VA - American Pop, An Audio History From Minstrel To Mojo on Record, 1893-1946 [9 CD, 2000]

 

Allen Lowe's nine-CD, 215-track compilation American Pop provides examples of music and musicians discussed in his book, American Pop from Minstrel to Mojo: On Record, 1893-1956. Billed as "an audio history of American popular song presented through rare records," it is obviously a massive effort, and Lowe has adopted certain criteria for his choices. He is particularly interested in relations between races, and in his liner notes (excerpted from the book) frequently makes reference to the color of the musician. Also, "rare" is a key word: though Lowe includes performances by many of the most popular musicians of the 53-year period he examines, he is actually more interested in tracing the side avenues of non-classical music, especially jazz, but also country and blues, giving relatively short shrift to the more popular music of Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood. Lowe manages to include at least one song by each of the major names in country music during the period, from Eck Robertson to the Maddox Brothers and Rose. In jazz, his black/white emphasis results in a preponderance of black artists, with all the major names represented, but such notable white figures as the Dorsey Brothers absent (of course, this also reflects his tendency to shun the hit parade). The blues is less well-represented, reflecting Lowe's position that "the blues is, of course, quite important, but only as part of a much larger American, and African American, musical universe"; nevertheless, most of the major names have at least one song. For the most part, the selections are presented in chronological order, mixing up the genres. In practice, the transitions are not as jarring as that might suggest, and in fact the juxtapositions sometimes suggest similarities one might not otherwise have considered. At other times, it's the differences that are illuminating; this is not a collection for fans of only one style of music. Although the album is essentially a work of musical scholarship, casual listeners may enjoy a variety of discoveries. Despite its length, American Pop is, necessarily, a survey course, not an advanced seminar, in popular music, and like any course, reflects the views of the instructor. Neophytes and experts will find much to enjoy, and the sheer bulk is impressive-listening is like reliving the eras as they occur. Further, the development of popular music after 1946, when some of these genres gained popular ascendancy, makes even the more obscure material sound accessible. But it's worth keeping in mind that this is in some ways an alternate history of American popular song.




DISC 1:
1. Mama's Black Baby Boy - The Unique Quartette
2. Poor Mourner - Cousins & De Moss
3. Coon Band Contest, A - Vess L. Ossman
4. Cakewalk - Unknown
5. Pasquinale - Sousa's Band
6. Bill Bailey - Arthur Collins
7. Nobody - Bert Williams
8. Grand Old Rag - Billy Murray
9. De Little Old Log Cabin in de Lane - Carrol C. Clark/Vess L. Ossman
10. Bully, The - May Irwin
11. Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly? - Nora Bayes
12. You Made Me Love Me - Al Jolson
13. Hungarian Rag - The New York Military Band
14. Down Home Rag - James Reese Europe
15. Desecration Rag - Felix Arndt
16. Memphis Blues - Victor Military Band
17. That's the Kind of Baby For Me - Eddie Cantor
18. Tiger Rag - Original Dixieland Jazz Band
19. After You've Gone - Marion Harris
20. Memphis Blues - James Reese Europe
21. Royal Garden Blues - Mamie Smth's Jazz Hounds
22. Sweet Man O' Mine - Mamie Smith
23. Love Will Find a Way - Sissle & Blake
24. Sounds of Africa - Eubie Blake
25. Keep Off the Grass - James P. Johnson

DISC 2:
1. Society Blues - Kid Ory's Sunshine Orchestra
2. Ragtime Annie - Eck Robertson
3. It Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo' - Wendell Hall
4. Original Charleston Strut - Thomas Morris
5. Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's Gonna Crow, The - Fiddlin' John Carson
6. New Orlean Joys - Jelly Roll Morton
7. Kansas City Man Blues - Sidney Bechet
8. Elephant's Wobble - Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
9. Working Man Blues - King Oliver
10. Lucky Rock Blues - Ma Rainey
11. Chicago Stomp - Jimmy Blythe
12. Johnny Dunn's Cornet Blues - Johnny Dunn
13. California Here I Come - Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards
14. Prisoner's Song - Vernon Dalhart
15. Ezekiel Saw de Wheel - Elkins-Payne Jubilee Singers
16. Suitcase Blues - Hersal Thomas
17. When the Work's All Done This Fall - Carl T. Sprague
18. Sugar Hill - Crockett Ward & His Boys
19. Candy Girl - Uncle Bunt Stephens
20. Long Lonesome Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
21. It's All Right Now - Arizona Dranes
22. Sweet and Low Down - George Gershwin (piano solo)
23. Stockyard Strut - Freddie Keppard
24. Cross-Eyed Butcher and the Cacklin' Hen, The - Uncle Dave Macon

