Charleston Era

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 22, 2000)
• Original Release Date: August 8, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Asv Living Era
• ASIN: B00004U9N0
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,755 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #49 in Music > Jazz > Swing Jazz > Vintage Dance Bands

Track Listings

1. Charleston - Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra

2. I Love My Chili Bom Bom - Reg Batten & The Savoy Havana Band

3. Pasadena - Al Jolson

4. I'm Gonna Charleston Back To Charleston - The Coon-Sanders Nighthawks

5. Sweet Georgia Brown - Ben Bernie & His Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra

6. Don't Bring Lulu - Nathan Glantz & His Orchestra

7. Yes Sir, That's My Baby! - Ace Brigode & His Fourteen Virginians

8. Five Foot Two, Eyes Of Blue - Art Landry & His Orchestra

9. Everything Is Hotsy Totsy Now - The Coon-Sanders Nighthawks

10. I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight? - Jack Hylton & His Orchestra

11. I Love My Baby, My Baby Loves Me - Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians

12. Charleston Charley - Birt Firman & His Carlton Hotel Dance Orchestra

13. The Girl Friend - George Olsen & His Music

14. Black Bottom - Johnny Hamp & His Kentucky Serenaders

15. I'd Rather Charleston - George Gershwin

16. Ain't She Sweet - Nat Shilkret & His Orchestra

17. Crazy Words, Crazy Tune - Johnny Marvin

18. Miss Annabelle Lee - Whispering Jack Smith

19. The Varsity Drag - Fran Frey

20. That's My Weakness Now - Cliff 'Ukelele Ike' Edwards

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Runnin' Wild In 1920s Style, January 5, 2005

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charleston Era (Audio CD)

While torch songs and ballads were greatly popular during the 1920s, it is the dance music we most often remember--spirited and joyous sounds with unexpected arrangements and comic grace notes, often accompanied by comic lyrics. And it is precisely this that THE CHARLESTON ERA collects: the bright, the bouncy, evokative of Sheiks and Flappers, men with oil-slick hair and girls who wore their stockings rolled down.

Opening with the Paul Whiteman version of "Charleston"--a dance that was soundly condemned as demonic by the kill-joys of the time--this memorable compilation progresses through a host of standards and a good many forgotten but utterly charming favorites of the time. There's Al Jolson, Helen Kane, Gene Austin, and even the great Duke Ellington, who rounds out the line up with a memorable "Runnin' Wild."

The sound quality is remarkably good, particularly when one stops to consider that many of these recordings were made, as the CD cover notes, "in the days before electronic recording." The cuts are lovingly restored and beautifully presented, most of them toe-tappers, all of them guaranteed to flip you back to an era of speak-easies, cloche hats, and shimmy gowns... and, of course, the dance that characterized the era: The Charleston. You just can't listen to it and be blue.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer
In memory of Cujo, 1992-2005
An Orange Cat and a Dear and Faithful Companion, Greatly Missed

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I cried..., January 27, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Charleston Era (Audio CD)

I love the 1920s. I am a kid, but I love it. I have been watching musicals ever since I saw Singin' in the Rain, and I worked my way up from the the 1960s musicals to the the earliest silents of the very late 1800s. But I find that my favorite era is the 1920s. I love the music, movies, clothes, art-deco style, just everything about the 20s. My friends think I am crazy for choosing to listen to Annette Shaw over Beyonce, but they respect my opinion. Even my grandma does not like this stuff!! This music is older than her. This is an AH-MAZING CD. The music is so nostalgic and beautiful. It just takes you back. Back to images of slick-haired men in tuxedos with tails dancing the shag with bob-haired flappers in fringed drop waist gowns, images of prohibition, a sleek silent movie with Rudolph Valentino or Gloria Swanson, fast roadsters, Broadway shows like Good News or No, No Nanette, or the great Ziegfeld Follies. Like I said, the music was just so nostalgic and beautiful that I cried when I listened to the song "Charleston". It was a lovely reminder of one of the greatest decades in the history of the world. Jazz music today is so blah and it has no personality. The 1920s tinny jazz sound is real, RED-HOT JAZZ! This CD really captures the 20s, because the real stuff is the best, not like the movie Chicago, which is okay but does not have real 20s glory like a 20s silent like the Affairs of Anatol. This CD is swell (pardon the old-timey slang) the sound is not static, the music recordings are superb, the price is great, and it's just all nice. My favorite songs are "Charleston", "Everything is Hotsy-Totsy Now", "Charleston Charley", and "Pasadena". Two other good ASV label CDs of 20s music are Runnin' Wild, and Chart-Toppers of the Twenties. Yay! :)

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and Frisky, May 26, 2005

By 

Samantha Glasser "Maliejandra" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Charleston Era (Audio CD)

This CD is an excellent introduction to the music of the roaring twenties; it is one of my favorite compilations. I can listen to this CD on a loop and not get bored. The music is jumpy and happy and it is filled with famous names including Al Jolson, Fred Astaire and Helen Kane.

The great thing about the twenties was the carefree attitude that is exemplified in this collection. The lyrics scream fun and rebellion; they're actually quite witty in parts. Pasadena croons, "...back to my home in Pasadena, home where grass is greener where honeybees are melodies and orange trees scent the breeze...", Don't Bring Lulu warns, "You can bring Kate or a porterhouse steak, but don't bring Lulu!", Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue exclaims, "Now if you run into a five foot two covered in furs, diamond rings and all those things, bet your life it isn't her...", I'd Rather Charleston proclaims, "You just repeat that same refrain. You use your feet and not your brain." and Crazy Words, Crazy Tune complains, "...sits around all day long and he sings the same words to every song..." It's about fun and songs about frivolous things.

This is great dance music of a bygone era. Too bad much of today's society labels jazz as that smooth mood music found in elevators and hotel lobbies. This is nothing of the sort. Check it out.