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N^{eophone
Disc Records}^{are entirely and individually hand-made by The
Sole Proprietor, whose aim in offering them to a wider market than that
previously enjoyed by a selected circle of close friends is to enable fellow
collectors to enjoy historic musical performances to which they might not otherwise
ever have access.
                                 The
original recordings featured on}^{Neophone
Disc Records}^{are drawn very largely from the private collections
of The Sole Proprietor himself, who is entirely responsible for their
remastering and presentation.
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^N^o.3^{: '}^{Twilight Echoes'-
English Ragtime in the 20s}

^{Received
wisdom would have us believe that ragtime was killed off by the first hot blast
of jazz at the end of the Great War, left only with the emasculated 'syncopated
novelette' as a memorial. Certainly in England, however, ragtime didn't
die-it continued to potter about its own business, fading gracefully.

Featuring Olly Oakley, Joe Morley, Alfred Cammeyer,
banjo bands by the barrow-load and some spectacular examples of brass
and military band ragtime, electrically recorded for the most part.
Sound quality surprisingly good}

Please click the album Cover for an enlargement, a track listing and an audio sample

Mr Olly Oakley

Mr. Olly Oakley, the celebrated banjoist who may be heard on Neophone Disc Records

No 5: 'Don't Jazz-It's Music!'- The English Perception of Jazz 1917-1922

Jazz was unknown in England until the genuine article stepped on to these shores on April 1, 1919, in the form of the original Dixieland Jazz Band. In actual fact, jazz was far from an unknown quantity in England before the advent of the ODJB, and even the arrival of "The Creators of Jazz" themselves was not entirely unheralded.
Featuring the bands of Murray Pilcer, J.H. Squire, Jack Ashton and the Savoy Quartet, and entertainers like the Two Bobs the Two Rascals and Elsie Janis. Taken from very rare originals (in some cases the only known extant copy) and sound quality therefore a little variable; we would not recommend using this disc as light incidental music for a dinner-party unless you know your guests very well indeed.

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N0 7: 'The Roosters Revenge' - Ragtime on English Pathé.

Hardly any of the considerable Pathé archive has ever been reissued, due largely to the inordinate difficulties encountered when actually trying to play the records. This alone seemed sufficient challenge for the Neophone Disc Recording Company.
Featuring the banjos of Burt Earle, Olly Oakley, Joe Morley, Syd Turner and Tarrant Bailey, the voice of Gene Greene, Billy Ditcham and his bells....and enough ragtime orchestras to float the Titanic. Delightful 'period' sound quality and copious illustrated notes.

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N0 9: 'Out of The Dawn' - The Earliest and Rarest Ragtime in England.

From 1899 7" Berliners to 1913 Blue Amberols - a veritable treasure-trove of the earliest recorded ragtime in England on both disc and cylinder. Not just a single bedraggled example, but whole handfuls of Vess Ossman, Cantrell and Williams, Pete Hampton, Burt Earle, Olly Oakley, and many others. Experience the delight of the MARCH FROM RICE'S RAGTIME OPERA! Thrill to the helter-skelter bravura of ST LOUIS RAG! Marvel at being given the opportunity to hear any of these records at all.
Sound quality hovers around the remarkable, with only occasional excursions into the unspeakable; most of these tracks are taken from single extant copies. The Neophone Disc Recording Company is of the opinion that these performances are remarkable by any standards, and we hope our customers may agree.

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No11: : 'Pick Of The Basket'- Rag Time Selection, Volume One.

Ragtime was the music of a confident, progressive urban society at its leisure; so it seems appropriate that the Neophone Disc Recording Company should issue some collections of ragtime purely for entertainment. There is, for once, no particular didactic purpose here; just cracking good tunes well performed, taken for the most part from good copies.
Featuring Olly Oakley, John Pidoux, The Three Rascals, Herr Gottlieb's Orchestra, Herr Iff's Orchestra, the band of H.M.Kings Colonials, and a myriad other delights of the period 1901-1922, from MANDY ON MASH to THE RAGTIME SUFFRAGETTE.

