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Monday, February 4, 2013

That's What I Call Sweet Music: American Dance Orchestras of the 1920s


This compilation of 1920's American dance music features long-forgotten artists such as Paul Sprecht, Red Nichols' Stompers, Rudy Vallee and others playing some truly infectious jazzy numbers that once comprised popular music in the U.S.A. Sure, some of the lyrics are corny, but the playing is consistently great (and the sound quality respectable). It's hard not to get nostalgic hearing these bygone numbers that blend big band, orchestral, and novelty music. As Robert Crumb states in the gorgeously illustrated liner notes, "what you hear on this CD is the good-time, social music of a vanished urban civilization, a lost world of smokestack factories, clanging trolley cars--and everybody wore hats!" True enough. --Jason Verlinde (Amazon)


1. That's What I Call Sweet Music, played by Paul Specht and his Orchestra, recorded on Jan 14, 1929
2. Make My Cot Where The Cot-Cot-Cotton Grows, Red Nichols' Stompers, Oct 26, 1927
3. Be My Baby, Blue Steele and his Orchestra, Feb 8, 1928
4. I'm The Last Of The Red Hot Mammas, Herman Kenin and his Ambassador Hotel Orchestra, Apr 26, 1929
5. Hy Honey's Lovin' Arms, Ray Miller and his Orchestra, Oct 2, 1927
6. 'Leven-Thirty Saturday Night, Fess Williams and his Royal Flush Orchestra, Apr 18, 1930
7. I'm Bringing A Red, Red Rose, George Olsen and his Music, Dec 6, 1928
8. Do Something, McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Apr 9, 1929
9. Wedding Bells, Fred Rich and his Orchestra, Feb 19, 1929
10. St. Louis Blues, Leroy Smith and his Orchestra, Feb 23, 1928
11. Sing Song Girl, Leroy Shield and the Victor Hollywood Orchestra, Sep 26, 1930
12. Sweet Ella May, Earl Hines and his Orchestra, Feb 13, 1929
13. The One That I Love Loves Me, Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees, Apr 1, 1929
14. Aristocratic Stomp, Paul Tremaine and his Aristocrats, Oct 2, 1929
15. Buy, Buy For Baby, Ben Pollack and his Park Central Orchestra, Oct 15, 1928
16. Hum And Strum, 'Doc' Cook and his 14 Doctors of Syncopation, Mar 30, 1928
17. Give Your Little Baby Lots Of Lovin', Anson Weeks and his Hotel Mark Hopkins Orchestra, Jan 28, 1929
18. That's What Puts The Sweet In Home Sweet Home, Jean Goldkette and his Orchestra, Nov 21, 1928
19. Singin' In The Rain, Gus Arnheim and his Orchestra, Apr 28, 1929
20. The Pay Off, California Ramblers, Feb 10, 1928
21. My Little Old Home Down In New Orleans, Tal Henry and his Orchestra, Dec 5, 1928
22. Oh, You Have No Idea! Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra, May 23, 1928
23. She's A Great, Great Girl, Hal Kemp and his Orchestra, Mar 7, 1928
24. Happy Days And Lonely Nights, Charlie Fry and his Million Dollar Pier Orchestra, Jun 5, 1928