Here is another of my father’s 78 rpm records he listened to as a child in the 1920s or 1930s on my father’s Victor Talking Machine Victrola, model VV-405. I recorded this record playing on the same Victrola with my Sony PCM-D50 digital recorder. The microphone was placed inside the the horn opening of the Victrola over one of the wooden slats. Both recordings were made into 128 kilobits per second monophonic mp3 files.
Direct mp3 download or play: Zampa Rag
Zampa Rag – Guido Deiro
Direct mp3 download or play: Blue Diamonds
Blue Diamonds – Guido Deiro
Guido Deiro
I can remember as a young boy liking this record a lot, especially “Zampa Rag,” probably because it’s such a snappy tune. You’ll notice that side of the record is much more worn. I was so dumb that I would gleefully change the title to “Dampa Bag” just for fun. That of course was referring to a wet brown paper shopping bag from Sid’s Supermarket on Solano Avenue in Berkeley, California, which was only a little more than a block from my house. I imagined how funny it would be for the music to represent a wet brown paper grocery bag!
For more on Guido Deiro and the style of playing kwown as “Vaudeville Accordion” click here
