Each of the aforementioned is a book with seriously deep and wide CD box sets (a single box of nine for the first; four boxes of nine for the latter) of textually referred-to musical examples to illuminate the book - or maybe it's the other way around, a series of discs that the book illuminates! All are somewhat idiosyncratically compiled, but always interesting and thought-provoking.
Now he has tackled blues beyond its supposed "accepted wisdom" definitions and history as we know it - note the "?" in the title... it's important, as is the "A" in the subtitle. To cover nine CDs' worth of contents (25-27 selections per disc!) would be impossible to do, much less list all the 200+ selections or personnel for each selection in these pages without taking up the whole issue of the magazine. This set is the first of four boxes of nine CDs to be released over the next year or so, with a book (still in progress) to follow!* And there is much that will appeal to a jazz collector; more if you're broad-minded about it all!
OK - there are nearly eighty minutes of music on each disc, plus there is a separate CD-R disc that contains the notes that one can put up on their computer - no going blind trying to read a tiny-typed booklet as with past efforts!
Lowe assembles material here with a blues impulse or other African American performance practices rather than a more strictly denned 12-bar formula. His examples are both white and black, including pop, jazz, gospel, and country and they demonstrate the wide impact of what we call "blues" and is responsible for the important "?" in the title!
There are most of the usual post-Mamie Smith vaudeville suspects (such as Sippie Wallace, Butterbeans & Susie, Ma Rainey, Sarah Martin, Frankie "Halfpint" Jaxon, Bernice Edwards, Rosa Mae Moore), plus blues-influenced pop (Len Spencer, Sophie Tucker, Ben Harney, Paul Whiteman, Ruth Etting, Paul Robeson, George Gershwin), jazz (Earl Hines, Original Memphis 5, Bennie Moten, Jesse Stone, The Red Heads, Natty Dominique, N.O.R.K.), old time music (Blind Andy Jenkins, Wade Ward, Sam McGhee, Doc Boggs, Grayson & Whitter, Dick Justice, Dr. Humphrey Bate & his Possum Hunters), and religious efforts, both black and white (Arizona Dranes, Homer Rodeheaver & the Wiseman Quartet, The Denson Quartet, Dinwiddie Colored Quartet, Homer Quincy Smith, Blind Mamie Forehand, Ernest Phipps & his Holiness Singers).
Then there are those more readily and comfortably associated with the accepted concept of blues, such as Luke Jordan, William Moore, Barbecue Bob, Tommy Johnson, Will Ezell, Sylvester Weaver, Papa Stovepipe, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Tampa Red. Plus there are many other examples that don't fit any of these categories that well - Hawaiian guitarist Sol Hoopii being one! You get the picture! As Ray Birdwhistell, one of my late professors, once said, "There's no such thing as A (i.e. single) good example" and Allen takes that dictum between his teeth and runs with it. A broad-brush perspective, but it works!
One of the first things I must comment upon is the sound quality - the early stuff (mainly pre-1925) is acoustically recorded, some even from cylinders. An English collector / researcher friend of mine would refer to most of them as "soddingly rare", so take that into account. All said and done, Allen has done quite a decent job here. Lowe has done the production from a variety of sources and only the cylinder of Keep Movin' from 1894 by The Standard Quartet on Disc One is a hard listen (probably the one known copy in collectors' hands, put together from fragments): He makes his point, though.
Disc One goes to from 1893 to 1922 and has almost no sides that would be picked out as "blues records" by most collectors - that's a good thing. One gets Len Spencer, Victor Military Band, Polk Miller & his Old South Quartet, James Reese Europe, W.C. Handy, Wilbur Sweatman, and even Sam Moore's octacorda, in the 27 cuts - you get the picture - before Mamie Smith crops up (NOT with Crazy Blues, though!).
Disc Two continues from 1922 to 1924 with the likes of Nick Lucas, James P., Jelly, Sophie Tucker, Bix, and Marion Harris in the 26 cuts. Included are Bessie, Butterbeans & Susie, Alberta Hunter with the urban / vaudeville side of blues things, plus Sylvester Weaver, and Ed Andrews to bring into the studio the burgeoning rural approaches.
