Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I am very pleased to revive another Eubie Blake recording from 1931, one of which he plays alongside the orchestra bearing his name and is backed by vocalist Dick Robertson. He is accompanied by George Rickson on a second piano.
Music and lyrics by Benny Carter & Irving Mills
Though we get only get his piano skills in the background of this recording, the legendary Eubie Blake has many others, ranging from the 1910s to the 1980s.
With his first song in 1903, 'Charleston Rag', James Hubert 'Eubie' Blake began a rise to stardom unlike any other. He was a leading composer of East Coast ragtime in the 1910s, writing 'Chevy Chase', 'Fizz Water', and 'Bugle Call Rag', before going into show business in the 20s. His musical, 'Shuffle Along' became the first African-American musical on Broadway, and was a smashing success. 'Bandana Days', 'I'm Just Wild About Harry', and 'Love Will Find A Way' became standards.
He also took up recording, his first recordings being with the Eubie Blake Trio in 1917. But once he teamed up with singer Noble Sissle, it was clear this was a match made in heaven. He made numerous blues, jazz, and show tune piano recordings accompanied by Sissle, earning him even more fame on vaudeville.
After Blake stopped recording after 1931, he faded a bit into obscurity. While still composing, he was mostly a background character for many years. But the ragtime revivals of the 1950s and 70s brought him back into the limelight in a big way. As one of the last ragtimists left alive by the 70s, he grew many accolades from not just the ragtime community, but also the more casual jazz fans and even the cultural elites. He was given so many awards that I'm not going to list them all; go look them up on Wikipedia. But the most notable was the Presidential Medal of Freedom given to him in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan. Yes, he played for the POTUS.
Eubie Blake died on February 12, 1983. He was 96 (100 if you still subscribe to the debunked 1883 birthdate). He now has a high school named after him in Maryland.
This record is not yet public domain; all rights reserved to the copyright owner. Obviously, these videos are not posted for financial gain.
More Eubie Blake:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbGAQvbfY3Z0sa9XJJAH9gxYaafJq7hny&si=77IpptDF0s4saAEr
More Eubie Blake 78rpm Recordings (1917-1931):
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLMkuz4vEFoPWgADRDRsB_AiB8bcX82F_&si=eQQvG4H-hKdLGgFJ
I am very pleased to revive another Eubie Blake recording from 1931, one of which he plays alongside the orchestra bearing his name and is backed by vocalist Dick Robertson. He is accompanied by George Rickson on a second piano.
Music and lyrics by Benny Carter & Irving Mills
Though we get only get his piano skills in the background of this recording, the legendary Eubie Blake has many others, ranging from the 1910s to the 1980s.
With his first song in 1903, 'Charleston Rag', James Hubert 'Eubie' Blake began a rise to stardom unlike any other. He was a leading composer of East Coast ragtime in the 1910s, writing 'Chevy Chase', 'Fizz Water', and 'Bugle Call Rag', before going into show business in the 20s. His musical, 'Shuffle Along' became the first African-American musical on Broadway, and was a smashing success. 'Bandana Days', 'I'm Just Wild About Harry', and 'Love Will Find A Way' became standards.
He also took up recording, his first recordings being with the Eubie Blake Trio in 1917. But once he teamed up with singer Noble Sissle, it was clear this was a match made in heaven. He made numerous blues, jazz, and show tune piano recordings accompanied by Sissle, earning him even more fame on vaudeville.
After Blake stopped recording after 1931, he faded a bit into obscurity. While still composing, he was mostly a background character for many years. But the ragtime revivals of the 1950s and 70s brought him back into the limelight in a big way. As one of the last ragtimists left alive by the 70s, he grew many accolades from not just the ragtime community, but also the more casual jazz fans and even the cultural elites. He was given so many awards that I'm not going to list them all; go look them up on Wikipedia. But the most notable was the Presidential Medal of Freedom given to him in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan. Yes, he played for the POTUS.
Eubie Blake died on February 12, 1983. He was 96 (100 if you still subscribe to the debunked 1883 birthdate). He now has a high school named after him in Maryland.
This record is not yet public domain; all rights reserved to the copyright owner. Obviously, these videos are not posted for financial gain.
More Eubie Blake:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbGAQvbfY3Z0sa9XJJAH9gxYaafJq7hny&si=77IpptDF0s4saAEr
More Eubie Blake 78rpm Recordings (1917-1931):
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLMkuz4vEFoPWgADRDRsB_AiB8bcX82F_&si=eQQvG4H-hKdLGgFJ
![Tell Me Pretty Maiden (1899) by Leslie Stuart [CORNET SOLO by Emil Keneke, 1901]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iXCg4yqoBtM/mqdefault.jpg "Tell Me Pretty Maiden (1899) by Leslie Stuart [CORNET SOLO by Emil Keneke, 1901]
Emil Keneke, pioneer cornet soloist recording artist, plays the smash hit song from the 1899 musical, Florodora, later to become the #1 hit song of 1902.
Harry Macdonough & Grace Spencer 1902 Version:
https://youtu.be/uChBk8_VgQs?si=QlB4-DWxWvqobCKJ")
![Aframerican Hymn (1916) by W. C. Handy [Sung by Handys Sacred Singers, 1929]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/l3dSShHM1rY/mqdefault.jpg "Aframerican Hymn (1916) by W. C. Handy [Sung by Handys Sacred Singers, 1929]
A departure from his usual blues-centric output, here is an obscure hymn from the Father of the Blues. In 1919, it was dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in North America.
#blues #78rpm #blackhistory
They didnt call him Father of the Blues for nothing. William Christopher Handys contributions to the blues genre singlehandedly crafted it into what it is today. His Memphis Blues, Saint Louis Blues, Beale Street Blues, Ole Miss Rag, and Yellow Dog Rag are jazz standards and in the case of St. Louis, it has come to name a National Hockey League team and became the second most popular song of the first half of the 20th century (the first being White Christmas).
Handys music also has sentimental value for myself. When I was 12 years old, the coronavirus syndemic broke out and isolated me to the void of online schooling for 3 months. I made ragtime playlists to pass the time, and one of the composers I discovered was Handy. As my first exposure to 12 bar blues, I instantly found relatability- the dismal sympathy was common at the time.
Further information on the beginning of the slave trade in North America in 1619, courtesy of Colonial National Historical Park: https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/african-americans-at-jamestown.htm
More W. C. Handy:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLMkuz4vEFoOO4o3aIp_47P3ok4f61FEW&si sr8JqfjELd4ueWz")
