo virtuoso, & a star of this set Fred Van Eps' Silver Heels One-Step). Also heard are (John Philip) Sousa's band, The Victor Military Band, banjo master Vess L. Ossman & singers The American Quartet. Includes early compositions by George M. Cohan - Rag Baby, & Irving Berlin - The International Rag.. Mostly highly listenable, though the turn of the century tracks are a little rough. 20 page booklet includes notes on ragtime in general, the artists featured and the individual performances. (GM)
 
VARIOUS ARTISTS Archeophone 1002 Before Radio - Comedy, Drama & Sound Sketches ● CD $14.98
27 tracks, 78 minutes, highly recommended. There always seems to have been comedy records around, whether it was the 70s Cheech & Chong & George Carlin, the 60s Vaughn Meader & Bob Newhart, the 50s Mort Sahl & Lord Buckley. Some of the earliest recordings were comedy, either skits, monologues or vaudeville sketches, many with musical interludes. During this time, racial & dialect humor was huge, whether it was Black, Irish, German, Jewish, or hillbilly. Then there were Descriptive records, which tried to recreate "real-life" situations, such as train trips. There's still much humor in these today, whether it was mother mistaking a soap recipe for soup, or the doctor coming to a wrong house - they were expecting a piano tuner. The titles give you a good idea on what you'll be hearing - Casey Putting His Baby To Sleep/ Christmas Morning At Clancy's/ A Small Boy & His Mother At The Circus. There's a few well-known names including Will Rogers Nominates Henry Ford For President, legendary vaudevillians Weber & Fields, as Mike & Meyer in Mosquito Trust, & legendary monologist Joe Haymen, of Cohen On The Telephone fame, doing Cohen Telephones From Brighton, & another legendary monologist, Cal "Uncle Josh" Stewart in Train Time At Pun'kin Center. (GM)

 
VARIOUS ARTISTS Archeophone 3001 The Pink Lambert - A Collection Of The First Celluloid Cylinders ● CD $14.98
22 tracks, 49 min, highly recommended. This set came about as the result of a July 1998 auction in Ohio where these 22 cylinders & player were fond in fairly pristine condition. Extremely rare, the Lambert cylinders beat out Edison as the 1st company to produce celluloid-based recordings, as Edison's were much more fragile. These lasted, & were known by their bright pink color! They didn't last too long, as they were constantly being brought to court by the much more financially-sound Edison Co. The discs here are all from 1901-02 &, though with background scratchiness, are beautiful sounding. The cylinders were identified by the title written around the rim, all of which are reproduced here. However, all were also given a spoken introduction, which identified the title, artist & company. The recordings are mainly sentimental tunes & novelty tracks, including Bird Imitations, Listen To The Mocking Bird also done with a bird whistle, civil war-era songs such as Dixie-Land/ The Soldier's Farewell & Sing Me A Song Of The South, as well as "descriptive" & comedy records such as Steamboat Leaving The Wharf At New Orleans/ Night Trip To Buffalo & Finnegan's Birthday Surprise Party. The most prolific artists here are The American Quartet, & The Metropolitan Band, which was the orchestra from The Metropolitan Opera House, NYC. (GM)

 
VARIOUS ARTISTS Archeophone 9004 The Phonographic Yearbook - The 1890s, Vol. 1 ● CD $14.98
30 tracks, 65 min, highly recommended. Because of the source material, this set is noisy & a little hard to listen to, but the rewards are great. These are taken from very rare sources, mainly Berliner 7" discs & brown wax Columbia & Edison cylinders, It includes brass band music, popular songs, sentimental songs, novelty songs, "coon" songs, coemdy skits and banjo solos. It's interesting to hear early recordings of songs that became country standards like Turkey In The Straw and The Girl I Loved In Sunny Tennessee. There are a few cult classics like The Laughing Song & The New Bully (the latter covered a few times by The Holy Modal Rounders & others as Bully Of The Town). The 1st prolific recording groups were the military bands, & John Philip Sousa is well represented with 2 of his most famous marches, El Capitan & The Washington Post as by Sousa's Band. Other artists include Vess Ossman, Ada Jones & Cal "Uncle Josh" Stewart. Includes 32 page illustrated booklet with information on the music and the times and profiles of the performers. (GM)

 
VARIOUS ARTISTS Archeophone 9006 The Phonographic Yearbook - The 1890s, Vol. 2 ● CD $14.98
30 tracks, 72 min, highly recommended As with Vol 1, the sound is rough but the rewards are excellent! Again taken from Berliner 7" discs & Edison & Columbia brown wax cylinders, there are some of the earliest recordings of such gems as A Hot Time In The Old Town/ Hello My Baby/ On The Banks Of The Wabash/ Silver Threads Among The Gold/ She's More To Be Pitied Than Censured & The Anvil Chorus, as well as such marches as Semper Fidelis/ Stars & Stripes Forever & The Liberty Bell March . Artists include Cal Stewart, Dan W. Quinn, Vess Ossman, The Edison Quartet & Sousa's Band.. (GM)

