Customer Reviews

You're A Grand Old Rag: The Music of George M. Cohan

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The always delightful Paragon Ragtime Orchestra has again produced a fine album. Their approach to Cohan's music indeed has the right feel. It is without question a joy to hear.

Bernadette Boerckel contributes her fine voice to the entertainment, and one regrets not hearing her sing "Ethel Levey's Virginia Song." (Ethel herself can be heard singing it under it's more common title, "I Was Born in Virginia," in "Music from the New York Stage 1890-1920, Vol. 1: 1890-1908)." Her take on "That Haunting Melody" makes a nice contrast to the 1911 Jolson recording of the same number.

Let us also put in a good word for Judith Sherman's production.

The liner notes devote some time to the difficulty the Paragons had in finding someone who could give the impression of Cohan's singing. (Note, not "do an impression," but "give the impression of"). Unfortunately, there are few extant examples of Cohan's singing to use as models, but one may be found right here on Amazon - "Carousel Of American Music: The Fabled 24 September 1940 San Francisco Concerts," a transcription of a 1940 show put together for the San Francisco World's Fair by Gene Buck. Second to closing, the headliner's spot in a Vaudeville bill, was George M. Cohan.

Listening to Cohan sing a chorus each of (and, in the case of the last number, probably dance to), "Give My Regards to Broadway," "The Yankee Doodle Boy," and "Grand Old Flag" is a revelation, and an interesting contrast to Mr. Pritchard. I believe the band in San Francisco may have been playing something akin to the original arrangements -- the show was a one-shot, hastily put together. The liner notes say only that the musicians were "members of the San Francisco Symphony," but they sound like a larger aggregation than this Paragon recording. What comes through loud and clear in both efforts, though, is Cohan's music.

Interestingly, Cohan himself seems to like to get a little ahead of the orchestra. However, his attack, his energy, and his sincerity are his and his alone. These do not come across in the Paragon disc, and in my opinion, its only weak point.

Buy the album. The music is wonderful.

Another great recoding from PRO doing an excellent job on Cohan's music. It's a pleasure to listen to these performers do a quality job of research and faithful recreation of early Broadway.

Everything seems right about this recording--the arrangements, the performances, the selections. I especially like the sound of the smaller pit orchestra. It makes a nice counter to the big Warner Bros. sound in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (which is enjoyable in its own right).
Colin Pritchard stands in beautifully for Cohan in the signature vocals. His historically-grounded performance makes me appreciate even more what the brilliant James Cagney accomplished in Yankee Doodle Dandy. And Cagney must have spent time with Cohan to prepare for his role in the biopic. Between the two performers, we have a pretty good vocal portrait of Cohan.
With this recording, the curtains part and we can imagine ourselves in the audience at a turn-of-the-(19th to 20th)century revue of George M. Cohan's best.

What's to say about CD of music by George M. Cohan? The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra does an outstanding job of recreating the music of Cohan, and Colin Pritchard is very good singing as Cohan. This CD should be a must-buy for any citizen who feels the least bit patriotic. What tops off this CD is a six minute speech by Cohan himself in 1938.(The speech recording is flawless, as though it were made yesterday!) I highly recommend this CD: you will get your money's worth and have a fine old time!

George M Cohan owned Broadway from about 1905 until the late 1920s. He influenced all who came after him, yet up until now nobody thought too much about what Cohan's music sounded like. All we had were James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy and Joel Grey in George M. Trust me, Cohan was made to sound like what was current at the time of these pieces, these pieces made no attempt to sound like what Cohan might have sounded like. Such a seminal figure, its about time someone tried to imagine what this music sounded like when it was written. Thank you Rick Benjamin and his Paragon Ratime Orchestra.

I get a sense that we are in the right vein stylistically, but I am not convinced that we have hit a bullseye. I will buy the orchestral configurations, as good research tells us that a first class vaudville house or broadway house might very well have had the piano and eleven that is referred to in the liner notes. There is a very telling moment in track 13, Overture to Nelly Kelly, at the start of Until My Luck Comes Rolling Along. That song is led off with a strong piano solo, one of the very few on the entire recording. My guts tell me that more piano would have been heard, especially in later Cohan, as it was only 10 years until the 30's when pianos and two piano teams were all over broadway pit orchestras. Think Edie and Rack who played featured spots in such musicals as Girl Crazy, Babes in Arms, and Cat in the Fiddle. Surely by the 20s there were featured piano-only spots. That moment feels so absolutely right to me.

Bernadette Boeckels singing is marvelous, legitimtely produced with a nice snap, just how principal female singers might have sounded then. Her work on all of her features is exemplary, especially Mary's a Grand Old Name. Colin Pritchard also seems to offer a good sense of what the composer sounded like as a singer. Remember, all reviews of his work comment on what a great dancer he was, but very little is noted of his singing. I suspect he could put over a song, but didn't have the greatest voice. I could believe that this is what he might have sounded like. But.............and this is a big but, the work on Give My Regards to Broadway, with Mr. Pritchard constantly lagging behind the orchestra or running in front of it, makes me say HUH??? If Cohan was a dancer, then he would be all over the rhythm and would keep the orchestra right with him, with only a break at the very end. Fred Astaire comes to mind, he wasn't the greatest baritone that ever lived, but I can listen to him sing the songs he introduced forever because he has that dancer's sense of forward propulsion and keeps the songs moving. On this track, I think someone was a bit wrong headed. Over There is better, the rhythm is more right, but I still think he might have SUNG more, at least on this song.
This is a major recording, a very important one, one that I will listen to many times. Hopefully it will inspire others to mine this repetoire with some sense of period style. If you read my reviews, proper style is something that comes up over and over, especially when I think there is a little sense of it.