Centuries of Sound James M Errington

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
 

 
Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.


 
1947 Part Two – Boptamism
A baby boom – a notable increase in babies born – may indicate many socio-economic factors at play, but most of these factors are refractions of hope. Hope that there will be a good world for your children to become adults in, hope that you will be able to provide everything they need, hope that the path of your new family will not be littered with traps and nasty surprises. As I write this in 2024, birth rates in western countries have been in decline for decades, but in 1947 we were just on the spike of the “baby boom” which was so notable it gave its name to a generation. Is this then a time of hope? Will this mix sound optimistic and hopeful?
There was an idea at one point that these mixes would provide some sort of historical narrative into the years in question. Was it an idea that I had, or was it thrust on me by the war? It’s truthfully hard to say, I was already arranging things (not music) month by month back in 1939, maybe it’s a habit I’ve slipped into. In any case the arrangement has now become fairly meaningless (with a couple of exceptions I’ll come to in a moment), just a way to break up years into more manageable chunks or chapters, for example October is fairly bop-heavy and December is winding down for the Christmas section.
That’s the second exception in this mix, the first is the independence of India and Pakistan, a large public event with newsreels and speeches to sample, but whose ramifications wouldn’t be as easy to capture. In China the civil war turned a corner, with the Nationalists increasingly looking doomed. Communists also officially took power in Poland. The spread of communism triggered The Truman Doctrine, as good a date as any for the start of The Cold War. Is any of this evident from this mix? Well no, not at all. This of course does not mean that these things are unimportant, it just means that they haven’t yet impacted the cultural record, or at least my cultural record.
The people – the musicians – here were interested in exploring their art, they were interested in entertaining, they were interested in making people dance, they were interested in making something new. All art is in some sense political, and their stretching out in this freedom to create and share tells you something about their mood. The prospect of nuclear war, even of the Korean War, were not yet in the air. So to answer my own question, yes, we are still in the brief window of hope, but we can grasp this from the absence. There are other things to write about than existential dread.
If you want to chat as listen, you can join the conversation on discord here – https://discord.gg/5a7f6wqjcJ
Tracklist
0:00:00 George Melachrino Strings – Serenade (Drigo)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum – Death Bound)
(Clip from ITMA – Royal Command Performance)
0:01:20 Dizzy Gillespie – Cubana Bop
July
0:04:24 Danny Kaye – Manic Depressive Presents
0:05:15 Forrest Sykes – Tonky Boogie
(Clip from ITMA – Royal Command Performance)
0:08:33 Jo Stafford & Red Ingle – Temptation
(Clip from Danny Kaye – Manic Depressive Presents)
0:11:40 Spike Jones – I’m Getting Sentimental Over You
(Clip from High-Diving Hare)
0:14:19 Jack Mcvea’s All Stars – Open The Door Richard
(Clip from Home Record of a Birthday Party)
0:17:14 Hank Williams – I’m A Long Gone Daddy
(Cli

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
 

 
Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.


 
1947 Part One – Cubana Bop
From time to time in music there are sparks which briefly spring to life, then almost immediately fizzle out again, but not without leaving long-lasting reverberations. One of these moments began in the summer of 1947, when 32-year-old dancer, bodyguard, shoeshiner and noted percussionist Chano Pozo arrived in New York on a passenger ship from the rich man’s playground of Havana. Raised in one of the most dangerous slums in Cuba, Pozo had found himself in reform school at the age of 13, only having had three years of education. His crime may have been the accidental killing of an American tourist. While there he learned not only literacy and the Afro-Caribbean religion Santería, but also to play a range of percussion instruments. On release he became a “rumbero” – the beating heart of a musical/dance troop at carnival, and after only a few years he had had become perhaps the most famous one in Cuba.
He may have achieved fame, but there was no fortune to be found in working-class Cuba, and in 1947 he decided to move to the USA, where a nascent Cuban music industry was already in place. Band leader Mario Bauza, who already had a good deal of success, arranged a series of recording sessions for Pozo, and at a party at Harlem in September introduced him to Dizzy Gillespie, who was already interested in Cuban music, and who immediately invited him to join his band. Before the end of the month they would be on stage together at Carnegie Hall.
The music that Gillespie and Pozo made together in the next 15 months is so arresting that it’s astonishing that it isn’t better-known. Perhaps the musicianship on display prevented anyone else from easily borrowing. In any case the 75 years since have done nothing to blunt its power. Taking all the unpredictable, stimulatingly jarring musical shapes from be bop and fusing them to this driving, complex Cuban rhythm is nothing short of magical.
The collaboration was cut short prematurely when Pozo was murdered by another Cuban expat outside a Harlem bar, but by that point Pozo and Gillespie had collaborated on Cubana Be, Cubana Bop, Tin Tin Deo and Manteca, all to be featured prominently in these two mixes.
There’s been a bit too much history in Centuries of Sound of late, too many events taking place. This is supposed to be a celebration and exploration of sound. Sure, 1947 traditionally marks the start of the Cold War – and there is one large international event which we’ll get to in part two – but I’m pleased to say there’s little sign of it here. When I listen back to the records (and the sounds) here the joy in experimentation is the biggest takeaway. I hope it is for you too.
If you want to chat as listen, you can join the conversation on discord here – https://discord.gg/5a7f6wqjcJ
 
