| Artist |
Song |
Album |
Label |
Comments |
| Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra |
Charleston |
The Charleston Era |
ASV Living Era |
song was writtenin 1923 by James P. Johnson. There was a Charleston craze in 1925; this recording was a hit and there were numerous copycat songs written, like "I'm Gonna Charleston Back To Charleston" |
Divaville Lounge Wayback Machine: all songs today were recorded in 1925! | |
|
| Eight Popular Victor Artists |
A Miniature Concert |
Victor Talking Machine Co 35753 |
Victor |
The first commercial recording using the electric microphone (though a different title was released first, this was the first recorded). The original recording was 9:10 minutes long; this is an excerpt, about half as long. The artists we hear are Monroe Silver (MC, speaking), Frank Banta (piano), Billy Murray, Albert Campbell & Henry Burr (vocal), rudy Weidoeft (saxophone) |
| The Knickerbockers (Ben Selvin Ochestra) |
Manhattan |
Music Spectacle of the Roaring 20s |
Picobello |
Song was written in 1925 for the show Garrick Gaieties. This recording was a hit in 1925 |
| Isham Jones conducting the Ray Miller Orchestra v/ Frank Bessinger |
I'll See You In My Dreams |
Music Spectacle of the Roaring 20s |
Picobello |
Song was actually recorded in Dec. 1924 but was released in Feb 1925. This recording was a hit in 1925 |
| Gene Austin with Billy "Uke" Carpenter |
Yes Sir, That's My Baby |
Music Spectacle of the Roaring 20s |
Picobello |
This recording was a hit in 1925. Gene Austin was the most prominent of a group of young musicians who took advantage of the electric microphone to sing in a more intimate style. Austin was called "the first crooner." Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra both credited Austin with creating the genre that defined their singing styles especially in early career. Austin was also a composer and influenced his friend/mentee Jimmie Rodgers,"the father of country music" |
|
| Lonnie Johnson |
Mr. Johnson' Blues |
Lonnie Johnson Vol. 1 (1925-1926) |
Document |
Lonnie Johnson' first recording. Johnson was a pioneer of jazz and blues guitar and violin. He was the first performer to use an electrically amplified violin |
| Ethel Waters |
Dinah |
Golden Selection |
|
Waters was one of the most successful Black performers of the 1920s. This was recorded in late 1925 and became a hit in 1926 |
| Carlos Gardel |
Fea |
Vida y Obra de Carlos Gardel: 1925 |
Odeon |
Gardel was hugely important to the history of tango. He was known as The King of Tango or El Mago (The Wizard) |
| Paul Robeson & Lawrence Brown |
Bye and Bye (I'm Going To Lay Down Dis Heavy Load) |
Songs Of My People |
RCA |
Robeson's first recording. Brown was Robeson's preferred accompanist for decades. Here Brown sings as well as playing piano |
|
| Buster Bailey |
Squeeze Me |
Banner 1563 |
Banner |
Fats Waller's first significant composition, this became a minor jazz standard & was recorded by many prominent jazz bands. This is the songs's first recording |
| Cliff 'Ukulele Ike' Edwards |
Oh, Lady Be Good! |
Singin' In The Rain |
ASV Living Era |
Song was written for the show Lady, Be Good which Edwards appeared in, although he didn't sing the song in the show |
| Sissle & Blake |
You Ought To Know |
Edison 10408 |
Edison |
Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake were important songwriters in the early 1920s; in 1921 they produced the first all Black Broadway show, Shuffle Along |
| Hitch's Happy Harmonists feat Hoagy Carmichael |
Washboard Blues |
Hoagy Carmichael First of the Singer-Songwriters |
Proper UK |
Carmichael performing his own composition. I was unable to confirm if this was Carmichael's very first recording but it was definitely one of the first |
| Bix Beiderbecke And The Wolverines |
Davenport Blues |
Bix Beiderbecke And The Wolverines 1924-1925 |
Timeless Holland |
Tommy Dorsey's first recording! He was sitting in with the Wolverines in their first recording session with Gennett |
|
| Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five |
Gut Bucket Blues |
"Satchmo" Louis Armstrong Ambassador of Jazz |
Verve |
The Hot Five's first recording session. Armstrong introduces each band member before their solos, then Kid Ory introduces Armstrong. The Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings had enormous impact on the development ofnot just jazz, but all popular American music. They created the fundamental language of music going forward. |
| Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra |
Sugar Foot Stomp |
"Satchmo" Louis Armstrong Ambassador of Jazz |
Verve |
