Your Favourite Music from the 1920s?

Yes. And what really surprises me is that the early 20's recordings were acoustic. Electronic recording didn't take place until the mid to late 20's. I think it made for a more "natural" performance. You don't see that much anymore, even for a "live" recording.

I have a large collection of 1920's era CDs. My favorites are:

Paul Whiteman
Al Jolson
Eddie Cantor
Guy Lombardo
The Duke
Gene Austin
Bessie Smith
Ethel Waters
Louis Armstrong

With the exception of Armstrong, Lombardo, Jolson and Ellington it is difficult to find good collections of 20's era artists. Most of my CDs were purchased in the 1990s when a lot of the record stores would import from Europe.

 

Bix

 

Still one of my favorites:

 

my list as well! excellent choices.

 

Duke , King Oliver , Blind Lemon Jefferson ,
Mississippi John Hurt , to name a few

 

Pretty cool! I don't think I know a single song from that era, and fewer than five of those artists. What a way to expand your musical horizons. I am taking a wild presumptious guess that no audiophile quality recordings exist of any recordings from that era, so unfortunately that would take most of the pleasure away for me. Heck, I can barely tolerate bad recordings of my favorite songs from the 60's-70's. All of the sudden Layla would sound pretty good in comparison!

 

Wow...I take back my snarky audiophile quality remark from the last post. That really doesn't sound bad at all!

 

Bix
Paul Whiteman
Jelly Roll

 

hey, it's the surviving sources and overzealous mastering (too often both) which cloud people's judgement. I'd rather go to a slightly crackly but still very clear and full sounding source, than a "cleaned" version that sounds like it was recorded in a toilet bowl.
And what's even worse is when they then add digital reverb on top to "restore" the lost ambience.
The same goes for bad sources. Better a noisy version with the ambience left, than some processed toilet bowl extravaganza.

And in some cases, it is just laziness. Public domain releases are not necessarily going to have access to surviving metal plates, if they even still exist.

 

some great songs from the 20s...
"Stardust"
"Bye Bye Blackbird"
"Toot Toot Tootsie (Goo'Bye)"
"Baby Face"
"I'll See You In My Dreams"
"Singin In the Rain"
"I Want To Be Loved By You"
"Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love"
"In the Jailhouse Now"
"It Had To Be You"
"The Wabash Cannonball"

 

I also love this guy: there's something strangely hypnotic about it, that is VERY addictive.

 

Antheil, Berg, Varese?

edit: that Janacek guy wasn't bad either

 

You need to read this thread.

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...r-78s-from-1932-ted-weems-isham-jones.230127/

 

The 1920s were very strong in the area of Cajun music:
Joseph Falcon, Cleoma Breaux, Leo Soileau and Mayuse Lafleur, Segura Brothers, Delma Lachney and Blind Uncle Gaspard, Dennis McGee, Angelas LeJeune, Amede Ardoin, Douglas Bellard and Kirby Riley, Guidry Brothers, Bixy Guidry and Percy Babineaux, Delin Guillory and Lewis Lafleur

 

Let me add...



The 50 sides included on this 2CD set illustrate the band's remarkable power and all tracks have been audio restored by Harry Coster (a 78 rpm expert).

 

Lead Belly, Charlie Patton & Louis Armstrong!

 

My favorite is definitely Al Jolson... You have to pick up Columbia's Art Deco series for Al if you wanna hear his best.

As for jazz, Paul Whiteman is alright but I much prefer the Duke or Satchmo.

 

Some other favorite artists...

Charles Booker
Junie Cobb
Helen Gross
Clarence M. Jones
Joe Jordan's Ten Sharps and Flats
Original Jazz Hounds
Tiny Parham
Ollie Powers' Harmony Syncopators
St. Louis Levee Band
Wade's Moulin Rouge Orchestra

 

Gotta give it up for Gershwin! Rhapsody in Blue has been one of those pieces, ever since I was a wee little lad.

Before replying, I did a quick search for songs of the 1920s, mainly to make sure anything I noted was of the right time period. I found this list (http://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs-1920s.html), and was more than a bit surprised at how many I knew. Confirms, to me, that children growing up in the late 70s/early 80s were probably the luckiest to be surrounded by good music from a wide variety of time periods.

 

The radio must have been a blessing.

 

Some of those already mentioned, and the whole Roaring 20s Zeitgeist. Like "Flappers, Vamps and Sweet Young Things" (title of one ASV disk I have).

 

King Oliver (Chicago sessions, 1926; New York sessions, 1927)
Louis Armstrong (Chicago sessions, 1925-26)
Duke Ellington ('Cotton Club Days', 1926-29, and on into 1930)
Jelly Roll Morton (New York sessions, December 1929)

 

Country blues...Devil Got My Woman by Skip James still sends shivers down my spine. Thoroughly enjoying John Tefteller's Blues Images calendar collection.

 

I really love these groups, just two released sides apiece:

Laughin' Cryin' Blues / Four O' Clock Blues - Ted Claire's Snappy Bits Band (1923)
Mean, Mean Mama / If You Want To Keep Your Daddy Home - Bob Ricketts' Band (1923)
Hatchet Head Blues / Blues, Just Blues, That’s All - Old Southern Jug Band (1924)
Shanghai Honeymoon / Good Feelin' Blues - Kansas City Stompers (1929)
Old Folks Shake / No More Blues - Kentucky Jazz Babies (1929)

Personnel for the Claire and Ricketts bands are unidentified, but the former probably includes pianist-director Charles A. Matson, identified as "Chas. A. Watson" on the label (Gennett 5060).