Phonographic Yearbook 1924: “Open Up Your Golden Gate”

Archeophone’s extensive series of “phonographic yearbooks” has now reached 1924. When one thinks of the music of 1924, Bix Beiderbecke’s recordings with the Wolverines, Louis Armstrong’s with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, Bessie Smith, and perhaps the two King Oliver/Jelly Roll Morton duets come to mind. None of those readily available performances are on 1924 since this set emphasizes recordings that were very popular during that period of time rather than innovative jazz performances.

However, there is a great deal for jazz collectors to cherish on this 25-selection CD. Consider that there are versions of such future standards as “California Here I Come” (the original with Al Jolson), “June Night,” “Jealous,” “What’ll I Do,” “Somebody Stole My Gal,” “Hard Hearted Hannah,” “Charleston” (Arthur Gibbs’ recording was the first one), “It Had To Be You,” “Somebody Loves Me,” “The One I Love,” “Spain,” and “Nobody’s Sweetheart.” Among the performers are the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, Waring’s Pennsylvanians, Marion Harris (“Jealous”), Ted Weems, Eddie Cantor, Blossom Seeley (a jazz-oriented version of “ Lazy” with the Georgians), the Duncan Sisters, Isham Jones, Sophie Tucker, Margaret Young (who sings a very complete version of “Nobody’s Sweetheart”), and the Brox Sisters, not to mention Marian Anderson.

While there are no freewheeling jazz stomps included, the influence of jazz is felt throughout quite a few of these consistently enjoyable performances which mostly feature first-class dance bands, occasional hot choruses, and some of the best singers who were active on the vaudeville circuit. As is usual with Archeophone’s releases, the liner notes are quite extensive, covering some of that year’s important stories in addition to giving readers plenty of information about the performances.

102 years later, the recordings included on 1924 are not only listenable (the recording quality of this reissue is top-notch) but timeless.

Phonographic Yearbook 1924: “Open Up Your Golden Gate”
Archeophone 9027
www.archeophone.com

Scott Yanow

Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings. Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.