Edison Dance Bands #1 Recorded 1915 - 1921 CD176an

I used a little science to get around the rumble issue with these vertical cut Edison Diamond Disc records. I use a very special vintage tonearm made by Pickering - the 190D. The arm has no vertical travel aside from a very light assembly holding the cartridge. Because of enertia, when the record is played at a low speed, the small assembly can move up and down with the irregularities, reducing the rumble. However, the bass frequencies were reduced due to the extremely low mass of the cartridge assembly. The solution was adding some mass to the assembly, which, because of enertia, the added mass serves to stabilize the cartridge, and extract the lower frequencies. I started this project about 30 years ago, and had recorded about 20 of my Edison Doamond Disc records and passed them on to other collectors, so for those I had to rely on my original transfers. The rest are fresh transfers from records still in my collection. The resulting warmth and depth of sound is really amazing. I only wish I'd kept the records for my original selection to do the fresh transfers for them too. They still sound pretty good regardless.

Edison Dance Bands #1 CD176A

I want to start my background of the Edison Phonograph Company with an explanation of the technical challenges in transferring these early hill and dale records. Dr. Jonas Aylsworth was a chemist at Edison and developed a plastic material using phenol and formaldehyde, mixed with a sawdust filler. When these records were new and had not been exposed to air, they were totally flat and would play quietly. With sustained exposure to air, the organic filler would absorb moisture and swell, resulting in the characteristic rumble associated with these records. By slowing the transfer speed and adapting a very special tone arm, I found an organic way to reduce rumble and allow greater depth of fidelity while minimizing the rumble. Each record played this way took 22 minutes to transfer. I have catagorized my collections by dance bands, vocalists, military bands and Opera, all recorded in separate sets. The first artist in this album is by Jaudas' Society Orchestra - Edison's studio orchestra starting in 1900, who accompanied many of the vocalists in the vocal set. Eugene Jaudas was born in 1869 and had training as a violinist. Some of the very ealrist records to incude the word "Jass" of course the spelloing changed to 'Jazz" I have included four tracks by Lou Chiha "Friscoe" in this compilation. An early soloist on both xylophone and vibrophone, his performance was used in Edison's early tone tests - where he played in fornt of a curtain, then quit playing, when the curtain was opened revealing an Edison Phonograph playiong the same music to the astonishment of the audience. Pietro Frosini, born 1885- was playing the accordion at the age of six, and his records were very popular. To this date, there is a Swedish based "Frosini Society"

1. MILLICENT-WALTZ JAUDAS SOCIETY ORCHESTRA ED 50226 01/01/15 3510 MCKEE
2. THE CARNIVAL-ONE STEP JAUDAS SOCIETY ORCHESTRA ED 50226 01/01/15 3509 POLLACK
3. LAKE OF THE WOODS-WALTZ JAUDA'S SOCIETY ORCHESTRA ED 50326 11/09/15 4263 BARRY
4. BRIDAL BLUSHES JAUDA'S SOCIETY ORCHESTRA ED 50326 11/09/15 4262 SCHMID
5. SEXTET-LUCIA LOU CHIHA "FRISCO" ED 50342 01/01/16 4452 DONIZETTI
6. SILVER THREADS AMONG THE GOLD LOU CHIHA 'FRISCO' ED 50342 01/01/16 4453 REXFORD-DANKS
7. A GAY GUSSOON VESS OSSMAN ED 50377 04/25/16 4644 KENDALL 96
8. KEEP OFF THE GRASS VESS OSSMAN ED 50377 04/25/16 4680 VON TILZER 96
9. NEW YORK BLUES FROSINI-ACCORDION ED 50454 09/01/16 4998 FROSINI
10. NIGHT TIME IN LITTLE ITALY FRISCO JAZZ BAND ED 50515 06/04/17 5602 FISHER-MCCARTHY
11. DRY TOWN BLUES LOU CHIHA "FRISCO" ED 50515 06/10/17 5631 CHIHA
12. SAXOPHONE SOBS RUDY WIEDOEFT ED 50454 08/01/17 5744 ERDMAN
13. MARY TUXEDO ORCHESTRA MALE VOCAL DUET ED 50549 03/20/19 6680 FREY
14. TEARS TUXEDO ORCHESTRA MALE AND FEMALE VOCAL DUET ED 50549 03/27/19 6688 WARREN-HENRY
15. RAINY DAY BLUES YERKES SAXOPHONE SEXTETTE ED 50632 03/28/19 6691 WARSHAUER
16. PETER GINK TUXEDO DANCE ORCHESTRA ED 50622 04/25/19 6749 COBB-GRIEG
17. FLUFFY RUFFLES GREEN BROTHERS MARIMBA BAND ED 50579 05/13/19 6786 GREEN
18. SAL-O-MAY BROADWAY DANCE ORCHESTRA ED 50874 10/18/21 8255 STOLTZ
19. WABASH BLUES BROADWAY DANCE ORCHESTRA ED 50874 10/18/21 8256 MEINKEN
    

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