Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy: Gennett Studios and the Birth of Recorded Jazz

Rating:
Summary: The First Pops and Scratches
Review: I agree with Rick Kennedy that this is a story worth telling. Certainly it is an unlikely one. Out in the fields of Richmond, Indiana, in small wooden warehouse next to a railroad track, the Gennett studio laid down the first pops and scratches of recorded jazz. It's been said that, on some of these coveted 78s, you can hear trains in the background.

The Gennetts didn't set out to be pioneers. They were trying to make a living and maintain the family's piano business. Somehow over time many of the early jazz legends converged at this small studio, among them King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Hoagy Carmichael, and Bix Beiderbecke. In the CD age, it is especially fascinating to read about some of the early techniques of recording. This book should find some appeal among jazz fans and readers of Indiana history.

Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading on the Recording Industry
Review: In this eminently readable book, Kennedy manages to provide the reader with an overview of the early history of the whole recording industry while also providing a view of successful Midwestern entrepreneurship---and that is just the background laid for this fascinating topic.

I had heard about those "incredible Gennett sides" for many years, and acquired several samples of Gennett records around 15 years ago. In many cases the unknown or obscurely known artists turned in amazing performances that anticipated where jazz and popular music would be several years in the future---in the later 30's and 1940's. I often wondered how these performances failed to come to the attention of the larger American listening audience. After reading this book, I feel that I have an understanding.

Learning the history of the company that pioneered recorded jazz was the enjoyable and enlightening result of reading this book. The incredible history of this American popular music form and its legitimacy as a recorded music encompasses the entire history of the Midwestern and Southern United States during the first quarter of the 20th century. Kennedy's book will soon have you absorbed in that history.

While the topic is certainly the genesis of Jazz music recording, the reader will soon discover there is much more to it. Highly recommended to anyone interested in American cultural history!