While Swing, as a musical genre, took all the attention in the 30's and beyond, stars of the 20's Miff Mole, Red Nichols and Frank Signorelli had to adapt to survive.
Swing Time ! With G.I. Jill on the G.I. Jive
G.I. Jive was the AEF "juke box of the air" during WWII, hosted by the most famous AFRS performer: G.I. Jill.
~ June 2020 update: a little bit of everything ~
Details of the posts that have been updated, upgraded or revised this spring.
Early jazz recordings in Paris: Mitchell’s Jazz Kings
The Mitchell's Jazz Kings is, without any doubt, the most successful American band in Paris in the immediate post-WWI era.
Undermined expectations, for the better.
A record bought upon its promise of being a rare curiosty teached me a good lesson.
Muggsy Spanier on V-Disc
A few sides from both recording sessions Muggsy Spanier did for V-Disc in 1944 and 1945.
Early jazz recordings in Paris: Bands you know nothing about.
A detective work was required to draw a (still incomplete) portrait of these bands for which history has been lost.
The Hill Billies, and the musical genre named after them.
By naming a Virginia string Band "The Hill Billies", Ralph Peer accidentally gave a name to an yet-unnamed-by-the-music-industry musical genre.
Dance ! Tonight ! …at the barn !
...or more acurately: dance tonight at home, just like at the barn parties ! Thanks to recorded fiddle tunes with calls and the WLS National Barn Dance artists.
The John Lomax legacy: field recordings for the preservation of folk songs.
John Lomax was the first to record folk songs in the wild in the early 10's. He opened the way for many other folklorists and ethnomusicologists around the world, desperate to save local cultures that could quickly disapear.
