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Interesting, because I thought Edison was not a fan of Jazz or more popular music, but instead the music he grew up listening too. It was more likely people working for Edison who allowed Jazz to be recorded. I only have a very small number of records of Jazz on Edison. One cylinder and two Diamond Discs.Marc Hildebrant wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 9:23 am I try to add some jazz history, when possible, to my Podcasts (https://www.buzzsprout.com/1449838). If you want some great information, check out the book "The Story of Jazz) by Marshall Stearns.
Edison had Flecher Handerson record music (Linger Awhile) and many more jazz recordings than most people know.
Marc
By all accounts, Edison—almost completely deaf—could sense vibrations and therefore “hear” enough in order to pass judgment on the quality of a performer. This implies that perhaps it wasn’t Edison’s taste in music that influenced his recorded repertoire, but instead his self-proclaimed ability to pass judgment on a singer or instrumentalist’s artistic worth. However, Edison seemed to have been more concerned with purity of tone. Additionally, he was deeply concerned and critical of vocal vibrato.
If memory serves, he is impressed by Jimmy Dorsey on that number, actually.epigramophone wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 4:47 am My son is a classically trained professional clarinettist who admires Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, but he had never heard of Ted Lewis until I played his recording of Yellow Dog Blues. He was impressed.
Edison issued records of the Memphis Five, Phil Napoleon, Earl Oliver, and several dance band foxtrots had what we call hot solos, much like the production of other labels of the period. The major difference with respect to other labels is that Edison did not have "race" departments like Columbia and Victor, with records (and distribution) dedicated to the Afro-American consumer. One evidence is the absence of Afro American blues singers throughout the peak of its popularity: as far as I know only Eva Taylor recorded two sides for Edison, at the tail end of the blues craze. The other blues recorded by Edison were sang by white vaudeville singers like Al Bernard. This makes me assume that Edison's personal musical tastes only had a marginal effect on its output, and the type of music Edison recorded was more a consequence of market choices than anything else.Edisonfan wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 10:00 am
Interesting, because I thought Edison was not a fan of Jazz or more popular music, but instead the music he grew up listening too. It was more likely people working for Edison who allowed Jazz to be recorded. I only have a very small number of records of Jazz on Edison. One cylinder and two Diamond Discs.
Marc Hildebrant wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 3:19 pm With regard to the story about Edison and Jazz music...There are many rumors about how Edison did not like any music except the type " nobody else" liked and as such the Edison Music business failed.
I tend to believe that there were many reasons that the Diamond Disc sales dropped from 1923 onward that were not related to the selection of music material. I have found many fun, early and late jazz numbers in the records I have from the Diamond Discs and will continue to add them to my Podcast.
Keep in mind that the jazz form of music went through a long development stage, and as such many of the foxtrot songs from the early 1910's and 20's, that today sound mild, were at the time early jazz music.
Again, the book by Marshall Stearns should be read to understand how "wide" a subject "jazz" is.
Marc
The list of personnel on that recording includes both Ted Lewis and Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet.gramophone-georg wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 2:51 pmIf memory serves, he is impressed by Jimmy Dorsey on that number, actually.epigramophone wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 4:47 am My son is a classically trained professional clarinettist who admires Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, but he had never heard of Ted Lewis until I played his recording of Yellow Dog Blues. He was impressed.