Fascinatin' Rhythm CD

Let your heart beat to the fun-filled rhythms, melodies and lyrics that made the 1920s roar, from the clubs and hotels of London and Broadway, to the cabarets of Paris. Twenty-one specially selected and beautifully restored original recordings include Josephine Baker and "Feelin' Kind o' Blue," Fred Astaire and "My One and Only," Noel Coward and "Dance Little Lady," George Gershwin's "Someone To Watch Over Me," and Al Jolson singing "Toot, Toot, Tootsie." Includes some of the era's finest dance bands. 1 hour.

1 Charleston Savoy Orpheans
2 Ain't we got fun Van & Schenck
3 Toot, toot, tootsie (goodbye) Al Jolson
4 The sheik of Araby Rudy Wiedoeft's Californians
5 Feelin' kind o' blue Josephine Baker
6 The best things in life are free Jack Hylton and his orchestra
7 Dance little lady Noel Coward
8 Hot Lips Paul Whiteman and his orchestra
9 You are the only one for me Josephine Baker
10 The Okeh Laughing Record Otto Rathke and Lucie Bernardo
11 My One and Only Fred Astaire
12 Dinah Josephine Baker
13 Fascinating Rhythm Fred and Adele Astaire
14 Someone to watch over me George Gershwin
15 Suppose Josephine Baker
16 Oh! By Jingo! Margaret Young
17 Do Do Do Gertrude Lawrence and Harold French
18 Pretty little baby Josephine Baker
19 April showers Al Jolson
20 It ain't gonna rain no mo' Wendell Hall
21 Let's misbehave Irving Aaronson and his Commanders

Witty, cheeky, suave and sophisticated: not many recordings could lay equal claim to all these descriptions, but the 1920s were a special time for music and dancing, driven forward in no small part by the astonishing success and growth of the recording industry. Tin Pan Alley knew no bounds, and the music produced on both sides of the Atlantic was marked out by a success and confidence which typified the early years of the decade, before the economic realities of the Great Depression came home to roost. Until then, though, it was dancing all the way, whether in the cabarets and shows of Josephine Baker's Paris or the salons, hotels and tearooms of central London or Broadway and the Upper East Side. Astaire, Gershwin, Margaret Lawrence and Coward crossed nonchalantly over from stage to screen and became international superstars in the process: and their recordings and music backs up their status by being totally wonderful! Even today we hold their achievements in awe: time will tell whether future generations will feel the same about today's celebrities and film stars.

Al Jolson, frequently styled as 'the world's greatest entertainer' began his career as early as 1911. By the late 1920s he had 80 hit records and was touring internationally as a result. Wendell Hall's career was similar: beginning as a vaudeville star and ukelele player, he eventually sold over two million copies of his great hit 'It ain't gonna rain no mo'' (track 20). Van and Schenk were huge comedy stars, as were Rathke and Bernardo. Margaret Young, from Detroit, was widely popular in the 1920s

Scattered throughout these recordings of the stars we have placed tracks from some of the finest dance bands of the day. The Savoy Orpheans, Whiteman, Rudy Wiedoeft, Hylton and Aaronson competed fiercely to attract the best musicians into their bands: and it shows in these brilliant recordings played with style and panache (and without digital editing or multi-tracking to ease them along - these are real performances captured in single takes).