In a perfect world, jazz would have been recorded extensively from the very beginning. But it didn't work out that way. If one agrees that jazz started in New Orleans around 1895 (when cornetist Buddy Bolden put together his first band), then the first 22 years (give or take a few years) of jazz history went unrecorded. Allegedly, Bolden recorded a cylinder in 1898, but that cylinder has never been found. The good news is that jazz was recorded extensively from 1917 on, and one of the improvisers who did a lot of recording ...
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In a perfect world, jazz would have been recorded extensively from the very beginning. But it didn't work out that way. If one agrees that jazz started in New Orleans around 1895 (when cornetist Buddy Bolden put together his first band), then the first 22 years (give or take a few years) of jazz history went unrecorded. Allegedly, Bolden recorded a cylinder in 1898, but that cylinder has never been found. The good news is that jazz was recorded extensively from 1917 on, and one of the improvisers who did a lot of recording for Colombia in the late '10s and early '20s was Wilbur Sweatman. The clarinetist/bandleader recorded ragtime before he recorded jazz, but jazz is the focus of Jazzin' Straight Thru' Paradise (which spans 1918-1920). Two of the CD's 25 tracks were recorded in 1920, but everything else on this 74-minute disc is from 1918 or 1919 -- and the generally excellent material ranges from Dixieland to classic jazz. Archeophone should be applauded for assembling Jazzin' Straight Thru' Paradise in so thoughtful a fashion; the liner notes are quite comprehensive and informative, and the sound quality is much better (and a lot less scratchy) than one might assume. Obviously, acoustical recordings from the late '10s and '20s aren't going to sound like 21st century audiophile recordings, but Archeophone's digital remastering has done much to clean the recordings up -- and the vitality of Wilbur Sweatman's Original Jazz Band really comes through on this collection. Anyone who is seriously interested in the early years of recorded jazz should make a point of obtaining Jazzin' Straight Thru' Paradise. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi
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Add this copy of Jazzin' Straight Thru' Paradise to cart. $64.00, new condition, Sold by Entertainment by Post - UK rated 1.0 out of 5 stars, ships from BRISTOL, SOUTH GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2005 by Archeophone.
