[78-L] How well did they do it.

Wed Apr 29 19:37:12 PDT 2009

Bill's question is an interesting one.  I grew up with various kinds of 
music around the house (I am 56) and was entranced by rock when I was very 
small (like age 4-5).   My dad played in dance bands around town and loved 
Goodman and Basie,  as well as some of the newer big bands like 
Sauter-Finnegan and the Elgarts.  He started buying a lot of LPs when the 
family got our big blonde hi-fi in late '56 so then came Broadway show 
albums,  Charlie Parker on Verve, Joe Bushkin piano solo albums on Capitol, 
bits of classical stuff.  When he bought an actual stereo in 1960 then came 
all those tricky stereo albums on Command but which showed off a lot of 
great NY studio musicians.  When I inherited my parents' box of 78s at age 
10 I discovered and rediscovered good stuff by Boyd Raeburn,  Shaw, 
Goodman,  and (from my mothers' stuff) Jan Garber,  Four Chicks and Chuck 
(on Cosmo),   Lombardo,  etc.

Seeing an opera live for the first time at age eight got me cranked up on 
that as well.  Ditto going to the symphony as a kid...I liked it all!

After that,  I started picking up anything and everything that looked 
interesting on 78...and which cost ten cents or less.  That was everything 
from JW Meyers on Zonophone to the McGuire Sisters on Coral.

And I tried to listen to all of it to see what I could "get" out of it...and 
that's what I try to do now.  Over the last year I've bought 78s from as 
early as 1904 to as late as the early 50s.  I go heaviest for dance bands 
and some jazz,  but I enjoy finding the good stuff wherever my ears take me. 
No borders,  no boundaries....I just want to listen,  and I think I've still 
got lots to learn.  I've really lost most of my taste for rock but even 
there,  I can still get excited with the right band and when I'm in the 
right mood.

Taylor

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill McClung" <bmcclung at ix.netcom.com>
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 4:07 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] How well did they do it.

>A question I have pondered for awhile is, "Why don't I have an 'ear' for
> many 78s recorded before 19XX?"  I love my postwar 78s and many "modern"
> sounding prewar 78s but oftentimes when my fellow 78Lers are debating the
> relative glories of Vaughn de Leath or What is Sweet I am lost because the
> music being debated doesn't excite me and I haven't explored it.
>
> This is in no way a value judgement or a question of what is "good" or
> "valuable".   I'm not really asking about genres.  I'm asking about sound.
> And the components of one's personal "ear".
>
> Is it pre-electric guitar versus post-electric guitar?  Is it sweet band
> versus swing versus bebop?   Again, not genres but sound.
>
> Is it what one heard growing up?  Is it the music a person first claimed 
> as
> one's own?  Is it historical as in the knowledge that one's favorite band
> leader was once a sideman in an earlier band or that someone was a mentor
> or influence?  Is it because you are a musician?
>
> I love Emmitt Miller and Annie Ross, Gid Tanner and Merle Travis, early
> Louis and late Louis. Harlem Hamfats and the Treniers.  Blind Blake and
> Mickey Baker. Some Ethel Waters and most Muddy Waters.
>
> But there is a huge range of music that just hasn't touched me yet.  I can
> approach it academically but not emotionally.  My "ear" just doesn't
> respond.
>
> Has the march of time changed what you like or what excites you musically?
> Is there a time or a sound that just doesn't work for you?  How many eras
> are there in 78s history and which ones have you embraced?
>
> I'll hang up and listen.
>
>
>
>> [Original Message]
>> From: warren moorman <wlmoorman3 at yahoo.com>
>> To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
>> Date: 4/29/2009 4:57:53 PM
>> Subject: Re: [78-L] How well did they do it.
>>
>>
>> This is certainly an issue for listeners, but let me mention a similar
> thing from the other direction. Psychologists have suggested that for some
> longtime performers, part of the reinforcing lure of a performing life is
> that the actual sound of applause (or for comics, laughter) is literally
> the same over time, and thus offers the illusion of having suspended the
> march of time.
>>
>> Warren
>>
>>
>> --- On Wed, 4/29/09, soundthink at aol.com <soundthink at aol.com> wrote:
>>
>> > From: soundthink at aol.com <soundthink at aol.com>
>> > Subject: Re: [78-L] How well did they do it.
>> > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
>> > Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 2:45 PM
>> > When I was in New York recently, I saw Vince Giordano &
>> > his Nighthawks perform at Club Cache. The musicians are all
>> > seasoned studio performers,?most play on period instruments,
>> > and the group uses original charts - for me, that's as
>> > close as I will get to hearing what a '20s jazz/dance
>> > band might have sounded like.
>> >
>> > Cary Ginell
>> >
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: DAVID BURNHAM <burnhamd at rogers.com>
>> > To: 78-L at 78online.com
>> > Sent: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 2:42 pm
>> > Subject: [78-L] How well did they do it.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > ?I've been thinking about exactly how accurately
>> > recordings were able to capture
>> > the sounds of the 20s, over 80 years ago.?? It's almost
>> > impossible to compare a
>> > recording with the original sound.? Any singers which were
>> > around then who might
>> > still be here certainly don't have the same voice.?
>> > Orchestras develop over the
>> > years and don't sound like they did 80 years ago.? I
>> > don't think any concert
>> > hall or recording studio has remained unchanged for that
>> > time.? Even if we could
>> > find instruments which were used on recordings then, the
>> > artists are all gone
>> > and the instruments also change with time.? One may find a
>> > pipe organ that
>> > hasn't been modified in 80 years but I can't think
>> > of one which was recorded
>> > back then which might still sound the same - Temple church
>> > was bombed in WWII,
>> > Royal Albert Hall's organ and acoustics have changed
>> > drastically since then.? I
>> > don't know if Mark Andrews', Jesse
>> > Crawford's?or Lew White's organs are still
>> > around.?
>> >  Choruses and choirs, of course are constantly changing.?
>> >
>> > What brought this thought to mind was that I was listening
>> > to records the other
>> > day recorded in 1927 which, I believe, are unique in that
>> > they are probably a
>> > few of the only recordings which can be compared today the
>> > their original
>> > source.? Those are the 5 Victor sides which are?recordings
>> > of the Carillon, (to
>> > avoid the word "Biels),?at the Victory Tower, Ottawa,
>> > (now the Peace Tower).?
>> > I've heard that Carillon many times and it's
>> > interesting to compare the
>> > recordings to the sound of the Carillon.
>> >
>> > db
>> >
>> > P.S. as soon as I finished this letter I imagined some
>> > mention of Herbert Von
>> > Carillon, so I'm glad I got that out of the way
>> > _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
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