Boogie Woogie Music

I have been an avid fan of all kinds of jazz piano since I was a kid. I am interested in just about everything; from Scott Joplin to Cecil Taylor and beyond. However, not much can really compete with the incredible rush you get from a truly inspired Meade Lux Lewis performance. The rock solid sledgehammer left hand, the quirky lines and riffs in the right hand, the masterful drive and swagger - you need both a mental and physical check-up if this music does not move you in some way.
This great cd is full of gems, from the wonderful v-disc recordings to the private live recordings from the late 40s. Personally, I like the introductions to some of the songs, they add to the mood somehow, and give an interesting picture of how the music was presented on the radio or in films. The ultra-strange cartoon soundtrack would be considered avant-garde if it were to be recorded today.
I usually enjoy this disc in one long sitting. It's worth it, indeed. In my opinion, boogie woogie piano - when played by a true expert like Lewis - is just as hip as the day it was created. If you take the time to listen beyond the sheer groove, you will discover nuances and layers infinitely.
This cd is a great document of one of the enduring giants of 20th century jazz piano.

I Thought " The Blues Piano Artistry of Meade Lux Lewis" was one of my all time favorites, but this has much more including some great clips Lewis played for cartoons in the 40's, also the sound is beautifully cleaned up, about 26 cuts of pure music, some of the intros are a little bothersome, but can be avoided by programing your CD player. Except for the missing celeste cuts on the Blues Piano Artistry album, this has it in spades, including multiple versions of the same cut showing Lewis's skills, which equals Ammons and Johnson if not surpassing them.

This is a wonderful review of American Music. I have not come in contact with anything that approaches it. it is worth almost any price (within reason) that you pay to have it. From it, you can go to hundreds of different performers to get any exellent introduction to this country's music since 1893. I would hate to see something like this go out of print. it is more than music, it is an historical statement and altogether very, very rewarding listening experience. i only had one question. i have never been able to figure out what "Mojo" means from the title. If anyone knows please advise.

Mr. Lowe is a writer, musician, historian and recording reconstruction engineer from South Portland Maine who undertook this unique and amazing project. The book covers the years 1893 to 1956 stopping at the birth of Rock n' Roll. The 9 CD set (11 hours - 215 songs) ends in 1946. The CD set has 3 booklets of extensive liner notes drawn from the book. The book has more extensive write-ups on the chosen recordings (note that these are all commercial recordings) and begins with several brilliant essays by Mr. Lowe. Mr. Lowe has succeeded better than anyone else thus far in analyzing the many streams that make up American music and organizing it into a cohesive body of work. His writings are lively and opinionated pieces full of interesting anecdotes that make for engaging reading.

One of the first challenges Mr. Lowe faced is the mystery of what American music sounded like in the 1800's. The set begins with one of the first known African-American recordings "Mama's Black Baby Boy" by The Unique Quartette. The recording from the fall of 1893 was taken from a wax cylinder. This performance rolls out of the Black vocal quartet tradition of the 1800's. There is, of course, no recordings of substance from the 1800's to listen to, so he has carefully culled performances from the early 1900's like Arthur Collins "Bill Baily" from 1902 that allow the listener to get a feel for early "pre-recorded" American music. Polk Miller's "The Laughing Song" first recorded in 1909 is said to be "the single most perfect example of the minstrel quartet" by historian Doug Seroff. From the pre-jazz era he includes recordings and entertaining antidotes about Al Jolson, George M. Cohan, John Phillips Sousa, Eddie Cantor, etc. He includes the first known recording that used the blues chord progression: a leaden version of W. C. Handy's "The Memphis Blues" by the (RCA) Victor Military Band(!!).

History's first Jazz recording is "Tiger Rag" by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band from 1918. Lowe then treats us to a succession of majestic recordings from jazz history: Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, Joe Venuti & Eddie Lang, James P. Johnson, Earl Hines, Art Tatum, Walter Page, Fats Waller, Red Norvo, Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, Colman Hawkins, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, etc. Through his survey he outlines a full-bodied balanced history of the development of Jazz.