Tracklist
0:00:00 Unknown Birds – Birdsong (from Louis Kaufman – Vivaldi Four Seasons intro)
(Clip from You Bet Your Life – Secret Word ‘Air’)
0:00:36 Dizzy Gillespie – Cubana Be
(Clips from Are You Popular?)
(Clip from Easy To Get)
0:02:59 Amos Milburn – Chicken Shack Boogie
January
0:05:25 Charlie Parker Quintet – Bird Of Paradise
(Clip from Alastair Cooke – Letter From America – New Year 1947)
(Clip from Are You Popular?)
0:08:31 Maddox Brothers & Rose – Honky Tonkin’
(Clip from The Walgreen Show – Groucho Marx/Bob Hop

Previously at Centuries of Sound:
Christmas 1902-1924: Deep Magic From Before The Dawn Of Time
A Holiday Between The Wars, Christmas Records 1926-1938
A Wartime Christmas 1939-1945
If you enjoy my mixes, please consider supporting the show on Patreon for $5 per month – as well as helping me keep going, you will get access to a load of bonus stuff.


The period between the end of the Second World War and the Rock & Roll craze of 1954 may be strangely absent from popular memory on the whole, but when it comes to the Christmas season everything is suddenly reversed. The age of It’s A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street, of Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song, The Andrews Sisters’ Winter Wonderland, the hit version of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas, and of course Baby, It’s Cold Outside – these all seem to have been set in amber as the prototypical classic American Christmas experience. But meanwhile, of course, Rhythm & Blues, Western Swing, Mambo and Be-Bop are all at their peak, so don’t expect an entirely mainstream Christmas here.
Tracklist
0:00:00 Red Skelton – Clip from Raleigh-Kool Radio Program – Christmas Stories (1946)
0:00:04 Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You) (1946)
0:03:11 Jimmy Stewart – Clip from It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
0:03:50 Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter Orchestra – White Christmas (1947)
0:06:43 Burns & Allen – Clip from Christmas Presents (1946)
0:07:31 Guy Lombardo & The Andrews Sisters – Winter Wonderland (1946)
0:10:09 Abbott & Costello – Clip from Christmas Show (1947)
0:11:24 Frankie Carle & His Orchestra with Majorie Hughes – Little Jack Frost Get Lost (1947)
0:14:02 Gene Lockhart – Clip from Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
0:14:32 Gene Autry – Here Comes Santa Claus (1947)
0:17:02 Life of Riley – Clip from Family Christmas Present (1947)
0:17:05 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) (1948)
0:20:12 Phil Harris & Alice Faye Show – Clip from Christmas Present (1948)
0:20:23 Andrews Sisters & Danny Kaye – Merry Christmas At Grandmother’s House (1948)
0:22:38 David Niven – Clip from The Bishop’s Wife (1947)
0:23:01 Kay Starr – December (1949)
0:26:21 Unknown – Radio Commercial for Eggnog (1949)
0:26:36 Louis Jordan & Ella Fitzgerald – Baby, It’s Cold Outside (1949)
0:29:15 Much Binding In The Marsh – Clip from Christmas Programme (1948)
0:29:28 Amos Milburn – Let’s Make Christmas Merry, Baby (1949)
0:32:18 Dragnet – Clip from 22 Calibre Rifle for Christmas (1950)
0:32:23 Lionel Hampton Orchestra – Boogie Woogie, Santa Claus (1950)
0:35:04 Matinee with Bob and Ray – Clip from Christmas Season Program (1949)
0:35:08 Henry Jerome and His Orchestra – Sleigh Ride (1950)
0:36:47 Stars Over Hollywood – Clip from A Christmas Carol (1951)
0:36:57 Sauter-Finegan Orchestra – Midnight Sleighride (1952)
0:39:13 Suspense – Clip from The Night Before Christmas (1951)
0:39:35 Weekend Hyttens Kor And Orkester – Bjaldeklang (Jingle Bells) (1951)
0:41:53 Jack Benny Program – Clip from Christmas Shopping (1951)
0:42:26 Jan Garber And His Orchestra – Frosty The Snowman (1951)
0:45:01 Let’s Pretend – Clip from ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (1952)
0:45:23 Les Brown Orchestra – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (1952)
0:47:46 Billy May and His Orchestra – Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo (1954)
0:50:20 Bing Crosby with The Rhythmaires – Sleigh Ride / Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1953)
0:55:30 John Payne – Clip from Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
0:55:54 Eartha Kitt – Santa Baby (1953)
0:59:13 Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet – Clip from The Lost Christmas Gift (1953)
0:59:16

