The recordings featured on this CD are all taken from the archive of the late John R.T. Davies, UK multi-instrumentalist and wizard of restoration. Some are quite rare, such as “Mother Me Tennessee,” the original pressing being rejected by Okeh but tracked down by Davies and appearing here for the first time. As a glance at the listed bands indicates, Davies’ tastes were wide, so we find represented here such groups as the orchestras of Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, King Oliver, and Coleman Hawkins, as well as Joe Venuti’s Blue Four, Red McKenzie and His Music Box, and The Westernaires (think Benny Goodman), to mention a few.
Other than the first three tracks, which were acoustic recordings, the rest are electric, that medium beginning to be adopted by the major recording companies in late 1925. Davies has worked his magic on all of them, however, rendering them eminently listenable. The final two tracks, “Peg o’ My Heart” and “You’re Lucky to Me,” fall outside the date range of the others, 1924-1936, in tribute to Davies, who plays alto and baritone saxes on the two cuts, showing that Davies was not only a superb restorer of recordings but also a fine contributor to them.
One can tell right off in the first track that it is the twenties, the sound obviously recorded through a horn, not a mic., likewise the frequent punctuation of the choked splash cymbal b