This was a new arrangement of "Dipper Mouth Blues" which Armstrong had previously recorded in King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. (The "dipper mouth" was Armstrong himself, a reference to his large mouth.) According to Henderson's arranger Don Redman, this was "the record that made Fletcher Henderson internationally known." Armstrong is in the band but doesn't dominate the way he does in the Hot Five. Note the more structured arrangement, much less fluid than the Hot Five |
| Clarence Williams Blue Five v/ Eva Taylor |
Cake Walking Babies (From Home) |
"Satchmo" Louis Armstrong Ambassador of Jazz |
Verve |
This recording included Armstrong and Sydney Bechet. Later this year Bechet would move to Paris where he lived for several years. Coincidentally he traveled on the same ship as Josephine Baker |
| Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong & Fred Longshaw |
St. Louis Blues |
Bessie Smith The Complete Recordings Vol. 2 |
Columbia |
In my opinion this is the greatest single recording of the 1920s |
|
| Ben Bernie & His Orchestra |
Sweet Georgia Brown |
Sweet Georgia Brown and Other Hot Numbers |
Retrieval |
The first recording of this song. Bernie is credited as co-author although it's apparently a bit unclear how much he actually had to do with writing the song. Every song in the set was a charting hit in 1925. |
| Eddie Cantor |
If You Knew Susie (Like I Knew Susie) |
The Columbia Years 1922-1940 |
Columbia |
Cantor was a major star in the late 1910s and 1920s, on stage, recorded music and in films in the 1930s. His voice I think is characteristic of the acoustic recording era: "singing for the rafters," not much intimacy or subtlety |
| Al Jolson w/ Carl Fenton's Orchestra |
Sitting On Top Of The World |
Brunswick 3014-A |
Brunswick |
This was a hit in 1926 but was recorded in 1925. Jolson was possibly the biggest star of the 1920s, known for his sentimental singing. Like Eddie Cantor his singing style exemplifies the acoustic era. Today he's mostly remembered for starring in the first talkie, The Jazz Singer, and wearing blackface in the movie. |
| Nick Lucas |
Brown Eyes, Why Are You Blue? |
Music Spectacle of the Roaring 20s |
Picobello |
This song is a good example of how a song can be a big hit in its day and be forgotten within a few decades, much less a hundred years later |
|
| Sexteto Habanero |
Loma De Belen |
Grabaciones Completas 1925-27 (Vol. 1) |
Tumbao |
One of the first recordings by Sexteto (later Septeto) Habanero, pioneers of son. They (along with a few other groups like the Trio Matamoros) popularized son and helped it become the dominent musical style in Cuba |
| Jazz Pilots (Harry Reser) |
Sleepy Time Gal |
Harry Reser's Novelty Groups |
Take Two |
Reser was possibly the greatest jazz banjo performer. He recorded under many, many different band names in the mid 1920s |
| New Orleans Rhythm Kings |
Everybody Loves Somebody Blues |
New Orleans Rhythm Kings: Complete Recordings 1922-1925 |
Rivermont |
The New Orleans Rhythm Kings were a very influential white jazz band in the early-mid 1920s. This recording comes from a new restoration of their recordings by Rivermont. The masters were lost & it took years of research to track down the best quality surviving recordings |
| Jelly Roll Morton |
Chicago Breakdown |
Jazz Greats Vol. 17 |
|
Jelly Roll Morton had been hugely important in the 1910s and early 1920s, but his era of significance was coming to an end by this point |
| Aileen Stanley and Gene Austin |
When My Sugar Walks Down The Street |
Music Spectacle of the Roaring 20s |
Picobello |
Song written by Gene Austin. Austin could not read or write music but composed over 100 songs |
|
| The Goofus Five |
Clap Hands Here Comes Charley |
Parlophone E-5529 |
Parlophone |
"Goofus" refers to the couesnophone, also known as the goofus, a "free-reed musical instrument in a saxophone shape." The goofus was popularized by Adrian Rollini who plays it in this song |
| Art Landry & His Orchestra v/ Denny "Dinty" Curtis |
Five Foot Two, Eyes Of Blue |
The Charleston Era |
ASV Living Era |
Every song in this set was written in 1925 |
| Harry Archer & His Orchestra with Male Trio |
Who? |
Brunswick 2997-A |
Brunswick |
written for the musical Sunny by Jerome Kern, Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein |
| Joel Sanders and the Coon-Sanders Nighthawks |
Everything is Hotsy-Totsy Now |
The Charleston Era |
ASV Living Era |
there's nothing significant about this recording, I just adore it |
|
| Lee Morse |
I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight |
I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight (Recordings of 1925-1926) |
|
Song was written in 1925 by Walter Donaldson. Morse sings and accompanies herself on guitar |