One of the first Country recordings is by Fiddlin' John Carson with "The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's Gonna Crow" for June of 1923. Lowe then surveys the development of what we would call country music with recordings by Uncle Dave Macon, Doc Boggs, Earnest Stoneham, Deford Baily, Charlie Poole, Wilf Carter, the Carter Family, Delmore Brothers, Patsy Montana, Jimmie Rogers, Bill Monroe, Ernest Tubb, Roy Acuff, Bob Wills, the Maddox Brothers, etc. He carefully charts the growth of country music as it moved from the minstrel tradition into mountain and hillbilly music-its cross-pollination with black music and its formation into what we now call country music. Lowe also clearly delineates the influence of white country music on African-American players such as Eddie Anthony.

Lowe's survey of the Blues begins with Ma Rainey's "Lucky Rock Blues" from 1924 and continues with Blind Lemon Jefferson, Peg Leg Howell, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Willie Johnson, Barbeque Bob, Skip James, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Memphis Minnie, T-Bone Walker, Charles Brown, Big Maceo, etc. Tracing the movement of the blues from the "songster tradition" to delta country blues to urban city blues.

In amongst the material listed above whose classification seems apparent you will find fascinating material by both famous and not-so-famous names: Bing Crosby, Ethel Waters, Shophie Tucker, Connie Boswell, Paul Whitman, George Gershwin, Kay Starr, Peggy Lee, Alec Wilder, Mills Brothers, Cliff Edwards (the voice of Jiminy Cricket), etc. You will also find representations of black and white gospel music, Southern Harp singing, Mexican music, early R&B, etc.

As you can see, the set can be analyzed by following the various "streams" of music represented: Jazz, Blues, Country, straight pop, dance music, etc. Lowe himself uses a chronological time line approach in laying out the set. The listener will hear (for instance) 7 recordings from 1937 including: Sonny Boy Williamson doing "Good Morning Little School Girl", the Count Basie Band classic "Topsy", the Original Yellow Jackets blasting through "Cross Street Swing", Gene Autrey performing "Dust", the Sons of the Pioneers (with Roy Rogers) singing "Cowboy Herd Song", Duke Ellington's original recording of "Diminuendo in Blue", and Saint Louis Jimmy performing "The Road to Ruin". This gives the listener a feel for the many varied recordings the commercial recording industry was turning out in those days. One is also struck at once by the incredible melting pot that is American music.

As you can see from this overview, Allen Lowe has done a dazzling job in outlining the schematic of American Popular music. All the major players are present and the recordings are well chosen. The sound is excellent thanks to Mr. Lowe's skills as a recording archive engineer. But it is in Mr. Lowe's essays and commentaries that his work really shines.

Lowe has confronted head on many dearly held assumptions on American music. One of the first appears on page six of his book and it concerns the often quoted canard that jazz is America's only indigenous art form. He quotes jazz historian Mark Tucker: "(jazz) is but one of the important musical traditions this country has spawned, with ragtime, rock, rap, the blues, gospel, country & western, bluegrass, Sacred Harp singing and many others". Lowe goes on to tackle the issue of race in American music better then anyone I have ever read. In his brilliant and extended examination (it appears throughout the book) of the effect of race on American music Lowe does his reader the enormous favor of NOT coming to any simplistic conclusions. As any student of this issue knows there is no "answer" to this problem. The issue of race as it relates to the history of American music is so deep, wide and endemic that there is no over arching "conclusion" to be reached. Lowe hammers intelligently and repeatedly, for example, at the notion that white jazz musicians were not simply the pillagers of black culture for their own financial gain. Lowe follows the free flow of influence that pored over both walls of the musical (racial) divide. He first frees the musicians from being sociological icons whose purpose is to foster an ideological analysis of music. As he accurately proves, very few musicians are ideologues and in fact the greater they are the less likely they are to be ideologues. In other words, did Louis Armstrong or Lester Young care if Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer were white or vice versa? He quotes Ella Fitzgerald's praise of white singer Connie Boswell. He notes that one of country music's best-loved players (in Roy Acuff's opinion) in the 30's and 40's was a black harmonica player named Deford Baily. He has a tremendous delta blues recording by white musicians like Frank Hutchinson, Tom Darby & Jimmie Tarlton. He continually notes the obvious cross-fertilization of black and white music showing quite clearly that while the general public and the industry may have been concerned with skin color, the musicians were not. So we have great white jazz players like Benny Goodman and Mildred Baily, and great black country musicians like The Dallas String Band and singer Emmett Miller (greatly admired by Merle Haggard). The genre of western swing as played by Bob Wills is itself a testament to the influence of black swing on the fertile musicians of Texas. None of this negates the fact that the greatest innovators in jazz are indeed African American. Lowe illustrates this over and over in fact and by clear example in each era he covers. But by the same token not all white jazz musicians were second rate. His polemic is done not to glorify white contributions but to simply level the playing field that has been distorted by afro-centric jazz writers. The same argument could be made for country music; the white players were the primary architects but not without influence from African-Americans. By embracing the dichotomy of race in American music Allen Lowe clearly shows the deep and complicated weave that makes up the tapestry of American music.

