A Century of Music

[Zeeba Neighba]

Been a bit aimless with my musical listening lately (which is OK), but I have been looking for a new idea to guide my listening. Have been batting around ideas about a nice chronological overview that mixes genres with a sense of historical progression of music. But how many years or styles to cover? Well, here we are - going way back and covering the last century of popular recorded music from the 1920s ending next year in 1920

But Zeeba, you say, recorded music started prior to 1920. Why start there? The 1920s seems a nice jumping off place for a couple of reasons - first popular recordings really start increasing in popularity in that decade. In fact, record sales started exceeding sheet music sales around 1925. As acoustical recording became replaced by the electrical recording in this decade, quality became clearing. Microphone technology changed the sound of music to the big Broadway belters like Al Jolson to, by the end of the decade, crooners like Rudy Vallee and Bing Crosby. Jazz, which would be the most popular musical genre of the next 3 decades, was first recorded in 1917. And practically...unless your name is OjaiSam, 1920s music is far more accessible especially as many of the top 1920s artists are still pretty well known today.

My plan: for the first 3 decades, I plan to spend about 2 weeks on each of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Then as I get into the 1950s and the album era, plan to spend a week per year. All genres are at play - country, rock, hip hop, jazz (maybe not a lot of classical) as well as the popular hits of the era. Sure there's gonna be some stuff missed but I feel I can accomplish a nice overview. If done right, I should be done by the end of 2020. Not gonna listen exclusively to the thread (do like my Christmas music, for example in December) but gonna be a lot of listening related to this thread.

I'm hoping I stick with this as it's a long project (certainly I've dropped a few projects along the way) - but really excited about this one. I welcome any contributions/posts, but also realize this might not interest everyone so have used a separate thread to allow people who might not be to simply pass. Here's hoping it goes well

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Al Jolson - You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet

No matter what year I choose to begin, there's always going to be a few artists that span earlier eras. Jolie is a still a great artist with which to begin. Rising to popularity in the prior decade (he starred in his first stage review in 1911) his popularity on stage was so great, he was a natural for recording - as I mentioned before, his big voice overcome the limitations of early recording technology. Though he had a ton of hits in the decade prior, some of his biggest singles were in the 1920s - "Avalon" (1920), "April Showers" (1921), "Toot, Toot Tootsie" (1922), "California Here I Come" (1924). He was still huge by 1927 when he was chosen to be in the first "talkie" The Jazz Singer. Jolson was a larger than life figure with a a huge voice whose career was long enough to have a resurgence in the 1940s when a biopic The Jolson Story was recording, leading to him re-recording his songs for a new generation. Given his popularity across the 1920s, seemed a natural starting place.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Al Jolson - You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet: Jolie's Finest Columbia Recordings

A little more Jolson today - obviously some overlap with the ASV collection. A part of me wishes we were in an era with song names like "Sister Susie's Sewing Shirts for Soldiers" and "Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go (With Friday on Saturday Night)?"

This also contains "That Little German Band" which made me giggle as it was the song that one of the actors auditioning for Hitler is going to sing before getting quickly dismissed by casting in The Producers

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Original Dixieland Jazz Band - 75th Anniversary

Posted this in the Jazz thread in the past. No, despite cornetist Nick LaRocca's claims, the ODJB didn't invent jazz, but they do hold the claim to fame of the first jazz recoring, "Livery Stable Blues" in 1917. Though their early jazz recordings are here, another artist, comp to cross over from the teens to '20s as this collection goes to late 1921. As jazz will come to dominate the early parts of this thread, thought it made sense to include some of the earliest recordings here.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Paul Whiteman - Greatest Hits

Paul Whiteman is far from a household name today, but in the 1920s, he led perhaps the most popular bands. He gets flack for the title "The King of Jazz" because he led really more of a dance band and because his polished "jazz" music without much of the improvisation of jazz gained popularity instead of African-Americans who were playing the real stuff. Not really Whiteman's fault in many ways; he had a real appreciation of jazz music and brought the genre to a larger audience. A lot of the criticism about Whiteman's title came later - in the 1920s the genre was still molding and developing. After all, Duke Ellington would say (in his autobiography), "Paul Whiteman was known as the King of Jazz, and no one as yet has come near carrying that title with more certainty and dignity". And he did introduce Bing Crosby and Bix Beiderbecke to a larger audiences

A good overview of Whiteman's 1920s singles spanning the decade. The first 10 songs are recorded acoustically then last 12 use electrical recording so it's also a nice comparison of the technological advancements of the decade
Also contains George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" recording which was commissioned and debuted by Whiteman

 

[Ojai Sam]

Zeeb, belated thanks for a terrific thread idea. I’ll chime in too, if you like.

