Wait ... I'm getting this weird, overpowering psychic vibe coming in!

Wait ... I'm sensing a churning - burning - yearning for ... what?

Wait ... What?

Xylophone music?

Everybody wants ... xylophone music?

Really?

Well, okay, I got some.


This week's theme: The All Star Trio / Orchestra

The All Star Trio (later becoming The All Star Orchestra) was a major, very 
early jazz group.

In the early days of recording - prior to 1925 - records were made 
"mechanically".
Basically, you had a zinc disc covered with animal fat (or some secret 
formula).
Then you sang into a sort of reverse megaphone which drove a diaphragm 
connected to a needle.
The needle would scrape off the animal fat as the record turned leaving a 
trace of the sound wave on the disk.
The disk was the immersed in acid which would burn the tracing into the 
zinc.
From this "positive" you could make a "negative" from which you could stamp 
records.

The main point is that there are no microphones or electronic amplification.
Everything was "mechanical" rather then electronic.

Mechanical, also called "acoustical", recordings weren't very good / very 
high fidelity.
In those early days, xylophone music was unusually popular, probably because 
it is so percussive.

The All Star Trio / Orchestra was one of the most popular groups.
The "Twelfth Street Rag" was one of their biggest hits.


All Star Trio
http://www.redhotjazz.com/allstartrio.html

All Star Trio
http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/artists/detail/id/1406/

All Star Trio Orchestra
http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/artists/detail/id/1407/


Twelfth Street Rag
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Street_Rag

1948 HITS ARCHIVE: Twelfth Street Rag - Pee Wee Hunt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l73jhrBHhaI

SPIKE JONES: 12th Street Rag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCTmz18z8I4


Stay Jazzed!
--Tom Swezey
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