Disc Three starts to get more down-and-dirty in its 27 selections ending in 1927: Leecan & Cooksey, Arizona Dranes, The Two of Spades, Ben Harney, Blind Andy Jenkins, Ma Rainey, The Hendersonville Double Quartet, Blind Roosevelt Graves and brother, and Sippie Wallace as the rural material and approach begins to impact more on the recording business. "Get me someone like XXXX" not being a new idea in the record business even then! Also included are Roba & Bob Stanley's "All Night Blues" (1924) from the White musical side of the tracks, Piron's New Orleans Orchestra, Lee Morse, Edna Thomas, and Hersal Thomas (no relative!) to help round things out.
Disc Four continues in 1926 - 1927 in a similar vein with, among others: Cookie's Ginger Snaps, Hazel Meyers, Sam & Kirk McGee, Jeanette's Synco Jazzers, Reb Spikes, and Dumaine's Jazzola Eight. Blues as we tend to know it is here in the person of: Blind Lemon Jefferson, Henry Thomas, Rabbit Brown; gospel with Arizona Dranes, Blind Willie Johnson, and Sam Butler (Bo Weavil Jackson), plus the aforementioned Hoopi, some Black string band music - and a Morion solo piano piece.
Disc Five is all material from 1927: there is little that would pass muster with most of the Blues Police, but such goodies as by Bix & Tram, King Oliver, Venuti & Lang, Ellington, Walter Rhodes, B.F. Shelton, Sara Martin, and Blind Mamie Forehand get some exposure. One should by now be getting a picture of the author's broad-brush vistas of American vernacular musics during the first half of the 20th Century.
Disc Six continues with more 1927 and into 1928: Sam Collins, Texas Alexander, Tommy Johnson, Jim Jackson, Jaybird Coleman, and Buddy Boy Hawkins easily passing blues muster. Louis, Al Bernard, Prince Albert Hunt, Edward Clayborn, and even Paul Robeson adding to the "flava". Allen Lowe has trolled far and wide for examples, as you've no doubt figured out by now!
Disc Seven begins the last third (1928): The goodies include Gershwin, Helen Morgan, John Hurt, Moses Mason, Julius Daniel, "Bullet" Williams, and Rambling Thomas continuing the swathe of possibilities Mr. Lowe has put forth for our edification. "Non-blues' artists as Annette Hanshaw, Emmett Miller, Dennis McGhee, and The Biddleville Quartet are also here.
Disc Eight (1928) continues in a similar mix-and-match vein with Cliff Edwards, Boyd Senter, Dr. Humphrey Bate, Pink Anderson, Johnny Dodds, The Hokum Jug Band, William Moore, Bing, and Charlie Johnson.
The final disc in this box, Disc Nine (1928 - 1929), has Robert Wilkins, Lang & Johnson, Luke Jordan, Leo Soileau, The Leake County Revellers, Blind Blake, Furry Lewis, Teddy Darby, Heurvé Duerson, Raymond Barrow, and Doc Walsh.
CD 1
1. Mama's Black Baby Boy - Unique Quartet Fall
2. Keep Movin' - Standard Quartette
3. Poor Mourner - Cousins and DeMoss
4. You Been a Good Old Wagon - Len Spencer
5. Poor Mourner - Dinwiddie Colored Quartet
6. Nobody - Bert Williams
7. What a Time - Polk Miller Old South Quartette
8. The Camp Meeting Jubilee - Male Quartet
9. Poor Mourner - Fisk University Jubilee Quartet
10. Down Home Rag - James Reese Europe
11. The Rain Song - The Afro-American Folk Song Singers
12. Memphis Blues - Victor Military Band
13. Memphis Blues - Morton Harvey
14. Blame It On the Blues - Victor Military Orchestra
15. St. Louis Blues - Prince's Band
16. N Blues - George O'Connor
17. Livery Stable Blues - Original Dixieland Jazz Band
18. Moonlight Blues - W.C. Handy