 
VARIOUS ARTISTS Archeophone 9003 The Phonographic Yearbook - 1912 ● CD $14.98
24 tracks, 67 mins, highly recommended. It doesn't take very long for your ears to adjust to the sonic limitations of these early acoustic recordings and once they do you can enjoy a diverse selection of the most popular songs of 90 years ago. Some of the songs here are still standards to this day like Oh, You Beautiful Doll and Moonlight Bay (both by the splendid vocal group the American Quartet), the drunkards favorite Down By The Old Mill Stream by Harry McDonough & Chorus, Waiting For The Robert E. Lee by another fine vocal group The Heidelberg Quintet and Ragtime Cowboy Joe by the then popular and prolific Bob Roberts. There are three songs by the great Al Jolson which are among his very first recordings. Also featured are Billy Murray (including the somewhat risque If You Talk In Your Sleep, Don't Mention My Name), Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan, Ada Jones, Fred Van Eps (banjo soloist extraordinaire), Albert Campbell & Henry Burr, the wonderful Scottish singer Harry Lauder (his classic Roamin' In The Gloamin'), Enrico Caruso and others. Sound quality, production and documentation are all exemplary. (FS)

 
VARIOUS ARTISTS Archeophone 9005 The Phonographic Yearbook - 1913 ● CD $14.98
24 tracks, 73 min, highly recommended The year's best now were coming from mostly 2 labels, Columbia & Victor flat discs. The only Edison was from their new thick flat discs, though they put out cylinders into the late 20s. Irving Berlin was one of the most popular songwriters already, represented here with such early hits as Snookey Ookums/ When I Lost You & When The Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves For Alabam. Al Jolson is heard on a 3 non-Berlin tunes including The Spaniard That Blighted My Life & You Made Me Love You. Also includes early recordings of such classics as When Irish Eyes Are Smiling/ Peg O' My Heart & The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine. Performers include Bert Williams, Ada Jones, Billy Murray, Henry Burr & The Perrless Quartet. (GM)

 
VARIOUS ARTISTS Archeophone 9001 The Phonographic Yearbook - 1920 ● CD $14.98
22 tracks, 66 mins, recommended. 22 hits from 1920 - the year prohibition was made law - not surprisingly, several songs here deal with the subject including the great The Moon Shines On The Moonshiner by Bert Williams and I'll See You In C-u-b-a by Billy Murray. There are three songs by the ever popular Al Jolson ho we first heard on the 1912 volume including his classic Swanee as well as cuts by Selvin's Novelty Orchestra, Elizabeth Spencer & Charles Hart, Ted Lewis Jazz Band, Van & Schenck, Art Hickman's Orchestra, Paul Whiteman & His Ambassador Orchestra, John Steel and others. (FS)

 
VARIOUS ARTISTS Archeophone 9002 The Phonographic Yearbook - 1921 ● CD $14.98
24 tracks, 74 min, highly recommended. The biggest hits of '21, the year of "normalcy". The big winner here is the Paul Whiteman Orch, with Henry Busse on trumpet & Ferd Grofe on piano, heard here on their 1st hit Wang Wang Blues, along with Cherie, Say It With Music. Al Jolson's here with O-H-I-O (O-My!-O), but one of his best known songs is heard in 2 pre-Jolie versions - My Mammy (actually introduced by Bill "Fred Mertz" Frawley) done by Fred Van Eps & The Peerless Quartet, and by Paul Whiteman. Also includes Eddie Cantor - Margie, Original Dixieland Jass Band - Palesteena, Isham Jones Orch - Wabash Blues, Van & Schrenck - Ain't We Got Fun, Zez Confrey - Kitten On The Keys, etc. (GM)

 
BERT WILLIAMS Archeophone 5002 His Final Releases, 1919-1922 ● CD $14.98
24 tracks, 71 min, highly recommended. Williams was the legendary Black vaudevillian who was forced to perform in blackface, best known for his lament Nobody. His wonderful material has seldom had any kind of reissue - this is the 1st volume to start reissuing all his sides, mostly monologues. The series is working backwards with this volume featuring his last group of recordings - 24 tracks recorded between 1919 and 1924. He was one of the only Black performers to have an exclusive recording contract, his was with Columbia. My favorites are his Sermon sides - Elder Eatmore's Sermon On Generosity/ Elder Eatmore's Sermon On Throwing Stones/ Brother Low Down. Also includes his classic It's Nobody's Business But My Own plus The Moon Shines On The Moonshiner/ Everybody Wants A Key To My Cellar. and others. Excellent sound and 16 page illustrated booklet is full of usful info and pictures. (GM)

 
BERT WILLIAMS Archeophone 5003 The Middle Years, 1910-1918 ● CD $14.98
The second volume of recordings by this wonderful and unique early African-American recording star features 26 tracks recorded between 1910 and 1918. It includes a remake of his most famous song Nobody, the classic Darktown Poker Club as well as other great songs and comic monologues suffused with Willimas' wit. The 24 page illustrated booklet includes a reprint of Bert's 1918 essay "The Comic Side Of Trouble" originally published in The American Magazine. Excellent sound quanlity.
 

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