FOR SALE: Polk Miller & The Old South Quartette - $15
Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2016 2:28 pm
Hi TMF folks. We published 1700 of this first edition booklet-CD and we are down to less than 80 copies. This edition makes a great gift for you or for others.......sharing an very unlikely American story.
$15ea postpaid via Media Mail to the lower 48 states. We ship world-wide at cost.
Payment of $15 via paypal to flaherka@gmail.com or a check to:
Ken Flaherty
17166 Beechwood Ave.
Beverly Hills, MI 48025
2008 Grammy Award Nomination for Best Historical Record of the Year
National Public Radio: All Things Considered, “An Unlikely African-American Music Historian” Listen at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =120398673
Thanks, Ken Flaherty
Background on this project:
Polk Miller’s banjo and guitar combined with black quartette singing is an amazing accomplishment for 1909. This is an important story as this is one of the earliest examples of African Americans and whites making sound recordings together.
In January of 1960, Jim Walsh published an article on Polk Miller and His Old South Quartette. At this time, Jim was writing a series of articles featuring “Favorite Pioneer Recording Artists”. He was quick to point out that that Polk Miller was one of the few recording artists that actually served in the Civil War. Jim also noted that on November 13, 1909, Polk Miller “was 65 years of age when his recording career both began and ended”. Polk Miller last performed with the Old South Quartette in 1911 and died on October 20, 1913 at the age of sixty-nine.
The first time I heard a Polk Miller and His Old South Quartette cylinder record was 15 years ago and I’m still not quite over it. The 1909 Edison recordings are years ahead of their time and the 1928 QRS/Broadway recordings by the Old South Quartette are outstanding examples of pre-war American black gospel music. After discovering these amazing recordings, I also learned about the lives of Polk Miller and the Old South Quartette from Doug Seroff’s comprehensive article in 78 Quarterly from 1988. Both of these discoveries led me down the path to reissue high quality audio transcriptions of these recordings combined with the written history of Polk Miller and the Old South Quartette.
We put a great effort into transcribing the Edison cylinders. Although the 1909 Edison cylinders are not extremely rare, it took years of searching to find clean examples for transfer. It is important to note that an effort was made to digitally remove inherent recording noise and defects from the Edison cylinder transfers. I quickly rediscovered the assets and liabilities of this process and struggled with which versions to release. The decision was made to release both the unedited versions and the digitally re-mastered versions on this CD, so the listener can decide which version is preferable.
Reissuing historic recordings on CD has always been a challenge for the jewel-case. In an effort to improve the historic recording experience, I have issued this project as a nine-by-nine inch, 26 page booklet with the CD of the complete Polk Miller and Old South Quartette recordings inside the back cover. The CD includes the seven 1909 Edison cylinder records and the seven 1928 QRS/Broadway disc recordings. Regarding the text, African American music scholar, Doug Seroff, has been kind enough to completely rewrite and update his 78 Quarterly publication to reflect the many new discoveries over the last 18 years; the new publication is entitled “The Enigma of Polk Miller”. From many years of research, Doug is able to provide the story of Polk Miller’s transition from running a successful pharmacy to becoming a professional entertainer with African Americans.
$15ea postpaid via Media Mail to the lower 48 states. We ship world-wide at cost.
Payment of $15 via paypal to flaherka@gmail.com or a check to:
Ken Flaherty
17166 Beechwood Ave.
Beverly Hills, MI 48025
2008 Grammy Award Nomination for Best Historical Record of the Year
National Public Radio: All Things Considered, “An Unlikely African-American Music Historian” Listen at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =120398673
Thanks, Ken Flaherty
Background on this project:
Polk Miller’s banjo and guitar combined with black quartette singing is an amazing accomplishment for 1909. This is an important story as this is one of the earliest examples of African Americans and whites making sound recordings together.
In January of 1960, Jim Walsh published an article on Polk Miller and His Old South Quartette. At this time, Jim was writing a series of articles featuring “Favorite Pioneer Recording Artists”. He was quick to point out that that Polk Miller was one of the few recording artists that actually served in the Civil War. Jim also noted that on November 13, 1909, Polk Miller “was 65 years of age when his recording career both began and ended”. Polk Miller last performed with the Old South Quartette in 1911 and died on October 20, 1913 at the age of sixty-nine.
The first time I heard a Polk Miller and His Old South Quartette cylinder record was 15 years ago and I’m still not quite over it. The 1909 Edison recordings are years ahead of their time and the 1928 QRS/Broadway recordings by the Old South Quartette are outstanding examples of pre-war American black gospel music. After discovering these amazing recordings, I also learned about the lives of Polk Miller and the Old South Quartette from Doug Seroff’s comprehensive article in 78 Quarterly from 1988. Both of these discoveries led me down the path to reissue high quality audio transcriptions of these recordings combined with the written history of Polk Miller and the Old South Quartette.
We put a great effort into transcribing the Edison cylinders. Although the 1909 Edison cylinders are not extremely rare, it took years of searching to find clean examples for transfer. It is important to note that an effort was made to digitally remove inherent recording noise and defects from the Edison cylinder transfers. I quickly rediscovered the assets and liabilities of this process and struggled with which versions to release. The decision was made to release both the unedited versions and the digitally re-mastered versions on this CD, so the listener can decide which version is preferable.
Reissuing historic recordings on CD has always been a challenge for the jewel-case. In an effort to improve the historic recording experience, I have issued this project as a nine-by-nine inch, 26 page booklet with the CD of the complete Polk Miller and Old South Quartette recordings inside the back cover. The CD includes the seven 1909 Edison cylinder records and the seven 1928 QRS/Broadway disc recordings. Regarding the text, African American music scholar, Doug Seroff, has been kind enough to completely rewrite and update his 78 Quarterly publication to reflect the many new discoveries over the last 18 years; the new publication is entitled “The Enigma of Polk Miller”. From many years of research, Doug is able to provide the story of Polk Miller’s transition from running a successful pharmacy to becoming a professional entertainer with African Americans.