19. Death Where is Thy Sting? - Arthur Collins
20. Beale Street Blues - Al Bernard
21. Memphis Blues - James Reese Europe
22. Kansas City Blues - Wilbur Sweatman
23. Swanee Blues - J. Milton Decamp
24. Lovin' Sam From Alabam - Mamie Smith
25. Frankie Blues - Mamie Smith
26. Chain Gang Blues - Sam Moore
27. My Soul is a Witness - Florida Normal Industrial Institute Quartet
CD 2
1. Society Blues - Kid Ory
2. Teasin' the Frets - Nick Lucas
3. I Ain't Got Nobody - Marion Harris
4. Midnight Blues - Ethel Waters
5. Aggravatin' Papa - Sophie Tucker
6. New Orleans Joys - Jelly Roll Morton
7. Guitar Blues - Sylvester Weaver
8. London Blues - Jelly Roll Morton's Jazz Orchestra
9. Waitin' For the Evening Mail - Eubie Blake/Noble Sissle
10. Bleeding Hearted Blues - James P. Johnson
11. London Cafe Blues - Jimmie Noone/King Oliver/Baby Dodds
12. The Gospel Train Am Comin' - Homer Rodheaver/Wiseman Quartet
13. Any Woman's Blues - Bessie Smith
14. God's Gonna Set This World On Fire - Kentucky Trio
15. If You Do What You Do - Eddie Cantor & the Georgians
16. Hatchet Head Blues - Old Southern Jug Band
17. Time Ain't Gonna Make Me Stay - Ed Andrews
18. Waffle Man's Call - Johnny Bayersdorffer
19. Rhapsody In Blue - Paul Whiteman
20. I've Got a Cross Eyed Papa - Lewitsch Tanzorchester
21. Barrel House Blues - Rosa Henderson
22. Mississippi Shivers - Zez Confrey and His Orchestra
23. Kiss Me Sweet - Butterbeans - (featuring King Oliver)
24. Toddlin' Blues - Bix Beiderbecke & His Rhythm Jugglers
25. Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning - Alberta Hunter
26. Steppin On the Blues - Lovie Austin
CD 3
1. All Night Long Blues - Roba Stanley
2. Meddlin' With the Blues - The Two Of Spades
3. Frank Du Pree - Blind Andy (Jenkins)
4. Steel String Blues - Sylvester Weaver
5. Hersal Blues - Hersal Thomas
6. Street Cries of New Orleans - Edna Thomas
7. The Wagon - Ben Harney
8. A Married Man's Blues - Wade Ward
9. She's Cryin' For Me - New Orleans Rhythm Kings
10. Put Me In the Alley - Albert Nicholas
11. All I Want is a Little Spoonful - Papa Charlie Jackson
12. Red Man Blues - Piron's New Orleans Orchestra
13. South Street Blues - Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
14. No Home Blues - Louise Ross
15. Sugar Babe - Lee Morse
16. Careless Love - Bessie Smith
17. Don't Fish In My Sea - Ma Rainey - (featuring Jimmy Blythe)
18. I'll Be Rested - Roosevelt Graves and Brother
19. I Want My Life To Testify - Hendersonville Double Quartet
20. Can't Sleep Blues - The Pebbles
21. String Band Blues - Kansas City Blues Strummers
22. Black Cat Blues - Old Pal Smoke Shop Four
23. Mama's Angel Child - Papa Stovepipe
24. Jack O' Diamond Blues - Hersal Thomas/Sippie Wallace
25. Memphis Shake - The Dixieland Jug Blowers
26. Crucifixion - Arizonia Dranes
27. Royal Palm Special - Leecan and Cooksey
CD 4
1. Lamb's Blood Has Washed Me Clean - Arizona Dranes ; Rev. F.W. McGee ; Jubilee Singers
2. I Shall Wear a Crown - Arizona Dranes
3. High Fever - Cookie's Gingersnaps/Freddie Keppard
4. I Want Jesus To Walk With Me - Homer Quincy Smith
5. Blackville - Hazel Meyers
6. Bridwell Blues - Nolan Welsh - (featuring L. Armstrong)
7. Fat Meat and Greens - Jelly Roll Morton
8. Christians Fight On Your Time Ain't Long - Sam Butler (Bo Weavil Jackson)
9. Got the Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
10. Chock House Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
11. Birth of the Blues - Paul Whiteman
12. Knoxville Blues - Sam McGee
