The Ultimate George Gershwin Vol. 1: Original Cast Recordings

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Recorded between 1918 & 1924. Personnel: Tom Patricola (banjo). Liner Note Author: Dwight Blocker Bowers. The first volume in British archival label Pearl's series of albums devoted to vintage recordings of songs from George Gershwin's musicals as performed by members of the original casts presents tracks from the first half of the 1920s. The disc breaks down into two parts. The first nine tracks, running a little over 26 minutes, are drawn from seven different shows, with selections including "Swanee" by Al Jolson, who interpolated the song into Sinbad; "Please Do It Again" (aka "Do It Again") by Alice Delysia, who performed it in the British revue Mayfair and Montmartre (it had been introduced on Broadway by Irene Bordoni in The French Doll, but never recorded by her); and two instrumental versions of "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" from George White's Scandals of 1922, one by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, which appeared in the show, and the other by a trio from the show's pit orchestra. The disc's other 13 tracks, running over 58 minutes, comprise a surprisingly complete score for the 1924 British musical Primrose, originally released on seven 78 rpm records by the English Columbia label (no relation to the U.S. company of the same name). The British showed an interest in cast recordings much earlier than the Americans did, and this virtual cast album actually runs much longer than the ones from the LP era did. With lyrics co-written by Desmond Carter and Ira Gershwin, the songs are very British (the show never transferred to Broadway), and it's sometimes hard to hear the Gershwins' hands in them. They are also mostly forgotten, except for "Naughty Baby." With their sonically challenged "acoustic era" sound, and transferred from scratchy records with only a little sound processing, these recordings are more for the show music buff than the general listener, but are valuable nonetheless. ~ William Ruhlmann