You can hear Lester Young or Bing Crosby close in on the microphone in a way that we now take for granted and regularly abuse. I sometimes torture myself by considering all the musicians who were still performing during my lifetime but whom I failed to see because I was too stupid, too timid, or too preoccupied with some passing fancy. The world that you will hear probably isn’t there anymore. So, they may begin in the Society Islands, travel to Mongolia via Bulgaria, and end up in Nova Scotia. These editions are not compiled by country. The Yazoo label’s Secret Museum of Mankind series gives a glimpse of the early days, when HMV or the Gramophone Company would send out recording engineers to gather music from the world for the new, curious audience. The RCA Ellington set runs to 24 CDs, and the Schubert lieder collection is only a little smaller, but they are a bit like having a Complete Works of Shakespeare close at hand. Anthology of American Folk Music, compiled by the great Harry Smith from rare 78s, seems like a trip to another planet, yet it is really just humans singing and playing in the not-so-distant past. If your shelf can stand it, I recommend a few boxed sets. Making this list made me listen all over again. Unsurprisingly, I favor songwriters over players, but any hit parade of great singers would have to include Johnny Hodges. This is also a list of where I began and where I stopped listening. You should be able to find most of this music, but you may have to go out of your way to locate the records of David Ackles, perhaps the greatest unheralded American songwriter of the late 60s. I’ve also gone for some less well-known titles by famous artists, but they are records that dig a little deeper. Many of these people really only made “singles.” No one “album” will give you all the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles or George Jones songs that you need. There are plenty of “Best of” and “Greatest Hits” collections.
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