Without minimizing the genius of Billy Murray, the 20’s are an ideal starting point. My mom was born in 1915, the same year as Sinatra. So growing up, our house was filled with her musical memories which began when she was about 10.

The Billboard charts didn’t begin until 1940 but Joel Whitburn did a reconstruction dating all the way back to 1890 . His top ten artists for the 1920’s were:

Paul Whiteman
Ben Selvin
Ted Lewis
Al Jolson
Gene Austin
Isham Jones
Nat Shilkret
Fred Waring
Ruth Etting
Marion Harris

Even for me as an old music fan, a few of these names are pretty obscure. Selvin, Jones and Shilkret led popular dance bands with little or no jazz appeal. One way or another we will meet the others here before we’re through.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

^
Nice list. And coincidentally the next one on my list is

Marion Harris - 1920s Jazz Vocals (Columbia)

Harris, as Sam pointed out, was tremendously successful in the 1920s with multiple hits. She originally recorded for Victor in the late teens, but when Victor prevented her from recording W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues", she switched to Columbia. In 1922 she then changed to Brunswick
Like Whiteman, she was a fan of jazz (giggled at her song "I'm A Jazz Vampire") and, as she was white, she was able to record and thus bring a lot of jazz and blues standards to a larger audience. Like Jolson and a number of artists at this day, she was very popular in the theatre and revue circuit.

And Sam, my hopes are, indeed, that you'll chime in (as I hope others as we pass to more modern times will)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Mamie Smith - Crazy Blues: The Best of Mamie Smith

Another good reason to choose 1920 as a jumping off point in this series - Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues". Primarily a vaudeville singer, Mamie Smith then age 37, recorded "Crazy Blues" in 1920. Although several songs had "blues" in the title, most of them technically were other genres (W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" mentioned above is actually a cakewalk and not technically a blues song). But "Crazy Blues" was indeed a blues song and boy did it sell - reportedly 75K sales in the first month. After that hit, Okeh recorded a number of other blues songs with Smith (and a lot of non-blues songs with the word "blues" in the title). Twelve of the first 13 songs of this wonderful collections have "Blues" in the title. Smith would soon be labeled "Queen of the Blues" eventually influencing Bessie Smith (not to be outdone, Bessie (no relation) would receive the moniker "Empress of the Blues")

So "Crazy Blues" holds the honor of first blues record issued and Mamie the first black artist to record the blues.

Here's a nice article on the history of recorded blues music

Mojos Working: A History Of Recorded Blues

Who wrote the first blues song? What was the first recorded blues song? We dig deep to find out the fascinating history of recorded blues.

www.udiscovermusic.com

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band - Complete Set

Now we're cookin' with gas! Seminal early jazz by cornetist King Oliver, a pioneer of jazz known especially for his mentorship of a young Louis Armstrong. Wonderful 41 track collection! Unfortunately, the limitations of early recording technology probably limits more people checking this out - the clarinet sounds too prominent often drowning out other players, the dual cornet attack of Oliver and Armstrong blends together. It's a shame because this is great stuff. Every year at Jazz Fest in New Orleans, I spend some time in the tent occupied by New Orleans brass bands and traditional jazz/dixieland combos (even saw one led by the grandson of Nick LaRocca of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band mentioned earlier). Last year, one group played several King Oliver numbers, and live these numbers still sizzle.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Ma Rainey - Hustlin' Blues

So after diving into all 41 tracks of King Oliver's complete releases, now I'm listening to all of Ma Rainey's 53 released songs. This could take awhile

So Mamie Smith is the "Queen of the Blues" and Bessie Smith is "Empress of the Blues" then what is Ma Rainey - indeed she has a title too "Mother of the Blues".

Although limited recording quality again (common theme this decade), this is blues that sounds like a person who truly has been through a live deserving of the title. Rainey has a strong voice and was known for her brassy, bold delivery (as well as lyrics which, like Bessie Smith, can be sexual). Set includes "Jelly Bean Blues", "Countin' the Blues" and "See, See Rider" which she recorded with Louis Armstrong.

 

[Ojai Sam]

The biggest reason I began to study music from before my day was to develop a better connection with my mother and grandmother. Popular song holds up a mirror to its times, and I learned at a young age that the music of the Roaring 20's reflected the fun loving spirit of the decade. Notwithstanding Prohibition, the decade between the end of WWI and the onslaught of The Depression ushered in a sense of liberation from the straitlaced morality of the prewar era.

My mom started collecting the RCA Victor Vintage Series and naturally I had to give them all a spin. A whole new world of raccoon coats, flappers and bathtub gin suddenly appeared before my eyes.

