Golden Age Music Recommendations

[Son_of_Atropos]

Heyyyyyyyyy,


Looking to expand my collection in this genre and wanted to know what people would recommend.

 

[dhermann1]

Well, it depends on the era. If you want 1920's start with Paul Whiteman, he was the mainstream "pop" star. Then you can check out great jazz men like Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbeck, Louis Armstrong, etc.
Moving further ahead to the early 30's check out Fletcher Henderson and Don Redman, both great jazz pioneers. Also in this era check out Cab Calloway, Annette Hanshaw, the Mills Brothers, the Boswell Sisters, Al Bowley, Ruth Etting, etc. Also, the name may sound funny, but McKinney's Cottonpickers were a great band (they included the aforementioned Don Redmond.)
For the Swing era, starting about 1936, Count Basey, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, the Dorsey Brothers, Glenn Miller.
Duke Ellington's band came on the scene in the 20's, but was great straight through to the 70's.
One radio program I would highly recommend is Rich Conaty's The Big Broadcast on WFUV FM, Sunday nights (Eastern time) from 8 till 12. He's online at WWW.WFUV.ORG. He presents a great variety of wonderful music, starting as early as 1916 going up to about 1937.
I've left out SOOO many great names. You've got a great adventure ahead of you!

 

[Rafter]

Looking to expand my collection in this genre and wanted to know what people would recommend.

My 1930's collection of mp3's includes Bing Crosby, Helen Morgan, Red Nichols, Leo Reisman, Ruth Etting, Paul Whiteman, Ben Selvin, Rudy Vallee, Guy Lombardo, Fred Waring, The Boswell Sisters, Connee Boswell, Ted Weems, Russ Columbo, Ozzie Nelson, Wayne King, Isham Jones, Mildred Bailey, Glenn Gray, Victor Young, Ray Noble, The Dorsey Brothers, Hal Kemp, Eddy Duchin, Xavier Cugat, Freddy Martin, Russ Morgan, Kay Kyser, Red Norvo, Larry Clinton with Bea Wain, The Mills Brothers, Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday and Benny Goodman.

 

[52Styleline]

Here are a few more

Artie Shaw
Johnny Long
Johnny Green
Charlie Barnet
Bunny Bernigan
Bobby Hackett

 

[Rafter]

Here are a few more

Artie Shaw
Johnny Long
Johnny Green
Charlie Barnet
Bunny Bernigan
Bobby Hackett

How can I forget the late great Artie Shaw. He was the only legend from the Golden Age of Music that I actually saw in person and in concert. My parents dragged the little me kickin' and screamin' to Long Island's Westbury Music Fair in 1984.
It was a three hour performance that also included Vic Damone and Rosemary Clooney. Needless to say I was the youngest one in the audience. But, from that day on I became a huge fan of Shaw and his contemporaries!!

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Anything on the ASV Living Era record label. Especially their "Hits Of..." year-by-year collection. They have every year from 1920 to 1955 (except 26-29, which are in the works!)

You can find them all on amazon.

 

[dhermann1]

How can I forget the late great Artie Shaw. He was the only legend from the Golden Age of Music that I actually saw in person and in concert. My parents dragged the little me kickin' and screamin' to Long Island's Westbury Music Fair in 1984.
It was a three hour performance that also included Vic Damone and Rosemary Clooney. Needless to say I was the youngest one in the audience. But, from that day on I became a huge fan of Shaw and his contemporaries!!

You saw him, but you didn't hear him play. He put down his clarinet forever in 1954. But the band he put together in the 80's was absolutely fabulous. The intention was to exactly reproduce his great 1938 band, and the general consensus was that he did. I saw him occasionally on talk shows. What a cool dude! And he only passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 94.

 

[HadleyH]

My 1930's collection of mp3's includes Bing Crosby, Helen Morgan, Red Nichols, Leo Reisman, Ruth Etting, Paul Whiteman, Ben Selvin, Rudy Vallee, Guy Lombardo, Fred Waring, The Boswell Sisters, Connee Boswell, Ted Weems, Russ Columbo, Ozzie Nelson, Wayne King, Isham Jones, Mildred Bailey, Glenn Gray, Victor Young, Ray Noble, The Dorsey Brothers, Hal Kemp, Eddy Duchin, Xavier Cugat, Freddy Martin, Russ Morgan, Kay Kyser, Red Norvo, Larry Clinton with Bea Wain, The Mills Brothers, Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday and Benny Goodman.

All that plus other dance Bands of the 20s and 30s American and British that are not included


As you can see Son of Atropos, that's a long list lol but also a very rewarding one! Good luck!

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

Also among the essentials of the 30s-40s: Material on the RCA/BMG/Bluebird label by:

Tommy Dorsey
Duke Ellington (1940-41 particularly)
Glenn Miller

Classical: Even if you're not really into classical, if you like the movie soundtracks of the era, you might well like works conducted by Leopold Stokowski from the era (i.e. 1939 soundtrack to Fantasia (actually recorded in true stereo!), other works by Tchaikovsky, etc.)- his work's drawing me more into the genre.

 

[Son_of_Atropos]

Thanks

Hey, thanks everyone once I get some money I'll sample some of these artists.