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Ukulele Ike--real name Cliff Edwards--the all-time ukulele
champion. This cd is one of his best. It has 32 songs, many
of which have the ukulele as the only instrument played while
he sings. If you think that the ukulele is some kind of gag
instrument that does not deserve serious attention this cd
should change you mind. Needless to say there are many other
great cds and records that he made during his long career,
some much better than others. Get them all.
Al Jolson, all round great performer from the early and mid
20th century recorded many songs that are now public domain
in the US, including "When You Were Sweet Sixteen",
"April Showers", "Ma Blushin' Rosie",
"Rock-a-bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody", and
the above song "Toot Toot Tootsie". His work is
widely available on cd and lp records, and includes many of
the best versions of the great songs of the twenties and thirties,
the years of the most enduring hits.
Fanny Brice, shown here on the sheet music of "Rose
of Washington Square" was the subject of the movie FUNNY
GIRL. She was a far better singer than Barbara Streisand ever
was. Unfortunately recordings of her are hard to find but
they do exist. Look for one called FANNY BRICE SINGS on the
Audio Fidelity label. I have never heard of a recording of
Fanny Brice singing "Rose of Washington Square",
but you can hear it by yours truely L A White, Jr. on the
music section of this website or on "Vintage Banu"
a cd recorded by Banu Gibson who is discussed below.
These are the two best Ruth Etting cds I have found so far
and include most of the classics such as "Button Up Your
Overcoat", "You're The Cream In My Coffee",
"If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight", "Hello
Baby!", "The Kiss Waltz", "Love Me Or
Leave Me","Dancing With Tears In My Eyes",
"Body and Soul", and others on TEN CENTS A DANCE,
and "'Deed I Do", "Back In Your Own Backyard",
"I'll Get By As Long As I Have You", "Nevertheless,
I'm In Love With You", "A Faded Summer Love",
"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", "Goodnight, Sweetheart",
and others on AMERICA'S SWEETHEART OF SONG. These songs are
better than good for the ukulele player.You may have to find
her lp records to get some of the others such as "Glad
Rag Doll" and "All Of Me".
This may be the best Banu Gibson record or cd and is naturally
out of print and hard to find. If you read negative reviews
of this record don't believe them! It was recorded live at
the Manassas Jazz Festival in 1982, and has a good version
of "Rose of Washington Square", discussed above.
Other wonderful songs included are "Big Butter and Egg
Man", "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out",
"I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling", and "Jazz
Me Blues". There are many Banu Gibson lps and cds that
you can find, but another one of the best, VINTAGE BANU, I
noticed selling for $49.00 used recently on Amazon.com showing
that there are a lot of vintage-Banu fans out there. It seems
that you can get the VINTAGE BANU album at a reasonable price
or download the individual songs from it from Jazzbymail.com.
This cd also has Banu Singing "Rose of Washington Square"
a great song discussed above which you can also hear on the
music section of thhis website as sung by me.
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