Ragtime Music

I wonder how many people saw the ad for this CD on TV and ordered it right away without looking further into the contents. Brightman? Bocelli? Pavarotti? Florez? Watson? All Three Tenors? All on one CD? Sounded like a winner in the ad. They don't mention the Main Title from Star Wars. Nor do they mention (even Amazon doesn't show it!), that Anne Sofie Von Otter's performance is actually a duet with Elvis Costello, who simply does not have the chops or vocal gifts that most of the other artists on this CD are blessed with. In fact, that song is positively dreadful, and it's all because of Costello's vocally-strained style. What the hell is he doing on this CD? The rest of this CD is generally fine, but certainly do not expect a CD full of classical music, and be prepared to skip song #2 every time you play the CD.

One the most wonderful recordings of all time. Most amazing group of wind musicians I've ever heard. Unmatched collection of compositions mostly from the Scott Joplin era. All of the B side is instrumental selections from Joplin's only opera.

This opera has become mythic in the world of the opera because it deals with a subject that is outrageous and frankly immoral. It starts like a circus with the presentation of the menagerie by a master of ceremonies, the most beastlike beast being the woman, Lulu of course.
This woman is a femme fatale so common in the clichés of the Belle Epoque from the Eiffel Tower to just before the Black Friday. She is an easy woman, not really a prostitute, at least at the beginning. A woman who wants to be free and finds her freedom in the love, meaning sex of course and derangement of the mind, she inspires in men around her and she has no limits, no sense either. She is absolutely crazy in her hunger for victims falling to her sex appeal. Even a Prince is caught but she cannot choose and runs away to one more and one more and one more. Some actually die along the way and she becomes the beast to be hunted and tracked down. The police is coming. She is helped out and suggested to disappear in Egypt or locked up in a house for the sole pleasure of one man who would cover the trip or pay for the refuge. She refuses in the name of her freedom in a way. Then we follow her descent into hell that is represented by the last three men she will get. A dealer in religious goods that has lost God. A black man clearly called a N**** (sorry for the word but such characters were common in European culture in that period due to the colonialization of Africa and the still pending experience of nazi racism) in the libretto and the opera, and finally the anachronism of all centuries, Jack the Ripper who will of course rip her up and finish her up forever. But what is most interesting in this opera is the complete transformation of the role of music.
A turnaround seems to have taken place in the music as well as in the opera in these 1930s. The music is no longer a "decoration", a beautiful virtuosity, which it became at the end of the Middle Ages and with the Renaissance. It does not go back to the religious finality it had before of expressing the divine beauty of God's creation and God's teaching or message. But it is not either any more some entertaining element that had to please the senses as represented in the evolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. It has become part of the plot and the libretto. An opera is all sensory because it is synesthetic but this synesthesia is expressed by the merging of the various levels of the opera: the music, the singing, the language, the meaning, the plot, and of course the stage production. Music is not there to embellish the scene, or to enable the singers to glow and shine. The music builds the density of the plot, of the opera. The "instrumental and vocal" music is only part of the vast all-mediatic and all sensory music of a modern opera from plot to stage.
The end comes from Lulu's own hands. Lulu introduces Jack the Ripper as her latest street conquest and she negotiates her deal or trick with him but she is a novice and Jack is actually paid by her for the business that is in no way shady at this moment but a pure suicide or execution. A complete reversal. She takes him to the bedroom. The Countess then sings the dirge that announces Lulu's death that comes after her four "nein" and her death-cry. Jack comes out and washes his hands, like Pilate in another situation. The Countess closes the story with a call to Lulu the angel, which reminds us of her commitment just before Lulu's death to the rights of women. This opera then becomes an archetype by this very story.
Aren't women who want to be free reduced to prostitution and death? Is the future of women's rights in the fake freedom these prostitutes represent? Is the end always death in the hands of some perverse sex addict? Can such a woman only bring death and ruin to the men who love her? Can she only satisfy murderers like Jack the Ripper?
And the music builds the whole story. The contradictory tendencies, interpretations, the play in the play. What we see - voyeurs that we are - is not what it means. Life is a stage on which human beings strut and play their parts. But music on the stage turns the actors into actors of themselves, twofold, double, dual actors or marionettes that are playing a mental play inside the superficial visible play, and that mental play is revealed by the music and the singing. The music reveals the second depth of the play.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

