"Down by the Riverside." Sister Rosetta Tharpe. (1944)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, considered to be one of the greatest gospel singers of her generation, merged blues and jazz into her performances and influenced many gospel, jazz and rock artists. She sang at John Hammond's historic 1938 concert, "From Spirituals to Swing," in Carnegie Hall, and was a frequent performer in night clubs as well as before religious groups. "Down by the Riverside" captures her spirited guitar playing and unique vocal style, demonstrating clearly her influence on early rhythm-and-blues performers.
U. S. Highball (A Musical Account of a Transcontinental Hobo Trip). Harry
Partch; Gate 5 Ensemble. (1946)
Harry Partch, American composer and instrument maker, said his music was "based on a monophonic system of acoustic intervals and an expandable source scale of more than 40 notes to the so-called scale." He was known for his adaptation and invention of instruments, including the chromelodeon, the chordophone, the kitchara, the harmonic canon and the bloboys. U.S. Highball (A Musical Account of a Transcontinental Hobo Trip) for chorus and instruments was first performed in Carnegie Hall in 1944. It is an account of a freight train ride from California to Chicago, part of a larger body of work that Partch composed after traveling the country. Partch recorded on his own label, Gate 5, with his group, Gate 5 Ensemble.
Four Saints in Three Acts. Virgil Thomson, composer, with members of original 1934 cast. (1947)
Virgil Thomson’s opera, Four Saints in Three Acts, is generally acknowledged to be one of the greatest American operas. Its libretto was written by Gertrude Stein. Selections from the opera were recorded in 1947 by RCA Victor with many of the original cast members and Thomson conducting the orchestra and choir.
"Manteca." Dizzy Gillespie Big Band with Chano Pozo. (1947)
Latin jazz, sometimes called Afro–Cuban jazz, incorporates jazz improvisation with Cuban rhythms. The music strongly emphasizes percussion, using congas, timbales and bongos to supplement piano, guitar or vibes with horns and vocals. A pioneer of this pulsating, infectious sound was Dizzy Gillespie, who was greatly influenced by Chano Pozo, a Cuban singer and drummer. Performing with Gillespie for the first time in 1947, Pozo joined Gillespie’s bebop big band and composed "Manteca" with him, later recording it for RCA Victor. [more on Gillespie here]
Jack Benny radio program, show of March 28, 1948.
Jack Benny’s career started in vaudeville, but he soon mastered other show business formats, including radio, television and motion pictures. Benny is best remembered as the parsimonious straight man to his regular casts on radio and television. In a skit broadcast in 1948, Benny was held up by a thief. When asked by the robber, "Your money or your life," Benny paused and eventually replied, "I'm thinking it over."
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Well we didn't all that list since it is at the link.
To take this much of the text, in this case, it should be pointed out, is OK because it is a 100-percent government release. As in, no copyright.
I'll have to get back this but very cool. I was going to commend the poster for the link back to other blogcritic articles - before I saw it was EricO. :-)
2 - Eric Olsen
bolded the titles to make it more readable; yes, government source, ripe for the picking, but I did include my own input as well: that which is not indented
3 - DrPat
Well, I thank you! I would never have thought to check the list without this link and the substance posted here. It makes me feel good to realize I have more than a half-dozen of these in my own collection...
4 - Eric Olsen
glad it was helpful, the '02 and '03 lists are worth perusing as well
5 - Eric Berlin
Man, I'd love to check out those Murrow broadcasts from London circa The Blitz. Now that's some history for you.
Yesterday, I was walking along when the Ewok celebration from Return of the Jedi popped into my iPod. That song transitions into the Star Wars main theme, and I was thinking about how amazing it is, how striking, how original, how utterly... Star Wars it is. If that's not the greatest movie theme ever, I don't know what is.
6 - Eric Olsen
I love the jaunty faux-jazz of the nightclub scene in the original
7 - Eric Berlin
Are you talking about the Cantina scene? That music is fabulous. And I love the blue dude with like elephant-type hands that plays the keyboard-like instrument.
8 - Eric Olsen
yes, cantina, it's been a while
9 - Al Barger
Bad as I hate the idea of guvment as art critic, I gotta say this is a pretty sweet list. Jimmie Rodgers, the Beach Boys and Public Enemy all together. Plus some real pickin' fiends from Flatt & Scruggs and the Allman's. What more could you want?
10 - JR
Actually, it's the government as a library, maintaining our intellectual infrastructure. These are just the librarians' picks.
11 - Eric Olsen
with nominations from the public
12 - Dave Nalle
I've got 8 of those on my iPod including 2 of the albums. Not bad. Bet you''d never guess which ones I have tho.
Dave
13 - Beto Mattos
Friends!!!
Friends are with a lot of affection and pleasure that me same Beto Mattos singer and Brazilian composer request her/it this recording support, because I have a wonderful work of a lot of more success with the bankruptcy of the big ones recording in Brazil am disabled of selling my work, so much that with the great success of my album don't have cd in the market and I seek a recording one or even dealer that can help myself in this process visits my site hears some of the music hope to count with this considered company.
www.betomattos.art.br
011 (97342103
14 - Joe Arnold
Mike Johnson's "YODELING 40 YEARS" 2-disc CD
is now part of the Library of Congress' Recorded Sound collection!
What's so special about Mike Johnson's release, you ask, since there have been many, many yodeling albums containing 20 to 30 yodeling songs on them! Quite true, but none of them can boast that ALL of the songs on those releases were written by ONE person! Well we can, because all 50 of the yodeling songs on this 2-disc CD album were written & composed by Mike Johnson.
These songs will take you on a journey from Mike's raw beginnings and development to becoming Country Music's No.1 Black Yodeler. Also debuting on this release are more of Mike's unique wordless yodeling songs like "Black Yodels No. 2 to 7", "Snuggle-Up Yodel", "Wild Horse Yodel", and "Yodel Round Up." Mike has written over 100 yodeling songs.
On 15 March 2007 we received a confirmation letter from the Library of Congress informing us that Mike Johnson's "Yodeling 40 Years" and "Black Yodel No.1" CDs, and related yodeling material, are now part of the Recorded Sound Reference Center's permanent collection. This is a part of the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.
Mike Johnson is also one of the 18 World Famous Yodelers featured on the "Rough Guide To Yodel" CD, singing his ever-popular "Yeah I'm A Cowboy."
Wanna hear some of those songs, go to www.indiecharts.com/yodeler
Wanna see Mike in action, go to www.YouTube.com and type the following titles into the Search Engine bar;
1. Mike Johnson's Tarzan Did! [Mike is 60 years old on this performance]
2. Mike Johnson's Wild Horse Yodel [and this one too!]
3. Mike Johnson - Mama Don't Allow No Music Round Here.
Radio DJs can download Mike Johnson songs at;
www.airplaydirect.com/music/bands/12725
Mike's Mother's Day hit "DID YOU HUG YOUR MOTHER TODAY?" is now part of the CD Baby lineup.
www.cdbaby.com/all/mikejohnson
Have a good day.
Joe Arnold, Roughshod Records
P.O. Box 100933, Arlington, Va. 22210