The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

My favourite song is usually the latest record I bought/heard. Right now it's "She's Still My Baby" by the Four Aristocrats.

I find new "favorite" songs almost every day. I can tell you my favorite artists found on Victor accoustical records...Billy Murray, Collins & Harlan nand of course... Cal Stewart. I like the funny, cheesy stuff as well as the ethnic recordings that display the simple humor, peculiar mannerisms and the very different values of the day.

I've got far too many to list, but here's a few.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtJ0EDOby_4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qPGKDLq9Ew[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1wF3qphFgc[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EsYZvnOj4U[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdpZ9VpWc38[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn3vsKtwT84[/youtube]

I'll play.
I have favorites...

Ted Lewis
Egyptian Ella
Where's You Get Those Eyes
I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby

Ethel Waters
Shake That Thing
Am I Blue

Art Gillham
Blue Little You And Blue Little Me

Jack Smith
Me and My Shadow
When Autumn Leaves Are Falling

Lonnie Johnson
Sun Down Blues

Yacht Club Boys
How Could Little Red Riding Hood

Plantation Players
You'll Never Get Nowhere Holding Hands

Harry McClintock
Big Rock Candy Mountians

...just to name a few.


James.

Too many tears
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hekpj1UbFBI

Ooh, this is a hard one. If I absolutely had to choose a select few (what collector finds that easy!) I'd say:

BBC Dance Orchestra- The Broken Record

Al Bowlly/ New Mayfair Dance Orchestra- We Two

Jimmie Lunceford-Hell's Bells

Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue would have to get a look in too.

This has been tricky...

Right off the top of my head, and leaving out non English language tunes...

Running Wild Blues - Charley Patton
Avalon / Just Like A Gypsy - Paul Whiteman Orch.
I Cover The Waterfront - Billie Holiday
Strawberries - Nora Bayes
Rose Room - Jack Hylton Orch.
There's A Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder - Al Jolson (Brunswick version)
The Mountains O' Mourne - Peter Dawson
Nappy Head Blues - Bobby Grant
Blue Skies - Tommy Dorsey Orch. vocal Frank Sinatra
Japanese Sunset - Paul Ash & His Granada Orch.
The Bluebells Of Scotland - Mary Garden
Heebie Jeebies - Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
Whoa Tillie, Take Your Time - Ross Gorman's Virginians
The Vamp - Joseph C. Smith's Orch. vocal Billy Murray & Harry Macdonough
I'm On My Way To Mandalay - Will Oakland, Albert Campbell, Henry Burr
The Bard Of Armagh - John McCormack (1940)
Cluck Old Hen - Fiddlin Powers & Family
Whitehouse Blues - Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
Goodbye - Rosa Ponselle (recorded for Columbia ca. 1918)

And about a couple thousand more...

"The Chant," by Mel Stitzel, as recorded by Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers, 1926. The cornet player is George Mitchell, one of the great unsung heroes of the early jazz period.

I have lots of favorites, and they change somewhat from time to time. However, there's a few that have remained favorites over the last 30+ years. Among them are "Africa" by Jack Shilkret's Orchestra with vocal refrain by Billy Murray and "In Your Arms" by Joseph Knecht's Waldorf Astoria Orchestra on Okeh. The latter was one of the first old records I ever bought, and is largely responsible for my interest in this hobby.



Rocky

The "International Rag" by Collins & Harlan.