There's really no use in trying to review this album; just imagine every glowing superlative you can and it would apply. I never thought it possible to fall in love with serial music, but "Lulu" made me do just that. Berg really can write twelve-tone music that soars, and the cast that delivers his completed masterpiece on this recording can't be beat. Each and every one of them is an accomplished vocal actor (thanks in part to having all participated in the premiere of the three-act version in Paris in the late 1970's). The recorded sound is incandescent; this is one of the most marvelous studio opera recordings ever.

When I discovered Alban Berg's opera "Lulu" it changed my life. It was a recording from the year 1965. The orchestra was conducted by Karl Böhm being Lulu the great Evelyn Lear. (That was a DG recording like this) Though Böhm's orchestra was not, precisely, inspired, Lulu's character depicted by Evelyn Lear became a myth for me. I had read before the plays "Erdgeist" and "Die Büchse der Pandora" by Wedekind on which Berg's opera is based, and always loved the complex character of Lulu beautifully depicted by Evelyn.
Teresa Stratas is very irregular in the role. Her screams are maybe better than that of Evelyn, but she seems uncomfortable with the role, apart from the lack of entonation and strength. Boulez' orchestra is wonderful but sometimes one miss the fact of bringing the main voices to the first plane.
From my humble point of view I think that this recording is an excellent one but I prefer Böhm/Lear/Fischer-Dieskau//Deutschen Oper Berlin (in DG). The listener has to take into account that the third act completed by Friedrich Cerha is not present in that recording. If the listener wishes the complete opera, Boulez/Stratas/... is then the reference.

If you look at all my reviews , many are quite long-winded. I always have alot to say on things most important in my life.
But here I have only one word to comment on the music and the performance.
UNREAL
there thats my review. Sure I know that is not helpful in any way, and please give me a vote of "NO".
I should mention that Berg did not complete the opera but left extensive notes so that Friedrich Cercha completed it. Boulez mentions that a scholar named adorono felt satified with Cercha's work, and Boulez agrees.
but I'm not so sure. The first 2 cds are clearly from the hand of berg, from the opening of the 3rd cd, immediately I/you notice that there is a drastic change in compositional quality. Its the best Cercha could do, and its good work. Just not near on the level as Berg's completed first 2 cds of music.
Paul

Famously, Pierre Boulez suggested that all opera houses should be blown up. There is not one bar on this recording to indicate any change of perspective ("change of heart" is evidently not an appropriate expression here). Bluntly and simply, Boulez loathes drama, and doesn't seem to care much for music, either. If you like your music drama joyless, pedantic, and frequently perverse, this is the one for you. A decent cast and band gone to waste on the altar of anti-bourgeois condescension.

This recording introduces modern listeners to one of the giants of turn of the century humor. Bert Williams, aside from being African-American was a true genius at emphasis and timing, both essential elements in any great comedean. I have known of his work for over 40 years via original copies of his recordings but this new release makes the sound so much clearer than even good copies of his old records. True, these are all acoustic recordings made with no amplification and Willaims' accent and quiet manner were at odds with this early type of recording but the results (especially in this particualr CD) are quite wonderful.

If this music is your type of thing (and of course, it isn't EVERYONE'S type of thing anymore), this disc is for you. Me, I love Bert Williams.

Actually, ALL of the discs put out by Archeophone are fantastic. They manage to find very good-sounding discs and clean them up just enough to sound good but not ruin the music. (In other words, yes, there's crackle here and there, but at least the music sounds clean and crisp instead of muffled, as can often happen with noise reduction.) Naturally the older the discs, the less clean they'll sound, but they're all quite listenable. If you're interested in more of their CD's, look them up on Amazon or go to their web site (which is the name of the company, plus .com). They've got samples of every track on every one of their discs.

