REDO: Reefer Songs (1927-1947)

UPDATE: My buddy Bill the Splut noticed this posting and supplied me with the original CD to rip. There is a noticeable sound quality improvement over the 128kbps version I previously posted.

Here's a wild collection of risqué jazz and blues tunes. While all drug related in one way or another, most of these songs center around the usage of that great menace, Marijuana! Incredibly enough, songs with this subject matter actually enjoyed a certain level of popularity at the time. Until the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, that is. That piece of legislation led to the eventual criminalization of cannabis. Because of federal pressure, many of the artists that continued to sing about its virtues suffered industry blacklisting.

The tracks were mastered a bit low on this compilation, so I used WaveGain to group normalize the WAV files by +2.3dB before converting to MP3. I originally discovered this album on Usenet six years ago. That version included a bonus 24th track, Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra's "Reefer Song." I like that track and it's a good one to close out the comp with, so I included a 256kbps version I found on SoulSeek. This is a rip of the 1996 Mojo Records release, but the cover is from the better-looking original 1989 Jass Records release. I made some minor song title and artist corrections and researched the tracks online to find the original year of release.

I found some nice clips online. These first two are basically photo montages set to music. First up is Trixie Smith's "Jack, I'm Mellow":



Chick Webb and His Orchestra with Ella Fitzgerald "Wacky Dust":



Public domain footage is used to nice effect here with Sidney Bechet & Noble Sissle's Swingsters' "Viper Mad ":



Any finally, two vintage soundies from Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra, "Minnie the Moocher" and "Reefer Man":





Makes you wonder, though. Could your Great-Grandma or Great-Grandpa have been a "viper"?

Reefer Songs (1927-1947)
1. Don Redman and His Orchestra - Reefer Man [1940] (3:32)
2. Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra - The Man from Harlem [1932] (3:07)
3. Stuff Smith and His Onyx Club - Here Comes the Man with the Jive [1936] (3:00)
4. Bob Howard and His Boys - If You're a Viper [1938] (2:24)
5. Benny Goodman and His Orchestra / Jack Teagarden - Texas Tea Party [1938] (3:21)
6. Buster Bailey's Rhythm Busters - Light Up [1938] (2:44)
7. Trixie Smith - Jack, I'm Mellow [1938] (2:44)
8. Barney Bigard Sextet - Sweet Marijuana Brown [1945] (2:57)
9. Sidney Bechet / Noble Sissle's Swingsters - Viper Mad [1938] (3:01)
10. The Harlem Hamfats - The Weed Smoker's Dream [1936] (3:18)
11. Cee Pee Johnson - The "G" Man Got the "T" Man [1945] (3:06)
12. Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of Joy - All the Jive Is Gone [1936] (2:36)
13. Georgia White - The Stuff Is Here [1937] (2:53)
14. Chick Webb and His Orchestra / Ella Fitzgerald - Wackey Dust [1938] (3:02)
15. Harry "The Hipster" Gibson - Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine? [1944] (3:03)
16. Clarence Williams and His Washboard Band - Jerry the Junker [1934] (3:06)
17. Fats Waller - Reefer Song [1943] (2:50)
18. Julia Lee and Her Boy Friends - Lotus Blossom (Sweet Marijuana) [1947] (3:16)
19. Ernest Rodgers - Willie the Chimney Sweeper [1927] (2:50)
20. Bea Foote - Weed [1938] (2:58)
21. Buck Washington - Save the Roach for Me [1944] (1:34)
22. Lil Green - Knockin' Myself Out [1941] (2:59)
23. Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra - Minnie the Moocher [1931] (3:32)
24. Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra - Reefer Man [1932] (2:57)

100.21MB RAR archive
MP3: 1x Constant bitrate (256kbps)
23x Variable bitrate (194kbps average)
Audiograbber 1.83.1 w/LAME 3.97 (--preset fast extreme)

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