13. My Soul is a Witness - Arizonia Dranes
14. Smoke House Blues - Jelly Roll Morton/Kid Ory/Omer Simeon
15. Boneyard Shuffle - The Red Heads
16. Motherless Child - Blind Willie Johnson
17. Bumps, The - Jeanette's Synco Jazzers
18. Tin Roof Blues - Sol Hoopii
19. Bamalong Blues - Jim Baxter/Andrew Baxter
20. Hana Won't You Open the Door - Kirk McGee/Sam McGee
21. Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance - Henry Thomas
22. James Alley Blues - Richard Rabbit Brown
23. Franklin Street Blues - Louis Dumaine's Jazzola Eight
24. Fight That Thing - Reb Spikes
25. Clarinet Wobble - Johnny Dodds
26. Mr. Johnson Turn Me Loose - South Georgia Highballers
CD 5
1. My Old Daddy's Got a Brand New Way To Love - Leecan ; Cooksey ; Thomas Morris
2. Honey In the Rock - Blind Mamie Forehand
3. Georgia Crawl - Eddie Anthony
4. Blessed Are the Poor - Luther Magby
5. A Good Man is Hard To Find - Bix ; Tram ; Murray ; Russell ; Rolini ; Venuti ; Eddie Green
6. I Am Resolved - Ernest V. Stoneman/Kahle Brewer
7. Curley Headed Woman - Burnett & Rutherford
8. Down South Blues - Doc Boggs
9. Black Snake Blues - King Oliver
10. Weary Way Blues - Jimmy Blythe/Johnny Dodds/Natty Dominique
11. Honky Tonk Train Blues - Meade "Lux" Lewis
12. The Lord is My Shepherd - Blind Connie Rosemond
13. Penn Beach Blues - Joe Venuti ; Eddie Lang ; Signorelli ; Don Murray
14. Black Hearse Blues - Sarah Martin - (featuring Sylvester Weaver)
15. Cold Penitentiary Blues - B.F. Shelton
16. Shaking the Blues Away - Ruth Etting - (featuring Rube Bloom)
17. The Crowing Rooster - Walter Rhodes
18. Creole Love Call - Duke Ellington
19. Gods Gonna Separate the Wheat From the Tares - Blind Joe Taggart
20. Jazz Me Blues - Bix Beiderbecke & His Gang
21. Royal Garden Blues - Bix Beiderbecke & His Gang
22. Chattanooga Blues - Allen Brothers
23. New Orleans Lowdown - Duke Ellington
24. Barrelhouse Man - Will Ezell
25. I Am Born To Preach the Gospel - Blind Washington Phillips
CD 6
1. Death is Only a Dream - Rev. Edward Clayborn
2. Neckbones and Beans - Henry Johnson & His Boys
3. She's In the Graveyard Now - Earl Macdonald's Original Jug Band
4. Yellow Dog Blues - Sam Collins
5. Mamlish Blues - Ed Bell
6. Starvation Blues - Jessie Stone
7. Wild Man Blues - Johnny Dodds/Louis Armstrong
8. Can You Blame the Colored Man? - Gus Cannon
9. Mama You Don't Know How Long - Long Cleve Reed & the Downhome Boys
10. A Woman Gets Tired of the Same Man All the Time - Sam "Stovepipe No. 1" Jones
11. Second-Hand Blues - Margaret Johnson with Leecan ; Cooksey
12. Awful Fix - Buddy Boy Hawkins
13. Train 45 - Grayson and Whitter
14. Hesitation Blues - Al Bernard/Al Duffy
15. Section Gang Blues - Alger "Texas" Alexander - (featuring Lonnie Johnson)
16. Lonesome Ghost Blues - Lonnie Johnson
17. Lord I Can't Stay Away - Violet Harmony Singers
18. Deep River - Paul Robeson
19. Doan Let Satan Git You - Barbour's Plantation Singers
20. Every Time I Feel the Spirit - Four Aces of Harmony
21. Man Trouble - Jaybird Coleman
22. Big Road Blues - Tommy Johnson
23. Deep River - Forbes Randolph's Kentucky Jubilee Choir
24. Blues In the Bottle - Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers
25. Stealin' - Memphis Jug Band
26. I'm Wild About My Lovin' - Jim Jackson
CD 7
1. Viola Lee Blues - Cannon's Jug Stompers
2. Take Me Back - Frank Stokes
3. Three Preludes [2nd Prelude] - George Gershwin
4. I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say - Biddleville Quintette