I have almost all of their discs, so I have this basic review up on all of them.

Bert Williams was truly the only brilliant vaudeveille singer, he was one of the BIG THREE(the other two being Al Jolson & Eddie Cantor). As where Cantor & Jolson had energy and were loud and annoying, in a good and bad way, Williams was lazy sounding, the way balcks were thought of back then. He makes wonderful points, and even mocks both balcks and white's. This is truly one brilliant man captured on a cd!!! Some highlights are Elder Eatmore's Serman on Throwing Stone's(later recorded by Lousi Armstrong), and You Can't Trust Nobody, as well as the comical Eve Cost Adam Just One Bone. This cd is both hilarious, serious, politacal, politcally incorrect(who really cares), and poigniant, all at once. Williams really makes you stop and think about how times wer, and makes you forget how much worst they are today!!! A masterpiece by a mastermind. Even two tough jazz critics Scott Yanow, and Will Friedwald have praised Williams recordings! A must buy!! ESSENTIAL desert island music!

This groundbreaking CD of Bert Williams last recordings may have been his last but certainly not his least.All are wonderful numbers but tunes like"Everybody wants a key to my Cellar","It's nobody's business but my Own" and "Not Lately" are particular stand outs.
Many of the songs Bert recorded and some he didn't were done years later by many artists but one in particular stands out and that's Phil Harris.Phil had grown up as a youngster hearing these songs which he loved and he developed a similar singing/talking style like Bert.Many of Berts' songs,like those of other countless vaudvillians of the period like Sophie Tucker,Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson,were those that told stories that were either outright hilarious or semi-serious with tongue firmly planted in cheek.Either way the audiences of the day ate them up.Personally I have always loved this form of song done properly and Bert certainly was a master of its' form.
Mr.Williams was born in the Carribean in the late 1800s and his family moved to California when he was still a youngster.The entertainment bug grabbed him early on and after a time he bumped into a fellow performer by the name of George Walker.
The two developed this dandy/moax routine which is a form that still inspires and entertains even today.Walker would usually play the role of a dandy,high roller,con-man,etc. who would set about to outsmart the moax or unsuspecting victim played by Williams not always successfully.
There were many variations on this theme but it was VERY successful for them.So much so they eventually produced their own plays in the late 1800s and into the early 1900s.Besides becoming famous world-wide they were most noted for being major exponents of the popular dance craze the cake-walk and the first black artists signed to a major record label,Victor,then Columbia.
They even appeared before the King and Queen of England in a command performance.
In 1911 George Walker passed away from syphilis predeceasing his wife by only about three years.This left Bert with a large hole in his life both personally and professionally.He had always relied on George to take care of the business side of their work and to bounce ideas off of and now without him he drifted awhile trying to get back a sense of himself and to develop a viable character.
Eventually he realized his audiences wouldn't settle for anything less than something close to what he had already been doing all along.By the time he was out on his own a few years he had developed certain trademark routines and songs that audiences wouldn't let him offstage until they had seen and heard him do.His song "Nobody" and "The Gambler" being two of many.
Since his joining of Ziegfeld Follies in 1910,the first black in a major production,Bert realized that this venue with its' time constraints as just one performer among many also did little to enable him to stretch his character.These types of shows were always deliberately structured so that although a performers' time on stage may be limited it took into account(in the overall time frame) the fact that most of the established stars would get encores.And Bert rarely failed to get them,in spades.
With all of Berts' fame it never failed to cut him to the quick the very real prejudice he would experience by his peers and especially by those outside show business.How could a man feted by a King and Queen and seemingly loved by so many be treated at times in such a deplorable manner?
Born in another country he came to America,settled and got into the entertainment world.But he soon realized that the only way he was going to get anywhere was to study the American blacks with their own particular affectations,characteristics and mannerisms and portray them in this way in his own style as long as that style was of the acceptable parameters of the times.This included applying burnt cork and "blacking up".He,his partner along with countless other acts of the day whether white or black all did the same thing and like Berts' their audiences would have them no other way.
When he passed away in 1922 due to complications with pneumonia the world lost one of its' brightest stars.Bert Williams was an original and a singular talent the likes of which we had never seen before or will ever see again.
Archeophone records has completed the series(three so far,possibly more to come if any other material should surface) of a long overdue star of the first magnitude.Each CD in the series,as in this one,contains the usual copious liner notes and details on not only his recorded material but the man himself.Along the way there are articles written by Bert and his former partner George Walker so you can get a better feel for these men more up close and personal.
I cannot say enough about this series nor the company that produced them.They deserve our congratulations and our support.
Because in the end it brings back into the spotlight a man long forgotten,misunderstood and lost......but now thankfully found.
Encore!!