Various Artists - Nipper's Greatest Hits: The 20's (1990)

This collection offers a similar broad overview, featuring Paul Whiteman, Nat Shilkret, Gene Austin and Fred Waring from Whitburn's list plus Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice and Gertrude Lawrence from Broadway, Duke Ellington and many others. My mom's absolute fave among this bunch was the Coon-Sanders Nighthawks, a jazzy novelty band that was the bee's knees.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Vernon Dalhart - Popular 1920s Country Ballads (1924-26)

Even country music fans may not know Dalhart's name, but he recorded the first country single to sell one million copies
From Wiki:

Dalhart had a hit single with his 1924 recording of "The Wreck of the Old 97", a classic American ballad about the derailment of Fast Mail train No. 97 near Danville, Virginia in 1903. Recorded for the Victor Talking Machine Company, the song alerted the national record companies to the existence of a sizable market for country-music vocals. It became the first Southern song to become a national success. With "The Prisoner's Song" as the b-side, the single eventually sold as many as seven million copies, a huge number for recording in the 1920s. It was awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and was the biggest-selling, non-holiday record in the first 70 years of recorded music. Joel Whitburn, a statistician for Billboard magazine, determined that "The Prisoner's Song" was No. 1 hit for twelve weeks in 1925–26.

Dalhart's songs sounds just about how you'd expect 1920s country songs to sound, but still enjoyable. Interesting to see genres like blues and country music at their recording roots (obviously both of these genres were being performed locally for years earlier)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Vernon Dalhart - Popular 1920s Country Ballads (1924-26)

Even country music fans may not know Dalhart's name, but he recorded the first country single to sell one million copies
From Wiki:


Dalhart's songs sounds just about how you'd expect 1920s country songs to sound, but still enjoyable. Interesting to see genres like blues and country music at their recording roots (obviously both of these genres were being performed locally for years earlier)

Dalhart is a great choice, although his country cred is a bit thin. Wiki tells us:

Dalhart's education was rooted in classical music. He wanted to be an opera singer, and in 1913 he got parts in Madame Butterfly and H.M.S. Pinafore. He saw an advertisement in the local newspaper for singers and applied. He was auditioned by Thomas Alva Edison and went on to record for Edison Records. From 1916 until 1923, he made over 400 recordings of light classical music and early dance band vocals for various record labels.

In the 1920s and 1930s, he sang on more than 5000 singles (78s) for many labels, employing more than 100 pseudonyms, such as Al Craver, Vernon Dale, Frank Evans, Hugh Lattimer, Sid Turner, George White (with original Memphis Five) and Bob White.[2] On Grey Gull Records, he often used the name "Vel Veteran", which was also used by other singers, including Arthur Fields. He was already an established singer when he made his first country music recordings.

He was a master of the topical song, a long gone style with roots in antiquity in which rambling troubadours would spread tales of current events. One of his hits in this vein was "The Death Of Floyd Collins", narrating the demise of a cave explorer that made national headlines:

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Eddie Cantor - The Columbia Years 1922-1940 - Art Deco Series

The "Apostle of Pep" was tremendously popular through his early vaudeville days into his popular radio show during the 1930s and 1940s. Cantor's singing and deliver is jaunty, humorous, and cheeky with his music funny and approachable even today. Of course there's the famous numbers like "If You Knew Susie" and "Making Whoopie" but ya gotta love songs like "Oh, Is She So Dumb", "I Love Me (I'm Wild About Myself)", and "The Only Thing I Want For Christmas (Is Just To Keep the Things I've Got)". Fun collection that spans through the 1930s.

Trivia fact about cantor: he wrong the Warner Brothers Merry Melodies them ("Merrily We Roll Along")

Cool Story about Cantor (in the early days of TV) - from Wiki:

n 1950, he became the first of several hosts alternating on the NBC television variety show The Colgate Comedy Hour, in which he would introduce musical acts, stage and film stars and play comic characters such as "Maxie the Taxi". In the spring of 1952, Cantor landed in an unlikely controversy when a young Sammy Davis, Jr., appeared as a guest performer. Cantor embraced Davis and mopped Davis's brow with his handkerchief after his performance. When worried sponsors led NBC to threaten cancellation of the show, Cantor's response was to book Davis for two more weeks.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Eddie Cantor - The Columbia Years 1922-1940 - Art Deco Series

The "Apostle of Pep" was tremendously popular through his early vaudeville days into his popular radio show during the 1930s and 1940s. Cantor's singing and deliver is jaunty, humorous, and cheeky with his music funny and approachable even today. Of course there's the famous numbers like "If You Knew Susie" and "Making Whoopie" but ya gotta love songs like "Oh, Is She So Dumb", "I Love Me (I'm Wild About Myself)", and "The Only Thing I Want For Christmas (Is Just To Keep the Things I've Got)". Fun collection that spans through the 1930s.