This book and CD set should be required study for any person interested in American music. This set will no doubt form the underpinnings of many a college course on American Music. Absolutely Essential and Highly recommended.

Spend a few minutes looking through the track listings here - note the great familiar names amid the intriguing ones you've never heard of. If this brief scan interests you at all, plunk down your money (the price is definitely right). There's no way one collection can capture the entire story of American music, even of the section this covers (1893-1946). But the sheer bulk of it (9 CDs, nearly 11 hours) means you get a big fat cross section, and I've found that pulling out any of the discs at random and putting them on transports me, makes me jump up and down, fills me with the pure feeling music is supposed to.

This is a wonderful review of American Music. I have not come in contact with anything that approaches it. it is worth almost any price (within reason) that you pay to have it. From it, you can go to hundreds of different performers to get any exellent introduction to this country's music since 1893. I would hate to see something like this go out of print. it is more than music, it is an historical statement and altogether very, very rewarding listening experience. i only had one question. i have never been able to figure out what "Mojo" means from the title. If anyone knows please advise.

Mr. Lowe is a writer, musician, historian and recording reconstruction engineer from South Portland Maine who undertook this unique and amazing project. The book covers the years 1893 to 1956 stopping at the birth of Rock n' Roll. The 9 CD set (11 hours - 215 songs) ends in 1946. The CD set has 3 booklets of extensive liner notes drawn from the book. The book has more extensive write-ups on the chosen recordings (note that these are all commercial recordings) and begins with several brilliant essays by Mr. Lowe. Mr. Lowe has succeeded better than anyone else thus far in analyzing the many streams that make up American music and organizing it into a cohesive body of work. His writings are lively and opinionated pieces full of interesting anecdotes that make for engaging reading.

One of the first challenges Mr. Lowe faced is the mystery of what American music sounded like in the 1800's. The set begins with one of the first known African-American recordings "Mama's Black Baby Boy" by The Unique Quartette. The recording from the fall of 1893 was taken from a wax cylinder. This performance rolls out of the Black vocal quartet tradition of the 1800's. There is, of course, no recordings of substance from the 1800's to listen to, so he has carefully culled performances from the early 1900's like Arthur Collins "Bill Baily" from 1902 that allow the listener to get a feel for early "pre-recorded" American music. Polk Miller's "The Laughing Song" first recorded in 1909 is said to be "the single most perfect example of the minstrel quartet" by historian Doug Seroff. From the pre-jazz era he includes recordings and entertaining antidotes about Al Jolson, George M. Cohan, John Phillips Sousa, Eddie Cantor, etc. He includes the first known recording that used the blues chord progression: a leaden version of W. C. Handy's "The Memphis Blues" by the (RCA) Victor Military Band(!!).

History's first Jazz recording is "Tiger Rag" by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band from 1918. Lowe then treats us to a succession of majestic recordings from jazz history: Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, Joe Venuti & Eddie Lang, James P. Johnson, Earl Hines, Art Tatum, Walter Page, Fats Waller, Red Norvo, Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, Colman Hawkins, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, etc. Through his survey he outlines a full-bodied balanced history of the development of Jazz.