Long before Richard Pryor, Martin Lawrence, Redd Foxx, or Dick Gregory were even thinking about being born, Bert Williams was the pioneer. The long-unavailable enclosed songs bring him back from histrocial obscusrity.

The songs are great for a laugh. Bert's specialty was songs in which he told funny stories. In "I'm Gonna Quit On Saturday," he refuses to work on a circus train with a lion cage because "Lions love dark meat." In "Lonesome Alimony Blues," his imprisoned character "don't need to know what the time is, 'cause you ain't going noplace." In "Bring Back Those Wonderful Days," he longs for the removal of "Tip-requesting waiters and those red-flag agitators." "Brother Low Down" will give you a good sermon ""once he's good and liquored-up." etc. etc.

I have spoken with very old people who remembered loving these tunes as children and you can see why. Louis Armstrong recorded Williams' "Elder Eatmore Sermons" in 1938 (see "Louis and the Good Book"). Jazz comedian Louis Jordan's father had known Bert Williams and passed down his influence to his son (in fact, Louis Jordan billed himself for a while as "The Modern Bert Williams)."

However, modern listeners and audiophiles should beware of the surface noise and static due to the age of these recordings. But once you get past that technicality, imagine that grandma and grandpa are cranking up the old victrola and enjoy.

For those who are interested in the foundation of American (and not just African-American) comedy, namely Egbert Austin Williams, or if you just want to kick back and laugh at some really funny songs-I woulld strongly recommend this CD to start with before moving on to the more complete Bert Williams Cds from Archeophone Records. This is sort of a Bert Williams sampler, if you will.

FYI-Bert Williams was the first major Black comedian and the first Black recording star. He made over 80 records between 1901 and 1922 of comical stories, monologues, and funny songs which were filled with imagination and wit and comes across as little cartoons without pictures.

It contains some really good examples of his work, if not always the best of it. For example, "Oh Death Where Is they Sting" (1918) is a classic with Bert as a hellfire and brimstone preacher who gets the tables turned on him by a wise-guy in the congregation. "Lonesome Alimony Blues" (1920), which is my personal favorite Bert Williams record, is a SCREAMINGLY funny tale of Bert going to jail for cheating on his wife. Bert's comical litany of jailhouse life "You hear the people walkin'/hear the people talkin'/there's no one for you to talk to/....Don't need to bother about geeting a shave/no one's ginna see your face" will have you pounding the floor in hysterics! "Save a Little Dram for me" is another comic screamer about a drunken preacher.

The "Phrenologist Coon" (1901, one of his first recordings) may shock the listener due to the blatantly racist title, but Bert (like all of us) was a product of his time and once you get past this and open your mind, you'll see that the tune is not as mean-spirited as it sounds. (For the record, "Phrenologists" were quack doctors of the early 1900s who claimed the ability to analyze one's inteeligence and personality by measuring the shape of one's head). Fortunately, Bert made very few records of this kind.

Of course the nitpickers among Bert Williams fans will decry the absence of the "Elder Eatmore" monologues and records he made with George Walker, etc. but that's what the Archeophone sets are for. Read a little bit about Bert, buy this, and it will whet your appetite for the more complete recordings of Bert Williams on Archeophone records. This is a good place to start.