Edison Hot Dance Obscurities, Vol. 1

Frank Winegar | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 18, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jazz Oracle
• ASIN: B0000DBJC5
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #560,973 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Jazz Oracle Winner!, November 7, 2005

By 

"Gimpy" Peach Johnson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edison Hot Dance Obscurities, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

Hooray for Jazz Oracle! That Canadian label headed up by Colin Bray, John Wilby, and the late John R. T. Davies. Together, they've put out some of the best reissues of 1920s-1930s jazz and dance bands, consistently featuring top-notch sound restoration, informative and attractive booklets, and obscure material that the major labels wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. (I have no connection to Jazz Oracle, just speaking as an extremely satisfied customer, folks!) With "Edison Hot Dance Obscurities, Vol. 1," they have done it again!

The CD features tracks from two of the better-known dance bands to record for Edison in the 1920s: Frank Winegar and B. A. Rolfe. While they were well known in their time, I would venture a guess that they are so obscure today that even many collectors of music from that era aren't very familiar with them. Too bad, too, for the recordings on this disc are excellent. The two bands serve up plenty of great standard 1920s tunes such as "Shaking The Blues Away," "A Good Man Is Hard To Find," "Ida! Sweet As Apple Cider," "My Gal Sal," "Stay Out Of The South," as well as some lesser-known gems. Perhaps my favorite on the disc is B. A. Rolfe's "No Parking." I had heard the recording on an old IAJRC LP, but the pitch on that LP was off and the piece sounded somewhat dull, lifeless, and slow. Thanks to John R. T. Davies's excellent restoration, on this CD it comes through bright and clear, at the correct speed, and bursts forth with plenty of pep (and a hot little flute solo--how many of those do you get in 1920s dance bands?).

The notes by Ross Wilby provide a wealth of information about these two bands and their leaders, and the booklet includes several photographs and a very thorough discography. All of the titles on the CD were recorded electrically, but Edison's electrical system was rather crude compared to the Western Electric system used by Victor and Columbia at the time. Fortunately, John R. T. Davies has extracted some wonderful sound from these 80-year old recordings. They have never sounded better.

Jazz Oracle has recently released Volume 2 of the "Edison Hot Dance Obscurities" series (featuring recordings by Oreste's Queensland Orchestra). While the second volume is good too, I find myself coming back more and more to this first volume. The tunes are peppier and catchier. If you like 1920s dance bands, I'm sure you'll enjoy this disc. Highly recommended!