Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Alex Paterson sings and Ralph Ford plays for the Hammond Organ this Christmas classic, written by Placide Cappeau and Adolphus Adam in 1843.
Subscribe and stay tuned- there are many Yuletide records to come!
My official Christmas playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLMkuz4vEFoPY-J9F_A2XohzoHL99xV_3&si=SkSlvMs6VehxyPUw
Alex Paterson sings and Ralph Ford plays for the Hammond Organ this Christmas classic, written by Placide Cappeau and Adolphus Adam in 1843.
Subscribe and stay tuned- there are many Yuletide records to come!
My official Christmas playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLMkuz4vEFoPY-J9F_A2XohzoHL99xV_3&si=SkSlvMs6VehxyPUw
![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")
![We Will Trust You As Our Leader (1911) by Scott Joplin [1976 SMOOTH JAZZ SOLO]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mskKU461Hu0/mqdefault.jpg "We Will Trust You As Our Leader (1911) by Scott Joplin [1976 SMOOTH JAZZ SOLO]
Mike Wofford plays a famed Treemonisha opera segment, the penultimate song, where Treemonisha is elected as leader of her community in the aftermath of her kidnapping. This is one of my favorite songs, not just in the opera, but in general. It reminds me of the last day of school back in 8th Grade, when we spent the day in the town park, one of the last times we were completely free of responsibility.
#ragtime #scottjoplin #smoothjazz
©1976 Flying Dutchman Productions, Ltd.
More Scott Joplin:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbGAQvbfY3Z3FDwU5UdnwCnkd7zkbX4mS&si=dlDrjm5EjRfaaUKt
Full album of this song:
https://youtu.be/BL_43JExzVY?si=vnv4U-eSJCvV5Rxh")
