|
Charles
P. Lowe
Photo
courtesy James A. Strain
Charles
P. Lowe was a popular vaudeville and concert performer,
appearing occasionally as a soloist with Sousa’s
band. He is the first xylophonist to record for Edison’s
National Phonograph Company beginning in 1896. By 1901,
he had recorded 21 titles – mainly of polkas, gallops,
waltzes, and popular songs – on the standard two-minute
wax cylinders. Although Lowe was the only xylophonist
recording for Edison until 1902, he also recorded for
many of the other cylinder companies, including the
United States Phonograph Company, the New Jersey Phonograph
Company, the Bettini Phonograph Laboratory, and the
Reed and Dawson Company.
The PAS Gerhardt Collection also includes six xylophone
solos recorded by Charles P. Lowe before 1903 on eight
7” one-sided disc recordings. Two recordings of
The Mockingbird are available on the Berliner
label (3259 and 5270, Columbia “Little Wonder”
Records) and one on the Zonophone label (G9090). Other
recordings are Dancing in the Sunlight (Victor
Record 216), Robin Adair (Zonophone G9091), Pretty
Dark Blue Eyes (Zonophone G9086), Pickaninny
Polka (Victor Record 215), and Galop Brilliant
(Berliner 2364).
This
information is taken from Tim Brooks' A Directory
of Columbia Recording Artists of the 1890's. Reprinted
in the Journal of the Association for Recorded Sound
Collections, Vol. 11, Nos. 2-3 (1979): 118. See
also William Cahn, The Xylophone in Acoustic Recordings
(1877 to 1929). Bloomfield, NY: Cahn Publishing,
1996.
|