One of the first Country recordings is by Fiddlin' John Carson with "The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's Gonna Crow" for June of 1923. Lowe then surveys the development of what we would call country music with recordings by Uncle Dave Macon, Doc Boggs, Earnest Stoneham, Deford Baily, Charlie Poole, Wilf Carter, the Carter Family, Delmore Brothers, Patsy Montana, Jimmie Rogers, Bill Monroe, Ernest Tubb, Roy Acuff, Bob Wills, the Maddox Brothers, etc. He carefully charts the growth of country music as it moved from the minstrel tradition into mountain and hillbilly music-its cross-pollination with black music and its formation into what we now call country music. Lowe also clearly delineates the influence of white country music on African-American players such as Eddie Anthony.

Lowe's survey of the Blues begins with Ma Rainey's "Lucky Rock Blues" from 1924 and continues with Blind Lemon Jefferson, Peg Leg Howell, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Willie Johnson, Barbeque Bob, Skip James, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Memphis Minnie, T-Bone Walker, Charles Brown, Big Maceo, etc. Tracing the movement of the blues from the "songster tradition" to delta country blues to urban city blues.

In amongst the material listed above whose classification seems apparent you will find fascinating material by both famous and not-so-famous names: Bing Crosby, Ethel Waters, Shophie Tucker, Connie Boswell, Paul Whitman, George Gershwin, Kay Starr, Peggy Lee, Alec Wilder, Mills Brothers, Cliff Edwards (the voice of Jiminy Cricket), etc. You will also find representations of black and white gospel music, Southern Harp singing, Mexican music, early R&B, etc.

As you can see, the set can be analyzed by following the various "streams" of music represented: Jazz, Blues, Country, straight pop, dance music, etc. Lowe himself uses a chronological time line approach in laying out the set. The listener will hear (for instance) 7 recordings from 1937 including: Sonny Boy Williamson doing "Good Morning Little School Girl", the Count Basie Band classic "Topsy", the Original Yellow Jackets blasting through "Cross Street Swing", Gene Autrey performing "Dust", the Sons of the Pioneers (with Roy Rogers) singing "Cowboy Herd Song", Duke Ellington's original recording of "Diminuendo in Blue", and Saint Louis Jimmy performing "The Road to Ruin". This gives the listener a feel for the many varied recordings the commercial recording industry was turning out in those days. One is also struck at once by the incredible melting pot that is American music.

As you can see from this overview, Allen Lowe has done a dazzling job in outlining the schematic of American Popular music. All the major players are present and the recordings are well chosen. The sound is excellent thanks to Mr. Lowe's skills as a recording archive engineer. But it is in Mr. Lowe's essays and commentaries that his work really shines.

Lowe has confronted head on many dearly held assumptions on American music. One of the first appears on page six of his book and it concerns the often quoted canard that jazz is America's only indigenous art form. He quotes jazz historian Mark Tucker: "(jazz) is but one of the important musical traditions this country has spawned, with ragtime, rock, rap, the blues, gospel, country & western, bluegrass, Sacred Harp singing and many others". Lowe goes on to tackle the issue of race in American music better then anyone I have ever read. In his brilliant and extended examination (it appears throughout the book) of the effect of race on American music Lowe does his reader the enormous favor of NOT coming to any simplistic conclusions. As any student of this issue knows there is no "answer" to this problem. The issue of race as it relates to the history of American music is so deep, wide and endemic that there is no over arching "conclusion" to be reached. Lowe hammers intelligently and repeatedly, for example, at the notion that white jazz musicians were not simply the pillagers of black culture for their own financial gain. Lowe follows the free flow of influence that pored over both walls of the musical (racial) divide. He first frees the musicians from being sociological icons whose purpose is to foster an ideological analysis of music. As he accurately proves, very few musicians are ideologues and in fact the greater they are the less likely they are to be ideologues. In other words, did Louis Armstrong or Lester Young care if Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer were white or vice versa? He quotes Ella Fitzgerald's praise of white singer Connie Boswell. He notes that one of country music's best-loved players (in Roy Acuff's opinion) in the 30's and 40's was a black harmonica player named Deford Baily. He has a tremendous delta blues recording by white musicians like Frank Hutchinson, Tom Darby & Jimmie Tarlton. He continually notes the obvious cross-fertilization of black and white music showing quite clearly that while the general public and the industry may have been concerned with skin color, the musicians were not. So we have great white jazz players like Benny Goodman and Mildred Baily, and great black country musicians like The Dallas String Band and singer Emmett Miller (greatly admired by Merle Haggard). The genre of western swing as played by Bob Wills is itself a testament to the influence of black swing on the fertile musicians of Texas. None of this negates the fact that the greatest innovators in jazz are indeed African American. Lowe illustrates this over and over in fact and by clear example in each era he covers. But by the same token not all white jazz musicians were second rate. His polemic is done not to glorify white contributions but to simply level the playing field that has been distorted by afro-centric jazz writers. The same argument could be made for country music; the white players were the primary architects but not without influence from African-Americans. By embracing the dichotomy of race in American music Allen Lowe clearly shows the deep and complicated weave that makes up the tapestry of American music.

