Please state the year it was (originally) released or recorded.

Mine:
1) Louis Armstrong - compilation album Fireworks: recorded 1928
2) Various - New orleans Jazz: throughout the 1930s
3) Robert Johnson - Complete recordings: 1936/1937

1)
2)
3)


ps. Thanks raveun2thejoyfantastic for the inspiration...

Hmm, I think you have me beat.

The only thing I have that comes close to that is some Django Reinhardt from the 30s.

That Louis Armstrong sound quality must be hard to take. I love Django's guitar but I find even that distorted fuzzy low quality recording to be grating at times.

I've got some of Bach's Brandenberg concertos from 1721, but I'd guess my oldest stuff is global traditional music and medieval ecclessial/court stuff from God knows when.

Sander said:

That might be my oldest.

Erroll Garner - Concert By The Sea (1955)

probably this box set of '50s rockabilly/psychobilly gems, and i'm guessing i also have some johnny cash music that dates around this time as well.

i've been listening to a song called "heartache" by the ed weems orchestra a lot lately. it sounds a million years old. i should figure out exactly when it was recorded...

Sander said:

Sander said:

I got Hot Five recordings from 1925.

I got into him in through the Color Purple soundtrack, which features My Heart (Will Always Lead Me Back to You). I loved the old jook joint jazz over the later day smooth jazz he played, so I searched for his older stuff. Still play it lots. (PS also check out the jook joint inspired The Dirty Dozens by Tata Vega, love it. What ever happened to Tata Vega?)
I also got alot of Bix Beidebecke, Mills Borthers and Django Reinhardt from the 30's and 40's.

Loads of Dinah Shore, Kay Starr and Benny Goodman.

And a whole lotta 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's Dutch language songs. Jordaneze meebrallers.
[Edited 4/3/08 7:17am]

Lets have Another Cup Of Coffee by Glenn Miller. (30's I think).

I used to have a bunch of '30s blues, '20s jazz and classical (and probably still do, somewhere). These days, the oldest things I listen to would probably be Bob Wills' version of "Don't Be Ashamed of Your Age" and some '50s rock 'n' roll ("Too Much Monkey Business"; Jerry Lee Lewis; etc.).

savoirfaire said:

At times it's pretty harsch on the ears. But like most bootlegs, when you got used to the quality, the worse it sounds the more precious it gets. At least with Louis, this is the way it was meant to sound like. However, I don't play it when people are over...

Lammastide said:

I was thinking about excluding classical music, but then again, I also wonder how many orgers have classical in their collection.

Medieval music isn't credited to anyone by name is it? I guess it's nice to hear music evolve, since medieval music doesn't have any chords in them, only singlenotes and melodies... Why do you own this music, what does it do for you?

Benny Goodman's 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall.

I also have a bunch of Scott Joplin, George Gershwin, Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey.

Of course, a lot of my classical music was originally recorded even earlier.

And don't get my started on my film collection.

Cinnie said:

Wow,,,thats his BEST Ooowww Cinnie

I would say all the blues cuts in the 20's from Alberta Hunter, Bessie Smith, Ada Brown. Beside Duke Ellington's early recordings from the Cotton Club broadcasts, and not to mention the early stride piano sessions from James P. Johnson, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Art Tatum and Fats Waller(I think his earliest were organ sessions with other blues vocalists).

purplebutterfly2 said:

It wasn't that expensive actually. And when I was looking for the accompanying picture I found out it was even cheaper now than when I bought it!

Here it is:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/N...089&sr=1-1

A whole bunch of classical music. For one, I have the complete Beethoven Symphonies #1-9.

paisleypark4 said:

Yeah!

forkupine said:

I enjoy his early stuff with Earl Hines

West End Blues
[Edited 4/3/08 7:48am]

HamsterHuey said:

You got me by three years! Bastard! Color purple OST got some great music! Nice one. Dirty dozen, they played in your town about two weeks ago! I couldn't go, since I was abroad, but did you?

Bix beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, no wonder I keep bumping into you at the best shows in town! However you do freak me out with that Jordaneze meebrallers...

Harlepolis said:

I love Weather Bird with Earl Hines.

The track-by-track annotations in this box set really made me listen attentively.

forkupine said:

I'm thinking about getting that boxet,,,,,for free

Sander said:

Yeah, most of the "ancient" stuff I have isn't credited to single writers so much as to the traditional fare of a given country, ethnicity, etc. Or, in the case of ecclessial stuff, to a particular religious order. I don't have a lot of it, but it interests me, and I'd like to explore more.

What does it do for me? Tough one to articulate. Without waxing too philosophical (and cheesy... and boring), I suppose it does the same for me as any work of beauty -- it allows me to bask a bit in creation, in this gift of wonderful sights, sounds, textures, etc. we've been given. The antiquity of certain pieces offers a look at what inspired folk at a given time that I, too, might find inspiration. Kinda like gleaning wisdom from a living great-grandparent. Just imagine if we only had access to music made within, say, the last 10-15 years!

If you were looking for the earliest actual recordings we own, though, Sander, mine would probably be a compilation of Louis Armstrong/King Oliver sessions from 1923.

Lammastide said:

A window to our history. Nice, I couldn't really get into it, while I enjoy the age of it and it being preserved. Nice to hear that you find inspiration/beauty in it.

Modern music seems to be out of innovation, or only very slight ones. If we only had music of the last 10-15 years, artists and musicians would probably be a lot more creative than they are now. New genres would/could emerge. It would be all new and sensational.

Sander said:

So you take a view opposite of me. I think we can draw on things of old to build upon and remedy the monotony and thoughtlessness of modern art. You are suggesting that by relying too heavily on the things of old, we rob ourselves of true innovation.



Interesting take. I can't argue with that. I do think we too often misunderstand what it is to be inspired by existing work. Rather than to simply be informed, we rape and copy... and often poorly.
[Edited 4/3/08 8:38am]

Gregorian chants...Elizabethan consort music...and some stuff from the 14th century...

I have some classical CDs, but I'm sure they were all recorded fairly recently. It's not like anyone was around to record those pieces when they were first written and performed.

So that means the oldest recording in my collection is probably...


The Verve Story (box set)

Disc 1 is 1944-1953.

Lammastide said:

That was what I said. I phrased it a little strange though. What I wanted to say was that I would have loved to witness the birth of popmusic, a lot of possibilities and new directions to chose from. Exciting times.



I do enjoy these postmodern times as well though. All the music that is already here and is ready to be used again to make something new. That can be innovative as well. Music is long but dead and each year I find new artists and albums that I love.

Harlepolis said: