epigramophone wrote:Considering what a big hit the Charleston was, it is surprising how few copies seem to have survived, at least here in the UK. Occasionally one turns up on eBay and makes good money, but a friend got lucky recently and found a good copy in a junk shop for £1.
It had only taken him 45 years of searching!
Very good point!
One of my own theories is that The Charleston was kept by the original owners or kept getting played till it wore out or was accidentally broken or even pulled from the stack by the original owners children then played out. The Charleston saw a resurgence in the 30s, (The birth of Swing reworked lots of Hot Jazz), then again in the 40s (Flapper and Sheik mid-life crisis) and then finally again in the early 1950s (Mama, Teach Me to Do the Charleston!). I believe when a stack of "old" records were given away or thrown out The Charleston stayed around and could therefore been more likely to get broken or abused.
It took me quite a few years to find my first copy of Whiteman as well, after finding more than half a dozen, now I still pick up copies for friends. As a challenge I am collecting all of the 1920's recordings of the Charleston - I am up to about 20 or so but since you are from the UK, I am still looking for a copy of the Savoy Orpheans' version. I love the spoken intro about the "New syncopated rhythm"
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