Swinging Down the Lane

Isham Jones | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 21, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Memphis Archives
• ASIN: B000003UEF
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #239,584 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Farewell Blues

2. Memphis Blues

3. Nobodys Sweetheart

4. Blue Evening Blues

5. It Had To Be You

6. My Best Girl

7. Why Couldn't It Be Poor Little Me

8. I'll See You In My Dreams

9. Danger

10. Headin' For Home

11. Paddelin' Madeline Home

12. That Certain Party

13. I'm Sittin On The Top Of The World

14. I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight

15. It's The Blues

16. Three-Thirty Blues

17. What's The Use?

18. Swinging Down The Lane

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad start, but seems only half-full..., October 19, 2000

By 

Adam M. Dubin (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Swinging Down the Lane (Audio CD)

This is a valuable CD which helps preserve some small part of the recorded legacy of Isham Jones, however much more could have fit on this one CD, and there unfortunately do not seem to be any plans to continue this project by Memphis Archives, as this was issued in 1995. Not to demean what this excellent small independent label has accomplished (with admirably non-interventionalist transfers), but this CD seems oddly incomplete, even as it spans the decade from the early '20s to the early '30s. But still, it's a shame that a more balanced picture of Jones' output was not achieved, with even a bit more representation of his jazzier numbers ("Cotton Pickers Ball" [my personal favorite, from 1923] and "Meadow Lark" come immediately to mind, with perhaps "I Just Wanna Be Known As Susie's Feller" thrown in, not to mention some of the more driving songs he recorded in the early-mid '30s that are presagers of swing).

But I don't expect Decca/MCA (which may or may not have the original masters from the Brunswick recordings; I read somewhere that most of these were destroyed or lost long ago) or BMG/RCA (which issued, to my knowledge, only one wonderful LP, 36 years ago, dedicated to his early '30s recordings) to remember this icon of the dance band era. So I guess the only alternative if one wants to hear more Isham Jones is to collect the 78s.

I suppose all this makes listening to "Swinging Down the Lane" a bittersweet experience...it's nice as far as it goes, but don't expect much more on CD. I would love to be wrong on that account, however!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SECOND CHOICE REISSUE FOR THIS PERIOD OF THE BAND, October 30, 2008

By 

Barry McCanna (Normandy, France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Swinging Down the Lane (Audio CD)

For seekers of early hot dance bands, this CD is a good companion to the Timeless reissue, which covers 1922-1926, since the two contain only one duplication, namely Farewell Blues. But it is somewhat short measure in comparison, with five less tracks, and there is less in the way of documentation. Therefore I'd place it in second place to the other, and the four star grading reflects that.

5 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hot Musick Keeps Up With the Joneses, January 26, 2000

By 

ugly george (nyc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Swinging Down the Lane (Audio CD)

Starting with 1924's "I'll See You In My Dreams",Isham Jones had a solid stream of big-selling hits and was not too far behind Paul Whiteman on the sales charts.In spite of this,many Racist Liberals insist on lying in trying to make Jazz into a strictly black thing.When I met and photographed Satchmo, he told me the same thing.These selections are Very Good from Isham,but more is needed to complete the set;especially with Frank Silvano as the vocalist-or "Boy Singer",if the Lesbian/Feminists will allow that term...