Earliest Black String Bands 1: 1914-1917 / Various Earliest Black String Bands 1: 1914-1917 / Various CD

The UK's Document label specializes in the reissuing of material so rare and unusual that most people would never have imagined that it existed in the first place. This unique service to humanity seems even greater when the recordings in question date back to before the 1920s. The Earliest Black String Bands, Vol. 1: 1914-1917 presents 18 precious sides rescued from oblivion and made available to the public with a detailed discography and informative liner notes. The connecting link between Joan Sawyer's Persian Garden Orchestra of New York and the Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra of London was Jamaica-born pianist and bandleader Dan Kildare, a pioneer of syncopated dance music who worked with James Reese Europe and was among the very first black musicians to make phonograph recordings. The instrumentation used by the Persian Garden Orchestra in 1914 (cornet, clarinet, tuba, violin, piano, drums, banjo, and mandolin) lent itself to the one-step, the Brazilian maxixe, and the waltz. The unfortunately named Coon Orchestra employed by Ciro's Club had the comparative advantage of making records in 1916 and 1917, when rapidly evolving styles were paving the way for the post-war jazz explosion of the late '10s and early '20s. Stringed instruments predominate in this ensemble (the discography lists banjo, banjoline, cello, string bass, piano, and drums with occasional vocals and incidental whistling effects) and the material includes novelties, foxtrots, and Hawaiian routines with titles like "Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula" and "Oh, How She Could Wacki, Hacki, Wicki, Wacki, Woo." This superb gold mine of unique historic material is packed with antiquated parlour music, some of it positively magical.

1. Joan Sawyer's Persian Garden Orchestra - Joan Waltz - Hesitation 2. Joan Sawyer's Persian Garden Orchestra - Bregeiro (Rio Brazilian Maxixe) 3. Joan Sawyer's Persian Garden Orchestra - Valse Boston (From "Les Millions D'Arlequin") 4. Joan Sawyer's Persian Garden Orchestra - When You're A Long Way From Home - One Step 5. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - Some Sort Of Somebody 6. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - On The Shore At Le-Lei-Wei 7. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - I Can Dance With Everybody Except My Wife 8. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - The Ladder Of Roses 9. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula 10. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - My Mother's Rosary 11. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - Hello Hawaii, How Are You? 12. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - My Fox-Trot Wedding Day 13. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - Never Let Your Right Hand Know What Your Left Hand's Going To Do (Introducing "The Kipling Walk") 14. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - Poor Butterfly 15. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - Hello, Frisco; And Tanko 16. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - Oh, How She Could Wacki, Hacki, Wicki, Wacki, Woo; And Saturady Night 17. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go With Friday On Saturday Night? 18. Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra - Let The Great Big World Keep Turning And "Monkey Parade"