[Harp-L] Early cylinder recordings (minimal harp content)

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Before iPods, CDs, LP records and 78s, there were cylinder recordings. 
Cylinders had grooves like 78s, but instead of being flat discs they
were hollow cylinders fitted on a rotating drums. The cylinder was the
primary sound recording technology, starting about 1880 and lasting
until 1929, when 78s finally killed them off for entertainment
recording. Edison was the biggest purveyor of cylinders and actually
kept them available for dictation recording until 1950.

The earliest commercial recordings were made on cylinders, and UC Santa
Barbara has a large collection of them, transcribed to mp3 and
available here:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/index.php

While Edison did make some of the earliest harmonica recordings, by
player Pete Hampton, these are not included here.

However, the cylinders do include blues songs from as early as 1916:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?query=blues&queryType=%40attr+1%3D1016

and the recordings of the original Marine Band under John Philip Sousa,
the earliest being from 1896 (or 1897):

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?query=marine%20band&queryType=@attr%201=1016&sortBy=year&sortOrder=id

The blues tunes contain recognizable 12-bar progressions, but the
arrangement and delivery tend to be of the vaudeville or show-tune
variety. Ain't no earthy roots music there - that came later, at least
as far as the record business was concerned.

Winslow


 
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