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N0 13: 'Oh Boy, When you're home on Leave....' The Savoy Quartet 1915-1920

                      The Savoy Quartet were quite simply the best syncopated banjo band in London. Though they had started off featuring genuine instrumental ragtime, it was as purveyors of the popular song of the moment that they excelled, preserving for us today a continuous commentary on the musical accompaniment to the Great War.
                     The longed-for 'Blighty' wound in a comfortable hospital (I DONT WANT TO GET WELL); the entry of the United States into the conflict (OVER THERE); the changed world after the Armistice (THE JAZZ BAND, I'VE GOT MY CAPTAIN WORKING FOR ME NOW, HOW YA GONNA KEEP 'EM DOWN ON THE FARM); even a hint at new-found and hard won suffrage (THE WILD,WILD WOMEN).
                     Including the first British recordings of jazz standards like AFTER YOU'VE GONE and A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND, and at no additional expense, one or two fierce starts and gritty surfaces-don't you know there's a war on?

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N0 15 'Pick of the Basket' -Rag Time Selection, Volume Two.

If only to prove that the Neophone Disc Recording Company does not make idle threats, here is a second compilation based on the premise of ragtime for entertainment, well-recorded and taken in the main from good copies.
The years are spanned from a 1902 banjo solo by Parke Hunter to a "jazz one-step" by The Mayfair Orchestra in 1919, taking in along the way rags by military bands and theatre orchestras, vocal novelties by The Three Rascals and The Two Bobs, and diversions by bell and banjo. For added fun, we have included Carlisle and Wellmon's piano-smashing contest and Albert W. Ketèlbey's encounter with a grizzly bear.

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N0 17: 'When Alexander Takes his Rag Time Band To France' The first Jazz in Paris, 1918-1923

The Neophone Disc Recording Company has pleasure in presenting the earliest jazz in Paris- you will find here nearly all the recordings made by Etzweiler's 158th U.S. Infantry Band and, even more importantly, by their splinter group, the legendary Scrap iron Jazzerinos. Their style defies description- listen and make your own judgement!
Which is precisely the purpose of the second half of this issue, which presents the best dozen sides by Mitchell's Jazz Kings in something approaching listenable sound. An important and historic Neophone issue supported, as is our custom, by informative notes with the full discography, and some very fine photographs. We would venture to suggest that nowhere else could a compilation of such quality and rarity be found.

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An Unsolicited Testimonial from Mr. Chris Ware, Proprietor of

THE RAGTIME EPHEMERALIST

(http://home.earthlink.net/~ephemeralist)

"I think you've produced the best collection of vintage ragtime music, ever. I NEVER thought I'd get to hear some of these records, yet here they are! Your packaging is tasteful and well-designed, and your liner notes are a real pleasure to read."

No 19 : The Tarrant Bailey Collection, Volume One Private Cylinders of England's Greatest Banjoists, 1910-1940

The Neophone Disc Recording Company is proud to issue the first of two volumes compiled from the legendary private recordings made by Richard Tarrant Bailey, Snr.. As a measure of the rarity and importance of this collection, it may be recalled that Joe Morley, the greatest English banjoist of them all, made only two commercial solo recordings; this issue presents no less than fourteen private ones, many of them announced by Joe himself. Also featured on this first volume are a number of soli by England's finest amateur, John P. Cuninghame, who never recorded commercially at all.
It might be further mentioned that this is the first time that any of these cylinders have ever been heard with the benefit of modern electrical transcription, and that the notes are accompanied by some fascinating contemporary photographs, taken privately and previously unpublished. A truly unique issue.

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Mr Gene Green

Mr. ‘GENE GREENE, ‘The Rag Time King’
whose quaint Americanisms may be heard on
NEOPHONE DISC RECORDS

No 21 : 'Pick Of The Basket' - Rag Time Selection, Volume Three.

“Nothing else but rag.....Rag.......RAG!” sings Mr. ‘Gene Greene, and who would dare gainsay him? The emphasis is most definitely on ragtime as entertainment in this compilation, which begins with a preposterous 1902 version of DOWN SOUTH and runs down hill all the way from there.

In addition to a generous helping of very fine orchestral ragtime - some of it supplied by ‘The Leaping Conductor’ and his band - Pete Hampton contributes a “camp-meeting shout” and Alexander Prince a ragtime concertina solo, despite being announced by a fierce French recording engineer. But levity carries the day, with organised mayhem by The American Ragtime Octet, and Albert W. Ketèlbey’s sole excursion into the choppy waters of ragtime composition.............and we conclude with The Two Filberts, whose attempts to inject a little local colour into THE ABA DABA HONEYMOON probably left them incapable of further work for the rest of the day.

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