Trivia fact about cantor: he wrong the Warner Brothers Merry Melodies them ("Merrily We Roll Along")

Cool Story about Cantor (in the early days of TV) - from Wiki:

If you knew Susie, like I know Susie
Oh! Oh! Oh! What a girl.
There's none so classy
As this fair lassie
Oh! Oh! Holy Moses, what a chassis!

 

[axolotl]

He was a master of the topical song, a long gone style with roots in antiquity in which rambling troubadours would spread tales of current events. One of his hits in this vein was "The Death Of Floyd Collins", narrating the demise of a cave explorer that made national headlines:

I will have to listen. I'd heard of Floyd Collins, but did not know much of the backstory.

Does the song cover any posthumous material?

From Wiki:

With Collins's body remaining in the cave, funeral services were held on the surface. Homer Collins was not pleased with Sand Cave as his brother's grave, and two months later, he and some friends reopened the shaft. They dug a new tunnel to the opposite side of the cave passage and recovered Floyd Collins's remains on April 23, 1925.[3] The following day, the body was buried in the burial ground of the Collins family's farm,[3] near Crystal Cave, now known as "Floyd Collins Crystal Cave." In 1927, Floyd Collins' father, Lee Collins, sold the homestead and cave. The new owner placed Collins' body in a glass-topped coffin and exhibited it in Crystal Cave for many years.[3][5] On the night of March 18–19, 1929, the body was stolen. The body was later recovered, having been found in a nearby field, but the injured left leg was missing.[3][5] After this desecration, the remains were kept in a secluded portion of Crystal Cave in a chained casket. In 1961, Crystal Cave was purchased by Mammoth Cave National Park and closed to the public.[5] The Collins family had objected to Collins' body being displayed in the cave and, at their request, the National Park Service re-interred him at Mammoth Cave Baptist Church Cemetery, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky in 1989.[3][5] It took a team of 15 men three days to remove the casket and tombstone from the cave.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Bessie Smith - The Essential Bessie Smith

With apologies to Ma Rainey, but we hit the first giant of female vocalists with Bessie Smith. Bessie was definitely influenced by Ma Rainey, but brought a delivery and grit to her voice that was all her own. I remember when her complete collection was released in the 1990s - remastered for CDs, I bought several of the boxed sets...on cassette - so yeah don't have those any more. Still in the digital era, there's plenty of Bessie to choose from, but I find myself turning to this nice 36 track set spanning her whole recording career (1923-33). Though she would die tragically in a car accident in 1937, her influence stretches wide most immediately in the next generation of jazz/blues singers like Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Ella Fitzgerald

 

[Ojai Sam]

The replacement of mechanical recordings with electric made it possible to load the necessary equipment into a vehicle and conduct sessions anywhere. Many labels embarked on ambitious programs of recording blues and country music in communities throughout the southern states. Ralph Peer was one of the pioneers of field recording.

Among his many achievements was a series of sessions in Bristol, a community that straddles the border between Tennessee and Virginia.

Victor advertised beforehand for talent in local newspapers, resulting in a steady stream of artists carrying guitars, fiddles and banjos to Peer's makeshift studio at the Taylor-Christian Hat and Glove Company. Over the course of 12 days beginning on July 25, Victor waxed 76 songs by 19 artists. The sessions have been called the "Big Bang" of country music, largely because they were the first recordings by two legendary performers who shaped its future direction: The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.

Bear Family released the complete sessions on a massive 5 CD box. For the less obsessive, BMG extracted the cream of the crop here in its Country Legends series:

Various Artists - The Bristol Sessions vol. 1 (2002)

This picture of the Carters and Jimmie wasn't photoshopped. They ultimately became friends and even recorded together.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Bessie Smith - The Essential Bessie Smith

With apologies to Ma Rainey, but we hit the first giant of female vocalists with Bessie Smith. Bessie was definitely influenced by Ma Rainey, but brought a delivery and grit to her voice that was all her own. I remember when her complete collection was released in the 1990s - remastered for CDs, I bought several of the boxed sets...on cassette - so yeah don't have those any more. Still in the digital era, there's plenty of Bessie to choose from, but I find myself turning to this nice 36 track set spanning her whole recording career (1923-33). Though she would die tragically in a car accident in 1937, her influence stretches wide most immediately in the next generation of jazz/blues singers like Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Ella Fitzgerald

Just hit the lyric
"I need a little sugar in my bowl/
I need a little hot dog between my rollsl"

blushing

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Just hit the lyric
"I need a little sugar in my bowl/
I need a little hot dog in my roll"

blushing

Sex was invented in 1960, so she means something else.