DISC 3:
1. Black Bottom Stomp - Jelly Roll Morton
2. Flop Eared Mule - Kahle Brewer
3. Country Blues - Doc Boggs
4. New Jelly Roll Blues - Peg Leg Howell
5. After You've Gone - Sophie Tucker
6. Guitar Rag - Sylvester Weaver
7. I'm Coming Virginia - Bing Crosby/Paul Whiteman
8. My Pretty Girl - Jean Goldkette
9. Woke up With the Blues in My Fingers - Lonnie Johnson
10. I'm Coming Virginia - Frankie Trumbauer/Bix Beiderbecke
11. Old Hickory Cane, The - Ernest V. Stoneman
12. There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood - The Giddens Sisters
13. Blue Guitar Stomp - Clifford Hayes
14. Silhouette - Rube Bloom
15. No More Goodbyes - Ernest Stoneman et al.
16. O' Molly Dear - B.F. Shelton
17. Pick Poor Robin Clean - Luke Jordan
18. Honolulu Blues - Red Nichols/Miff Mole
19. Train Forty-Five - Grayson & Whitter
20. Mama 'Taint Long For Day - Blind Willie McTell
21. My Money Never Runs Out - Gus Cannon & His Jug Stompers
22. Motherless Chile Blues - Barbecue Bob
23. Washboard Blues - Hoagy Carmichael
24. Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground - Blind Willie Johnson

DISC 4:
1. Dallas Rag - Dallas String Band
2. Deep Elm - Willard Robison
3. Cool Drink of Water Blues - Tommy Johnson
4. Black Beauty - Duke Ellington
5. Somethin' Doin' - Hayes & Prater
6. Antioch - Allison's Sacred Harp Singers
7. Ham Beats All Meat - Dr. Humphrey Bate
8. Melancholy Baby - Paul Whiteman
9. Lovesick Blues - Emmett Miller
10. Fishing Blues - Henry Thomas
11. Wild Cat - Joe Venuti/Eddie Lang
12. Indiana - Frank Teschemacher/Eddie Condon/Joe Sullivan/Gene Krupa
13. Oysters & Wine at 2 A.M. - Polk Miller Old South Quartette
14. Lonesome Swallow - Ethel Waters
15. Rolling Log Blues - Lottie Beamon
16. How Long - Frank Stokes
17. Miner's Blues, The - Frank Hutchison
18. Ice Water Blues - DeFord Bailey
19. Acorn Stomp - The East Texas Serenaders
20. Heavy Hearted Blues - Tarlton & Darby
21. Next Week Sometime - Alex Johnson
22. Tell Me Woman Blues - Alger "Texas" Alexander
23. Just Too Soon - Earl Hines
24. Tight Like This - Louis Armstrong

DISC 5:
1. Away Out on the Mountain - Riley Puckett
2. Baby Please Loan Me Your Heart - Papa Charlie Jackson
3. Jump Steady Blues - Pinetop Smith
4. Get Away From My Window (Stay Away) - Butterbeans & Susie
5. Madame Young - Dennis McGee/Sady Courville
6. Till Times Get Better - Jabbo Smith
7. He Rambled - Charlie Poole
8. Feelin' the Spirit - Louis Russell
9. Blind Arthur's Breakdown - Blind Blake
10. K.C. Moan - Memphis Jug Band
11. You Don't Understand - Bessie Smith
12. Hell Broke Loose in Georgia - The Skillet Lickers
13. Squabblin' - Walter Page's Blue Devils
14. There'll Be No Distinction There - Blind Alfred Reed
15. You Got to Wet It - Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon
16. I Hate a Man Like You - Lizzie Miles
17. Dry Spell Blues (Part 1) - Son House
18. Motherless Children - Bessemer Melody Boys
19. Don't Think I'm Santa Claus - Lil McClintock
20. Guitar Rag - Roy Harvey/Jess Johnston
21. Devil Got My Woman - Skip James
22. Draggin' My Heart Around - Fats Waller