5. Away Down In the Alley Blues - Lonnie Johnson
6. Going Across the Sea - H.L. Bandy
7. Chocolate To the Bone - Barbecue Bob
8. Pinetop's Blues - Pinetop Smith
9. 99 Year Blues - Julius Daniels
10. Touch Me Light Mama - George "Bullet" Williams
11. Mississippi Jail House Groan - Rube Lacy
12. Sawmill Moan - Ramblin' Thomas
13. Johnson City Blues - Clarence Green
14. Wayward Girl Blues - Lottie Kimbrough
15. I Must Have That Man - Annette Hanshaw
16. Slow Motion - Bennie Moten
17. Molly Man - Rev. Moses Mason
18. If the Light Has Gone Out In Your Soul - Ernest Phipps & His Holiness Singers
19. Mon Cherie - Dennis McGee
20. Four or Five Times - King Oliver
21. Avalon Blues - Mississippi John Hurt
22. I Ain't Got Nobody - Emmett Miller
23. G Burns is Gonna Rise Again - Johnson ; Nelson ; Porkchop
24. Can't Help Lovin' That Man - Helen Morgan
25. Violin Blues - Johnson Boys
26. Good Old Turnip Greens - Bo Chatman
CD 8
1. Every Day of the Week Blues - Pink Anderson/Simmie Dooley
2. Alley Rat - Jimmy Blythe
3. I'm On My Journey Home - The Denson Quartet
4. One Way Gal - William Moore
5. Stack O'Lee, Pt. 2 - Cliff Edwards
6. Worried Blues - Gladys Bentley
7. Can't Help Lovin' That Man - Helen Morgan
8. Jungle Blues - Benny Goodman's Boys
9. Old Man River - Bing with Paul Whiteman
10. Old Time Baptism, Pt. 2 - Reverend R.M. Massey
11. Blue Piano Stomp - Johnny Dodds
12. Sunshine Special - Frenchy's String Band
13. Midnight Mama - Frances Hereford ; J.R. Morton
14. Lord Lord He Sure is Good - Elder Richard Bryant - (featuring The Sanctified Singers)
15. Wang Wang Blues - Sam Ku's West Harmony Boys
16. Tight Like That - Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band
17. A Blues Serenade - The Original Memphis Five
18. I Truly Understand You Love Another Man - Shortbuckle Roarke & His Family
19. I Found a New Baby - Teschmacher ; Spanier ; Sullivan ; Krupa ; Clarence Williams
20. Hard Hustling Blues - Bernice Edwards
21. The Boy In the Boat - Charlie Johnson's Original Paradise Ten
22. School Girl Blues - Rosie Mae Moore
23. I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate - Boyd Senter & His Senterpedes
24. Ham Beats All Meat - Dr Humphrey Bate & His Possum Hunters
25. In the Mornin' - Johnson ; Nelson ; Porkchop
26. The Preacher Got Drunk and Laid His Bible Down - The Tennessee Ramblers
CD 9
1. Home Town Blues - The Roane County Ramblers
2. Judge Harsh Blues - Furry Lewis
3. Caution Blues - Earl Hines
4. Blue Harmony - Clifford Hayes' Louisville Stompers/Hense Grundy/Cal Smith
5. Cannon Ball Blues - Frank Hutchison
6. Brown Skin Blues - Dick Justice
7. Leake County Blues - The Leake County Revelers
8. Bathe In That Beautiful Pool - Doc Walsh
9. Easy Rider Blues - Leo Soileau
10. Operation Blues - Georgia Tom Dorsey/Frankie Jaxon
11. I'm a Mighty Tight Woman - Sippie Wallace
12. That's No Way To Get Along - Robert Wilkins
13. Walking Blues - Raymond Barrow
14. Don't Mistreat Your Good Boyfriend - Bubbling Over Five
15. St. Louis Blues/Weary Yodelin' Blues - Roy Evans ; W.C. Handy
16. Fresno Blues - Albert Crockett/Johnnie Crockett
17. Mean Low Blues - Blues Birdhead
18. Georgia Bound - Blind Blake
19. If I Call You Mama - Luke Jordan
20. Just Blues - Memphis Jazzers/Al Duffy/Andy Sannella
21. Lawdy Lawdy Worried Blues - Blind Teddy Darby
22. New York Blues - Will Ezell/Blind Roosevelt Graves
23. Guitar Blues - Lonnie Johnson
24. Avenue Strut - Herve Duerson
25. Slum Guillion Stomp - Cow Cow Davenport
