1926

From 1900, we jump ahead to 1926. These four tracks come from a record collector friend of mine in Holland, who for the past forty years has been collecting any old time recordings he could get a hold of (78s, 33s, tape, mp3, etc); and for about the past thirty years he has been in the painstaking process of restoring these recordings through a mix of digital and analog means (with some homemade equipment). The results are just incredible. Here is a sample of four of remarkably awesome tracks from artists who unlike Louis Armstrong, Ma Rainey, or King Oliver never managed to make their way into many (if any) of these big 1920s revival box sets you find in your local Virgin mega store.


Billy Murray & Aileen Stanley

Collected Recordings (1926)
Any Ice Today Lady?
"Billy Murray (25 May, 1877 - 17 August, 1954) was one of the most popular singers in the United States in the early decades of the 20th century. While he received star billings on Vaudeville, he was best known for his prolific work in the recording studio, making records for almost every record label of the era. He was probably the best selling recording artist of the first quarter of the 20th century."
"Aileen Stanley (died 1982, age 89) projected a blues-influenced sensuality that was rare in white female vocalists of that era. She was one of Billy Murray's regular singing partners in the 1920's. Aileen also recorded many hits with other collaborators and as a solo artist, most notably "Sweet Indiana Home" (Victor 18992 in 1922) and "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street' (with Gene Austin on Victor 19585 in 1925)."

Dixieland Jug Blowers

Collected Recordings (1926)
Banjoreno
"Combining the sophistication of 1920s jazz bands with the raw energy of country string bands, the Dixieland Jug Blowers were in the vanguard of the early Louisville music scene. Their repertoire covered the spectrum of turn of the century American music - blues, rags, ballads, stomps, fiddle tunes and much more - in such performances as Barefoot Stomp, Blue Guitar stomp, Everybody Wants My Tootelum, National Blues and others."

California Ramblers

Collected Recordings (1926)
She Knows Her Onions
"The Ramblers adopted a slightly different playing style for the various labels they recorded for, thus enabling the record companies to have their own "sound". It wasn't until the development of electrical recording in 1925 that the true depth of the Rambler music became apparent and especially the Columbia company with its superb recording technique and smooth-surfaced records managed to capture the band in full glory. Although only one microphone was used and long before the days of dubbing, artificial reverb and stereo, the recorded sound has a tremendous perspective that even today baffles the listener. Also, these Columbia recordings were rather jazz-orientated, allowing for plenty of improvised solos and for what may already be described as "swing"."

Annette Hanshaw

Collected Recordings (1926)
Six Feet of Papa
"Annette Hanshaw was a popular singer and radio star of the 1920s and early Thirties who had many Jazz overtones in her singing style. She stepped out of her role of a torch singer and improvised and had a great deal of swing that harkened to the Big Band singers of the 1930s. She was viewed by the public as the epitome of a flapper."


For more information the reader is strongly urged to go check out: The Red Hot Jazz Archive they have more information than most people probably need, and tons of tracks in streamable Real Audio format.