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
 

 
Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.


 
1946 Part Two – That’s All Right For You
In the popular imagination the late 1940s is poorly represented. In the 1930s there’s the great depression (which is also somehow the golden age of Hollywood), then WWII takes place, then [SCENE MISSING], then there’s the 1950s, rock & roll, teenagers, fashion, Hollywood glamour, the beat poets, Rosa Parks, the golden age of TV, and you know I could keep on just listing themes here but I’ll stop. These signifiers make the decade easy to get a grip on, and have been constantly revisited on TV, in films and – of course – in music ever since. For anyone under the age of 66 or so, this mythologised version of the fifties is the only fifties you’ve ever known. The late 40s on the other hand have had no such treatment – I can think of only a handful of films set in the period, all fairly obscure.
How can we begin to transition from one era to another then? The soldiers arrive back from the second world war, everyone settles down to keep quiet and do nothing for five years, then BOOM here we are in the modern age? Well, of course that’s not how it’s going to be. Those cultural threads spread out wide, and as our main concern here is music, the headline here is that the musical movements associated with that later era are not being anticipated in 1946, they aren’t starting to get underway, they are in fact already in full bloom. The headline could even be “1946 – The Year Rock & Roll Started!” – but for reasons I will surely go into later, there is no easy start date.
Though the majority of this mix is rock & roll in all but name, plenty does not fit that pattern. Some is in fact quite traditional pop music, but with artistry and production seemingly years ahead of its time. Jazz selections have been picked with a general feel of bubbling excitement. These songs are not so concerned with dreaming or looking into the future as in part one, but they push into the future by being (for the first time in a long time) fully able to immerse into the now. Most of this mix is dance music, though there are also plenty of calmer breaks.
One final thought before I say “just listen” – the reason many of these performers disappeared in the rock & roll era (as we know it) is that many were simply not around anymore. Big Maceo Merriweather had a severe stroke in 1946, and died in 1953. Sonny Boy Williamson I would be killed in a robbery in 1948. Albert Ammons would survive to play Truman’s inauguration in 1949, but then died later that year. Cecil Gant made it no further than 1951. A disappointing truth is that these are still very tough years, and this small sampling of joy tells just one story from many. I could say the same for any mix, of course, but it seems more important to point it out here.
Ok, so if I haven’t ruined it, just listen. And if you want to chat as you do so, you can join the conversation on discord here – https://discord.gg/jw5vZcN8
 
Tracklist
0:00:00 Charles Mingus and his Orchestra – Shuffle Bass Boogie
(Clip from Notorious)
(Clip from Wacky Weed – Andy Panda)
July
(Clip from Television Is Here Again)
0:03:10 Sonny Boy Williamson I – Shake The Boogie
0:05:53 Big Maceo – Chicago Breakdown
(Clip from The Story of Menstruation)
0:08:48 June Christy – Willow Weep For Me
0:11:43 Dizzy Gillespie Big Band – ‘Round Midnight
0:15:25 Bob Wills & His