This book and CD set should be required study for any person interested in American music. This set will no doubt form the underpinnings of many a college course on American Music. Absolutely Essential and Highly recommended.

Spend a few minutes looking through the track listings here - note the great familiar names amid the intriguing ones you've never heard of. If this brief scan interests you at all, plunk down your money (the price is definitely right). There's no way one collection can capture the entire story of American music, even of the section this covers (1893-1946). But the sheer bulk of it (9 CDs, nearly 11 hours) means you get a big fat cross section, and I've found that pulling out any of the discs at random and putting them on transports me, makes me jump up and down, fills me with the pure feeling music is supposed to.

We just love this CD! Ms Bogart plays with style and grace.
We highly recommend this wonderful CD by Ms Bogart and look forward to more.

this charming compolation of familiar and sometimes unfamiliar(to us) American Composers, lovingly reflects the enormous breadth of the American Classical musical experience. Charming, soulful, and romantic, Rebecca's playing is a joyous interpretation of Joplin, Gershwin and Copland. A wondrous debut - we await many more!!

I have been collecting piano recordings for thirty years and have amassed a collection of thousands of LPs and CDs. I also attend a great many piano concerts, and play the piano myself. Thus any new piano recording must have special qualities to interest or impress me. Ms. Bogart's new CD does both. It interests me because of the unusual repertoire, much of which is new to me. It impresses me because the playing is full of subtlety, rhythmic vitality, and tonal color. The sound is fine and the notes informative and interesting. In short, I highly recommend this CD to anyone who is potentially interested in something off the beaten path.

This is the first review I have ever written, but I am inspired to write it because I absolutely love Rebecca Bogart's American (Historical) Retrospective. Music I have heard forever and which seems to be a part of my soul. Rebecca's fine choices spoke to my heart, made me feel like I was there when and where, and call me to listen to again and again. What a delightful walk through American musical history. Thank you, Ms. Bogart!

This is a beautiful CD with an abundance of well known and not so well known American piano music from last and this century. There are 22 pieces on this CD and the styles range from highly romantic and elegant to highly rhythmical and elecrifying which keep you at the edge of your seat.
The performance is sparkling and superb and one hears Rebecca Bogart's joy and deep soul behind each piece.
This will definitely be one of this year's Christmas gifts for all my music loving relatives and friends!

This CD was a real disappointment for me. Maybe if you're a Sippie Wallace fan you might enjoy it. However, if you're hoping to hear Axel ticklin' the keyboards I don't think you'll enjoy it. Sure, Axel does play on each song but personally...I couldn't stomach the distraction of Sippie's vocals which I didn't find enjoyable at all. There are 2 decent tunes (tracks 6 and 9) which are the only ones where Axel alone plays with no vocals from Sippee. A much better choice of CDs in my opinion would be "Boogie Woogie Classics" that is jammed full of great boogie woogie piano with no vocal distractions.