DISC 6:
1. So Sorry Dear - Two Poor Boys
2. Get on Board Aunt Susan - Jimmie Davis
3. Let Me Be Your Sidetrack - Jimmie Rodgers
4. Stardust - Louis Armstrong
5. Last Kind Word Blues - Geeshie Wiley
6. Tiger Rag - Art Tatum
7. Shanghai Rooster Yodel #2 - Cliff Carlisle
8. Washboard Blues - Connee Boswell
9. Darkness on the Delta (When It's) - Isham Jones
10. Moten Swing - Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
11. Home on the Range - Lee Sims
12. Dance of the Octopus - Red Norvo
13. I've Got the Big River Blues - The Delmore Brothers
14. Montana Plains - Patsy Montana
15. Bay Rum Blues - Gwenn Foster
16. My Swiss Moonlight Lullaby - Wilf Carter
17. Someday Sweetheart - Bing Crosby
18. Railroad Blues - Sam McGee
19. Down South Camp Meeting - Fletcher Henderson
20. Bring up Breakdown - Arthur Schutt
21. Dinah - Boswell Sisters
22. Some of These Days - Milt Brown
23. Fiddler's Dream - Fiddlin' Arthur Smith

DISC 7:
1. When the Sun Goes Down (In the Evening) - Scrapper Blackwell/Leroy Carr
2. What's the Reason - The Mills Brothers
3. Sola - Lydia Mendoza
4. Swanee River - Jimmie Lunceford
5. It Never Dawned on Me - Teddy Wilson
6. Tillie's Downtown Now - Bunny Berigan
7. Honeysuckle Rose - Mildred Bailey
8. I'm in the Mood For Love - Adelaide Hall
9. River Blues - Bill Boyd
10. I Want You by My Side - Jazz Gillum
11. I'm Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail - The Blue Sky Boys
12. Dinah - Benny Goodman
13. I Can't Give You Anything But Love - Billie Holiday
14. Liza - Don Albert & His Orch.
15. If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day - Robert Johnson
16. Church in the Wildwood, The - Chuck Wagon Gang
17. Cross Street Swing - Original Yellow Jackets
18. Good Morning Little School Girl - Sonny Boy Williamson
19. Topsy - Count Basie
20. Dust - Gene Autry
21. Diminuendo in Blue - Duke Ellington
22. Cowboy Night Herd Song - Roy Rogers
23. Road to Ruin, The - St. Louis Jimmy Oden
24. Body and Soul - Larry Adler/Django Reinhardt
25. Little Joe - The Carter Family

DISC 8:
1. Let That Liar Alone - Golden Gate Quartet
2. You're Okay - Bob Wills
3. Deep Purple - Art Tatum
4. P.L.K. Special - Jimmy Yancey
5. If Dreams Come True - James P. Johnson
6. Stairway to the Stars - Ella Fitzgerald
7. Walk Around - The Soul Stirrers
8. I'm Always Dreaming of You - Floyd Tillman
9. Muleskinner Blues - Roy Acuff
10. I Ain't Got No Home - Woody Guthrie
11. After Hours - Erskine Hawkins
12. Oh Yes? Take Another Guess - Hank Penny
13. Sugar - Lee Wiley
14. Seldom the Sun - Alec Wilder
15. Mule Skinner Blues - Bill Monroe
16. Piney Brown's Blues - Big Joe Turner
17. Trail of the Great Divide - Slim Rinehart
18. Walking the Floor Over You - Ernest Tubb
19. Swing to Bop - Charlie Christian
20. Hello Babe - Lillian "Lil" Green
21. I Got the Blues - Big Maceo Merriweather
22. You Got to Get Out of Here - Memphis Minnie
23. She's Funny That Way - Frank Sinatra
24. Mean Old Frisco Blues - Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup
25. Buster's Last Stand - Claude Thornhill

DISC 9:
1. Rock Daniel - Sister Rosetta Tharpe
2. Indiana - Lester Young/Nat King Cole
3. I Got a Break Baby - T-Bone Walker
4. Red River Dam Blues - Washboard Sam
5. Rainbow Mist - Coleman Hawkins
6. Gulf Coast Blues - Charlie Barnet/Roy Eldridge
7. Share Croppin Blues - Kay Starr/Charlie Barnet
8. Don't Let That Man Get You Down - Texas Ruby
9. Honeydripper, The - Joe Liggins
10. Indiana - Don Byas
11. Man I Love, The - Artie Shaw
12. In a Mezz - Sammy Price
13. Buzz Me - Ella Mae Morse
14. I Don't Know Enough About You - Peggy Lee
15. Shaw 'Nuff - Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie
16. Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin' - Louis Jordan
17. I'll Get Along Somehow - Charles Brown
18. Boogie Woogie Baby - The Delmore Brothers
19. This Subdues My Passion - Charles Mingus
20. Filipino Baby - Cowboy Copas
21. I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again - The Maddox Brothers & Rose
22. What Is This Thing Called Love - Lennie Tristano