This Halloween special was first broadcast in 2022 and features music from 1927 to 1938 and also features my son Milan. To get full downloads and a host of extras, and help the show survive, come to http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound



When we think of the great depression of the 1930s, the images which may spring to mind – The Grapes of Wrath, the dustbowl songs of Woody Guthrie – are generally from the 1940s. Popular entertainment of the thirties leaned not on realism, but on escapism. This is the golden age, not only of Hollywood musicals, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rodgers, Busby Berkley routines and screwball comedy, but also of horror movies. Aside from the film clips, we naturally have plenty of novelty recordings, original sound effect records, hot jazz, and to close a suite of particularly morbid blues records.

This Centuries of Sound mix comes courtesy of my supporters at patreon.com/centuriesofsound – join them for as little as $5 per month and get a full archive and a host of bonus material.

 


 
The 1940s was a scary time, but not really in a way that we can comfortably celebrate at Halloween. Nevertheless there were still a few horror movies being made, and it’s from these that I’ve largely drawn for this mix (the best are of course the works of Val Lewton, a shame there aren’t more.) The most traditionally Halloween-themed musical numbers here are from Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, and along with the lack of Universal Horror monsters except in semi-parody retreads, this seems to indicate that 40s audiences were in no mood to be frightened. If it isn’t already obvious, I’ll leave it to Al Bowlly to explain why.
Tracklist:
(Clip from The Hitchhiker)
0:00:06 Bing Crosby & The Rhythmaires - Headless Horsemen (1947)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum - Death Is A Joker)
0:03:17 Carl Stalling - Ghost Wanted (1940)
(Clips from House of Dracula)
(Clip from Lights Out - Kill)
0:07:17 Louis Armstrong - You've Got Me Voodoo'd (1940)
(Clip from Lights Out - Kill)
0:10:09 Charles Mingus Sextette (Vocal by Claude Trinier) - Weird Nightmare (1946)
(Clip from Cat People)
0:13:34 Delta Rhythm Boys - Dry Bones (1941)
(Clip from Suspense Theatre - Donovan's Brain)
0:16:39 Una Mae Carlisle - Oh I'm Evil (1941)
(Clip from Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man)
0:19:13 Louis Jordan - Somebody Don Hoodooed The Hoodoo Man (1940)
(Clip from I Walked With A Zombie)
0:22:05 Spike Jones & His City Slickers - My Old Flame (1947)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum - Death Is A Joker)
0:26:06 Josh White - Evil Hearted Man (1944)
(Clip from Ivan The Terrible)
0:29:10 Kai Winding Sextet - A Night on Bop Mountain (1949)
(Clip from Suspicion)
0:33:08 Washboard Sam - Evil Blues (1941)
(Clip from Bedlam)
0:36:26 Bob Wills - The Devil Ain't Lazy (1947)
(Clip from Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man)
0:39:16 Wayne Raney - Jole Blon's Ghost (1948)
(Clip from Notorious)
0:41:50 Lionel Hampton Sextet & Dinah Washington - Evil Gal Blues (1943)
(Clip from Lights Out - Kill)
0:44:55 Pee Wee King & His Golden West Cowboys - The Ghost and Honest Joe (1949)
(Clip from The Hitchhiker)
0:48:06 Stan Jones And The Death Valley Rangers- Ghost Riders In The Sky (1948)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum - No Coffin For The Dead)
0:51:09 Jay Mcshann - Voodoo Woman Blues (1946)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum - No Coffin For The Dead)
0:54:15 Charlie Shavers - Zooming At The Zombie (1940)
(Clip from Cat People)
0:57:00 Lena Horne - Haunted Town (1941)
(Clip from Lights Out - Kill)
1:00:21 Texas Slim - Devil's Jump (1949)
(Clip from And Then There Were None)
1:03:19 Fred Astaire - Me And The Ghost Upstairs (1940)
(Clip from Lights Out - Kill)
1:05:48 Al Bowlly & Jimmy Mesene - When That Man Is Dead And Gone (1941)
(Clip from The Hitchhiker)
1:08:50 Kay Starr - The Headless Horseman (1948)
(Clip from Isle Of The Dead)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum - The Man Who Couldn't Die)